Biography
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Discography
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Plankton(2002)
The PLANKTON debute album contains 12 songs. Enjoy a 1 hour trip through a sonic landscape full of strats, Marshalls and weird stompboxes, backed up with a groovy rhythm section that you won´t find anywhere else!
TrackList:
- 01. Vårlevitation
- 02. Pickadoll
- 03. Monsoon
- 04. Elephantman
- 05. I´m Not An Animal
- 06. Jorm
- 07. Zeitgeist
- 08. Groovedawg
- 09. Take Five
- 10. Humble Colossus
- 11. Living Room Jam
- 12. Universal Walkabout
- What do you think about your debut album?
It´s a great first album – we had a bunch of musical ideas and we had just put the band together so we didn´t really know what to expect. All we knew was that we wanted it to sound as live as possible, and the album does sound kind of spontaneous. We rehearsed a couple of times and then recorded the majority of the songs in just a few days.
- Favourite Song(and why)?
Christian: I like them all but I if I have to choose one I´d say “Jorm” because I really like the melody.
Emil: “Jorm” is one of my favourites too, but there are a few others that I dig as well, “Pickadoll”, “Monsoon”, “I´m Not An Animal”...
- Any special memories from the recording sessions?
Emil: I have a clear memory of when we put down the last guitars for “Universal Walkabout”, it was late at night and we had lit a couple of candles which really set the mood for this kind of dreamy song.
Christian: We decided that we were going to record the album without spending too much money so we borrowed all the microphones and the recording equipment and set up the “studio” in my mom´s house outside of Stockholm. We had a lot of fun while recording and since it was the place where I was born and raised this album has a special place in my heart.
Humble Colossus(2004)
The second album, "Humble Colossus", by Plankton was released 2004..
TrackList:
- 01. What´s Your Favourite Colour?
- 02. Bulleribock
- 03. Fleetwood
- 04. Elephantman
- 05. Visa Från Utanmyra
- 06. Kebnekaise
- 07. Agent Orange
- 08. Out Of The Sun
- 09. Yestermorrow
- 10. You Are My Friend
- 11. Thousand Lakes
- What do you think about your album, "Humble Colossus"?
It´s our second album and it pretty much represents where we were at the time musically. We wanted to make an album with great songs that you´d be able to listen to all the way through. We spent more time with the songwriting than on the first album, and we had to work harder to come up with enough songs this time
- Favourite Song(and why)?
Christian: Again I like them all but I if I have to choose one I´d say “Bulleribock”.
Emil: “Kebnekaise” is one of my favourites, it´s a song I never get tired of playing.
- Any special memories from the recording sessions?
Emil: When we record we always have a very tight schedule, there´s seldom room for anything but the actual playing, so I don´t really recall much from these sessions except doing takes and changing strings on my guitars a zillion times...
Christian: Humble Colossus was also recorded at my mom´s house, but this time her new home in the same neighbourhood. We like to record in a home environment!
Plankton 3 (2006)
A new album, "Plankton 3", will be released in June 2006..
TrackList:
- 01. The Telltale Heart
- 02. Stockholm
- 03. Cosmic Bridge
- 04. Holy Cow
- 05. Sea of Tranquility
- 06. Have You Ever..?
- 07. Anecdotes of an Aquanaut
- 08. 1970
- 09. Dvargfeber
- 10. Evolution at Work
- A new album, "Plankton 3", will be released in June 2006, feelings about it
Emil: “Plankton 3” is the most interesting Plankton album so far! We are really pleased with the songs and the sound, and the whole process of writing and rehearsing has been nothing but positive and uplifting. One other great thing about this album is that the cover art is made by the legendary artist Hans Arnold, who is probably most known here in Sweden for his horror drawings. We all grew up with his pictures in books, magazines and on record sleeves (Abba´s “Greatest hits” being one) and it´s a true honor to have his art on our album!
- Favourite Song(and why)?
Emil: I dig each and every song on this album, but if I have to mention one I´d say “The Cosmic Bridge” which is based on an idea that Tomas came up with. We often work like that by the way – one of us have an idea that we work on together and try to develop into a decent song. But sometimes we just jam and improvise, lots of ideas tend to show up that way too... Either way, the end result is always a band effort.
