If there’s one thing the world needs right now, it’s another queer rock band. GayIceland’s Yaz Duncan sits down with rock band, DauÐnafn, and talks about forming a queer creative space where politics and personal self expression collide.
GayIceland: “DauÐnafn, that ‘s a great band name! Can you explain why you chose it and what it means?”
Mara: “We wanted a trans related band name and we ended on Deadname, which is a term used for trans people’s given name before they change it to what fits their gender. Then we just played around with translating it to Icelandic and DauÐnafn just sounded really cool so we stuck with that.”
GayIceland: “Let’s introduce the band – what do each of you do in the band and who are you?”
Bjarki: “My name is Bjarki and I sing and write all the lyrics for our songs and I play guitar, or try my best.”
Salka: “I’m Salka, I’m the band’s drummer/skin pounder.”
Emma: “I’m Emma, bass player and head of the bottom department.”
Mara: “My name is Mara, I play lead guitar and write most of our riffs and complicated nerdy stuff.”
GayIceland: “How long has the band been together and how did you form the band?”
Salka: “We started about a year ago, I formed the band with a person called Solla and Bjarki joined shortly after. Solla ended up never showing up to practice so we started looking for another bass player. After that I heard from a mutual friend that Mara was playing guitar and she joined the band.”
Mara: “It really was a string of incredible coincidences that brought both Emma and I to the band, but I’m really glad we did.”
“With the backlash the community has faced recently and the voices that want to erase us keep getting louder it is important to show that we trans people exist and are not going anywhere.”
GayIceland: “All your band members are trans – how do you think that influences your music and performances?”
Salka: “Yes, we are all transgender. The idea when starting the band was to create a queer creative space after working almost only with men in music for years. The vibes are different and we can relate to different things because of our experiences as trans people.”
Bjarki: “I definitely feel more comfortable being open and vulnerable while creating music with other queer people where I feel safe and accepted.”
GayIceland: “What can people expect when they come to a show?”
Bjarki: “Good vibes and a lot of queer people. We also have a wide range of music on our sets from cheesy love songs to aggressive punk.”
Salka: “We also have a higher ratio of queer people in our audience than a lot of bands made up of cis straight guys.”
GayIceland: “How political is your music? Do you think it’s important in the current climate?”
Salka: “The music is maybe more personal than political. With the backlash the community has faced recently and the voices that want to erase us keep getting louder it is important to show that we trans people exist and are not going anywhere.”
Bjarki: “I increasingly feel like my existence is a political statement. Even if we aren’t trying to make a political statement just existing and being visible as trans people creates a political discussion.”
GayIceland: “What have you got planned for the near future? Will you be touring?”
Salka: “Maybe not touring but definitely some local gigs this summer and hopefully some abroad. We are in the starting phase of recording.”
GayIceland: “Bjarki, you write the songs, where do you take your inspiration from?”
Bjarki: “Yes I write all the lyrics and I had some rough demos of two songs when we first started but from there we’ve made all the songs together, a lot happens by just jamming out and going by the feel. I think we each have things we’re good at contributing equally to the music.”
Emma: “Bjarki comes with the basic structure and Mara and I make things way more complicated than they have to be.”
Mara: “We’re kind of navigating between the simple and complex to move towards our own sound and musical identity. It’s a lot of back and forth where we each bring our own backgrounds and musical tastes to the table, and then all work together in planning out our song structures.”
“Even if we aren’t trying to make a political statement just existing and being visible as trans people creates a political discussion.”
GayIceland: “What has the reception from audiences been like so far? The rock world is very male dominated – how does your band make its way through that?”
Salka: “The reception has been good, some trans people have been hyped to see us live, it is not very common to see an all trans band. We have been playing mostly with female bands like Boob Sweat Gang and Sóðaskapur.”
Bjarki: “We haven’t noticed any prejudice so far based on us being trans, if anything standing out may have helped us more than not.”
GayIceland: “What would you say to trans and non binary folks who want to start a band?”
Everyone: “Do it, come gig with us!”
Bjarki: “Don’t be afraid to take up space in the music world.”