Vikivaki

From what little info I can gather these guys first came together in Götenburg, Sweden in 1973.  Iceland-born brothers Jón-Erik Gíslason (Drums) and Hans Gíslason then got together with Swedes Tommy Eriksson (Bass) and Christer Modin (Guitar), recorded, self-financed and released indie single (limited to 2.000 copies) "Manual Sister Mary"/"Sweet Little Rock 'N Roll" (Plump Productions, PS 004).



A year later, Icelander Steinar Árnason had replaced Tommy Eriksson on bass and the quartet recorded debut album "Oldsmobile", which was then released on Polydor Sweden (#2462 149).
Fast forward a couple of years and a third Gíslason brother Gunnar (Guitar, vocals) had been drafted in, in place of Christer Modin, and Kenny Olsson had replaced Tommy Eriksson on bass, and Vikivaki's best-known work, the album "Cruising", was releasead via CBS Europe (# 82009) in 1977. 

Produced by occasional ABBA collaborator and an all-around Swedish pop legend Claes af Geijerstam, "Cruising" is an ambitious piece of work taking in various music styles, including disco-lite (Sample lyric: "K.C.& the Sunshine Band, Tina Charles and George McCrae.  They turn you on and up the way you want to, and it's all you care to play"), Status Quo-esqe rock and American sounding soft rock.  Meanwhile, image-wise at least, Teen Pop seems to have been the order of the day.  Hilarious 7" promo sampler courtesy of CBS Sweden has to be heard to be believed (scroll down).

"Crazy Daisy" became a minor hit in Sweden, while "Soulstar" caused ripples elsewhere in Europe.  However, major success eluded Vikivaki and the CBS deal promptly expired.

 

Seemingly, by 1979, Vikivaki was down to the trio of the Gíslason brothers and, as such, recorded released their final single in Sweden (and, presumably, in Swedish) only: "Motorcykel"/"Tokyo" (Bohus # BGS 532).

Around that time, I read somewhere that Vikivaki had changed its name to Iceland.  However, then the trail goes cold...(no pun intended :-)

As always, any and all further info would be greatly appreciated.

My appreciation to Musikon.se. 

   

 

Update, November 9th 2015.

 

Iceland doesn't seem to have been as inactive as I previously thought.  By the very early '80s the band consisted of no less than four Gislason brothers: Jon, Gunnar, Hans, and newcomer Björn.  And as such, they issued at least two Sweden-only albums, in 1980 and '82, and a handful of singles well into the 1990's!

 



 

Iceland discography:

 

LP's:

 

"On the Rocks" (1980)

"Breaking the Ice" (1982)

"Funky Street" (1993)

 

Singles:

 

"Breaking the Ice"/"Chicago" (1982)

"Masquerade"/"Movin' On" (1983)

"Cold as Ice"/"Fantasy" (1986)

"Blue City"/"Back on the Track" (1987)

"Caroline"/"Got My Eyes on You" (1989)

"Breaking the Ice"/"Money Talks"/"Lean on Me" (1994) CD single.