Singapore Sling (band)

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Singapore Sling
Origin	Reykjavík, Iceland
Genre(s)	Shoegaze, Alternative rock, Neo-Psychedelia, noise pop
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Iceland Hitt Records Sheptone Records 12 Tónar USA Stinky Records Rykodisc Germany PlayLoud! 8mm Musik
Associated acts	Bang Gang
Website	www.stinkyrecords.com
Members
Henrik Björnsson Einar Þór Kristjánsson Helgi Örn Pétursson Einar Kristjansson Siggi Shaker Toggi Guðmundsson Bjarni Friðrik Jóhannsson
Former members
Þorgeir Guðmundsson

Singapore Sling is an indie band from Reykjavík, Iceland.

As of July 2007 they have released three albums and a best of compilation. Singapore Sling have supported The Brian Jonestown Massacre on their North American tours and covered Dirty Water a 1966 garage rock hit by The Standells in their debut album. They have also covered The Monks' I Hate You in the 2006 compilation Silver Monk Time: A Tribute to the Monks.

Their Neo-Psychedelia sound has often been compared by the medias to acts such as The Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Raveonettes, BRMC and Serena Maneesh. Although in a tongue-in-cheek the band's frontman Henrik Bjornsson defines it as "a cross between Simon and Garfunkel".^[1]

In January 2007, Singapore Sling's frontman Henrik Baldvin Bjornsson had declared the band was writing and recording a new album through his Myspace blog.^[2] They have performed new numbers during concerts in Europe in 2007.

1 Name origin
2 Formation
- 2.1 History
- 2.2 Line-up
3 Career
4 Discography
5 Notes
6 Media links
7 External links

[edit] Name origin

Despite the band's frontman Henrik Bjornsson works in a bar as a bartender^[3], the bands name doesn't come from the Singapore Sling cocktail but from an infamous black and white B movie by Greek director Nikos Nikolaidis.^[4]

In a June 2003 interview with VRT Radio 1, Henrik Bjornsson stated:^[5]

“

We had a first gig. It was booked and we didn't have a name and I had been looking for a film called "Singapore Sling" for a long time. I couldn't find it anywhere. It sounded cool, so that became the name of the band. It's some kind of dark, perverse Greek film from 1990. I haven't found it yet, so if you know someone who has it, please let me know. I hope it's good. A dark perverse noir film and a guy who has sex with a corpse. And he's called Singapore Sling.

”

The movie has been described by most European and American professionals as "disturbing", but director Nikolaidis declared he had been inspired by Greek tragedy, European film noir and Kammerspiel. Main cast includes Greek actor Panos Thanassoulis (as Singapore Sling), French actress Michèle Valley (as the mother) and American actress Meredyth Herold (as the daughter).^[6] Despite being forbidden in United Kingdom, it has been premiered in Canada in 1990 and was released in DVD in the United States in 2006.

[edit] Formation

[edit] History

Singapore Sling was formed in Spring of 2000 in Reykjavík, capital of Iceland with the reunion of Henrik Bjornsson (singer, songwriter, guitarist) and Einar Kristjánsson (lead guitarist). Henrik had some 8-track demos and wanted to create a band, one of these demos was Overdrive that surfaced online in the Iceland Airwaves 2001 official website and that would later become Overdriver, the opening track for the debut LP.

The band evolved to a sextet formation with changing lineups performing at Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavík's main music festival created in 1999, before getting a record deal with the local label Hitt Records (Edda) in 2002. The lineup was then as such:

Henrik Björnsson: vocals / guitar / keyboard
Einar Kristjánsson: lead guitar
Þorgeir Guðmundsson: bass
Helgi Örn Pétursson: guitar / keyboard
Bjarni Jóhannsson: drums
Sigurður Magnús Finnsson aka Siggi Shaker: tambourine / maracas

[edit] Line-up

Recently the lineup changed, as of July 2007 current members are:

Henrik Björnsson: vocals / guitar / keyboard
Einar Kristjánsson: lead guitar
Bibi: bass
Hákon Aoalsteinsson: guitar
Bjorn Viktorsson: drums
Sigurður Magnús Finnsson aka Siggi Sniff: tambourine / maracas

[edit] Career

[edit] Debut album (2002-2003)

Main article: The Curse of Singapore Sling

Singapore Sling released its debut album The Curse of in August 2002, then the band performed at Iceland Airwaves 2002 music festival.

The album has been licensed by New York indie label Stinky Records for a North American release in 2003. Why this record is being released in America is because a guy came here on a festival and then he let some people hear it in America explains Henrik Bjornsson.^[7] Einar Kristjansson adds "The whole idea of the Airwaves Festival is like a festival for Icelandic bands to export or be spotted. Iceland is so isolated and they have this festival. Icelandair sponsors it and they give flights and stuff like that to journalists and label people so they can come and see us. The whole festival is sponsored by Icelandair and the government to get Icelandic music to be heard outside of Iceland."^[8]

About the record's name Henrik Bjornsson explained in a June 2003 interview: "We ran into a lot of obstacles while recording the record. We turned on the lights and the light bulbs would explode. On the first day of recording the tape machine broke down. There were just endless things like that. And then we were depressed one day and Einar checked his bank account. There was 666 krones. And the curse seemed appropriate.^[9]

The band toured the United States and Canada in summer 2003.

[edit] Second album (2004)

Main article: Life Is Killing My Rock 'N' Roll

Although their home label Edda left the music business and shut its branch Hitt Records, Singapore Sling released their second record Life Is Killing My Rock 'N' Roll in Iceland through Sheptone Records a vinyl records store where Einar works, and in the United States with an American support tour.

The track Curse, Curse, Curse has been picked up by British actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman to be featured in the 2004~2005 TV documentary series Long Way Round (LWR). Virgin released the soundtrack CD in 2004.

[edit] Third album (2005)

Main article: Taste the Blood of Singapore Sling

Sheptone Records released the third album Taste the Blood of Singapore Sling in 2005. Although it was distributed in Denmark by Reykjavik / Copenhagen based indie label 12 Tónar, it has not been licensed for the United States by Stinky Records yet.

In 2007, German label 8mm Muzik bought the rights for a European release and sold a best of anthology featuring 4 tracks for each one of the two first albums, plus two tracks taken from this third album.

[edit] Miscellaneous (2005~2006)

Singapore Sling appeared in the 2005 feature documentary Screaming Masterpiece ^[10] which is dedicated to the Icelandic music scene.

In 2006, German label Play Loud! Music released a 2-disc tribute compilation to The Monks. Singapore Sling covered the track I Hate You. All songs were especially recorded for this project between September 2005 and May 2006, they were mastered at Faust Studio by Hans-Joachim Irmler from the Faust.^[11]

[edit] European Record Release Tour (May 2007)

Main article: The Curse, the Life, the Blood

In May 2007 German label 8mm Musik Ltd managed the European Record Release Tour in support to the release of The Curse, the Life, the Blood, the band's anthology especially dedicated to the European market.

Touring band supporting the release was a quintet including a female bassist called Bibi. European venues were located in Germany, France, Benelux, Denmark, Austria, Italy and Czech Republic.

[edit] Fourth album (late 2007)

In May 2007, German label 8mm Muzik announced on its official website that "Singapore Sling are currently working on a new album to be released end of 2007".^[12].