Meet Fríði Djurhuus, frontman of the Faroe Islands' first queer vegan punk band
In the north Atlantic, halfway between Norway and Iceland, there is an archipelago of stark cliff faces, gulf stream-blasted land, and sheer volcanic peaks. Howling wind and lashing waves are the main soundtrack here… alongside a young queer vegan punk band changing attitudes.
Just 54,000 people live on the Faroe Islands - part of the Kingdom of Denmark - and its inhabitants often describe the entire territory as a small village. Life in the village comes with its benefits. “You have to be nice to each other. You have to coexist in harmony,” says Fríði Djurhuus.
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“Let’s say you and I have a disagreement and I think what you’re saying is absolutely terrible, like ‘holy shit, how can you think this?’ If I confront you too harshly, even if you totally deserve it, I’m still going to have to see you at the store or a friend’s house or at church or a family reunion,” Djurhuus explains.
There’s an irony to Djurhuus’ analysis of Faroese small village theory. He’s the lead singer of Joe & the Shitboys, an abrasive punk band with political songs that are the definition of confrontational. Just the song titles: ‘Save the Planet, You Dumb Shit’; ‘If You Believe in Eating Meat Start with Your Dog’; and ‘ Drugs R’4 Kidz’ give you a taste.
Watch Joe & the Shitboys live and their confrontational nature is taken up a notch. Not content with just thickly ironic lyrics like “I miss the good ol' days/When dad would beat the piss out of me/When we killed the gays and only I felt free”, Djurhuus spends a significant portion of gigs taunting audience members for their political contradictions.
Why has such a confrontational band gained traction in the Faroes? “I think it’s fresh to people. You’re not supposed to say exactly what you feel. You’re supposed to cover it with a bunch of stuff,” Djurhuus says. He’ll call you out. But he’s calling everyone out in an odd perversion of inclusivity that somehow makes sense. “I want it to be a safe space where you’re gonna get called out.”
Joe & the Shitboys are on the verge of their third album’s release on 1 March. They’ve only been together for a few years but their rise has been huge for the country. They won Band of the Year at the Faroese Music Awards in 2020 and have toured extensively outside the Faroes.
It’s a far cry from Djurhuus’ upbringing, in the bible belt of the Faroe Islands. While capital city Tórshavn is hardly a bustling metropolis, Søldarfjørður, the village he grew up in on the island of Eysturoy is another level of remote entirely. It had one convenience store but even that closed when he was nine years old.
Growing up in Søldarfjørður meant your social life revolved either around church or football for a young boy. Unable to fit in, Djurhuus spent his early childhood at home playing video games before expanding his repertoire to drugs and vandalism. “It was a very lonely experience in a lot of ways. But I think a lot of people share this loneliness if they don’t fit in those two boxes.”
Via the influence of older brother Heini, aged 17, Djurhuus started going to bars where metal bands were playing. Through metal, he started to form a new family. Even among the metal fans though, a culture of misogyny and homophobia were rife. “I turned a blind eye to it at first,” Djurhuus says. “Finally, I had some people. I didn’t want to fuck it up.”
“Eventually it became too much though and I started calling it out,” Djurhuus recalls. This rejection was the basis for his band Iron Lungs. Where Joe & the Shitboys revel in simplistic punk musical stylings over minute-long songs, Iron Lungs’ music is complexly composed melodic metal. 2017’s single ‘ Andromedan’ is a sweeping epic that dashes through genres, with Djurhuus alternating between screaming and singing.
The evolution of Djurhuus to punk frontman happened almost by accident. Many drinks deep, his friend Ziggy offhand suggested they make something lowfi. Ziggy then formed a band of friends called the Shitboys and demanded Djurhuus join as Joe to make a “bullshit one-off single”.
Over a two-hour session, the newly formed band wrote, rehearsed and recorded two songs. Everyone was so blown over by