‘Alan Entwistle Pickups’ Artist
Thomas ‘The Szarre’ Szarzynski / Slingshot Bikini
“I’m Thomas and I play guitar. And that is pretty much all I do……in different bands and settings, but playing guitar is what I do, it always has been.“
GENRE(S): Surf music- Roots music
INFLUENCES / FAVOURITE ARTISTS:
SURF
Vintage surf artists:
Dick Dale – The Shadows-The Ventures
Modern surf artists:
Slacktone – Martin Cilia- Surfer Joe- Sant Anna Bay Coconuts
OTHER:
Richard Thompson
Django Reinhardt
Prince
The Detroit Cobras
Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
BANDS – ACTIVE: Slingshot Bikini: Surf band
Bad Samaritans : Blues-Swamp- Boogie
The Party Crew : party band
BANDS – PREVIOUS: Lowlife: Punk Rock
Area 51: Punk Rock
Evil Tupperware: Goot time rock n Roll
PREFERRED PICKUPS, AND WHY: EJM 59 The stock- pickup in the Vintage Surfmaster 90. A ‘JM style’ pickup. Clear bright, twangy sounds. Very responsive to my picking style and distinctive sounds on all 3 different settings. Surf by name and sound.
Also the AL90 pickups: the P90’s pickups from the Martin Cilia Custom Guitars. Great P90 surf sounds
PRIME CUTS / STAND-OUT CAREER MOMENT SO FAR:
Recording and writing the album “Rattle them Bones” for the Bad Samaritans (I play slide and rhythm guitar)
Playing international festivals and going on international tours with the Bad Samaritans
Recording, writing and playing live with Slingshot Bikini (surf music)
Playing and touring with one of the biggest Belgium party bands: The Party Crew
Endorsement by boutique effect company BIG JOHN EFFECTS – Huge Analog Sounds
Endorsement by Vintage Guitars
Endorsement by Alan Entwistle Pickups
Working as a session guitarist (Lite Recordings, RAW Records,..)
DISCOGRAPHY:
2002 Ni Hoa Area 51
2007 Ultime Hombre Slingshot Bikini
2012 Session Heaters Slingshot Bikini
2023/2024/2025 Singles Slingshot Bikini
2024 Rattle Them Bones Lonnie Kahlula’s Bad Samaritans
2024/ 2025 Singles Kahlula’s Bad Samaritans
2025 Live Rattling Lonnie Kahlula’s Bad Samaritans
BIOGRAPHY:
Thomas Szarzynski
I come from Turnhout, a small city in Belgium, and have been playing in all sorts of bands: wedding, punk, jazz, blues, roots, covers,… and for years nothing much happened, but at least me and my bands got better.
However:
Today I play in top Blues-Swamp- Boogie band “Lonnie Kahlula’s Bad Samaritans”
We tour Belgium, Holland and Germany this year (2025). I play slide guitar and split the lead guitar duties. We play some of the bigger festivals this summer.
I also play in “the Party Crew” a top Belgium party band. We play for companies, festivals and big events. This is professional with lighting technicians, pyrotechnics, in-ear monitoring, lots of stage hands, big stages and crowds up to 4000 people. Good times.
Slingshot Bikini
My main artistic focus however is Slingshot Bikini, a surf band. This is my own band that I started in 2006. We play traditional surf with lots of reverb and loud fender tube amps. Think Dick Dale, The Ventures, Slacktone,… We played most big Belgian roots events. And as Surf bands go, we are as big as we can get locally … but now we try to get international tours going and are currently chasing a record deal.
Lots of great stuff to come: a co-lab with a skateboard brand, vinyl, new recordings,…
And we play Belgium’s biggest Surf festival ‘The Endless Surf’ this year with some of our heroes.
“I admire the American guitar building pioneers like Les Paul and Leo Fender, but I feel the big US companies tend to look back and reissue 50’s and 60’s stuff instead of reinvent.
Today I admire the British guitar builders and inventors more. I love the guitars and hardware by Trev Wilkinson and Alan Entwistle . They come up with cool, new and exciting stuff and try new things.“
GUITARS:
Vintage Revo Surfmaster 90 (endorsement)
Fender ‘The Ventures’ signature
Also:
Fender Strats & Tele’s & Gibson LP & ES 335
AMPS:
Fender Super Reverb (vintage and new)
Fender Twin Reverbs
Marshall Astoria Custom combo
GEAR:
Big John Effects (endorsement) BIG JOHN EFFECTS – Huge Analog Sounds
Fender reverb tank
