Brainpool is a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

group from

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The band was most popular in the mid-1990s, mostly in the Swedish indie-pop scene together with other bands like Eggstone or Beagle.

History

This Swedish band was formed in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

, and the original members were vocalist Jan "Janne" Kask, guitarist David Birde, bassist

Christoffer Lundquist Carl Christoffer Lundquist (born 1970) is a Swedish musician and producer. He was once in the band Brainpool, where he started as a bass player and backing vocalist, but moved to play both the bass and the guitar. Brainpool won a Swedish Gram ...

, and drummer Jens Jansson. The band signed to

Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the Swedish pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was d ...

's music publishing company Jimmy Fun Music and released three albums: ''Soda'' (1994; Swedish Grammy as New Band), ''Painkiller'' (1995) and ''Stay Free'' (1996). They took part as support act during the ''European Crash! Boom! Bang!'' Tour by

Roxette Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...

in 1994. Janne Kask left the band in 1997 to pursue a solo career. For a while the other band members were looking for a new lead singer, but soon gave up. "It didn't take long for us to realize that it would be impossible to let another person join", David Birde explained in an interview t
The Daily Roxette
"It would have to be the three of us, or split up. At first we thought about changing our name, but that turned out to be difficult -

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

had already paid for the recording of ''You Are Here'' and they wanted us to keep the name. We had to choose between ditching the recordings and lose our record deal or go on calling ourselves Brainpool. We cowardly chose the latter." The band not only decided to stay together after Kask left, but they decided to change their style and their music. "We realized our audience was getting younger. We were 26, we were smelly and unshaven and drunk. There were 11- and 12-year-old fans who wanted a hug, we just thought it was so wrong, that's when we realized we had to do something else," says David. It was time for their music to reach the level of maturity that they were at. ''You Are Here'' was released in 1999. After this release, the band worked for 4 years on a

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

which was finally released in 2004 with the name ''Junk'' and with the topic of

anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology that is opposed to consumerism, the continual buying and consuming of material possessions. Anti-consumerism is concerned with the private actions of business corporations in pursuit of financial and ...

. The premiere was in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

on August 19, 2004 where the band was backed up by

Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra ( sv, Malmö Symfoniorkester) is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was fo ...

. The album was published by the band's own publishing company Junk Musik which releases singles only on the Internet. In 2005, Brainpool released the compilation ''We Aimed To Please''. The album only contains songs from 1992 to 1997 when Janne Kask was still in the band. There are no songs from ''You Are Here'' or ''Junk''. In May 2007 Brainpool's ''Junk: A Rock Opera'' premiered at a small venue in Los Angeles to mixed fan reviews. It sold out 36 shows, and, in the beginning of 2009, was performed as a staged reading off-Broadway in New York City.

Members

started in the band as a bass player and backing vocalist, but has moved to play both the bass and the guitar. He has recorded and/or produced albums by

Gyllene Tider Gyllene Tider (; "Golden Times") was a Swedish pop group fronted by Roxette singer, guitarist and songwriter Per Gessle. They were one of the best-selling Swedish bands ever and have had numerous hits in Scandinavia, starting with the break-th ...

Ed Harcourt Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith (born 14 August 1977) is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released six studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, ''Here Be Monsters'', was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Priz ...

, Christian Kjellvander,

Helena Josefsson Helena Marianne Josefsson (born 23 March 1978) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist in the band Sandy Mouche and has collaborated with Per Gessle, Roxette, Arash Labaf, The Ark and various other Swedish musical project ...

, ... in his own studio in Scania, AGM Studios. He played in the backing groups of Per Gessle since 1998. * David Birde, guitar player, songwriter and lyricist. He also became the lead singer since ''You Are Here''. He has released some single songs with Magnus Börjeson from Beagle as 'Metro Jets'. * Jens Jansson, drummer. He has played and recorded with many international artists:

Peter von Poehl Peter von Poehl (born 31 March 1972) is a Swedish singer-songwriter, composer, musician and director Career Poehl was born in Malmö. In the early 2000s he collaborated extensively with Bertrand Burgalat and his label Tricatel, notably on Miche ...

Righteous Boy Righteous Boy is the solo project of Magnus Sveningsson, bassist from Swedish rock group The Cardigans. Sveningsson began the project during the long hiatus between the Cardigans' '' Gran Turismo'' and ''Long Gone Before Daylight'' albums. To date ...

, Florian Horwath, ... * Jan "Janne" Kask is a former member of the band, singer and songwriter. He had a hit as a solo artist with ''Golden Heart''. Currently, he is studying

medical education Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship (medical), internship) and additional training thereafter (e.g., Re ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

. * James SK Wān – bamboo flute

Discography

Albums

* ''Soda'' (1994) * ''Painkiller'' (1995) * ''Stay Free'' (1996) * ''You Are Here'' (1999) * ''Junk'' (2004) * ''We Aimed To Please - Best Of Brainpool, Vol. 1'' (2005)

Singles

* At School / Popstar (1993) * Every Day (1994) * Girl Lost (1994) * In The Countryside (1994) * That's My Charm (1994) * Bandstarter (1995) * We Aim To Please (1995) * Tomorrow (1995) * Sister C'mon (1996) * In A Box (1996) * My Sweet Lord (She's So Fine) (1997) * You Are Here (1999) * Live Transmission (1999) * Junk (2004) * Metro Jets Premier Concert (2005) * A Different Life (2005)

References

{{Authority control Swedish musical groups 1993 establishments in Sweden Musical groups established in 1993 English-language singers from Sweden