Biography
Four musicians from Iceland over a few years of existence conquered a whole generation of folk music lovers, light blues and aggressive notes of rock. Their songs became soundtracks to blockbusters, and major hits - a youth cult. They are Kaleo.History and composition
The history of the group originates at school times of three teenagers: Yuliuson Yokula, David Antonsson and Danil Kristiajanisson. The best friends from Mosfedlsbaira (a small town for Reykjavik) created a musical team, such a composition was played within the Icelandic city until 2012.
In 2012, Ruben Pollock, guitarist and singer joined the promising trio. The first performance in the annual festival in Reykjavik Iceland Airwaves brought stalking success. Since then, the team has gave concerts in Iceland and gained popularity. Kaleo name is translated as "sound" from Hawaiian.
In one of the interviews, the participants admitted that no story is connected with the name of the group. The audible word and its meaning seemed attractive and memorable.
Frontman group - Jökull Júlíusson (Yokul Juliuson), scenic name Jay Julius Son, 1990 birth, singer, guitarist, writes music and texts. There is no accurate transcription of an intricate Icelandic name. With such transcribed, the accuracy of pronunciation is lost. By the way, Juliuson is not a surname, and in Russian patronymic (literally "Son of Julius).
Yokul knows several languages, among them: English, Icelandic, Danish. He speaks a little Spanish, because often rested with his parents in the southern part of Spain. In addition, the father of the singer taught Spanish.
The role of the drummer, as well as vocalist in the group, performs David Antonson (Davið Antonsson). On bass guitar - Danil Kristjanson (Daniel Kristjanson)
Rubin Pollock (Rubin Pollock) became part of the team later than the rest. Before starting a musical career, the current vocalist and guitarist worked in kindergarten, fond of chess.
Unfortunately for numerous fans, there are no details about the personal life of Icelandic celebrities. However, as a complete biography. Although there is an official page in the "Instagram" of the Kaleo group with information about performances, photo reports and video. All the same can be viewed on the official website (in Russia - fan community). In addition, Kaleo participants have personal pages on social networks where you can see pictures from a personal archive.
Music
The Kaleo group fame brought the composition in the native language VOR í Vaglaskógi. Interestingly, earlier tracks have already sounded on local radio and the team was popular in Iceland. However, it is this song that returns to the origins, original and melodic, brought fame in the broad sense of the word.
She fell into the top ten on the radio Ràs 2 and sounded in the series Trapped. The history of VOR í Vaglaskógi begins in the 60s. The words of lyrical poems of love were imposed on music. Yokul offered his own version of the song, and he was successful for Icelanders.
Already in 2013, the group released an album, symbolicly called Kaleo. It includes eight compositions in the genre of folk rock, neopol. In the same year, a mini-album Glasshouse, or EP (Extended Play), which includes no more than four musical compositions.
In 2014, the All The Pretty Girls song conquered 18 million users. It is such a number of playbacks after some time on the musical site "Speotify".
In 2015, the team was interested in American label atlantic records, the largest American organization specializing in recording. Among the stars operating (now or earlier) with the "Atlantic Recording Corporation", Meg Myers, Bruno Mars, Phil Collins, Ruth Brown, Cher, Ray Charles, Areta Franklin.
After the contract was signed, Kaleo settled in Austin (the capital of Texas). Moving seemed to the Icelandic group a large breakthrough. Why did the guys chose Austin, yokul says that this is the perfect place for creativity, where the abundance of musical genres is concentrated: rock, blues, country. City for music lovers and inspiration for novice musicians. In addition, in Austin there was a label office with which the Group collaborated.
The beginning of the career demanded tremendous efforts from the group members. America met the warmth of musicians from Iceland and next year after the start of working with Atlantic Records was filled with concerts. Kaleo went to the open tour of the United States.
The band first became a member of the annual largest festival from South By Southwest in Austin in 2015. The event includes not only the musical industry. Conferences are held for representatives of cinema and specialists in the field of new technologies.
At the same time, work began on the album A \ B together with the producer of Jacquire King. An unusual idea of a soloist explains that he cannot work in a certain genre. A \ B symbolizes the uniqueness of the collective, which does not limit his creativity with genre frames. Party A is the compositions in the style of blues and rock and roll (No Good, Way Down We Go), the side B is melodic ballads (All the Pretty Girls).
Way Down Song WE GO, released in 2015, became a peak of popularity for the group. She blew up the charts and held a long time on leading positions. The blues composition plays in the sensational "Logan" (2017), in the serial "Force Maja", "Volchonok", "Anatomy of Passion", "The Vampire Diaries". In Russia, the song was used as one of the topics of the Ukrainian-Russian comedy series "Hotel Eleon".
Creativity Kaleo does not have clear borders, so the group in a short time caused interest in millions. Musicians from Iceland became a cult of their time. In 2016, the Group took part in the concert, which was held in the crater of the sleeping volcano Thrichnukagygur (there is also a clip of the famous Way Down WE GO). The clip was filmed within 22 hours, in harsh weather conditions. The concert was held in the same conditions and without phonograms, only a living sound in the amazing acoustics of a harsh crater.
Residents and guests of Iceland could visit the event, coming to the destination on foot, along the frozen lava. Or take advantage of air transport services, having done a short path on the helicopter. The pleasure is not cheap, however, the musicians and the audience remained in complete delight. By the way, Crater sleeps more than four thousand years, but tourists are allowed to walk there only since 2011. According to the participants, it is most likely, not the last crazy location for filming and concerts.
The Soloist of the Julius group Juliuson admits that he never knows exactly what genre the following composition will be written in. Whether it is rock, blues or folk - the viewer should feel the mood of the musician at the moment, says Juliuson.
Kaleo now
For 2017, Kaleo group traveled forty states. According to the employees of the magazine Rolling Stone, the work of these musicians is worth watching.Now Kaleo will have a grand concert in St. Petersburg, which will be held on July 29, 2018. Fans of creativity of Icelandic musicians in anticipation. Also, the Icelandic Quartet will visit Kiev UPARK in the summer of 2018.
Discography
- 2013 - VOR í Vaglaskógi
- 2013 - Rock 'N Roller
- 2013 - Glaas House
- 2013 - Automobile.
- 2013 - Broken Bones
- 2014 - I Walk On Water
- 2014 - All The Pretty Girls
- 2015 - WAY DOWN WE GO
- 2015 - No Good
- 2016 - I CAN't Go On Without You
- 2017 - Black Rose Petals