Al-Berto met the songs — but it's the friends along the way who wake them to life on stage and in the studio. And other friends who open new paths for the songs to travel the world.
Bass & backings. You can always count on Barmy — when the rest of the band has lost track of where they are in the song, he knows.
Photo: Emmanuel Wallimann
Mixing & backings. The man with the deep voice and a fine feel for the live mix. He works miracles in venues with tough acoustics.
Photo: Archive Bikinis
Guitar & accordion. He brings the jazz into the band — the rockier side of it. No solo ever sounds like the last, which makes every concert one of a kind.
Photo: Emmanuel Wallimann
Drums & backings. He holds the band together with his steady groove. When some start to speed up or slow down, he knows how to gently bring everyone back to the beat.
Photo: Emmanuel Wallimann
The Fried Bikinis project started before the music — as a picture gallery for bouldering in Engelberg in 2003. A year later it became a blog about travelling, climbing and surfing with fictional stories: climb2surf.com.
After recording some songs on a classic 8-track in 2005 and starting to film with the first still cameras in 2006, it was obvious to score the movies with the recorded sounds. They were widely liked on YouTube — often for the music. That was the turning point when music became the driving force of the project, concert offers came in, and a band was needed.
The project was always planned to last only as long as the interest lasted — half a year at a time. That lightness kept the fun alive, and it fits the music: live, a song exists only for the moment. The next time it will sound different, and it keeps changing — just like the people playing it.
— the Fried Bikinis way
A band to give the songs a life on stage could only come together thanks to many friends. The ones listed here were the main drivers — and there were many more who helped along the way.
Early creative partner — the two had already made music together in the 90s as Skunk Off Deal. His inputs shaped the very first phase.
Mastered the first 8-track mixes and gave Al-Berto his stage name. Backing from The Toenails, who were touring successfully at the time.
Supervised the good vibes in lyrics and communication. Backings on recordings. Backings recording.
Opened the door to film music — his placements brought the songs to the climbing community. Video clip supervision, keyboards/samples live, lyrics supervision & inspiration.
Drums on recordings. Brought in from the rich pool of musicians around Engelberg in the early days to adapt the electronic beats to live grooves.
Recording producer (the man with the braincable). His productions paved the way to Swiss radio with „Dive" and the film quality of Dosage V. Bass, guitar, drums, backings and keys recording, arrangement.
Drums live & recording, arrangement live & recording. Brought in through the desert-rock network of The Toenails. Defined in the first years how to translate the electronic beats from Al-Berto's Recordings to real drums.
Guitar, harmonica live, arrangement live. Came through the same desert-rock network and helped define the early live sound from samples to guitar sounds.
Drums live & recording, arrangement live & recording. Came through the local music scene to help meet the gig demand of the early days. Building on what the earlier drummers had laid down, he added a layer of intent: tempo moves now read as choices.
Mixing, backings & arrangements. He mixed one of the very first gigs (for Mammut), and it quickly became clear: he's the one who holds the live sound together. With the latest PA from Kleinlaut, we could play far beyond festivals and clubs — up to a guerrilla tour of 9 concerts in one day, stage packed into a bus. On our own production of „I wanna surf" we also discovered he has the widest vocal range in the band.
Guitar, accordion live, arrangements. Came in to meet the growing demand for gigs in those years. Building on what Raphael Zingg had laid down, he added his own touch — one he kept developing over the years, until it came to shape the band's sound more and more.
Guitar/vox/keys live, arrangement live. Stepped in for a spell and gave the songs a new note.
Percussions/drums live. One of the friends who makes his living from music - he jumped in to help out for a while and added fresh momentum.
Accordion. One show at Minimum, 2012. Another friend who lent a hand and shaped the sound of those years.
Double bass. One show at Schüür, 2018. Another friend who makes his living from music - he jumped in for a cool gig and gave the songs yet another colour.