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Introducing: The Vintage Caravan

Interview with Óskar Logi, frontman of Icelandic heavy rock trio.

The Vintage Caravan frontman Óskar Logi

The Vintage Caravan frontman Óskar Logi

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Who are you and what is your role in the band?
“I am Óskar Logi, guitarist, singer, songwriter, redhead, lyricist, maker of weird faces.”

Describe your sound in five words…
“Powerful, heavy prog blues rock, or… turtle loving Chewbacca salsa sauce.”

How did the band get together?
“I was 11 and wanted to form a group, so I formed one with my friends at school, it was always a rock ‘n’ roll trio. My friend called Halldór played guitar at first – two guitars and drums, not a great sounding period in our history haha! – then quickly switched to bass. Guðjón who joined one year later when we were 12 just left the band earlier this year, nearly a decade after joining.”

Tell us about the equipment that you use…
“I use Orn custom guitars, by an Icelandic guitar maker called Gunnar Örn. I am using a T-style guitar made by him, with a Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker in the neck position, such a great guitar. Then I have a custom guitar from Gunnar, with a very peculiar looking body, two Dominger humbuckers, ebony fingerboard, Fender scale. It’s a really sweet sounding guitar. I use them because they are fantastic guitars, and I like the idea of using Icelandic gear. In the studio I use a lot of different guitars, Gibson Les Pauls, Gibson Firebird VII, a Danelectro double-neck and more.

The Vintage Caravan frontman Óskar Logi
The Vintage Caravan frontman Óskar Logi

“In the pedal department, I am using a PolyTune, Fulltone OCD, a standard Cry Baby (it’s the best wah I’ve tried out), Fulltone Octafuzz, Fulltone Deja Vibe, Boss RE-Space Echo (love that pedal), Boss RV-5 Reverb and an MXR Phase 90. I normally use the overdrive from the amp and just use the pedals for ‘decoration’. My pedalboard used to include a lot more of pedals, but I cut down a bit.

“Now in the amp department, live I use different stuff, mainly my custom Verellen Loucks, JCM800s and some Oranges. But my favourite amps are my old Marshalls that I use in the studio and live in Iceland: a Marshall Super Tremolo Plexi 100-watt from 1969 and my Marshall Tremolo 50 from 1969. I am thinking about buying a great replica, maybe a Metropoulos amp.”

Where did you record the new album?
“We set up a studio in an old ballroom out in the middle of nowhere in Iceland, because of the wonderful acoustics in there, the drums sounded so great and also because of the isolation. I didn’t leave the building for the two-and-a-half weeks we spent there recording. We had the same producer as on our previous album, Voyage, Axel ‘Flex’ Árnason. We picked him again because he has such a great vision on the songs and feel for creating a great soundscape, also he is one of our best friends.

“I have never had as much fun recording an album, we worked really hard, from 9:00 am to like 3:00 am every day. A lot of inside jokes, really fun. The energy was really good, we went in the studio with the mind-set of capturing a performance, not just going in and playing the song the way it ‘should be’, improvising and capturing the band still warm after the crazy touring in 2014. I think Arrival is a total success for us personally, we are so happy with it.”

Who are your biggest guitar influences?
“Well, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix have always been my favourites (cliché answer I know haha!). Jimmy Page got me into playing guitar and buying a Les Paul, Hendrix is a force of nature, unbelievable. Some of my other favourites are Paul Kossoff, Gary Green from Gentle Giant, Josh Homme, Alex Lifeson, Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore.”

What’s been your most Spinal Tap moment to date?
“Hahah, I frequently get kinda lost backstage, we are still waiting for our ‘Stonehenge’ moment… one day… one day!”

Where can we hear more from you?
Please head to our Facebook page where we have all of our news and updates. I recommend checking out our new album Arrival [out 18 May] thank you for reading this interview!”

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