Real name: Iceland

Effective period / Period of releases: 1980 - 1982

Members: Gunnar Gislason, Jon-Erik Jon Gislason, Björn Gislason, Hans Gislason, Jon Gislason

Iceland was a melodic hard rocking act that hailed from Kungälv, Sweden. They released a bunch of singles and one album between 1980 and 1994. ‘Grand Hotel’ was released on the Blue Ice records in 1990. The band was founded by Hans and Jon-Erik ‘Jon’ Gislason who previously had played with the band Vikivaki, which they started when they were still at the Kongahälla Gymnasium. Vikivaki played a mix of rock and Icelandic folk music and they released two singles and two albums between 1973 and 1977.

The Icelandic-Swedish band Iceland probably worked for the most part in the United States in the 1980's. The bands name was Vikivaki and had existed since1966 in various forms, but in 1980 they changed their name and called themselves Iceland.
The brothers in the band were Icelandic brothers who had lived in Sweden from a young age, Jón, Gunnar and Hans Magnússon, but also the fourth brother Björn was very much in favor of the country. Anders Olson was the fourth member of Iceland, playing bass. Jon played drums and probably they played Gunnar and Hans on most other instruments, though most of them guitar. They also sang.
Iceland released numerous singles in 1980-88 but the sources and information about the band and its publishing history are very stopable as the keyword Iceland e.t.v. not the easiest to search across the web and media. One of the band's discs, Breaking the ice / Chicago came to Iceland in 1982, but received a rather negative coverage in the newspaper Morgunblaðið.
Two albums were released with Iceland, On the rocks, which was released in 1980 and Breaking the ice in 1982, the latter album was released with two types of cover. The two records came out in Sweden but were probably distributed in the US.
The last thing about Iceland is that they released a single in 1994. The band came to Iceland in 1988 and had been on a European tour then bass player by the name of Johan Strömberg played them with the band. Iceland might then have worked for some time as their trio of brothers at the end, but they will be added to this tour.

Íslensk-sænskættaða hljómsveitin Iceland starfaði líklega að mestu leyti í Bandaríkjunum á níunda áratug 20. aldar. Hún hét áður Vikivaki og hafði þá verið til frá 1966 í ýmsum myndum en 1980 breytti hún um nafn og kallaði sig Iceland upp frá því.
Uppistaðan í sveitinni voru íslenskir bræður sem höfðu starfað í Svíþjóð frá unga aldri, Jón, Gunnar og Hans Magnússynir en einnig var fjórði bróðirinn Björn mikið viðloðandi sveitina. Anders Olson var fjórði meðlimur Iceland en hann spilaði á bassa. Jón lék á trommur og líklega spiluðu þeir Gunnar og Hans á flest önnur hljóðfæri, þó mest gítara. Þeir sungu ennfremur.
Iceland gaf út fjölmargar smáskífur á árunum 1980-88 en heimildir og upplýsingar um hljómsveitina og útgáfusögu hennar eru mjög stopular enda er leitarorðið Iceland e.t.v. ekki það auðveldasta að leita eftir á víðáttum vef- og fjölmiðla. Ein smáskífa sveitarinnar, Breaking the ice / Chicago barst til Íslands 1982 en hlaut fremur neikvæða umfjöllun í Morgunblaðinu.
Tvær breiðskífur munu hafa komið út með Iceland, On the rocks, sem kom út 1980 og Breaking the ice 1982, síðarnefnda platan kom út með tvenns konar umslagi. Breiðskífurnar tvær komu út í Svíþjóð en var líklega dreift í Bandaríkjunum.
Það síðasta sem finnst um Iceland er að hún gaf út smáskífu 1994, sveitin kom til Íslands 1988 og hafði þá verið á Evróputúr en bassaleikari að nafni Johan Strömberg lék þá með sveitinni. Iceland gæti þá hafa starfað um tíma sem tríó þeirra bræðra undir lokin en þeim bæst liðsauki fyrir þennan túr.

Jón Magnússon = Drums – Jon Gislason
Gunnar Magnússon = Guitar – Gunnar Gislason
Hans Magnússon = Vocals, Guitar – Hans Gislason
Björn Magnússon = Bass – Björn Gislason

Bass – Björn Gislason
Drums – Jon-Erik Jon Gislason
Guitar – Gunnar Gislason
Vocals, Guitar – Hans Gislason