Swedish monolith Mary Beats Jane hit the world in 1994 with a riotous debut album - a concoction of punk, hardcore, metal, rock, indie and an immense character all their own.
Sure Sweden has since become a marker for quality but these guys predated many media darlings with a rampant set of intense, soulful, unique music. Every single track on Mary Beats Jane is 100% power and precision with more heart than a pulsing aorta...
1994 was perhaps one of the unluckiest years for new bands in the alternative music industry and as usual originality was not rewarded by widespread interest or masses of sales. Even the incendiary live shows didn't blow MBJ worldwide as they should. Fuck it. 13 years on this album still blows the speakers and could teach virtually every band in existence a thing or two about playing with your testicles and your brains...
3 years later the boys returned with a far less vicious onslaught.
Here main man Peter Dolving sang more often than he barked and the songs were built around melancholy almost unplugged guitar moments and a helping of emotional disturbance, depression, chemical haze and perhaps the notion that no matter how hard they played only the few would understand. We are the few. You looking here, you know, the language of Mary Beats Jane. All hail the masters...
The year is 1994 and the venue is Bradford Rio in cold shitty Northern England. I was in attendance to watch one of my favourite bands, Downset. That particular night I heard Mary Beats Jane were in support. I didn’t know anything about them but felt I had heard the name somewhere before. My curiosity was peaked enough to move to the front just before they came on. I had a whopping six people to contend with at the front row, there was no one behind us for a good 10 yards. Such is the unfortunate reaction to a support band no one knows.
The band came out and regardless of the reception absolutely slayed. The stage was ludicrously compact for five people to stand and it was as if this cacophony of metallic splendour was just for us six people in a living room. Nothing else mattered to us except rejoicing in the absolute power and general genius of this band. They went through an album we didn’t know but that mattered not. Every song had riotous hooks, supreme and whirlwind drumming, extremely adept, proficient guitar histrionics and the songs already felt like firm friends.
Downset followed and suddenly the rest of the crowd burst into life but I had been converted – Mary Beats Jane stole the night from the headliner and not before or since have I witnessed a gig like it. I doubt I ever will. The very next day I surprisingly found the debut album. It was a mere £6.99. There are many things you can buy for seven quid but that was the best investment I have ever made. That album has got me through more bust-ups, losses and sickness than any other, and continues to do so to this day.
The songs were absolutely untouchable, from the opening histrionics of ‘Neighborhood Psycho’ to the closing chaos of ‘Coca Cola Report’. In the middle there were signs this band was no neanderthal metal or hardcore band – they threw in flecks of beauty, as on the flute assisted ‘Blood And Oil’. The lyrics were astounding, tales of loss, narcotics and madness. Where else would a metal band mention “Nietzsche” in the same lyric book as “Do that dumb cow, Red Riding Hood”?
Sure this was the result of a troubled mind but aren’t all geniuses troubled by something (usually themselves)? Peter Dolving was the chief whip, lyricist and singer extraordinaire but the musical backing was just as vital for MBJ to function as their immense, over the top selves.
After mass ignorance from the general musical public the band returned 3 years later with an unfathomable leap in moods. Where the debut was mostly fast paced and shouty, ‘Locust’ stepped off the gas and laid every emotional nerve bare. ‘Day In Day Out’, ‘Blackeye’ and ‘Fall’ were the sounds of a band about to disintegrate. Not because they were useless, far from it. Rather, a band this good and so versed in on-the-edge antics cannot stay around for long. The flame burns out as quick as it rises – and ‘Locust’ put the band to bed in the most confusing and bitter sense. Here were songs carved from openness and vulnerability yet still they pulsed with passion and verve. The album stands as one of the most underrated of all time, along with the debut of course.
Since then the band has retained cult status especially since Peter Dolving fronted the debut from The Haunted, and has since returned after the interim period with Marco Aro. Thus, he is in the spotlight more than ever, but we must not forget where he came from. How he first ignited the scene and produced some stunning art – he and the fellow MBJ members. The band is in the background but as of 2006 they are still somewhat active. A 7” was released in 2005 which is still available at www.futhermocker.dk
For now we may just see the band create another album and perhaps even play a show or two. Yet the clued up Swedes are no doubt aware of their legacy and that to play live now, they would still have to retain the intensity of the 1994 era. Bands like this don’t come along every day or even every decade. Mary Beats Jane stand alone as one of the greatest musical acts the world has ever produced and with the appearance of this page, now everyone can hear it.
The biggest compliment I can pay the group is to say that I no longer wish to be in a band but there is one outfit I would join in a heartbeat and that is Mary Beats Jane.
PAUL STENNING
PLEASE NOTE:
This is a fan run site, I am not one of the band. Peter Dolving's official page can be found below.
Video for "Grind" from the Self Titled Debut Album
Glad you're still around, I fell in love with the 1st CD when it came out and it is still miles better than all these cheesy MTV bands (AFI, blah blah blah). Thanks for the ad ! How's about coming to Amerikkka sometime soon.
Stor tack för adden!
Jag ska aldrig glömma när ni spelade med Meshuggah och Machine Head i Tavastia klubben Helsingfors 1994 (or var det 1995) I alla fall en av bästa show jag har sett och hört!!
Merry Xmas!...
Best danish beer....Well your swedes, you know!..;0)
Real happy if you guys would do some asskicking new stuff!...
Here in my hollowhead, nobody says a word....
SRC
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