If you take the raw simplicity and sarcastic undertone of Nirvana, combine it with the dynamic structure of Placebo and Muse, and at last you add some Deftones distortion. Then you get Taikes, the Swedish grunge-rock act of the 21st century. After six years together the band has really matured musically as well as individually. A hundred gigs in Sweden, two successful tours in Mexico and a winning streak in music competitions, the band has now withdrawn from the stage while working on their second studio album.
It's been six years since Johan Fredin (guitars-vocals), Alex Hedling (bass) and Oskar Landgren (drums) entered the stage for the first time. "We were the last act of twelve bands playing in front of ten people and I was so nervous I could barely stand" Johan recalls. It all started in late 2002 when Johan and Alex got to know eachother on the first day of high school. A few days later they were jamming together with previous drummer Axel Estborn and right after that "Taikes" was born. "It was a great feeling, I had wanted to play in a band since early junior high, but since the few of my friends who actually played music already had bands and all told me I needed more practice, it just never happened" says Johan. After six months of going in different directions Axel decided to quit the band just before the first gig. It was then that Oskar joined the band, Alex and Oskar had been playing together in another band for some time. "Alex explained the situation to me and I felt really sorry for them, so I told him I would help him out with the show. But I would not stay in the band after that." Oskar explains. But that's exactly what he did and the rest is as they say...history.
The following two years Taikes spent a lot of time experimenting to find their own sound. They released three demos that never really managed to catch the public's attention. It wasn't until early 2005 when they went into the studio to record the "Life Support" EP that they knew they had something great coming up. It was that very year that Johan met up with Evelyn Hernandez from Mexico by coincidence and started talking about a Mexican tour. "We were more or less ready to go in august that year when the sponsor in Mexico got arrested. I don't know what it was for but it was a mess. So after that we decided to do it ourselves." Johan recalls. And in December of 2005 they finally did it. The tour went great and the band also caught the attention of the local media and radio stations who asked them for interviews. In 2006 they came back for another tour. This time they toured the state of Veracruz and also Puebla where they sold out all the remaining records.
After a great summer in 2006 they went back into the studio to record their first full lenght album "Dreamcatcher". A record about nightmares and hopes for the future. Johan recalls - "I thought it was a fitting name for the record. And I've always liked the image of the dreamcatcher and what it represents." The record was a success when it hit stores in February 2007 and was welcomed with great reviews. But later that year the band would face difficult times as Johan returned to Mexico for six months while Alex was fighting depression.
It would make 2008 an emotional rollercoaster while they kept struggling to keep the band from breaking up.
But Taikes have endured and are stronger than ever. Today they spend most of the time in the studio working on the upcoming record "Apologize to all your friends". It will definitely be the best as of yet with a new fresh and slightly heavier sound than before. Or as the band themselves describe it: "We hope we can take out the bends on this one, make it better both ways. We still like Dreamcatcher a lot but I think we didn't really dare to take it all the way, this is our goal with the upcoming record and we wont leave the studio until we feel we have accomplished that." As they haven't given us a release date yet we can only hope it will be soon.
Ciao! Tack för adden! Vår skiva kommer ut i Sverige till hösten, men ett smakprov finns redan på vår sida. Vi letar nu efter ställen att spela på. Några förslag?
Heyy Guys, Dreamcatcher is a great Album!! like one of the 90's, the only problem is to buy it... is too expensive here in Mexico jaja, thats ok, keep On Rock!!
jag skulle bli så glad om du lade till dig på min offeciela myspace sida,där kan man dessutom höra hela låtarna,så gör en stackars musiker glad och lägg till dig som vän på, www.myspace.com/timecodealpha tack på förhand,och passar på att önska dig en riktig god kommande vecka,mvh/Peter/TCA
If you take the raw simplicity and sarcastic undertone of Nirvana, combine it with the dynamic structure of Placebo and Muse, and at last you add some Deftones distortion. Then you get Taikes, the Swedish grunge-rock act of the 21st century. After six years together the band has really matured musically as well as individually. A hundred gigs in Sweden, two successful tours in Mexico and a winning streak in music competitions, the band has now withdrawn from the stage while working on their second studio album.
"BONES" track of the day on April 22nd. At GarageBand.com
Online Now!
