[CULT TALK] Blaque Chris (Briefly) Interviews Elias Bender Rønnenfelt of Iceage

 

(all photos by Renate Winter)

Elias Bender Rønnenfelt of Danish band Iceage has one of those faces that makes you intensely aware of your own mortality. It’s the kind of face that is so otherworldly and pointed in its beauty that you (I) can’t look at it because it gives you (me) far too much anxiety. So instead I had conduct the “interview” with Rønnenfelt while I recorded and looked down at my shoes. It was brief, because while Rønnenfelt’s English may have increased dramatically since the band’s 2011 first release New Brigade (as has his affinity for melancholy country ballads and poetic, pleading lyrics like “How many attempts will it take to/Bloom in splendorous foul/Now I’m so tender and wingless”), his tolerance for answering the meandering questions of drunken “press” has not.

We caught Elias just after Iceage’s captivating performance at Fun Fun Fun fest, on their recent tour in support of the excellent new album Plowing Into The Field Of Love:

Blaque Chris: So ummm I just watched your set, and it was fucking sick. How did you guys all meet?

(Long pause)

Elias: Why are you doing this?

BC: Because I’m um…drunk, as fuck. And I’m contributing.

Elias: Find a better festival joke…thing.

Yasi: Why don’t you ask BC a question?

BC: Yeah! You interview me.

Elias: What’s it really like being Blaque Chris?

BC: It’s a fucking nightmare!

Elias: (Laughs)

BC: I’m wasted all the time, I wake up with bruises constantly, that I don’t know where they came from…

Elias: Is it ever going to stop?

BC: Only when I die. Which will hopefully be soon.

Yasi: Is Blaque Chris famous in Copenhagen?

Elias: Kinda. Pretty big yeah.

BC: I’m a big deal bro.

Elias: How does it feel to be a big deal?

BC: I don’t know man, I’m just in pain. I’m hurt bro.

Yasi: What’s your favorite Ice Age related memory, BC?

BC: We don’t talk about those things out loud. Off the record. Right?

Elias: Ummm…I don’t know man. I’m done with this interview.

 

You can pick up Iceage’s newest album from Matador Records. You can see more of Renate Winter’s beautiful photos on her website. And should you so desire, you can find more of Blaque Chris’ brilliant musings on .