Greta (guitars/banjo/vocals) and Stella Bondesson (electric bass/double bass/vocals) began their careers alongside their father, Janåke Bondesson (drums/harmonica/vocals), in the rockabilly band Slaptones in 1999. Sunniva (guitars/vocals) was the youngest of the sisters and joined in 2003. The band released two albums, “Simplify” (2003) and “Amplify” (2004). Slaptones took a long hiatus when the sisters formed Baskery in 2006—a band that is also performing at this year’s Dark Season Blues (see separate article)—but they have reunited, in part to honor the blues audience in Longyearbyen.
“Slaptones plays rock ’n’ roll and rhythm ’n’ blues the way it sounded before The Beatles and covers songs by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, John D. Loudermilk, Mose Allison, Carl Perkins, Willie Dixon, Eddie Cochran, Muddy Waters, and Otis Rush,” wrote Aftonbladet about the band in 2003.
“We’ve never heard most of these songs in their original versions. Nor has it ever been our goal to play them that way. That’s why they sound like our own. Dad has heard them, but we haven’t,” Greta says in the interview.
“Yeah, but it’s been so long that I’ve forgotten what they sounded like,” adds Dad Janåke. We’re looking forward to this very special comeback here at Dark Season Blues.
Dark Season Blues©2026
