Division of Laura Lee is a band of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

musicians/skateboarders originally from

Vänersborg Vänersborg () is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 23,882 inhabitants (out of a municipal total of 39,591) Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Sin ...

, Sweden heavily influenced by

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

bands,

britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

and the DC music scene (

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release ''Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idles. ...

). The name comes from

Laura Lee Laura Lee can refer to: * Laura Lee (singer-songwriter) (born 1945), American soul and gospel singer-songwriter * Laura Lee (sex worker) (1973–2018), Irish-born sex worker and activist based in the UK * Laura Lee (bassist) (born 1986), Mexican-Ame ...

, a soul singer, and the phrase "Division Of" which was spotted on a cardboard box at their practice space.

Biography

Division of Laura Lee was formed in

in the late 1990s with band members Per Stålberg, Jonas Gustafsson, Henrik Röstberg and Håkan Johansson. The name comes from

, a soul singer, and the phrase "Division Of" which was spotted on a cardboard box at their practice space. A debut single was released in December 1997 and the band started touring in December 1998, first in Sweden and then Europe. David Fransson replaced Röstberg in 2000 and the group released a debut album '' Black City'' in 2002. Gustafsson said of the band in 2002, "We’re working-class kids. änersborg isa town where you either do drugs or work at the Saab factory, and we were outsiders. You have to believe in something." Their second album ''Das Not Compute'' was released in 2004. They were described in a gig review published in '' Aftonbladet'' in 2004 as having emerged as "one of weden'smost intense rock bands” who were best seen live. The following year, in 2005, they were to tour the United States but this was cancelled at three days notice owing to financial problems at the record company, Burning Heart. They performed at the South by Southwest music festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in March 2006. Two further albums followed: ''Violence Is Timeless'', released in 2008, reached no. 34 in the Swedish charts, and ''Tree'', released in 2013, reached no. 41. Viktor Lager joined the band for the ''Tree'' album and Fransson left in 2017. The band marked 20 years since their formation with an anniversary gig in December 2017; Stålberg ascribed the band's longevity to staying true to themselves and creating something unique and real, and asserted that they would continue to play together for as long as it was fun. The album ''Apartment'' was released in 2020.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Official site
* {{Authority control Swedish rock music groups Swedish punk rock groups Swedish indie rock groups Garage punk groups Swedish post-punk music groups Post-punk revival music groups Burning Heart Records artists Musical groups established in 1997