Sölvi Blöndal

Sölvi Blöndal was born on January 3rd 1975. He took up drumming at the age of 15, after his parents had tried their best to get him interested in other instruments without much success. He redecorated their garage to use as rehearsal space and started practicing relentlessly. His drum teacher was Reynir Sigurðsson, a talented musician who worked as an orchestral percussionist for the Icelandic Symphony as well as teaching.

It didn't take long before Sölvi started playing drums for various local bands; he started playing with the band Púff and later with Júpiters, which had a variety of band members. Although he hadn't had much time to develop his skill, the lure of beer drinking and gig-playing made him decide to give drumming a shot.

Later he joined bands such as Stjörnukisi and Ssspan. He formed Ssspan with his friends Fróði, Bogi and Gaukur (Gaukur would later be part of another band with Sölvi, 2001, which Hössi was also a part of).

Sölvi went to college at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR). At MR he was asked to write a song for a compilation the school was putting together for an annual school dance — this was the first time Sölvi dabbled in creating his own instrumental music. After 2001 disbanded, Sölvi decided it was time to concentrate on his own music. With an old AKAI sampler and his faithful MAC-computer as sole companions he started the process of making the music which ended up on Switchstance.

After Quarashi was founded, the band quickly rose to stardom. They became one of the most popular bands in Iceland, going as far as getting noticed all over the world. With Quarashi's popularity under his belt, Sölvi became one of the most sought after musicians in Iceland — he has produced and co-operated on many projects in his career both during and after his time with the band, as well as starting his own music project called Halleluwah.

After the wild ride that was Quarashi's rise to fame, and the subsequent disbanding in 2005, Sölvi decided to switch gears and study economics at the University of Iceland. He received a PhD in economics from the University of Stockholm in 2010 and has lectured for the University of Iceland, as well as working in finance for a stint.

He is currently the CEO of Alda Music, an Icelandic record label and distributor with domain over many of Iceland's most beloved and popular artists.