- Any special memories from the recording sessions?
Emil: We recorded most of the guitars during the summer and the control room was like an oven. Both me and Christian had stratocaster-shaped stains of sweat on the fronts of our t-shirts during whole this period... Another great thing that happened was that Wishbone Ash, one of our favourite bands, turned out to dig Plankton and they wanted us to contribute with a song to their 35:th anniversary album, which we happily did! We recorded a version of F.U.B.B. (from their album “There´s The Rub”) which can be heard on the tribute album “Wishbone Ish”. (Check out www.wishboneash.com for more info!)
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Plankton interview Nov 2005
by Claes Hassel
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General
Questions:
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| How did you get into the
music business?
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Christian: I got hooked on music quite early in life. I listened to my parents records with Elvis, Beatles etc and since it was the mid 70´s there were lots of colourful magazines with bands like Sweet, Kiss, David Bowie that got me interested. I was a huge Sweet fan and wanted to change my name to Andy Scott and play the guitar!!
Emil: We had an old acoustic guitar lying around at home, I just picked it up at one point and tried to copy the music I listened to (Sweet, Jimi etc). I was only around eight or nine years old so I didn´t really gave it much thought then, it wasn´t until a couple of years later that I got a bit more seriuos and conscious about the guitar and music in general.
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What was your first music instrument?
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Christian: My dad played the guitar and my mom played the piano so I started out making some noise on guitar and piano.
Emil: My first own instrument was an acoustic guitar by the Finnish brand Landola that I still have.
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Who has been your main
influences?
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We listen to and get influenced by all kinds of music,¬ mainly artists and bands from the 60´s and the 70´s like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Mountain, Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Frank Marino, Black Sabbath, Sweet and Wishbone Ash. But we also get influenced by jazz and folk music which contributes a great deal to the Plankton sound. |
List five albums of the
bands/artists that you like the most and why!
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The Beatles- Revolver - Great songs, love the way it´s produced.
Jan Johansson - Jazz på svenska - Piano wizard Jan Johansson´s interpretation of old Swedish folk songs – probably the most beautiful record ever made…
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced/Axis Bold As Love/Electric Ladyland - These albums were just so groundbreaking, energetic and inventive – genuine classics!
Deep Purple - Machine Head - Classic songs and sounds. A GREAT BAND!
Sweet - Sweet Fanny Adams - This is their best album in my opinion. It was the first record I ever got and I still love it! (Christian)
Mahogany Rush – IV - I love the songs and the (then) futuristic production of this album, the use of Mellotron and Moogs are really tasty and Frank Marino´s guitar playing is brilliant all the way through. (Emil) |
What time was/is the most
interesting for the rock music, in your opinion and why - 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or
00s?
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Plankton:'The 60´s and 70´s, without a doubt! It was a time of experimentation and some very interesting music was made in those days... Just think about all the great bands and artists that were around, everything from the Beatles to Weather Report to Yes to Black Sabbath... Many of the albums from these days are classics today and we doubt there will ever be another decade or two that will be as interesting as far as rock music is concerned. '
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Your dream band(living
or dead ;), who would they be, vocal/bass/drums/keyboard/lead guitar/rythm
guitar/producer? |
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Christian:
Jimi Hendrix – guitar & vocals
John Bonham – drums
Steve Marriot – guitar & vocals
Stevie Wonder – keyboard & vocals
Larry Graham – bass
George Martin – producer
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Of the songs that you have
composed, which of them are your favourites?
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Plankton:
'We don´t really have any favourites… We like all of them for different reasons. But we think our songwriting has improved with each album.'
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What kind of equipment/gear
are you using on the road and in the studio?
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Plankton:
'We use mainly old Fender stratocasters and Marshall amplifiers. When we´re in the studio we also use amplifiers like Vox, Fender, Selmer and Gibson to get different sounds. We also have quite a collection of old stompboxes, tape echo machines etc that we use both live and in the studio. All of our equipment is original, there are no modified amps or such...'
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What
are you doing in your spare time outside of music?
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Christian: Music is always on my mind, but I try to spend as much time as I can with my family. Other than that I like to travel and I´m also very interested in martial arts.
