Í Svörtum Fötum

冰岛乐队。成员：Jónsi on vocals, Einar on piano, Áki on bass, Hrafnkell on guitar, Páll on drums.
Í svörtum fötum (Men In Black) is one of the few bands where none of the founding members are still in the band. In the four years the band has existed the lead singer, guitar-, bass- and keyboard players have all been replaced once, the drummer has been replaced twice, as has the name of the band and its musical direction.
In the spring of 1998 the plan was to form an unplugged band and the inspiration came from artists like Sade, Toto, Annie Lennox and others. Soon the current band members started joining the band, Áki was first then came Einar and in that form the band performed once calling themselves Gullfiskarnir (The Goldfish). Then the guitar player was replaced by Hrafnkell Pálmarsson. When lead singer Þóra had to quit the band due to childbirth in the fall of 1998 a 21 year old by the name of Jón Jósep was called in for an audition. He managed to knock everyone off their feet with his exuberance and powerful voice and was hired on the spot. The band started to rehearse with vigour, playing black soul in the style of James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Sam and Dave and Aretha Franklin. The soul and fun band Í svörtum fötum had finally become a reality and had their first concert in Kaffi Reykjavík on January 1st 1999. In those days the band’s dress code was simple: White shirt, black tie, well polished black leather shoes and a black suit. The name of the band is lead singer Jónsi’s idea who had always wanted to form a funk band by the name Funk in Black Clothes. They were well received wherever they went and the band’s reputation grew steadily.
In December that year they decided to release the album Verkefni 1 (Project 1). Recording, mixing and producing took ten days and the quality of the album is in accordance with that. The band’s style has changed a lot since 1999. The ties and white shirts have been replaced by different coloured T-shirts. The soul music has made way for popular cover songs and original songs. The single Nakinn (Naked) was released in April 2001 and was the band’s first song that became widely popular, reaching number 2 on the Icelandic Pop Chart.
In September 2001 band history was made when Í svörtum fötum signed a record deal with Skífan for 4 albums. In December 2001 the band released their first Christmas song Jólin eru að koma (Christmas is coming) on a record with the same name.
In 2002 Í svörtum fötum became established as one of the most popular bands in Iceland. In the summer they recorded their first bona fide, eponymous album.
In 2003 the band intends to release another album, tour the country and do many other things that cannot be disclosed at this moment in time.