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Fingers Pointed Inward: 200 (Tveyhundrað)

with Mikael Blak (Bassist and Multi-Instrumentalist; 200, Eivør, Son of Fortune, Clickhaze, Enekk, Yggdrasil, producer at Bunkarin Studio) and Niels Arge Galán (Vocals, Guitar, and Designer in 200).

This is the second part of 3 of our special on faroese contemparay rock and alternative feautring Son of Fortune (part 1), 200 (part 2) and Joe & the Shitboys (part 3). Enjoy!

Italian Version here – traduzione in italiano

I am at Syrcus, order a cider, and warm up by bothering random people. Shortly after, Mikael arrives from Klaksvík, disappointed by the local football team’s loss that cost them a chance to qualify for the Champions League. In a matter of minutes, Niels joins us and greets us in Spanish. Unfortunately, the drummer, Uní Árting, can’t join us this time because his family and his job as a (space!) geologist keep him busy tonight. We down a Fernet, another cider, and another Fernet (we’ll count three more rounds before the night is over).

 

Mikael, Niels and Benjamin

Both Niels and Mikael grew up in the Faroe Islands but come from mixed nationality families. Niels’ father is Spanish, while Mikael has a Danish father and an American mother. This has influenced their musical tastes since childhood.

Mikael grew up playing jazz music with his father and listening to bands like Massive Attack and Pink Floyd. Niels is passionate about the guitar and leaned toward artists like Guns N’ Roses, James Brown, and Kenny Rogers.

Mikael is a professional musician, primarily known as a jazz bassist in the band Yggdrasil and the folk-rock group Eivør (both bands extremily relevant for the music culture of Faroe). Niels, on the other hand, is a graphic designer and has a more naive approach to his music, infusing the punk spirit that characterizes 200. Nils and Uní handle the band’s graphic design, creating the album artworks and T-shirt graphics.

Benjamin from Son of Fortune (in part 1 of this serie) also joins us; he’s the sound engineer for all of 200’s albums. The place we’re in, before it became the Syrcus bar, was the abandoned room where they first started playing.

There’s a special mood in the air.

 

The 200 Project: An Improvisation Turned into Punk

 

How did this project come about?

“We wanted to start again writing songs in Faroese and sing of issues related to our society, in response to the invasion of English-language pop music in the ’90s.

In our first band, Malt, we played a grunge inspired by the American scene, but now we prefer the niche approach we’ve created by singing about political matters in Faroese.

Surprisingly, many of our fans seem to appreciate our lyrics even more than our music, despite the majority of music on these islands being about emotions, existentialism, and nature.”

 

How can I categorize you? A rock, punk or something else?

“The Faroe Islands are too small a country to develop defined music scenes, and there isn’t a true Faroese punk community.

In our tiny country, musical categories don’t make any sense, as every musician plays different genres, and there aren’t well-defined subcultures where specific music is represented. Instead, everyone here creates music as they feel it.

We don’t listen to punk, but we play a primitive and political music that we believe is what punk should be.”

 

 

How did you arrive at this unique sound?

“We recorded our first album as four men in the studio, the three of the band and Benjamin at the console. This was also the case for our subsequent albums, including the latest, Reyvheart.

We want to create a music we feel a connection with and maintain control over what we record from start to finish, avoiding post-production.

In the studio, we always play together, just like in a live concert. We try to capture the energy of the group rather than aiming for perfection. Even during our live performances, we never seek perfection, but rather want to highlight the ‘corkiness’ that only a live show can offer with all its flaws.

So, rehearsals quite little before recording; we prefer to follow each other while playing directly in the studio. This makes our sound spontaneous and not overly polished. For me (Niels), it’s important to record the vocal track many times and improvise variations with each attempt. I want it to be slightly different every time I record the vocal track, and sometimes even the lyrics. That’s why, even in our concerts, you’ll never hear the exact same song. When we get a weird sound or ass-kicking lyrics, we keep and develop them; otherwise, the track is discarded.

