Quarashi (kwa-ra´-she) is:
Sölvi Blondal (sewl´-vee), 26, Producer, drums.
Hössi Olafsson (huh´-see), 23, Lead Vocals.
Steini "Stoney"
Fjelsted ("stain´-ee" "fyel´-stead"), 25, Vocals.
Omar Swarez (
Omar Örn Hauksson is his real name; Swarez was taken from
Scarface), 26, Vocals.
Quarashi is originally from
Iceland. Sölvi and Omar have been friends since childhood. Their
communist parents brought them to a protest of the American millitary base in Iceland, where they first met. Sölvi and Fjelsted met while performing judge-ordered community service at a
Reykjavik skate park (reasons for this community service are unknown). After playing together in a local punk rock band called
2001 and feeling both dissatisfaction and
a need to experiment, they founded Quarashi in 1996. Most of their songs are in
English, but a
small minorty are in
Icelandic. Quarashi means "
Supernatural" and was also Fjelsted's childhood nickname.
Quarashi's style is undoubtedly unique. It seems to be a composition of various
rap,
punk rock, and
hard rock elements. If you like the
Beastie Boys or
Public Enemy, you may like Quarashi. Hössi describes their style best: "The original point of the band was mixing British break beats and American
hip-hop together. It's as if
Chemical Brothers and the
Prodigy rumbled with
Cypress Hill and
Public Enemy."
Quarashi produced their first two albums in
Iceland and started playing in the US while working on their third. Quarashi played its first US show at
Brownie's club in
New York City. During the show, they blew up a
stage monitor and nearly caused a riot.
Albums:
Singles/EPs/Promos:
Switchstance was the first recording made under the Quarashi name. It is extremely rare. Only 500 copies were created, and these copies sold out within one week. Potentially a valuable item.
Xeneizes was their second album, and was
certified gold in Iceland. The disc contains multiple
hidden tracks and music video for the track "
Surreal Rhyme."
Their third album,
Jinx, shows a wide variety of styles and contains multiple
music videos as well as a biography. This was the first album to be released in the US.
Written by
Sölvi Blondal and
Hössi Olafsson,
Krisnihald undir jökli is an instrumental soundtrack to a play of the same name by
Halldór Laxness. It is not considered a full Quarashi production, but it is included here because of Blondal's and Olafsson's work on the soundtrack.
(Albums/Lyrics/Band Member Info will be noded as I get around to it)
Sources: http://www.quarashi.net , http://blackbox.sphosting.com/quarashi/;