Emil: I spend time with my family, read, run, watch movies... Art and graphic design is another huge interest of mine.
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If you don't had been in the music business what have you been doing then?
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Emil: I earn my living as a graphic designer today, and I´d probably explore that world a bit further if I wasn´t into music.
Christian: I spend a lot of time in the gym where I teach people boxing, taekwondo etc so I´d probably be doing that.
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What are you currently up
to?
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Plankton: 'We have our hands full with the new album “Plankton III”. We´ve just finished recording, now it´s the mixing, mastering, layout and everything else that needs to be done. And as if that wasn´t enough we´re also about to release a compilation album with unreleased material from 1998 to present day. The plan is to release both discs at the same time this year, so these are really busy days!'
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Artist/album
related questions:
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| The
Beginning! |
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- Your first band, name and when did it began?
Emil: The band was called “Firewind” (the name was lent from the second
Electric Sun album) and was formed by me and a couple of friends when we were around 14 years old in the mid-eighties.
- The Music, the sort of music?..Influences?
Emil: The influences were basically the same back then as today (minus the jazz and folk music which came later...) – Jimi Hendrix, 70´s music, hard rock... We played mostly covers, but also a couple of original songs.
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Plankton |
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- How did you get together and when?
Christian: In 1998 Emil and myself decided to make some music together. We asked our friends Sebastian, Tomas and Lars, who also happened to be the best drummer, bass player and percussionist around, if they wanted to join us and luckily they agreed.
- The name, Plankton?
Christian: We needed to call ourselves something and the name Plankton was the first name that came to my mind. In Swedish it means the same thing as in English, but someone pointed out to us that if you write it apart, “plank-ton”, it sort of means something like ”electric guitar tone” in swedish. A sheer coincidence!
- What is your intention with the band?
Plankton:
'The original intention was just to make some cool music and record it, we didn´t have a deal with a record company or any plans for our music what so ever. But thanks to music journalist Janne Stark these first recordings found their way to USA and Joe Romagnola, who runs the label Grooveyard Records. Joe liked us and wanted to release our music. He´s very supportive and we´ve been working with him ever since. His label specializes in guitar music, and he has quite a catalouge with artists from both USA and Europe, here is the site: www.grooveyardrecords.com'
- What was the connection with the other members of the band?
Christian:Emil and I were introduced to each other by a mutual friend around 1990. Emil, myself, Tomas and Sebastian all rehearsed at the same place and had played together on numerous occasions. Lars and I were in a band together in 1994 and that´s how we got to know each other.
- Describe the sort of music, influences!
Plankton:
'We´re an instrumental band that is influenced by all sorts of music... Jimi Hendrix, Jan Johansson, Black Sabbath, jazz, folk music... We aim for a natural band-sound, good songs and a positive musical vibe!'
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| The Concerts with
Plankton:
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- First Concert(with Plankton), where/when?
Plankton: Skeppsbar in Stockholm, summer of 1998 – we have a couple of pics from this very first gig on our site. We tend to play pretty loud and people from the resturant next door came over and threatened to call the police if we didn´t put down the volume, so it was a definitely a successful first gig!
- Which songs do you like performing live mostly and why?
Plankton: We have quite a few original songs to choose from, and we enjoy playing most of them, but it´s usually most fun to play the newest songs that still feel fresh, or the oldest stuff that we haven´t played in a while. On occasion we´ve been playing songs by Hendrix, Frank Marino and the old Swedish 70´s band Nature, but that was during our first years when we didn´t have as many songs of our own.
- Any anecdotes/special memories from your Concerts?
Plankton: There was an incident at one of our gigs at Fasching when Tomas´ Marshall stack almost collapsed. It started to wobble in the middle of a song and Sebastian threw himself from his drum kit and catched it just as it was about to fall to the ground. Tomas stood with his back to the amp and never really noticed what happened, he probably just wondered why Sebastian stopped playing all of a sudden! It was also mindblowing when we realized that some people actually travel through half of Sweden just to come to our gigs, that´s very flattering!
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| Many Thanks to Plankton, Emil and Christian, for this interview!
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