(Mikael adds)

In our early concerts, we had a setlist of only 3-4 songs, the rest was improvised following Niels’ interactions with the audience and the instrumental leads from each other. Now that our discography has grown, we plan more thoroughly our shows ”

 

Benjamin notices my puzzled look and comes to the rescue

“This spontaneity is closely tied to the spirit of the Faroe Islands. Here, we have a very ‘mañana’ mentality (‘tomorrow’ in Spanish, a term used to indicate the attitude of ‘we’ll see’). On these islands, you never know what will happen, and planning is difficult. Compared to other nordic peoples, we prefer to live for today by improvising and not planning as much our tomorrow”

 

(The lives of sailors and shepherds were dangerous: getting lost, falling into the sea or from a cliff was common. Same way, the climate is harsh and rapidly changing)

 

 

Viva La Republica! The Mockery of Neo-Colonial Mentality

In their debut album 200%, 200 had already expressed strong political satire against Danish neo-colonialism. The Faroe Islands have long been under Danish control, and even today, they depend on Denmark for matters such as police, constitution and many regulations.

This satire was perfected in “Viva La Republica!” The theme of this album was born from the cover designed by Niels, even before the first song was written. This gave rise to a deeply separatist album with a very distinctive satirical connotation.

In this album, all the features of 200 are present: biting satire, a melodic and smooth, almost bluesy, bassline played by Mikael and Niels’ unpredictable vocals. “Viva La Republica!” also had historical significance in the Faroe Islands: it was released on CD in 2005 and pressed on vinyl in 2006, marking the return of vinyl records in Faroese after over 10 years of CDs.

 

 

The most symbolic song of this album is “Mamma,” which Niels tells us about, as it’s his favorite:

“Every great band has a song called ‘Mamma’ (mother), so we wrote this song addressing our metaphorical ‘Danish mother’ who provides us with money in exchange for our obedient compliance. But, as in all our songs, we don’t point fingers at others but at ourselves. This song isn’t about Denmark itself but rather the persistent neo-colonial mentality that many still have in the Faroe Islands.

When writing it, we drew inspiration from the movie ‘Pulp Fiction,’ specifically from the character of the ‘Sado-Gimp’ (sadomasochistic slave) who is brought out of the basement by Marcellus Wallace’s rapist. Completely submitted to his role, the ‘Gimp’ would do anything just to get some fresh air and fun. This represents those people in the Faroe Islands who are mentally subservient to Danish colonialism: they do everything the masters want, and in return, they ask only for a little ‘fresh air’ now and then. Many political organizations are similar; they have no ideas of their own and just wait to receive instructions from ‘Mamma’.

To visualize it, during our first three tours, we had a Faroese actor in a latex suit on stage, and during this song, we would ‘command’ him”.

 

This element blends well with the oversized middle finger, over two meters tall, welded by Mikael’s brother, which they still bring on stage during their performances at the G!-Festival, the main festival in the Faroe Islands.

 

 

 

Mikael further explains about the aim of their satire

“The real goal of each of our songs is not to criticize Denmark, but rather to help make the Faroe Islands a more modern and European country. Even in our separatism, we don’t want to remain isolated but want to sit with Europe and the Nordic countries, along with Denmark, so that we can independently collaborate with our neighbors such as Scotland, Iceland, Ireland and Norway”

Opening the vinyl gatefold reveals a large photo of the band, but the most interesting detail is the van in the background: a big diesel truck they used for their first tours.

 

 

The inner cover of the album features a photo of Niels’ guitar with a sticker introducing the album’s second most iconic song, “MF666“. A sticker reads “Miðflokkurin Tórshavn 666 H fyri Helviti” (Miðflokkurin in Tórshavn 666 votes for hell).

Miðflokkurin is the Christian conservative party, and in 2004, in Tórshavn, they received 666 votes. Paradoxically, they too are separatists, but standing for a more traditional and nationalist perspective.

 

 

 

“Reyvheart” and the friends of Miðflokkurín

Each 200 album has a distinctive sound, but the new “Reyvheart” (the title is nonsensical, as it is written seems to resemble “brave heart” but the way it is pronounced in Faroese sound like “Hard Ass” which means “fucking hard”) is probably the most special, along with “Reytt Pass” Released after about a 5-year hiatus, Reyvheart represents a return to the rock sounds of the ’70s, with influences from bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and a touch of thrash.

