Many bands play it safe – HARDCORE SUPERSTAR doesn’t.
The Swedish four piece had the balls to marry two styles that grew up hating each other. We’re talking about Thrash Metal and Sleaze Rock. The former hard, aggressive and ugly, the latter catchy, melodic and decadent. So what should they name this bastard child ? --We play ‘Street Metal’ offers drummer Magnus ”Adde” Andreasson. Thrash and sleaze both come from the gutter. They wear big sneakers, they are a bit stupid and they both read pulp fiction. I can’t believe that nobody brought them together before.
Early days
HARDCORE SUPERSTAR did just that with the band’s fourth and eponymous album, released in 2005. But the quartet didn’t arrive overnight, rather paying its dues during a rocky but rewarding ride.
The roots can be traced back to the late eighties, when Adde was talked into playing the drums by older friend and neighbour Jocke Berg. --I played the guitar and we tried our best with songs such as ‘Paranoid’ and King Diamond’s ‘Shrine’, Jocke remembers.
The young teenagers, hailing from a small town just outside of Gothenburg, ended up in different bands, who in turn chose different routes from their Iron Maiden inspired beginnings. Adde opted for heavier stuff in Dorian Gray whereas the Jocke fronted Glamoury Foxx went in a glammier direction. Incidentally, Jocke took up singing thanks to one Thomas Silver, fellow guitar slinger in Glamoury Foxx.
Eventually Jocke and Adde ended up together again, this time in ‘Link’, a classic rock oriented outfit with grunge leanings. They were joined by guitar player Fredrik ”Fidde” Johansson and bass player Martin Sandvik, the latter having originally tried to lure Jocke away to his own band, ‘Wanted’. Link did the occasional gig and recorded a couple of demos before Adde headed west to pursue his dream.
– I kind of grew tired of Link, he confesses. I moved to Los Angeles to study at the Musicians Institute.
Link recruited drummer Mika Vainio and kept going until parting ways with Fredrik Johansson in the fall of 1997. The guitar player wanted to take the band in a psychedelic and arty direction whereas the other three just wanted to rock. – I remember showing Fidde the riff to ‘Hello/Goodbye’, Martin says. He turned his back on me and started to play scales on the guitar. He obviously thought the riff sucked.
The three remaining members were keen to forge ahead and adopted the name HARDCORE SUPERSTAR. However, there was one little problem. Jocke already was quite a frontman, but being the sole guitar player? As luck would have it, Thomas Silver had just left local rockers ‘Green Jesus Saviours’. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR had a club gig lined up in Gothenburg, so Jocke asked his old bandmate to help out. Things clicked immediately and Thomas signed up as a permanent member. His connection with Gain Productions helped HARDCORE SUPERSTAR get ‘Hello/Goodbye’ and ‘Someone Special’ onto a compilation album. The response was phenomenal and Gain duly offered the band a contract resulting in the boys setting out to record their debut album in early 1998.
– We were influenced by the LA metal scene of the eighties, says Martin. You know, LA Guns and Faster Pussycat and the likes. But we also dug Oasis, as can be heard in ‘Someone Special’. The result ‘It’s Only Rock N’ Roll’, was released in October 1998.
First Album 1998
– Putting out an album was awesome, Jocke enthuses. I felt like a Rock Star and then we got to support Motörhead in Scandinavia. It was like ”Wow, we’ve made it!”.
The initial 1000 copies of the album sold like hot cakes, and the second pressing sold out as well. Legendary UK label Music For Nations took notice, but Mika Vainio’s interest was waning. The drummer jumped ship in late 1998. The band was bummed out but quickly decided that this might’ve been a blessing in disguise. There was this guy in LA with a bit of skill behind the drums, remember. Thomas called Adde, suggesting he’d get his ass back to Sweden to play some proper Rock N’ Roll.
– I said yes on the spot, Adde remembers. I felt done with LA, especially after being in a pub brawl that sent me to the hospital. I was back in Sweden less than a month after Thomas’ call.
Everything gelled as soon as the prodigal son returned. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR signed to Music For Nations but instead of having ‘It’s Only Rock N’ Roll’ re‐released, as the label was pushing for, the band insisted on re‐recording its best tracks plus a few new songs. – We wanted Adde to be on the album, Martin says. Plus we’d written ‘Liberation’ and ‘Have you been around’ as well as some other great stuff.
