So what is it like being the world’s most muscular DJ? Just ask Gillz, aka Big G, G-Man, or simply DJ Muscleboy. “I have been doing research for months now,” he told THUMP, “trying to find a DJ who has the same amount of muscle mass as DJ Muscleboy—and I haven´t found that DJ yet.”
You may have seen the near-viral video for “Louder,” Muscleboy’s big room workout anthem, which cuts between steamy exercise sequences involving Gillz and his totally platonic gym buddies, mega-club montages, and dreamy Baywatch moments on the beach. Meanwhile, cries of “Let me see your pecs!” and “Pump your guns!” slice through the mix like a spin instructor who won’t let you coast. “Louder” is set to be one of Iceland’s biggest summer hits, clocking in at No.1 on radio stations like Reykjavík’s FM957.
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Gillz, real name Egill Einarsson, is not only a celebrated DJ and fitness icon, but also a TV actor, newspaper columnist, and bestselling author. His instructional self-help show, Mannasiðir (Manners), was at one point the most popular program in Iceland and his film, Svartur á Leik (Black´s game) is the country’s “second highest grossing movie of all time,” he tells us.
After watching the “Louder” video for the 74th time, I decided to track Muscleboy down. In between fitness training sessions with his clients, gigs with his “colleague” David Guetta, and working on his new bestseller, he answered some of my wide-eyed questions.
THUMP: Hey Gillz! So you’re a celebrity in Iceland, but many of us Americans are only just getting acquainted. Can you tell us a bit about your amazing accomplishments?
DJ Muscleboy: I started out writing articles on a local humor site that me and some friends opened, but then I was asked to write articles for a newspaper in Iceland, where I was the Metro-Man Gillz—telling people how they should behave, dress, etc. Things escalated and I wrote my first book, Biblía Fallega Fólksins, which translates to The Bible For The Beautiful People.
Then I wrote three more books, Mannasiðir, Lífsleikni and Heilræði. Mannasiðir (Manners) was my first best-seller in Iceland. We made a TV series based on that book, which was a monster hit. Then I did a couple of movies, like Svartur á Leik (Black´s game), which is the second highest grossing movie of all time in Iceland. Then there was Lífsleikni Gillz which is a movie based on my second best-seller.
The guys who did the music for that movie are called StopWaitGo, and “Louder” was in that movie. After the highly successful movie we decided to get our asses in the studio and finish the song! But all this has been a side project—my day job is an online personal training program which is called fjarþjálfun. I have a BS in Sport Science and I love helping people get in shape.
What are the lessons you try to convey in your books?
The concept in the books that I am teaching people are good manners, how to behave around women, and things you need to know to be successful in life. There are extremely important things in the books, like: What are you supposed to do when you’re getting a massage and the little general wakes up? What to do then! And how to handle awkward situations. I’ll give you a few examples of chapters in the book:
How to do a standing 69.
How to shave your balls.
How to behave when dumped.
How to behave in a leather jacket.
You´re a fireman but still a virgin. What to do.
How you should enter a club.
How to make women notice you in the gym.
As you can see, the things Im teaching in my books are EXTREMELY important.
What are the main points of your philosophy?
You have to take care of yourself if you want be successful. If you are not shaving your balls regularly you´re never gonna reach your full potential. I have also always been promoting the bodybuilding lifestyle, and I encourage my young fans to exercise and eat healthy.
I read that your previous musical endeavor was a four-piece act called Merzedes Club that nearly went on to represent Iceland on the Eurovision TV show. Can you tell us about that?
Merzedes Club was a band which was active for about three months or so, made up of four bodybuilders and one girl. The combined fat percentage of the band was 27%, which has to be a world record. We competed in the Eurovision contest here in Iceland but were in second place, so Friðrik Ómar and the Euroband went to Serbia to compete for Iceland. Which sucks because we would have won the Eurovision contest with the song “Ho Ho Ho We Say Hey Hey Hey.” That is 100%. But Merzedes Club was always going to be just a three or four-month comedy project. “Louder” is my first big hit.
How did you get into electronic music?
I’ve always loved it. When I´m writing my next best-seller I listen to electronic music. I listen to it when I work out, when I poop, when I party. It was that PASSION that made Muscleboy the most respected DJ in Iceland—and soon the world. I have a radio show each Friday on FM957 with Auðunn Blondeal and Steindi Jr. It is the most popular radio show in Iceland amongst young people. Auðunn Blondeal, who is extremely bald, hosts the radio show and he hates electronic music, but each show I play one trance/dance song. That part of the show became very popular and a DJ was born: DJ Muscleboy.
In a few sentences, what does an average day look like for you? How often do you work out?
I go to my gym, the Sporthouse, and I meet people all day and help them reach their goals. Then I workout every day for two hours. I rarely take off days. I call myself a bodybuilder-slash-powerlifter. I love lifting heavy followed by the beatiful bodybuilding pump. I love the big exercises—there is no reason to be alive if you cannot deadlift. That´s a comment from the late Jón Páll Sigmarsson, the world’s strongest man and one hell of a human being.
Isn’t Iceland a little cold to be running around in a Speedo all the time?
Yes, but we Icelanders are extremely tough—it is not a coincidence that we have won the World’s Strongest Man competition eight times. It’s a tradition here in Iceland that men always take their shirt off when they get a flat tire and need to change it. It doesn´t matter if it’s minus 50 and snowing, you always take your shirt off. It´s always impressive driving by someone changing a tire with no shirt on!
What does your girlfriend think of the song?
She loves the song, as every Icelander does! She has asked me a couple of times why I always have to be half naked in the videos, the movies, the TV shows, books, etc. Then I just explain the bodybuilding lifestyle to her and it’s all good.
Now that you’ve made it this far, what’s next?
“Louder” has been in first place in Iceland for eight weeks now, which is a record: the first Icelandic song ever to reach eight weeks. I have a big show on June 16. Then me and my colleague David Guetta are gonna rip the roof of the Laugardalshöll here in Iceland. And the next step is to make another monsterhit with StopWaitGo! And it’s obviously just a matter of time until DJ Muscleboy has a gig outside of Iceland.
Can you tell us your five favorite workout songs?
They change frequently, but right now they are:
Max is Muscleboy’s biggest fan. @maxpearl
