The Sounds

The Sounds
The Sounds 2006 in Montréal
Background information
Origin	Helsingborg, Scania, Sweden
Genres	New Wave
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Original Signal Recordings (US and Canada), Warner Music Group (Europe)
Website	www.the-sounds.com
Members
Maja Ivarsson Felix Rodriguez Johan Bengtsson Jesper Anderberg Fredrik Nilsson

The Sounds is a Swedish New Wave band founded in 1999 in Helsingborg. The group's musical style has been compared to New Wave acts such as Blondie, The Cars, the Epoxies and Missing Persons.

Their debut album, Living in America, was released in 2002, with the follow up, Dying to Say This to You, on March 21, 2006. Their third album, Crossing the Rubicon, was released on June 2 2009.

Lead singer Maja Ivarsson is explicit about her ambition, claiming "I want to be the best female vocalist around...of at least this century".^[1] She was featured on Cobra Starship's "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", for the film Snakes on a Plane. In addition to Ivarsson's contribution to the Snakes soundtrack, the entire band is featured as track 6, "Queen of Apology," remixed by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump.

Band members Jesper Anderberg and Felix Rodriguez have recently been working as songwriters for other artists, among them the Dutch pop band Krezip and the Swedish punk band Quit Your Dayjob.

For Krezip's latest album (Plug it In), the pair wrote three songs: "All My Life", "Play This Game With Me" and "You're Wrong". "All My Life" has been one of the most played songs of 2008 in Holland. Krezip's album Plug It In was also produced by Adel Dahdal(with Peter Mansson), who produced The Sounds' debut album Living in America together with Jimmy Monell.

Members

• Maja Ivarsson – Vocals
• Felix Rodriguez – Guitar
• Johan Bengtsson – Bass
• Jesper Anderberg – Keyboards, Piano, Guitar
• Fredrik Nilsson – Drums

History

The Sounds was formed when the New Young Pony Club split up, enlisting Fredrik Nilsson as drummer. Maja Ivarsson, named in Blender Magazine's "Hottest Women of ... Rock" list^[2] was invited to join as the lead singer. The group met Jesper Anderberg by chance at the Hultsfred Festival. The band's name was decided months later during a trip to London.

Their debut album, Living in America, was recorded in Stockholm and produced by Adel Dahdal and Jimmy Monell. It earned them several "best newcomer" awards, a Grammis and a #4 position in the Swedish album charts, and established the band not only in Sweden but also in the United States. The band has played over 300 gigs since the album's release including participating in the 2004 Warped Tour. In 2006 they played again at Warped Tour, this time on main stage, and have toured with bands such as Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Morningwood, Angels & Airwaves, +44, Mando Diao and Panic! At The Disco.

In the United States, the band has done several TV appearances and magazine articles and has reportedly built up a celebrity fan base that includes Brittany Burnett, Dave Grohl, Pharrell, Quentin Tarantino, Thomas Johnson and Robin Botten, Bam Margera and his wife Missy, David Desrosiers, Ben Khodadad and Britney Spears. Dave Grohl wore a red "Sounds" T-shirt in the Foo Fighters' "Times Like These" video. The band has stated several times that it relies on word of mouth and concerts to promote its music^[1][3].

The second album, Dying to Say This to You, was recorded at Studio 880 in Oakland, California, and produced by Jeff Saltzman (producer of The Killers' Hot Fuss). They started the European leg of their tour in September and in October toured with Panic! At The Disco which included dates in London and several other major European cities. Following this tour, The Sounds made another run in the United States, starting with a Myspace secret show in Miami, Florida on Halloween and then stopping at 10 major cities from coast to coast with supporting act Shiny Toy Guns. All together, The Sounds played over 200 shows in 2006, over half of which were in the United States.

In early October 2007, The Sounds wrapped up their worldwide tour in Western Europe and Australia.

One of the band's songs, the synth-pop-tinged, "Hurt You", was used in a Geico television commercial that originally aired in September 2008.

The Sounds released their third studio album Crossing the Rubicon on June 2 via Original Signal Recordings (US and Canada) and Warner Europe. They collaborated with Mark Saunders as well as James Iha and Adam Schlesinger on the album^[4]. They performed the song "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" on Last Call With Carson Daly on February 12 2009, and on March 16 the song was announced on their MySpace page as the first single from the album. The song was also included in CW's new show The Vampire Diaries in the "Haunted" episode.^[5]

On January 21 2009, it was announced that The Sounds will be a special guest on the No Doubt Summer Tour 2009, starting in May 2009 in outdoor amphitheaters and arenas across the U.S. and Canada. The Sounds will also play a series of headline shows around the U.S. and Canada in late April and early May prior to joining the No Doubt tour. These headlining shows feature Chicago synth-rockers Hey Champ.

On September 12 2009, The Sounds embarked on a world tour to promote the new album. Foxy Shazam and Semi Precious Weapons join them as support.

Discography

Albums

• Living In America (2002)
• Dying To Say This To You (2006)
• Crossing The Rubicon (2009)

See also

• List of Swedes in music
• List of Warner Music Group artists

References

External links

• Official website
• The Sounds at MySpace
• The Sounds biography
• Photos - The Sounds @ The Hollywood Palladium - 11/20/08