DJ Interviews: Kanilrós

 Here's my ubterview with musician   Kanilrós as he shared  his musicial beginngs

How'd you get started in music?

Initially I started learning piano at the local music school. Don't remember how old I was, but probably 7 or 8. Then one time when I was supposed to play at a school concert, I showed up ready to play, but my name was never announced. Turns out my teacher forgot to add me to the list. This annoyed me so much I quit.

A little later, I may have been around 10 - 12 years old, but don't quite remember, my younger brother got a mini classical guitar as a present. He didn't show much interest in it, but I ended up picking it up. My father taught me 3 chords or so and as soon as I was able to switch seamlessly between them, I started writing songs. Don't know where they came from, I wasn't trying to emulate anything in particular, the music just started forming in my head and hasn't stopped since.

I became obsessed with the guitar and started playing it vigorously. Some of my friends were already learning the instrument at that same local music school and I caught up to them pretty quickly. It was clear both to me and my parents that I needed to do this, so as soon as I could (when the next semester started), I signed up there. I had developed an interest in the bass, but was told it would be best to start on guitar, which I did. Turns out it suited me well, so I never switched to bass (it wasn't until recently when I started my solo project that I started playing the bass).

Around that time I got my first electric guitar and along with my guitar studies, I started writing more and more music and lyrics. On 11 January 1994, still months away from my 13th birthday I started my first "band". It was my friend on vocals and me on guitar and piano, but it soon evolved into a full rock band. Since then I've been writing music and playing with underground rock bands. The first album I was a part of (with my band at the time Kanis) was released in 2003 and my current band Thingtak released an album in 2006. We're not very active these days and have been working on our follow up album on and off ever since. It will be released one day!

It wasn't until around my 40th birthday I started toying with the idea of releasing music as a solo artist. I started recording my compositions in the BandLab browser interface and releasing them there, but in 2023 I decided to adopt the artist name Kanilrós (which is the Icelandic word for cinnamon rose) and that year I released 3 albums. Since then I've been working on a lot of collabs with other artists I've met on the X platform (which was still called Twitter when I joined in June 2023), mainly through the Only the Host community which you should look up, some amazing artists there!

Who are your inspirations or influences?

I don't really have a lot of direct influences in my music as it primarily comes from within. But of course the music I listen to will have some indirect influence. Since I was a child, even before I started playing guitar, Queen has been my main obsession. I'm not sure I'd say they inspired me to make music, I think I would have done that no matter what. I also wouldn't say my music sounds anything like Queen, but there may be a few references here and there, albeit mostly unintentional. When I was around 20 years old, System of a Down was making it big and they definitely had an impact on me. 

Most of my life I've primarily listened to rock and metal, guitar music really. But lately this has been changing and I've become more open to new experiences. I even started listening to hip hop after getting to know some fantastic hip hop artists in the X community. If any artists are influencing me now, I'd say they're mostly artists I've found there. Most of them are not very well known, which is a shame. So much talent out there.

What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

I don't think I'm in any place to give advice and I don't know why they would want it from me, but in my opinion the most important thing is to have fun and not to overthink things. Also just make the music you want to make, don't worry so much about what other people will think of it.

How do you set yourself apart from other bands or singers?

I'm not sure I do, at least I don't think about it. I don't think there is anything new about my music I can put my finger on. At least not any of the components of it, but I also don't know anyone who has the same combination. Maybe that's one thing, my music is all over the place style and genre wise. That's the way I like it. I'd never want to be constricted to a certain type of music. Whatever pops up in my head, that's what I'll make.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

Yes! I'm constantly working on new music and my favourite way of releasing it is the album format (even if only digitally). I've been collaborating with a lot of artists lately and a lot of those tracks are being released in 2024. I also have a few very exciting projects going I'll reveal later. As for gigs, I haven't played live as Kanilrós yet, but I will. I've been rehearsing some material with my mates and also preparing to do shows on my own. It is not a priority at the moment for me, but I've played a lot of gigs in my time with my bands and being on stage is definitely where I shine my brightest.