MH-fr : We know you as a producer of some tracks of the new morten harket solo album "Letter from Egypt". But what is your professional background?

Petur Jonsson : First of all, to set the record straight, and in an honest attempt not to hog undeserved credit, it has to be said that me and my partner, Addi 800, worked on finishing touches of a production already completed by Kjetil Bjerkestrand and Morten himself. I hope those who worked on the project (the only people who will ever know the difference between 'before' and 'after') feel that we have contributed to make the album even better than it was, but I would like to emphasize that our roll was limited to enhance and better what was already very solid work.

Back to the original question:
My primary background is in music. I started studying music at the tender age of ten. While friends would play football and mess around, I was carrying classical guitars around Reykjavik from class to class.
Not really rewarding socially, but I loved it and approached my guitar playing with passion.

As a result I started playing professionally and touring around the small towns in Iceland when I was only seventeen. I managed to stay away from the almost obvious consequences of that lifestyle (in other words, stayed mostly away from booze), but at the age of 20 I was already tired of playing old hits for stupidly drunk people for - let's face it - not so much money.

So I started working on more obscure projects, closed myself inside my room and picked up new tunings and techniques for my guitar. Put together bands that played niche music (funk-fusion as one example) but never released stuff and rarely performed. I guess you could say it was the rawest form of making music for the music itself.
Commercial success didn't even occur to us. We played for the fun of it, and to be brutally honest, not very many people would have enjoyed what we were doing.

Then I fell in love with cinema. From dreaming of making music to films, which I had from an early age, came the dream to make films myself. I was already heavily into photography and writing, and it seemed a logical evolutionary step to get involved with a medium that encompaseed all my passions.

I moved to Italy, went to film school, and all but forgot music.
Seriously, I can almost say that for seven years, I did rarely touch my instruments, which as an afterthought is almost scary, considering the time and passion I had invested in music.

I am a nerd. I decided to learn everything about filmmaking. So I did.
When I came back to Iceland, it was film all the way, I started my own production company with a friend, and we worked like maniacs on building it up, mostly focusing on directing commercial work.

But music doesn't leave you alone, I continued doing small studio sessions, play at parties and events with my friends and in some less active bands.

Then came the time when I decided that I wanted to get back to making music after all those years. Now I had to learn new things, apply my experience as a film producer and director to the discipline of producing music, and fill up gaps of knowledge that I was missing to be able to work with the best.

I quietly sold my film production company and spent all my available time studying and learning the things I needed to add to my knowledge.
I started playing actively in bands again, and tried to prepare as well as I could for this change. I wanted to be well prepared for everything, as is the way with nerds :-)


MH-fr : MEDIALUX is a brand new music production company. How did you decide to create it ?

PJ : Funnily enough, the idea roots back to the year 1987. A good friend and I were investing all our time in making music with the synths and samplers of that time. We played for hours and hours every day. At one time we got the idea to start making music for commercials. Typical to the spirit of 14 year olds, we made cassesttes with our stuff, went to harass all the film production companies in Reykjavik and even managed to get one paid job. It was great.

Then, many years later, when the moment came to leave the film business as a director, it seemed like an obvious thing to do. I always follow my gut in things like this. Business plans are fine and dandy, but my life is all about trying to have as much fun as I can at work, while of course being able to pay the bills.

I opened my rather well prepared doors in November 2007, and by March
2008 I already had lots of jobs coming in, and had the opportunity to work with Morten. Good things are happening. So I can't really complain so far. I'll do this as long as it is challenging and fun.
I'm not new to music, but this kind of operation is new to me and that excites me.

MH-fr : You are a guitar player. Did you play in some of Medialux productions?

PJ : Medialux is really just a producer's pool, or network, so we try to use each others talent for our work. I play guitar both for myself and others in some of our work. But I am not a swiss army knive when it comes to my instrument, I have some styles that I deliver perfectly, but when we need something that others do better, we just call them.
Simple as that. Know your limits, or something like that :-)

MH-fr : How did you meet Morten Harket and how did you decide to cooperate?

PJ : Morten's manager, Sigurjon Einarsson, knows Addi 800 from earlier work. Morten sung on a track made by icelandic star drummer Gulli Briem (Earth affair - Gilda's prayer) and Addi mixed that work. Addi also mixed norvegian band Girl Happy.

So Sigurjon calls Addi, and tells him that him and Morten are thinking of sending the stuff around 'for a haircut', and asks Addi if he wants to have a go at mixing the results of that works. Addi tells him yes, but adds that he should let us have a shot at the production as well.
Sigurjon had the multitracks sent to us. I buried myself in the studio for some days, with Addi coming in, having a listen and being the voice of reason, we sent the results to the guys, and only a few days later they flew to Iceland to work with us.

MH-fr : How many versions of the same song have you worked on, until finding the right one?

PJ : This is a tough one. It's like applying brushstrokes to a painting.
You try one color, decide against it, paint over it, go back to an earlier version... it's really more of a process or a flow than a number of different versions. Usually we would record suggestions, layers upon layers of stuff. Morten would listen and decide with or against the suggestions.


MH-fr : Are some of those versions very different, compared to those we know on the album?

PJ : We worked on more songs than wound up featuring our work on the album.
I had a stab at 'The one you are', and 'Never speak again'. In both cases i suggested rather dramatic changes that went outside Morten's vision of how the songs should be. This is very normal for a production that he has lived with for such a long time. He was very open to listening to all suggestions, but knew exactly what he didn't want. I like that. At the end of the day, if I can use a metaphore, we were building a house that Morten has to live in. His vision should rule such an enterprise, and it did.


MH-fr : Could you tell us some anecdotes during your work with Morten?

PJ : Well, first of all we were curious to know how Morten would be like to work with. I think if anything, that stressed us a little bit. It took all of five minutes to understand that he is indeed a very likable guy, that is very easy to get along with on a personal level. Let's just say that I've worked with lesser talent that made more fuzz in my lifetime.

Most of our time together in Reykjavik we actually spent pouring over work, trying to use his time in Iceland as well as possible. We tried to understand what he felt about stuff musically, so that our suggestions would be more to the point and fit his vision of the album. We had two production rooms that he would walk between, listen to stuff and make suggestions. When we took a break from work to chat, we just talked as everybody would about normal stuff like our kids, cars and music.

I am not easily starstruck and I tend to judge people from their behaviour and charisma rather than from their fame. I've met celebreties that I wouldn't spend 5 minutes with unless at gunpoint.
Working with Morten was a pleasure. He has a quick and easy smile, he is very intelligent, and of course it flattered us that he was working with two small fish in Iceland when he can have his pick of the producers in the world.

There is an extra layer in all of this professionally, which is working with a vocalist that has influenced you from your teen years and having one of the most easily recognizable vocal talent in the world in my studio speakers, at the touch of a fader.

We don't know when this is written just exactly how big Letter From Egypt is going to be. Should it not be a huge success it is certainly not for the lack of passion or detail put in the project. Both Morten and all his team have put every effort humanly possible into sculpting an album that is the best it could be. I feel very proud to have played a small part of it.

Petur
http://www.medialux.com/
http://donpedro.medialux.com/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6273223366

Many Thanks to Petur to have kinkdly answered to our questions.
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