KERRANG! calls Electric Boys....
"Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles
all on one record".
RAW says...
" Funk-o-metal carpet ride says almost all that needs to be said
about Electric Boys music, requiring only the words 'utterly' and
'indispensable' to become a fully comprehensive definition".
We could go on but we think you`re starting to get the drift. Electric
Boys are on the scene and in the house.
The genesis of the band was a little over 2 years ago in their
homeland, Sweden. Long time band mates and partners in rhyme, Conny
Bloom and Andy Christell (guitar and bass, respectively) decided
it was time to carve out their own piece of territory after having
paid their dues with a number of
Swedish rock bands. Their love for gut-crunching rock intensity
was only rivalled by their fascination and pursuit of the 70's funk
grooves. Conny was a devotee of such funk kingpins as Bootsy Collins,
Betty Davis, Sly Stone and Mother's Finest. Obviously, Jimi Hendrix's
spirit was always close by.
Their sophisticated and imaginative vocal and instrumental arrangements
on top of what are just plain great songs to start with were just
a bit reminiscent of The Beatles. Give these broad stokes a wash
of Psychedelia and you start to see the picture that they wanted
to paint. The search for an original sound can take years ( or forever)
but Conny and Andy found
aural El Dorado on the first single of what is sure to be a long
rich vein of hits.
Their first Swedish single, " All lips and hips", exploded
on an unexpecting public with a heave, snakey, gnarly, brash and
audacious boom. Their recipe for success is equal parts of head
banging and body shaking, a pinch of psycedelia, a fist full of
killer riffs, laced with dead-on lyrics
and microwaved to a critical mass. There were just too many hooks,
too great a melody and too much commitment in the performance to
pass them off as derivative of Aerosmith or Zeppelin.
"All lips and hips" was recorded in it`s entirety by Conny
and Andy while they were scouring the countryside for the rest of
the lineup but too impatient to wait. Sure enough, their energy
and efforts were rewarded by the appearance of Franco Santunione
and Niklas Sigevall on guitar and drums
shortly after the single was released. The band was complete. The
immediate success of "All lips and hips" naturally led
to the recording of a full LP and "Funk-o-metal carpet ride",
self produced and under budget, delivered on the promise of the
first single. Released in Sweden only, it shot to the top 5
and all of the cutting edge rock publications in Europe were stacking
up reams of laudatory notices.
Fans and critics alike were screaming for the LP which was only
available as an import on the rest of the continent and in Britain.
But how big are a young man's dreams ? Coolest band in town ? Best
offering of a small country that is NOT known for killer rock'n'roll
bands ? Oh yeah, huge in Europe but, uh, what do you call them again
? No. If you dream big, you dream Britain, America.... and then
the world.
The new hybrid, "Funk-o-metal carpet ride", contains some
of the best material from the original LP, such as " Electrified"
and "Psycedelic Eyes", as well as" All lips and hips".
These are complimented by five new tracks produced by studio monster
Bob Rock ( The Cult, Aerosmith, Kingdom Come, Motley Crue,
just to name a few) and include " Rags to riches " and
" Captain of my soul". So for anybody that has any kind
of heart and ears, that has some feet that needs shaking, a fist
that needs raising or a mind that needs
expanding...get it. Got it ? Good !
March 1990
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