Henrik Björnsson - Singapore Sling. Nuclear Bunker Discs.

Guardian of The Bunker

Photo credit: (c) Magnús Andersen

Snarling vocals, primal drum beats, hypnotically wailing keyboards and feedback-besotted guitars. That's a pretty damn fine combination isn't it...we'll just run that one by you again: Snarling vocals, primal drum beats, hypnotically wailing keyboards and feedback-besotted guitars....wow. Music to my ears. Music for the masses & if it's not, f**k the masses. Anyway, that's the unmistakeable sound of the mighty Singapore Sling. We couldn't do without our daily hit.

As well as fronting Singapore Sling, singer/ guitarist Henrik Björnsson can also be found writing, recording & releasing music in a number of other bands. None of these are projects, none is more important than the next & there is one other common link: Vebeth.

Dead Skeletons is made up of Jón Sæmundur Auðarson (Nonni Dead), Henrik & Ryan Carlson Van Kriedt (also member of The Asteroid #4) a.k.a the Monks of The Dead Temple, plus guests.

The Go Go Darkness is Henrik plus Elsa Maria Blöndal.

Hank and Tank is Henrik plus Þorgeir Guðmundsson.

All worthy in their own right, which of course doesn't do them justice. So we'll simply say go listen, it might change your life like it did with us lot before Tincan started. Hell, we might not be here typing this if we hadn't taken a listen but that's another story for another day. But this is about Henrik's Nuclear Bunker discs & Singapore Sling, with a little news we have managed to uncover. So read on...

We sent him a huge e mail, explaining what Nuclear Bunker Discs was all about, how delighted we'd be if he would choose his 5 discs, how we listen to Singapore Sling every day, how they're our favourite band, we'd post some tracks, how we loved the last album & could he spare a little of his time just to think about it & pick his 5 albums. We got a one word answer..."No". Shit, blown out by one of our musical heroes with a one word answer. Not what we expected. Ah well, you win some you lose some. We mailed back, thank you for getting back & letting us know, sorry for taking up your time...to which we got another reply. "I'm sorry I can not choose 5 albums for your Nuclear Bunker. The reason is that I have my own bunker so won't need yours." Bloody Hell!!! Henrik's got a bunker! Does he live in it? Has he built it especially...oh wait, another mail. No words, just one symbol... ;)

Henrik proceded to not only choose his 5, he chose another 7 & left us with a handful of recommendations to check out which we had never listened to, nor come across before. Plus, some news on Singapore Sling that nobody else outside his circle of friends knew.

2 hours later he had been convinced by us that space in the bunker was indeed an issue & it had to be just 5 albums. We'd done it, we had our 5...

First off, 3 tracks from the vast Singapore Sling back catalogue then onto Henrik's choice of 5 album's to bring to our bunker with him:

1. Suicide - Suicide (first album) - "Boogie woogie and rockabilly played on a fuzzy farfisa, accompanied by a simple drum machine and a vocal drenched in reverb and tape-delay... the perfect prescription and perfect songs too..."

2. Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy - "Like the Suicide record this one takes something very simple and traditional, but dresses it up completely different. Not to mention all the perfect songs.... "

3. The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle - "Rockabilly slowed down and made sexy. Definitely their coolest one"

4. Harmonia - Deluxe - "Krautrock is one of the most perfect genres of music that exists and this record is one of it´s most beautiful and hypnotizing. This is all I listened to in the car driving north from LA. I tried other music but it just didn´t work..."

5. Link Wray - The Best of - "He strums one chord on his guitar and it´s perfect. No show-off tendencies, no bullshit, just rock´n´roll."

So there we have it - Henrik's 5 choices. Yet again it's been cool to see the choices & the inspirations, yet again we've had a good laugh doing it & yet again we've had to explain what "you are only allowed to pick 5 albums "means...nobody wants to do it - we have to get tough!

Oh yeah, the news...we're almost embarrassed to say this but we're listening to it. It's the 6th studio album from Singapore Sling. It's due in May sometime. Marvellous...