Loki and the Fashion Bandits is what you get when a tiny hope mixes with the spice of reality. When I came to Iceland, with Sarah my guitar, I hoped that I might be able to jump into the awesome music scene there. Chance meetings can lead you about anywhere, and before I knew it, I was practicing with my Icelandic Band.

I have a tendency of not being on planes that are supposed to take me back to where I came from. So it was with Iceland. I’ve already written about how I met Baron. In addition to being an illustrator to the children’s book (Puffin Muffins people, get some!) I am writing with Candice of Candice Does The World, Baron, with his bass playing friend Thorburger and I, started a band called “Loki and the Fashion Bandits.”

I’ve been making a lot of noise with instruments for the last decade, but have not played in a band since, well, high school. So, yes, a part of me associates starting a band with not something that a 28-year-old should be doing. But then I realize that this perspective is generally fostered by people in “professional” jobs that tend to be net losses for both sanity and happiness. So, the starting of the band I’m going to have to file under things I love that make me happy.

So now I have a band in Iceland, which means, I guess I have to come back soon. We played three shows in my three weeks in Reykjavik, one of which being an official off-venue joint of the Iceland Airwaves Music festival. The following tracks are a sampling from our last show at Olsmadjan Bar. You want to know a secret? When in Iceland, drink here. In a land of ridiculously expensive beer, this bar has the CHEAPEST beer of them all, clocking in at under $5 a pint. Beer and shot combo? Less than $10. Seriously, ask anyone, ask the elves, you cannot score a better deal. When does happy hour end? Never. It’s an all-day all-night dedication to cheap beer.

Photos compliments of Christine Björg Morançais. If there was a contest, she might win being the coolest girl in all of Iceland. Thanks roommate. After a crazy night out, she got me to the bus station driving like a stunt devil from Fast and Furious, where I sobered up on the bus in order to make my plane, and fall asleep before for the three hours it took to sleep off my post show hangover and get my ass to Paris. I’ll be throwing the rest of the tracks on the show soon. Right now I gotta catch my last sunset in Amsterdam.