The choice proved to be a wise one as soon as ‘Bad Sneakers and a Piña Colada’ was unleashed onto a wider audience in the spring of 2000. The old songs benefitted from better playing and better production and ‘Liberation’ and ‘Have You Been Around’ both became successful singles. Together with lead‐off single ‘Someone special’, they climbed the domestic charts and made HARDCORE SUPERSTAR the first Swedish rock band to make it big in the new millennium. Pretty much the rest of the year was spent on the road. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR played 169 gigs, including a European Tour and visits to both Japan and Canada.
– Those were our first proper tours, Martin says. Being in a tour bus for six weeks straight and getting to experience Japan was incredible.
Thank You 2001
Still on an adrenaline high, the band didn’t waste any time making a new album. This time the objective was to explore the possibilities of the recording studio to the max. If ‘Bad sneakers...’ was a case of ”Wham bam, thank you, Ma’am”, the follow up ‘Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves)’ released in September 2001, was a meticulous piece of work. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR’s American seventies’ classic rock record, if you will. – That was our Aerosmith phase, Adde offers. ‘Thank you...’ might not have been what people were expecting or wanting, but we wanted to stick our necks out. We really enjoyed taking our time and using all those expensive, vintage instruments. We even had a string quartet on there.
The album was recorded with producer Roberto Laghi at the helm. Halfway through the project, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR got the chance to open for AC/DC at a sold out show (more than 50 000 people) at Gothenburg’s Ullevi Stadium. The band shared the stage with friends and fellow local heavy hitters Lok, with whom they’d recorded the single ”Staden Göteborg” earlier in the year. The reworked punk rock song, written by the Troublemakers, was the theme song for the music event Popstad Göteborg and had received lots of air play. Supporting Angus Young & Co remains a career high point. – AC/DC is the ultimate party band, Adde gushes. The music is about pure energy. That’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve with HARDCORE SUPERSTAR.
As a huge bonus and double honour, the guys were invited to open for AC/DC in Turin, Italy, again a few days later. ‘Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves)’ spawned the singles ‘Shame’ and ‘Mother’s Love/Significant Other’ (a double A‐side). The album and the singles all went top 20 in Sweden and HARDCORE SUPERSTAR once again toured Europe and Japan.
No Regrets 2003
A familiar pattern ensued. The band went straight to work and the record turned out to be a very different beast to its predecessor. Released in the summer of 2003, ‘No Regrets’ was a sonically raw and decidedly more British sounding affair. The Misfits had always been a big influence, but spurred on by Roberto Laghi the quartet discovered, or rather rediscovered, bands like The Buzzcocks, The Ruts and The Stranglers. The album was preceded by the single ‘Honey Tongue’ then followed by ‘Still I’m Glad’. Both made an impact on the domestic charts, but the latter’s title was not a good description of the mood in the HARDCORE SUPERSTAR camp. Quite the opposite.
The End, a New Start!
The heavy touring and heavy partying had taken its toll and spirits were low. After yet another European Tour, things became ugly when the band went to the US for some selected shows. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR attended a party thrown at the Swedish Consulate in New York City, and Thomas Silver got into a fist fight with a journalist from the Swedish tabloid ‘Aftonbladet’. The short tour was completed but the members knew they needed time apart.
– We were so tired of each other, Adde sighs. Tired of everything that had to do with HARDCORE SUPERSTAR. It could’ve been two of us getting into a fight.
Back in Sweden, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR went on a hiatus. The decision was made easier due to the demise of Music For Nations. The future was looking very uncertain, but there would be a twist of fate. Adde inherited an old house and spent the summer of 2004 refurbishing it with help from Martin. When at work, the guys blasted classic albums such as ‘Appetite for Destruction’, ‘Dr Feelgood’ and ‘Among The Living’ and found themselves smiling again.
– It was like a revelation, Adde remembers fondly.
– We just went ”This is what HARDCORE SUPERSTAR should be about!”. We had drifted away from our roots, in a way. It was time to write music from the heart and not listen to anyone but ourselves.
Adde and Martin had a new album mentally mapped out from the word go and the writing process that followed was smooth and enjoyable. When all four members reconvened after more than six months apart, the chemistry was there again. Sparks were flying at rehearsals and everyone was pleased with the new and heavier direction, the self-proclaimed ‘Street Metal’.
HARDCORE SUPERSTAR knew they had come up with their strongest material to date. In order to keep the vision pure, the band enlisted friends Johan Reivén (ex‐Lok) and Christian ”Rizsa” Isaksson to co‐produce the record (with Adde and Martin) that was to put HARDCORE SUPERSTAR back on the map. Noone outside that inner circle was allowed to listen until the album was wrapped. As a teaser, the single ‘Wild Boys’ was released in June. But even such a strong song couldn’t fully prepare the media and the audience for what was to come.
