The magmatic rock of the Icelanders Kaleo has conquered the world
“Who?!”. This is the first reaction when the name of the kaleo is pronounced around. It probably won’t even say anything to you. Yet you will surely have listened to their “Way Down We Go”, which on Spotify has come to overcome the billion listening worldwide and which is one of the reasons – if not the main reason – for which many have purchased the ticket for the Italian band’s only Italian tour date, tonight at the Cavea of the Music Park in Rome. The song – don’t worry: there will be in the lineup – it is from 2015: it was one of those contained in the Icelandic group’s debut album, “A/B”, forty -two minutes and seventeen seconds of dense blues rock produced by Mike Crossey, already alongside Arctic Monkeys, 1975, Twenty One Pilots, Wolf Alice.
In addition to “Way Down We Go” there was also “All the Pretty Girls”, the song with which Jökull Júlíusson (voice and guitar), David Antonsson (percussion), Daniel Kristjansson (bass) and Rubin Pollock (guitar), friends from the elementary school, conquered the attention of the insiders also outside Iceland, signing a contract with the contract with the contract with the contract with the contract with the contract with the contract with the contract with the contract Atlantic Records – part of the Warner group – and collecting hosted on the stages of the most prestigious world festivals, starting from the South by Southwest of Austin, where they earned the title of one of the “new 40 bands to listen to”. But it was precisely “Way Down We Go” to catapult the kaleo – by the way: the name is a word that the Hawaiian language means “the voice” – at the top of the world rankings, allowing the Reykjavík group to conquer global popularity: including first in the FIFA16 soundtrack, among the most popular football video games worldwide, and then in the “Logan” film, The song – accompanied by a video clip shot in the magmatic chamber of the Icelandic Volcano Sleeping Thrihnukagigur – conquered the first place of Billboard’s alternative Songs and Rock Airplay.
From then on, a little bit of everything happened, in the career of the kaleo: with “No Good” in 2016 they obtained a nomination at the Grammy Awards as “Best Rock Performance”, in 2017 the Rolling Stones called them to open the concert in Hamburg who opened the “No Filter Tour” and seven years later JJ – It is the nickname of the frontman – and I did the bis when Mick Jagger and Comrades attracted them to open their show in Philadelphia. And then the over 60 gold and platinum records won internationally, the countless all sold out headlines shows, festivals participation such as Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
In Italy their popularity exploded when the same “Way Down We Go” was chosen as the soundtrack of the spot of a well -known perfume. Last year the Kaleo also obtained permission to perform in a special performance on the Belvedere terrace of the Palatine, in Rome, with the Colosseum behind him, taking everything back for a film – with directed by the Italian Giorgio Testi and the production of Vertigo Live, already behind the films of the concerts of Billy Idol – entitled “Kaleo: Live at the Colosseum”. The show involved 250 fans who arrived from all over the world, together with friends and relatives of the band members: to attend the very exclusive show of the band and to see their name appeared in the titles of the film, expected already last summer but still in progress, the fans spent 2,999 pounds, equal to 3,505 euros. “Wait for a film of epic proportions,” they promise them.
