Of Monsters and Men Discuss Surprise U.S. Success

They hail from Iceland and have yet to release an album in the U.S., but Of Monsters and Men are selling out shows across the States and building up significant buzz before the official arrival of their debut, 'My Head is An Animal.' Singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir tells straight.com that she and her five male bandmates, who began opening eyes when they won the 2010 battle of the bands at Músíktilraunir, are shocked by how fast they seem to be earning fans and sellout crowds.

"We did not expect that at all,” she says. “When we put the tickets on sale and people started buying them, it was selling out in 10 minutes and we were like, ‘What? How come you’ve heard of us?’ We’re very flattered that people actually know who we are and are coming to our shows.”

Tickets remain available for only three of the group's 19 North American dates. A video was released for the trumpet-tastic 'Little Talks' that uses CGI effects to create a colorful, cartoon-like world of monsters, flying ships and giant two-headed birds. The video surprised even the band, who didn't realize what it would look like until it was done.

"We went into a studio in Iceland, which has this huge green screen," Hilmarsdóttir says. "And [the production team] had us in makeup chairs doing all the makeup, and then they just shot us from the chest up — just the facial expressions... Then they went back to Canada and worked on it, and a month later they showed it to us, and we were like, ‘What?!’ We were very pleased with it.”

'My Head is An Animal' hits U.S. stores on April 3.

Watch Of Monsters and Men's 'Little Talks' Video