Sindri

Juergen Teller : So how is your son ?

Björk : Oh, he’s great.

Juergen Teller : Do you often make music together ?

Björk : No, the area where we meet seems to be humor. We’ve always worn costumes, enjoyed comedy videos, and read scripts-he’s really into analyzing scripts.

Juergen Teller : What kind ?

Björk : Well, he went through a period where he learned by heart all the scripts for everything John Cleese did, like Fawlty Towers and Monty Python. And he’s definitely into science fiction. We must have watched Alien together five thousand times. Of course, I’ll be admiring Sigourney Weaver-kind of female power-and he’ll be admiring the aliens. [laughs]

Juergen Teller : Right, right. Do you find it difficult to move around so much, having a kid ?

Björk : Well, Sindri started traveling with me when he was one year old. I guess guess I was very young and very stupid, and nobody told me that it was difficult, and so it wasn’t. Also, I come from a family where there were always lots of kids around, and everybody could do what they wanted. There wasn’t a separate, children’s world. As an adult, I felt I could still do my job, be pretty hardcore...

Juergen Teller : ...and have your son with you.

Björk : Yeah. And when I was in the Sugarcubes, I wasn’t the only one with a kid. There were always a lot of Icelandic people traveling with us, sort of like a family. When I think about it now, I can’t believe it. I had one suitcase with winter clothes, one with summer clothes, and another full of toys. But it was quite magical to discover the world with a child.

Juergen Teller : Yeah, I feel the same about my daughter, Lola. I want to always be around for her, sort of be her mate.

Björk : I always saw traveling with Sindri as a luxury. We kind of had a schedule - he’d wake up at about 7:00 a.m., and just gently shake me. And while other people in the band were maybe partying quite hard, fair enough, and waking up in the tour bus around noon, he and I would be off to three amusement parks and four gardens, and we’d be drawing maps and making up games. For a while we toured with a bicycle that had a little kid’s seat attached. We’d just throw it in with all the equipment. Outside of the bus we’d ride around, and he’d wear his little helmet. We wouldn’t know where we were, so we’d just have to find out way together.

Juergen Teller : Actually, that sounds quite exciting.

Björk : And then after the concerts, I would climb all sweaty into bed with him. So I always felt like I was the lucky one, to have a partner who would do it all with me. I guess we’re like brother and sister in a lot of ways.

Index magazine, june/july 2001