The Sounds are a Swedish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band. Formed in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

in 1998, the group's musical style has been compared to new wave acts such as Blondie,

The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...

, the

Epoxies The Epoxies were an American new wave band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2000. Heavily influenced by new wave, the band jokingly described themselves as robot garage rock. Members included FM Static on synthesizers, guitarist Viz Spectrum, ...

and

Missing Persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

. Their debut album, '' Living in America'', was released in 2002, with the follow-up '' Dying to Say This to You'' in 2006. Their third album, '' Crossing the Rubicon'', was released in 2009, and their fourth, '' Something to Die For'', was released in 2011. Their fifth album, ''Weekend'', was released in 2013. In 2017, the band released a four-track EP, ''The Tales That We Tell''.

History

Formation

The Sounds were formed in 1998 by classmates Félix Rodríguez,

Maja Ivarsson Maja Ivarsson (; born 2 October 1979) is a Swedish singer and lead vocalist of the Swedish indie rock band The Sounds. Career The Sounds formed in 1998 in Helsingborg, by childhood friends guitarist and vocalist Felix Rodriguez and bassist Johan ...

, Johan Bengtsson and Fredrik Blond in Helsingborg, Sweden. The group met Jesper Anderberg, the youngest member, by chance at the

Hultsfred Festival The Hultsfred Festival ( sv, Hultsfredsfestivalen) was an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It took place at the lake Hulingen during three days in the June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, it ...

, and he was enlisted to play keyboards and guitar. The band's name was decided months later during a trip to London. Before becoming the lead singer of the band, Ivarsson had previously played electric guitar in other local bands.

''Living in America''

Their 2002 debut album, ''Living in America'', was recorded in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and produced by

Adel Dahdal Adel Dahdal is a record producer and mix engineer based in Stockholm, Sweden. His credits include work with artists such as Neiked, Sandro Cavazza, Zara Larsson, Miriam Bryant, The Sounds, UNDRESSD, Liamoo, Rikard Wolff, Rudimental (Neiked Remix) ...

and Jimmy Monell. It earned them several "Best Newcomer" awards, a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

, a No. 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 500 gigs since the album's release including participating in the 2004

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

. In 2006 they played again at

, this time on a main stage, and have toured with bands such as

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Mor ...

Morningwood Morningwood was an alternative rock band from New York City. Founded in 2001, it primarily consisted of Pedro Yanowitz and Chantal Claret. Morningwood was signed to Capitol Records and released two albums. Claret went solo in 2012 and folded the ...

Angels & Airwaves Angels & Airwaves (also written as Angels and Airwaves; stylized and abbreviated as ΛVΛ) is an American rock band, comprising Tom DeLonge (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), David Kennedy (guitars, keyboards), Ilan Rubin (drums, keyboards, ...

, +44,

Mando Diao Mando Diao is an alternative rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The band got their breakthrough with the release of the album ''Hurricane Bar''. Their main fan base is in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Band members are Björn Di ...

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

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

, Thomas Johnson and Robin Botten,

Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV reality ...

and his ex-wife Missy Margera,

David Desrosiers Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1999. The band's lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm gu ...

, Ben Khodadad and

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

. The band has stated several times that it relies on word of mouth and concerts to promote its music.

''Dying to Say This to You''

The second album, '' Dying to Say This to You'', was recorded at Studio 880 in Oakland,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and produced by Jeff Saltzman (producer of

The Killers The Killers are an American rock band formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After going through a number of short-term bass players and drummers in t ...

' ''

Hot Fuss ''Hot Fuss'' is the debut studio album by American rock band the Killers, released on June 7, 2004, in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004, in the United States by Island Records. The album is mostly influenced by new wave music and post-p ...

'' and all but two tracks of Blondie's ''

Panic of Girls ''Panic of Girls'' is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Blondie. It was the band's first album of new material in nearly 8 years, since 2003's ''The Curse of Blondie''. The album was first released digitally on May 30, 2011, follow ...

''). They started the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an leg of their tour in September and in October toured with Panic! at the Disco which included dates in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

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 Shiny Toy Guns is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2002. The band is composed of guitarist/vocalist Chad Petree, vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, keyboardist Jeremy Dawson, and drummer Mikey Martin. Their first studio ...

. Altogether, 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

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

-tinged, "Hurt You", was used in a Geico television commercial that originally aired in September 2008. Maja Ivarsson was named in ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

'' Magazine's "Hottest Women of ... Rock" list. The Sounds acknowledged and celebrated their tenth anniversary of their album ''Dying to Say This to You'' with a US tour (and two shows in Canada) from 15 November to 20 December 2016, performing the entire album live in its original track order; they also played their new single, "Thrill" (released 10 November 2016) as well as a few tracks from their earlier albums '' Living in America'' and '' Crossing the Rubicon''.

