Featured Column: Dead Skeletons Live In London at Corsica Studios

Written By: Ola’s Kool Kitchen

Hann sem óttast Death Get ekki njóta lífsins!– Icelandic for “He Who Fears Death Cannot Enjoy Life”– is the mantra for the ethos behind the Dead Skeletons, who have embarked on their first tour ever with a small handful of dates across Europe. I was present in London to record the gig for future broadcasting and lucky enough to experience this blossoming band at the beginning of their tour life. Before the show, I met Jon Saemunder Audarson, or “Nonni Dead”, as he is more commonly known, is the  front man who spawned the band in 2008 as part of an installation for a show at the Reykjavik art museum.  I asked him if he was nervous. He said no, and told me he did yoga and that seemed to ground him before performing, I believed him, he looked like a man engaged in the yogic arts, lithe, bright eyed and very full of life. The air was filled with anticipation. The venue appeared heaving with a sell-out. Oscillation were the opening band and celebrity DJ Tim Burgess from The Charlatan’s all added a special luster to the evening’s proceedings.

With Dead Skeletons, the extra dimension is the layers within their presentation. It’s not solely about the music. It is an interactive experience that possesses a philosophy and rich iconic imagery. The empty stage was monopolized by an old TV with the Dead Skeletons and Dead TV logo, circled by what appeared to be some ancient runic script, blinking at the audience. Nonni opened the ritual by adorning the television with burning incense and proceeded to paint a large canvas where he drew a caricature-like dark passenger of death.

Thus the festivities begun, with the TV prominently glowing at center-stage as a strange ornament, and the rest of the band flanked a few paces behind and around it.  Nonni was an exotic bird with turban wrapped around his head; a textile sash wax fastened around his waist with beaded charm around his neck and the artwork he created tattooed along his arms. He didn’t just create the art; it lived along his person on his very flesh.  Nonni was like a shamanic snake charmer and his singing voice echoed a droning pied piper whisking you away to his cathedral in the sky. The show had many elements of a religious experience, incense, rose-colored visuals, and a high priest TV.

On stage, the sound was rich and I looked forward to a playback of the decent recording afterwards. Musically, I find it difficult to describe the Dead Skeletons‘ sound. It does have traditional elements including that of psychedelic music, shoegaze, drone, and space rock, but it has this beat that gives it a danceable quality, a kind of cross-over of something else. The front row of the audience reflected this well with hand gestures and gyrations in the vein of Balinese dancers, slightly anachronistic with the European audience performing them.

To sum it up  for you, it was a neo-religious, art house experience. Like the Twilight Zone, a tantalizing of the senses and entering another dimension of sight and sound. A band needs to find and communicate with its audience in order to be successful. Many people were dazed afterwards, the general consensus exclaiming it was a very special event, indeed. Dead Skeletons have found a home in London where their musical vision has been very warmly embraced. For those who wish to relive the glory or were not able to see any of the European shows, fear not, for Ola’s Kool Kitchen will be broadcasting this London gig very soon!

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ICELAND PSYCHE SCENE

By: Jordannah Elizabeth

         

Reykjavik, Iceland seems to have been experiencing an influx of attention from the International music scene since 2007.  Bands like Singapore Sling and the Dead Skeletons have been enjoying a bit of critical acclaim from all corners of the world; especially Europe and the United States.  The front runner and innovator of the Iceland’s psychedelic movement has been recording and touring for 10 years, while maintaining a sense of humility as the Iceland scene enjoys large numbers of fans on the internet and credible attention from the press.

Henrik Björnsson is one of the main a contributors behind Iceland’s most prominent bands like Singapore Sling, Go Go Darkness, and the Dead Skeletons. He has quietly yet feverishly been creating an impressively extensive catalog of music since 1996, when he began recording music on his a four track recorder.  It was also in 1996 when he started The Bang Gang with his friend, Barði Jóhannsson.  They released a two track surf rock record called “Listen Baby” on 7 inch vinyl.  In 2000, Henrik released a CD of the songs he’d been composing on his four track recorder. By 2001 he and another friend, Þorgeir Guðmundsson formed the band Hank and Tank. During that time, Henrik also wrote and recorded several songs that would end up becoming early tracks for Singapore Sling, his most critically acclaimed band.

