Pollapönk: A Colorful, happy and ambitious band

Hello everyone! Its time for an interview! They were the winners of Söngvakeppnin 2014 and they are going to represent Iceland in Copenhagen! Here are the answers of RedPolli from POLLAPÖNK:

Name: RedPolli.
Birthday: Yes. Once a year.
Height: Small
Favorite color: Red of course
Favourite food: Tomato’s
Shoe Size: Very small. 
What do you do in the band: Play guitar and sing.
Where are you right now? In Hafnarfjörður capital of the universe.
3 things that makes you happy: My wife, my children and music.
What’s your strangest talent?  My talents are all strange
Do you have any nicknames? RedPolli and Halli.
Home alone and you are bored. What do you do? Pick up the guitar.
What is the strangest thing you have in your room? An elephant
What are you really good at? Lots of things
What are you really bad at? Lots of things
Childhood idol: Maradona
Childhood memory: Standing in one corner at school watching the wall because my teacher said so. I probably deserved it.
Tell me something no one knows about you: No way.
What would you do if you were invisible? Try hard to get visible again.
Favorite movie: Amelie
Favorite TV series: I don’t watch much TV.
Tell me a super power you wish you had: Fly of course
What is your guilty pleasure? If it makes you guilty it is not plesure
Name a song that never fails to make you happy: Cut your hair by Pavement.
If you were a product, how would you sell yourself? By being a good and interesting product. 
Can you teach me some interesting words in Icelandic? Enga fordóma.

Hello! Congratulations on winning Söngvakeppnin! how are you?
Thank you very much. I am fine. 

Lets start talking about the band! What can you tell me about it? How did you meet each other?
Pollapönk was founded in 2006 by guitarists Haraldur Freyr Gíslason and Heiðar Örn Kristjánsson of the Icelandic post-punk trio Botnleðja. They created Pollapönk when graduating as Bachelors of education from the University of Iceland. The purpose was to write and perform music that children and adults alike would enjoy and be able to sing-a-long to.

The first album Pollapönk was a major hit in Iceland. In 2007 drummer Arnar Þór Gíslason who is Haraldur‘s brother and bassplayer Guðni Finnsson joined Pollapönk which then became a quartet. Pollapönk have made two more albums, and played numerous gigs for children and grown-ups all over Iceland. In everyday life Haraldur Freyr is the chairman of the Association of Pre-school Teachers, Heiðar Örn is a Pre-school teacher and Arnar Þór and Guðni are professional musicians.

I met my younger brother when he was born. Heiðar when I was 11 years ago and Guðni 20 years ago.


How would you describe the band?
Colorful, happy, tight and ambitious. 

Tell me about the name:
Pollapönk has two meanings, Puddle punk and Boypunk.

Söngvakeppnin 2014! How did it all begin?
The song and the lyric was specially written for Eurovision. We wanted to try to make song that was not a typical Eurovision song (if you can say that there is something that you can call a typical Eurovision song) but with a catchy melody. We also wanted to try to write a lyric that had a message that would be a contribution to human rights campaign.

"Enga fordóma" is the title of your song, whats the story behind it? what made you write it?
The song Enga fordóma (No Prejudice) is about a young person who has the habit of stuttering around others and fears to be mocked or bullied because of this. With this song it is Pollapönk’s aim to help eliminate all bullying and prejudice as everyone has the right to live in peace and harmony with the rest of the world.

Describe the song with 4 words:
Catchy, happy, energetic, message. 

Did you start working on the Eurovision performance? What can we expect to see on stage?
There are meetings taking place every day on that matter. One thing's for sure! It will be amazing!

How was the moment you were announced as the winners of Söngakeppnin? how did you celebrate it?
We thought of all the change of personal plans that we had to make the next months. That has been a lot of work because we all have demanding day jobs. We went to celebrate at the Icelandic Tapas bar.

What do you like about Eurovision?
Everything.

Give me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word:
Music: Life
Wind: Machine
Fans: Wind
Pizza: Pepperoni
Iceland: Home
Selfie: So 2013
Cats: Phony
Fear: Nothing
Dream: Live it

What are your plans for 2014?
Eurovision!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there anything you want to say to close the interview?
No Prejudice ! Spread the word.

Thanks to Pollapönk for the interview! Good luck in Eurovision!

Official Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/pollaponk