''Crossing the Rubicon''

The Sounds released their third studio album '' Crossing the Rubicon'', on 2 June 2009, via Original Signal Recordings (US and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) and Arnioki Records, their independent label. They collaborated with Mark Saunders as well as

James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years ...

and

Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was a key songwriting contri ...

on the album. The album was mixed by

Tim Palmer Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 October 1962, in North Shields) is an English record producer, audio engineer, guitarist and songwriter of rock music, rock and alternative rock, alternative music. He Audio mixing (recorded music), mixed Pearl Jam's d ...

(Bowie, Pearl Jam, HIM, Cure) at his '62 Studios. (They performed the song "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" on ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with ''T ...

'' on 12 February 2009, which was the first single from the album. The song was also included in CW's new show ''

The Vampire Diaries ''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW on September 10, ...

'' in the "Haunted" episode. The title of the third album was inspired by the Julius Caesar quote and refers to the band's separation from their previous record label and became independent. Their second single, "Beatbox", was featured on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''. "Dorchester Hotel" was released as a third single in Germany only. As of February 2010, two official videos have been released off of ''Crossing the Rubicon''. They are "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" (directed by Michael Schmelling of A76 Productions) and "Beatbox" (directed by Manuel Concha of Concha Films). The Sounds was the special guest on the

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, the ...

Summer Tour in 2009, starting in May 2009 in outdoor amphitheaters and arenas across the US and Canada. The Sounds also played a series of headline shows around the US and Canada in late April and early May prior to joining the No Doubt tour. These headlining shows featured Chicago synth-rockers Hey Champ, who created a remix of "Beatbox". On 12 September 2009, The Sounds embarked on a world tour to promote the new album.

Foxy Shazam Foxy Shazam is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio formed in 2004. , the band's lineup consists of lead vocalist Eric Nally, pianist Sky White, trumpeter and backing vocalist Alex Nauth, bassist Trigger Warning, guitarist Devin Williams ...

and Semi Precious Weapons joined them as support in the United States and

Matt and Kim Matt and Kim (sometimes stylized MATT and KIM) are an American indie electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York City. The group formed in 2004 and consist of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums). The duo is known for its upbeat d ...

supported them in Europe.

''Something to Die For''

The band's next album was titled '' Something to Die For'', and released on 29 March 2011. Lead singer Maja Ivarsson also appeared on

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...

band

All Time Low All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band to ...

's new album '' Dirty Work'' as a guest vocalist on the track "Guts". The first single from their new album, "Better Off Dead", was released on 1 February 2011. The track was promoted on their website with a competition, in which anyone could download the sheet music for the song, and submit their own version, to be voted on by fans (the winner's version will be included as the B-side on their upcoming 7"). Everyone who downloaded the sheet music also received the track for free 5 days early. The band released their second single, "Something to Die For", on February 22, 2011, and the single was featured on the ''

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'' soundtrack along with "Yeah Yeah Yeah". The band released the official music video for their third single, "Dance With The Devil", on May 19, 2011. A music video for the fourth single, "Yeah Yeah Yeah", was released on 16 February 2012.

''Weekend''

On his official

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

feed, keyboard player Jesper Anderberg announced that The Sounds were in the studio working on their yet-to-be-named fifth studio album, which should be released around summer of 2013. The Sounds also posted pictures of their in-studio work on Twitter and on their official website, stating that they "are locked up in a studio in Sweden putting the final touches on our 5th studio album". They also said that the album "is a great reflection of our last 10 years of touring, playing live and making music together!". They will release new music in the spring, and start touring summer of 2013. On 24 April, they announced via Twitter that they have completed recording the new album. On 16 May 2013, on their official Twitter, The Sounds posted a preview of their new single "Shake Shake Shake", the first single off of their new album. "Shake Shake Shake" was subsequently released on 23 May 2013. In June, it was revealed that The Sounds would embark on a European headline tour in November 2013. On 23 September 2013, title track "Weekend" was released as a free download on the ''

Nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...

'' website. On 29 September, the band debuted a new song live, titled "Hurt the Ones I Love". The band released their fourth album, '' Weekend'' on 29 October 2013. After the European headline tour, they returned to the US for a nationwide tour where they were accompanied by opening acts Ghost Beach, Blondfire, and Strange Talk.

''Things We Do for Love''

On 28 February 2020, The Sounds announced their new studio album ''Things We Do for Love''. The band unveiled the title track and US tour that same day. Because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the band pushed back the album's release date, originally 1 May 2020, to 12 June 2020.

Members

– vocals * Félix Rodríguez – guitar * Jesper Anderberg – keyboards, piano, guitar * Johan Richter – bass * Fredrik Blond (formerly Fredrik Nilsson) – drums

Discography

Studio albums * '' Living in America'' (2002) * '' Dying to Say This to You'' (2006) * '' Crossing the Rubicon'' (2009) * '' Something to Die For'' (2011) * '' Weekend'' (2013) * ''Things We Do for Love'' (2020) Studio EPs * ''The Tales That We Tell'' – EP (2017)

References

External links

Official websiteThe Sounds biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sounds, The Musical groups established in 1999 Swedish indie rock groups Swedish new wave musical groups 1999 establishments in Sweden Musical groups from Helsingborg English-language singers from Sweden