Henrik has explained that he started Singapore Sling because he felt that there was need for rock and roll in Iceland.  As a result of that need he approached Einar Kristjánsson to start the band.  (Einer is the only other original band member in Singapore Sling).  They started by forging together a 6 piece band to play live shows. By 2002 (recording with a different band line up), The Curse of Singapore Sling was released in Iceland and in the United States the following year.  Singapore Sling also began to tour the States in ’03 with some success.  The band’s second album, Life is Killing My Rock and Roll was later released, and soon after the album was out, three of the members of Singapore Sling left the band.  By the third album, Taste the Blood of Singapore Sling, the members were replaced with the current band line-up: Ester Bíbí Ásgeirsdóttir on bass, Björn Viktorsson on drums, and Einar Kristjánsson, Hákon Aðalsteinsson and Hallberg Hallbergsson on guitar.

Between 2007 and 2010, Henrik Björnsson went on to form different musical projects, like Goddamn Skunks, Go Go Darkness, and The Dead Skeletons with visual artist and entrepreneur, Jón Sæmundur.  This year, he has released his newest Singapore Sling album Never Forever (2011, Outlier Records) and Dead Magick (2011, A Records) with The Dead Skeletons.

With all the musical projects Björnsson and his friends had been creating, he helped form a Reykjavik based music collective called Vebeth with Þórður Grímsson. Since the collective expressed no faith in record labels, they decided to take matters into their own hands and released their albums under Vebeth and sealing the logo on their albums.  They don’t only promote and support Iceland musical projects, but they have taken on releasing bands like The Meek from Los Angeles, CA in the United States.

Nonetheless, Vebeth and many Icelandic musical projects work closely Outlier Records, an independent record label based in the United Kingdom.  Outlier has released albums by Singapore Sling, Two Step Horror, and Go Go Darkness.  Their collaboration with Vebeth and the Icelandic psyche scene has proved to be invaluable.  Outlier and Vebeth have created an amazing support for Iceland and bands from around the world.

Singapore Sling and the Dead Skeletons have experienced much success in grabbing the attention of listeners.  Going on tour and collaborating with San Francisco’s The Brian Jonestown Massacre has also helped launch Singapore Sling and the Reykjavik psyche scene into the indie mainstream.  Even unlikely rock frontman, Jón Sæmundur has benefited from releasing music with Henrik and the BJM. 

Jón Sæmundur didn’t start making music until he participated in the recording of the track “Golden Frost” on The Brian Jonestown Massacre album My Bloody Underground.  Later, finding that he needed to produce some music for an installation he was making for an art opening, he called Henrik to help him create a song.  They recorded Dead Mantra with Ryan of Astroid #4, and The Dead Skeletons continued to record after the installation was complete. 

Jon worked on The Dead Skeletons first album Dead Magick (released by A Records) from September 2008- May 2011, recording half the record with Henrik and the second half with Ryan van Kriedt. Sæmundur seems to have a bit more of a private perspective than his friend and collaborator, Henrik when it comes to the impact of Iceland’s music scene.  Although he appreciates his success, he maintains that the music scene in Iceland is not as recognized as it is in the United States and Europe.  He has explained that none of the artists from Vebeth or The Dead Skeletons are really out for fame and fortune.  They are into making great art.

“We are simply the messengers/artists bringing forth the spiritual energy inside us. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” -Jón Sæmundur (Dead Skeletons, DEAD)

Jón’s music, art, and clothing designs have been shipped all over the world to many great artists, fans, and musicians alike.

Since Henrik Björnsson’s humble beginnings 15 years ago, he and his collective of fiercely talented and relatively unassuming musical artists have stolen the hearts and entranced the ears of a new psychedelic rock generation.  With all the attention and acclaim they have been enjoying from cities like New York City, Melbourne, and Berlin, they have been nothing but progressive, consistent, and persistent with sharing the breathtaking music and visual art they have been producing for so many years.

DEAD MAGICK will be released on double vinyl and CD on October 21, 2011.  It is already available digitally.

http://www.dead.is/deadskeletons.html

BUY SINGAPORE SLING’S NEW ALBUM NEVER FOREVER HERE!

http://www.outlierrecords.co.uk/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=21

*This story is based on commentary exclusively from Jón Sæmundur (Dead Skeletons), Henrik Bjornsson (Singapore Sling), Þórður Grímsson (Vebeth Records), and a summary from Lady Godiva.

 

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