Sólstafir - Ótta Tour 2016

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about the project

After reading that Sólstafir would be doing a European tour performing their Ótta album in its entirety for the first time, accompanied by live strings and piano (featuring members of Hexvessel and The Ocean, and Martin Curtis-Powell), I approached the band to pitch an idea for a more theatrical, cinematic show than what we'd done in the past. After working together on their 2015 headline tour of the US, I knew that we would be on the same page — and that we needed to do something special to enhance this string of shows that would close out the Ótta era for Sólstafir.

filming & pre-production

Coming off the end of a European headline and festival run with Death (DTA), I flew to Reykjavík to begin work on the Ótta tour. I spent two weeks driving, hiking, and climbing with the band through every cave, waterfall, and lava field we could get to in the time we had.

During this time, I was also asked to shoot some exclusive rehearsal footage for Metal Hammer magazine.

Hrafninn Flýgur - intro & intermission

Sólstafir have a long history with the classic Icelandic film Hrafninn Flýgur and an equally long friendship with its director, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. I cut an intro video from Hrafninn Flýgur to accompany the band's new intro music. During the intermission, we played the opening 15 minutes of the film, featuring the black-sand beaches of Iceland that are so prominent in Sólstafir's lyrics and artwork.

Intro film edited from Hrafninn Flýgur (1985) set to Sólstafir's new intro music.

execution

On tour I ran both lighting and video using Chamsys and Resolume Arena. This gave me the ability to bring our entire show with us no matter our travel situation or venue. It also allowed me to remain flexible and update our video content throughout the tour.