w/A-Frames, the Fitness, Jerkbeast, DJ Train Wreck
Fri Oct 31, Graceland, 10 pm, $8.
If the question is, "Which came first?" the answer will always be, "the Velvet Underground." At initial listen, Iceland's Singapore Sling sounds startlingly like the Jesus and Mary Chain, a band, most rock critics tirelessly point out, that snatched its sound from the Velvet Underground. But Singapore Sling singer and guitarist Henrik Bjornsson doesn't stand behind pretense when it comes to listing his own influences, admitting that for him the Brits were just as directive as the Americans. "It's like saying 'Neu!' instead of 'Stereolab,'" he says of those perhaps less forthright than he. "I like Stereolab, who were hugely influenced by Neu!," he continues, "but I think Stereolab has had more of an influence on me.
"But I heard Velvet Underground before I heard Jesus and Mary Chain," he clarifies on cue, "and that made me search out other bands making that kind of music, which is how I discovered Sonic Youth, too."
The six-piece from Reykjavik offers more than just feedback on their Stinky Records debut, The Curse of the Singapore Sling. There's definite audible respect paid to Duane Eddy within, a man without whom there would be no "Surfin' USA" from the Beach Boys (who lifted the opening guitar line from Eddy's "Movin' and Groovin'") in 1963, nor the screeching, fuzzed-out cover of said song turned out by the Jesus and Mary Chain in 1988. "I like it when people say that," admits Bjornsson, "because most just mention Velvet Underground and Jesus and Mary Chain, and maybe Spacemen 3." Again, Bjornsson's not afraid to reveal that he came in through the back door on the elder influences: "There is a hell of a lot more that goes further back than the Velvet Underground. There's rockabilly and surf music, Duane Eddy, Link Wray. I mean, the Cramps were one of the biggest influences on me, and through them I discovered rockabilly and surf." Refreshing, isn't that? Then again, so is all the glorious reverb churned out by Bjornsson and the two other guitarists in the band, which makes for a fine album full of static and danger--while also demonstrating that a little backtracking ain't no bad thing.