‐ Hardcore Superstar 2005
When ‘Hardcore Superstar’ finally arrived on the Gain label - yes, the band was back ”home” – in November 2005, jaws dropped. The album received excellent reviews worldwide and songs like ‘We Don’t Celebrate Sundays’, ‘My Good Reputation’ and ‘Bag On Your Head’ – all three eventually picked as singles – became anthems.
The tour was a runaway success, with not just old fans turning out to celebrate the comeback but many new fans joining the party.
– At last we appealed to the old school metal fans. It was so cool to have those long‐ haired and bearded dudes with denim jackets playing air guitar in front of us, Martin says with a smile.
The live power of HARDCORE SUPERSTAR was captured on the DVD ”Live at Sticky Fingers”, recorded in Gothenburg in March. The band toured Europe, made two triumphant trips to Japan (including an appearance at the prestigious Loud Park Festival) and played a number of European Festivals, including a rousing performance in a jam‐packed tent at the Sweden Rock Festival.
Having found a musical style and ‘modus operandi’ that worked, the band was eager to start working on a new album. It was decided that Adde and Martin should once again handle production duties with old conspirator Roberto Laghi engineering.
The single ‘Bastards’, recorded as a one‐off and released in the summer of 2007, proved this was a good idea. It went gold in Sweden and showed that HARDCORE SUPERSTAR were still on a creative roll. Before going into ‘IF Studio’ the Gothenburg studio previously known as ‘Studio Fredman’ but now owned by In Flames, to record the album, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR played some festivals. The most remarkable thing was the return to Sweden Rock Festival, this time as support act to Aerosmith on the main stage. Filled with confidence, the guys didn’t have a problem immortalizing their new songs. The idea was to build on the strengths of ‘The Black Album”.
– We knew exactly what we wanted to do, Adde says.
The recording process was more enjoyable than ever, and you can really hear that we were super confident. Musically, we went for diversity. You know, making the hard stuff even harder and the choruses even grander.
‐ Dreamin´ In A Casket 2007
‘Dreamin’ In A Casket’ was unleashed in November of 2007 and it showed that ‘Hardcore Superstar’ was no fluke. The album became another huge seller and the band went straight out on tour to support it.
However, all was not hunky dory, Thomas Silver had lost a bit of his fire and found it hard to be on the road. At the end of the first leg of the tour he announced that he was quitting the band. Losing a long standing member was a heavy blow, but the band came up with a solution pretty much on the spot. The young and talented Swede ‘Vic Zino’ whose band Crazy Lixx had been the support act on the tour, was chosen to fill the vacant spot for the Australian and Japanese dates that were just around the corner. --I had to learn 14 songs in two days, the Bosnian born guitar player remembers. -- It was incredibly challenging but ultimately rewarding. I pulled it off and the gigs were so much fun. I wasn’t thinking ahead, really. I just tried to have a blast. The rest of the guys took an immediate liking to Vic, both on and off stage. He was supposed to ”only” get a salary for doing the tour, but while in Japan the band decided that he should have an equal share of the merch money as well. But not before being subjected to a practical joke.
– We instructed our guitar tech to call Vic and tell him to get back to the hotel, because his guitar was broken, Adde smiles. According to plan, Vic got really upset and rushed there. When he entered the hotel room, we threw the cash at him. Vic was asked to join the band on a permanent basis and after some serious thinking, he accepted.
– I cofounded Crazy Lixx, so parting with my childhood friends was a tough thing to do, the guitarist confesses. But I just couldn’t turn down an offer to join HARDCORE SUPERSTAR. Since the black album, I’ve been a big fan.
With Vic properly on board, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR played several European dates as well as some high profile Swedish shows. Selling out Lisebergshallen, the second biggest indoor venue in Gothenburg, was a high point. A more off-the-wall show happened in October 2008, when the band played two songs before the Ottawa Senators/ Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game (which kicked off the 2008/2009 NHL season) in Stockholm.
For Jocke, having Vic in the band forced him to up his game.
– Vic’s just a whirlwind on stage, the singer says. He would be to my right and a split second later turn up at my left side. He has the same energy level as myself and I feel we have developed a friendly rivalry that benefits the audience.
‐ Beg For It 2009
The next challenge for the new HARDCORE SUPERSTAR line‐up was to come up with a new album. The great studio experience that resulted in ‘Dreamin’ In A Casket” made Robero Laghi and IF Studio the perfect combination and the natural choice. A number of songs had already been written on tour and everything came together smoothly. – Everyone was pulling in the same direction and we came up with some cool ideas in the studio, Martin says.
