Growing Up In Public

In many respects, Icelandic indie-folk band Of Monsters And Men’s rapid rise is like something out of a Hans Christian Andersen tale. After emerging victorious in 2010 at Musiktilraunir, the annual battle of the bands in their native land, the then quartet put their prize of studio time to good use by recording as much material as they could, added two more members, toured the country and afterwards, in 2011, released an insanely infectious song called ‘Little Talks’ that pretty much slayed the dragon/wicked witch that is the mainstream singles chart, changing their lives for good as a result. Fast forward to 2012 and the track has also hit the number one slot in Ireland. At the time of writing the cut is inescapable, with its trumpet-infused melodies scoring everything from adverts to football highlights to reality show meltdowns.

When Hot Press catches up with sleep-deprived Of Monsters And Men co-singer/guitarist Raggi Porhallsson as he boards his tour bus in New York, we have a very simple question for him as our opening gambit — where did it all go right?
“You tell me, I’m as surprised as anyone,” laughs the musician. “The last year really has been a fairy tale. It’s been crazy. We first released ‘Little Talks’ ourselves last year back home and now it’s everywhere and lots of people seem to love it. The past 12 months has been a dream start for us. It’s been crazy running around everywhere, playing as much as we can and doing as many interviews as possible just to get the word out. It’s cool that people want to talk to us though and we’re really grateful that everyone wants to hear us.”
To paraphrase a line from the modern-day poet that is Mr. Ron Burgundy, Of Monsters And Men are kind of a big deal in the States right now too. Sell-out tours, endless rotation on radio stations and a burgeoning romance with MTV has meant that their debut record My Head Is An Animal has given them success beyond their wildest dreams. It seems global domination is inevitable.
“Mainstream ‘acceptance’ has been great for us — who wouldn’t love it?” begins the songwriter. “It means that your music is being heard by many people all over the world and it’s definitely a very positive thing. MTV have been great to us. In fact we filmed a secret show for them here in New York last night. I think it went well. It was kinda rough in the beginning — we had a lot of feedback and stuff, but we pulled through and it turned out fun. It was a great venue, I don’t remember the name, but it was an old cathedral or something like that and we had a circus act opening for us and sword-swallowers and stuff.”
While Raggi confesses that the band never initially set out to conquer America, he’s certainly enjoying his success and is trying to take it all in his stride.
“No, it was never an ambition to crack the States. When we recorded the album in Iceland we had no dreams of ever taking it anywhere else. We thought we’d tour it at home and then move on to the next one. We had some songs and wanted to make an album together and there was literally nothing else on our minds other than recording them.
“Our first American tour was quite interesting,” he chuckles. “It was fun but also a lot different than what we had done before. We would drive for like 24 hours straight just to get to the next venue and we saw a lot of cities but didn’t quite see them, you know? We just played in them and then went to the next one. It was a very surreal feeling and a culture shock. The people in each town were very welcoming, knew our songs and sang along. Every show was sold-out, which was great.”
Recorded in March 2011 and released that September in Iceland, My Head Is An Animal was unleashed in North America in April 2012 and then in Europe in August via-Universal. While the strategy of staggering the dates in specific territories has most certainly worked, we have to ask: how come it took so long for us to get our hands on the record? Was it something we said?
“No... at least I don’t think so,” he laughs. “Things in America really took off and we decided to focus our attention there, at least to begin with. It’s been a bit slower in other countries but they’re now warming to us. The staggered release has helped build more of an interest in us I think.”
A genuinely uplifting record which sees hushed ballads (‘Love, Love, Love’) nestle beside bombastic indie pop songs (‘Your Bones’), Raggi informs us that the album is a tale of two halves and even though he’s been performing some of the material for quite some time now, he hasn’t grown tired of the tunes just yet.
“When we started out as a band we were an acoustic act — we had no drums or anything,” he explains. “For me, our first album spans a transformation from that era to nowadays, where there’s seven of us onstage. I think our development into a big band was a very natural thing and whenever I listen to the record it almost sounds like it’s divided into different eras. Certain songs are from when we were acoustic, other ones are from when we got a bigger band together... it kinda just happened like that.
“It’s been okay touring the record for the last year. We like to change the set-list around a lot and there’s some cover songs that we do that are always fun to play. The work schedule definitely takes its toll though. There are many early mornings and late nights. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun work.”
It’s a good thing that he enjoys what he’s doing, because 2013 is only going to get busier for the seven-piece. As we let the singer rejoin his band and head back out on another nondescript American highway, we leave him with a final two-pronged parting question. Why does he think his band’s music has captured the imaginations of so many music fans across the globe? And, after a barn-storming performance at Electric Picnic, are Of Monsters And Men aiming to invade Irish soil for a headline date in the future?
“When it comes to music, personally speaking I like simplicity,” considers the singer. “I don’t know if I’m coming across well when I say this, but I think the more straightforward you are when it comes to melodies and hooks, the more people can relate to it. I think people like us because our music makes them feel good and a little positivity is something that we all need right now.
“As for Ireland, yes, we’d love to headline there,” he concludes. “When we’re on tour a lot of people we meet think that we’re from Ireland, actually. When people talk to us – Americans, especially – they usually ask us if we’re Irish. I don’t know why, but they think our accents are similar. We don’t mind the confusion though. You guys have cool accents and everyone loves the Irish, so we’re happy to be associated with you!”

Of Monsters And Men play the Dublin Olympia on Feburary 21, 2013. My Head Is An Animal is out now