 

 

The opening track, “Ilt í fyrstani” is a slow and captivating doom song, the voice of Niels is smooth and controlled to embrace the listeners.

“La Familja” maintains a doom cadence, but Niels’ vocal skills manage to turn it into punk-rock a la Clash, then into rock’n’roll, and finally into heavy metal. The climax is the announcement through a “megaphone” followed by a liturgical choir and distorted guitar, creating an undefinable mix.

“Leðufhúsið” was chosen as a single and is one of Niels’ favorites: “They’ve compared the sounds of our songs to Guns N’ Roses, Motörhead, and much more; with this song, we offered our ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ groove”, also this trick landed perfectly for me.

With “Norðurtysk Pornokiosk” the 200 return to their roots, a fast punk piece to send the message: “Denmark has a privileged position in NATO, thanks to the territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands; otherwise, it would just be the porn kiosk of northern Germany”

To top it off, there’s the gospel/mockery (and B-side of the single) “Seinasta Heilsanin“:

“A big ‘Fuck You’ dedicated to Miðflokkurin, we played it like a gospel so that even they can listen to it and enjoy it!”

 

 

I’m a bit perplexed by their attitude toward their own community, Mikael explains

“The Faroe Islands are a small country, everything is visible on the surface, there’s no room to hide. If you criticize someone, sooner or later, you’ll meet them in the supermarket line. Here, you can’t speak and then disappear; as kids, we hated this feeling, but over time, we discovered the beauty of it: you can’t remain anonymous”

Benjamin comment on this: “This is also positive in a way, if you feel down and close yourself at home, your friends will notice and come to help you out”

 

So, let’s talk about Miðflokkurin!

“We’ve always had a soft spot for Miðflokkurin, our fundamentalist Christian party. In a way, the homophobic, traditionalist, and religious culture of these islands is a remnant of the post-colonial mentality to us.

Our main issue with Miðflokkurin is the divide between their religious fundamentalism and the Faroese population. They are a small minority that gathers few votes, but they are very powerful and vocal. Many laws and modernization initiatives are blocked by their powerful veto.”

 

Mikael, can you recommend some of your favorite songs regarding this?

“Kristin Dómur” (Reytt Pass, 2016) titled that means both “Christianity” and “Judgment.” You can do whatever you want: drink, beat your wife, drive recklessly, commit fraud… but there are only two things you can’t do: be gay or Muslim. When we play this song or others with the same theme, Niels introduces it by dedicating it to the biggest homophobe in the Faroe Islands, who is in fact gay!

The other song, which is also my favorite, is “Heini Hatar” (Reytt Pass, 2016). He’s the best guy in the world: always kind, helpful and caring, always goes to church, and loves everyone… but he deeply hates gays and Muslims. When he manages to meet one online, from the safety of his room, he becomes a monster. I find this song very descriptive of the hypocritical behavior of many people”

 

 

We talked for a long time and toasted a lot. Mikael had to go back to his family. We had one last round of cider and Fernet with Niels and Benjamin before I stumbled my way back home. In the hostel, I found my roommates still awake, drinking. This alchoolic night will last until morning.

 

 

 

 

 

In the other parts:

Part 1:

The Faroe Islands between Rock and Melancholy: Son of Fortune

with Benjamin Petersen (Vocals and Guitar; Son Of Fortune, Svartmálm, Annika Hoydal, producer at Bunkarin Studio).

Part 3:

Be Fucking Nice!: Joe and The Shitboys

with Joe (Friði Djurhuus – Vocals, event management at TUTL record label), “Ziggy Shit” (Sigmund Zachariassen – Guitar), “Hollie Shit” (Sjúrður E. Samuelsen – Bass), and “Jhonny Shit” (Jónsvein Mikkelsen – Drums), with the participation of Maria Mercedes Lindenskov (Marbles Lost, producer).

 

Acknowledgment

Thanks to and unknown girl called Inga for some tips while at Syrcus, and the hostel mates for glorious hungover. A special thanks to Annika Av Kák Bech for consulting me while writing this article and Davide Bonavida for tips and help with the media.