Adde nods:
– Yeah. And writing ‘Beg For It’ was kind of a no‐brainer. We knew what we wanted the songs to sound like. Speaking for myself, I was listening a lot to the Scorpions at the time and the guitar melody in the title track is heavily inspired by Uli Jon Roth. The guys entered the studio on New Year’s Day 2009 and the result was unveiled in June. Preceded by the ‘Beg For It’ single (which earned the band another gold record in Sweden), the album came out on the influential German metal label Nuclear Blast and was released in the US as well (with bonus tracks ‘When I Glow’ and ‘Welcome to Your Own Death’), a first for Hardcore Superstar. In keeping with tradition, things kicked off with an intro piece, this time paying respect to Italian composer and film music legend Ennio Morricone.
– I would say that ‘This Worm’s for Ennio’ is my favourite HARDCORE SUPERSTAR intro, Adde says. Anders Ehlin wrote the previous ones as well, but he really excelled here. I think it’s almost as good as Morricone’s own work.
Adde continues:
– I really dig the sleeve as well. It’s unpleasant and sexy at the same time. The summer of 2009 saw HARDCORE SUPERSTAR play several festival dates, among them high profile events like Download (UK) and Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park. Performing at Download was emotional.
– We were supposed to play there in 2007, but the tour bus broke down on the Autobahn, Martin reveals.
– Having to cancel broke our hearts, so finally making it in 2009 was a fantastic feeling… and we played a great show.
Other highlights included support slots at Crüe Fest in Bergen (Norway) and Copenhagen (Denmark). – We all grew up listening to Mötley Crüe, so those shows were special, Adde says. Nikki Sixx asked for our record and later had ‘Spit it Out’ on heavy rotation on his radio show.
In September, the fall tour premiered in spectacular fashion in Gothenburg. The show at Lisebergshallen had an ‘in the round’ setup.
– That was super fun but so exhausting, Jocke says. I was determined to really cover all of the stage and must have run half a marathon during the show. Afterwards, I was on the floor gasping for air.
Coming off the touring cycle for ‘Beg for It’, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR were flying high and had no intention of coming down. New songs were already floating around, ‘Moonshine’ had been written on a post Download adrenaline high and it made sense to go straight back to work. The goal: to write and record an in-your-face album, a counter response to the metal leanings and attention to detail that characterized ‘Beg for it’. It was also a middle finger to the prevailing trend of triggering and over editing drums in rock music.
– We had never been into that anyway, Adde points out, but this time we really wanted to make things as honest as possible. Basically, the rule was to record live in the studio, including the vocals.
The band prepared by rehearsing for seven weeks, to the point of knowing the material backwards and forwards. In order to get some fresh inspiration, Tobias Lindell (Europe, Mustasch) was enlisted as Producer.
– We just wanted to change things around, Adde says. Compared to Roberto, ”Tobbe” is more of a Rick Rubin type, in that he doesn’t play an instrument. He’s all about vibe and that was perfect for what we were trying to achieve.
Martin agrees:
– Sometimes, we have a tendency to be too meticulous. ”Tobbe” helped us let our guard down and just rock. He’s also a very funny guy.
Before going into the studio, Hardcore Superstar opened up for AC/DC in Stockholm on June 3rd.
– If possible, that made us even more pumped up, Adde smiles. I mean, watching Phil Rudd play the drums is incredibly inspiring. I caught the sound check too. When the band finally entered Studio Bohus, just north of Gothenburg, it was clear that the hard work had paid off. With the exception of some inevitable overdubs (mainly guitar solos, vocals and keys) the whole thing was recorded in a mere five days. When the sessions were over, the guys wanted to be sure that this was the record they set out to make.
– We booked the Jacuzzi and spa area of a nearby hotel and invited family and friends to come listen and drink with us, Adde says. You know, to see if it was a party album. Things went over the top and most of the guests probably have no clue how they got home that night. Though I do remember that we brought a boom box into the sauna.
‐ Split Your Lip 2010
‘Split Your Lip’ was released in November 2010 and marked the writing debut for Vic. There was no time for him to contribute to ‘Beg For It’, so he was pleased to finally get involved.
– The creative thing is what I love the most about being in a band, he says. I went up to Martin’s for a writing session and we came up with some cool stuff. The fact that ‘Last Call For Alcohol’ made the record felt great. I love that song and it’s loads of fun to play live.
This ode to drinking quickly became a live favourite for both band and audience, and HARDCORE SUPERSTAR will typically invite fans up on stage to have a shot of Jägermeister with them.
