Niceland

Niceland, formerly Iceland, was a heavy metal Icelandic group established in 1983 by Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke and the Icelandic band Þeyr.

Origins

In 1982 Jaz Coleman, the leading vocalist of Killing Joke, moved to Iceland next to his guitarist Kevin 'Geordie' Walker in pursuit of resurrecting the Icelandic rock scene. There, they contacted some musicians and started playing with Þeyr, which was an accomplished New Wave group not only in Iceland, but in Scandinavia as well.
By 1982 Þeyr's lineup consisted of singer Magnús Guðmundsson, guitarists Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson and Þorsteinn Magnússon, bassist Hilmar Örn Agnarsson, and drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson.

However, Þorsteinn Magnússon left the band to begin his own solo project, Stanya, soon releasing an album titled Líf. Singer Magnús took his place in the group.

The establishment of Niceland

In 1983, Þeyr and Jaz Coleman formed a group called Iceland, but later the name was changed to Niceland by guitarist Guðlaugur Óttarsson.
Niceland rehearsed for a few weeks and after creating five songs they went to Hljóðriti studios and recorded only three. The group was dissolved after the recording sessions because Jaz had problems with alcohol and the band decided to write their own songs. Jaz joined guitarist Árni Kristjánsson and drummer Þórarinn Kristjánsson from the band Vonbrigði and played for a while until he reassembled Killing Joke with bassist Birgir Mogensen, and guitarists Guðlaugur and Geordie. They played for about two months, and then Jaz returned to Great Britain to reestablish Killing Joke.

Þorsteinn Magnússon returned to Þeyr and toured Scandinavia, but Þeyr broke up in July 1983 and its members followed different paths. The three tracks recorded by Niceland have remained as unpublished material up to present times.

Recordings

• “Catalyst” (04:07)
• “Guess Again” (04:53)
• “Take What’s Mine” (03:50)

External links

• Official site of Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson
• Page of G. K. Óttarsson at MySpace.com
• Official site of Sigtryggur Baldursson
• Page about Þeyr
• Page about Þeyr at Tónlist.com (in Icelandic)
• Intravenous.de, page about Icelandic music. It features a section about Þeyr
• Official site of Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson
• Official website of Killing Joke