Steed Lord
Steed Lord is an Icelandic electronic house trio from Reykjavík, Iceland. The group is made up of three members, Svala, Mega and Demo. Music career. Inception. Before the group was formed, singer/songwriter Svala Björgvinsdóttir had become a household name in the Icelandic music scene, especially after releasing her 2001 album "The Real Me". A year after she had stopped performing, she was given a house beat as a birthday present from a friend and the beat evolved into the band's first song; "You". The band would then write and record their second song "Dirty Mutha", a  week after releasing "You". Touring. Starting in 2006, they played a few shows in their native Reykjavík, and within months they were being booked to perform over Europe and North America. They have played in Portugal, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. During their tour of North America, they performed in concerts with artists such as Chromeo, Girl Talk, Vampire Weekend, Klever, and Does It Offend You, Yeah?. In the fall of 2009, Steed Lord was asked to open for Peaches for a run of dates in Southern California. Additionally, they have performed at  festivals including Winter Music Conference in Miami, Electronic Betas Festival in Austria and South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. 2008 car accident. On April 9, 2008, Steed Lord was involved in a near-fatal car accident en route to Keflavik International Airport, whence they were about to depart for a tour of Norway and Sweden. Their car collided head-on with another car coming from the opposite direction on a narrow and icy road. The band were taken to the hospital and placed in the intensive care unit. Mega suffered life-threatening internal injuries and had to undergo multiple surgeries  to recover; Svala had internal bleeding, broken ribs, and minor back injuries. Demo had to undergo surgery for internal bleeding. By the end of July 2008, still not entirely recovered from the accident, the band set out on their first proper tour. Current status. In 2009, the band moved from Iceland to Los Angeles. They have since moved back to Iceland and they are currently on break, focusing on individual projects. Clothing line. In 2007, Steed Lord was commissioned by Sweden-based retail giant H&M to design a line for their Divided label. The Steed Lord / H&M designs were available  in more than 50 countries. Additionally, Steed Lord is part of WeSC's “We Activist” program, and is featured in the print and video campaigns for the Swedish streetwear brand. Criticism. The band's first album, Truth Serum was reviewed in the Icelandic paper, Grapevine, which gave the album a poor review, saying; "The vocal effects and movie samples can’t quite disguise the fact that Steed Lord’s bark is a lot harder than their bite, and their desire to be stylish and relevant a lot more powerful their drive than to write a good song, which is kind  of a shame; their song writing, in the moments it does poke through, is pretty good. The fact that they still manage to be more interesting than the other bands of their scene just says more about how useless their scene is." Slugs frontman Eldon also criticized the song "Dirty Mutha" as a ripoff of their track "MTHRFCKR".