– You can tell that people are waiting for that song, Jocke laughs. At this one show in Italy, there must have been about forty people on stage. It actually began to wobble. The record was loud and rowdy but not without softer and more reflective moments. ‘Here Comes That Sick Bitch’, originally a straight ahead rocker, was transformed into an acoustic piece in order to let the album breathe halfway through and thanks to Tobias Lindell, closing track ‘Run to Your Mama’ completely changed in the studio. – It was actually this big, ‘November Rain’ kind of epic with strings, big guitars and big drums, Adde reveals. When we were listening back to the song, ‘Tobbe’ just pulled the levers down until all that remained were vocals and grand piano. We just looked at each other and went ”this is it!”.
‘Moonshine’ was played a lot on Swedish radio and went on to become a platinum single. Spurred by the success of both album and single, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR toured Europe with Finnish co‐headliners 69 Eyes in March 2011. The mood was great and the venues were bigger compared to previous tours. Towards the end, Jocke had some severe throat problems forcing the band to cancel the Copenhagen date but he came through, managing to end the tour triumphantly in Gothenburg and Stockholm. Having been on a roller coaster ride for a decade, the members of HARDCORE SUPERSTAR took some well-deserved time off. Meanwhile, a best of collection was released late 2011. ”The Party Ain’t Over ’Til We Say So” consisted of 19 well known tunes plus a new track ”We Don’t Need a Cure”, recorded in Studio Bohus with Tobias Lindell.
‐ C´mon Take On Me 2013
Filled with new energy, the band began mapping out the next album in the spring of 2012. In true HARDCORE SUPERSTAR fashion, the modus operandi changed yet again. Why? Well, out of curiosity and out of fear of getting stuck in a safe zone. This time, the method was to take care of production duties themselves and not record any demos. HARDCORE SUPERSTAR set up their gear and recording equipment in ‘Brewhouse’, a hub for creative outlets in Gothenburg, and spent almost all summer there.
– We wanted to get away from the typical studio environment, Martin explains. Most of the record was written in the studio, so in that sense it reminds me a bit of ‘Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves)’.
Adde concurs:
– Yeah. It has this rich sound and style wise it’s pretty varied. Usually, we have a very clear vision of what kind of music we want to achieve, but with this one we made it up as we went along.
Vic loved how the making of ‘Split Your Lip’ was so focused and direct, but found another kind of joy in what was to become ‘C’mon Take On Me’.
– I didn’t know too much about studio work, to tell you the truth. This whole session was really rewarding and I learnt a lot.
The mixing was done by none other than Randy Staub, with a CV that includes ‘Dr Feelgood’ (Mötley Crüe), ‘Keep the Faith’ (Bon Jovi) and Metallica’s black album. Obviously a dream come true for HARDCORE SUPERSTAR.
– We all love his work, Martin says. I really dig how he makes things sound sharp and rough at the same time. To leave the mixing to him was a great move and it took our sound to another level.
He smiles when thinking of a certain episode:
– When he first started sending us mixes, I actually wasn’t too happy with them. The two of us bumped heads a bit and he said ”but this is what American radio sounds like today!”. I went ”but we want it to sound like your vintage stuff, give us the ’Dr Feelgood’ sound!”. He replied ”oh, so that’s what you’re after?” and sent us this killer mix of ‘Above the Law’. From then on, everything just clicked.
Jocke agrees:
– The record sounds so bombastic. I’ve always wanted HARDCORE SUPERSTAR to come across like that.
”C’mon Take on Me” was released in February 2013 and proved to cover a lot of ground. The singles ‘One More Minute’ and ‘Above The Law’ were classic sing along anthems (the latter’s lyrics influenced by The Clash’s ‘Bankrobber’ and Phil Lynott’s way of telling small short stories through his songs) while a track like ‘Won’t Take The Blame pt. 2 (sect meeting)’ and the mellow ‘Stranger of Mine’ veers into Southern rock territory. As for the intro, ‘Cutting the Slack’, the band wanted a mix between The Stranglers and Don Airey’s keyboard work on Ozzy Osbourne’s classic ‘Mr Crowley’.
To promote the album, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR enlisted renowned local video director René U Valdes to shoot no less than four promo videos during a hectic weekend; ‘One More Minute’, ‘Above The Law’, ‘C’mon Take On Me’ and ‘Because of You’. – It was the middle of winter and freezing cold in this house we rented for the shoot, but I like the result, Jocke says.
Adde elaborates:
– A good video can make a difference, and in the YouTube era it’s important to have a visual element to go with a song.
On the live front, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR once again performed to huge audiences while making a record. In the summer of 2012 the band spent a few days in Helsinki, first playing at Sonisphere (headlined by Metallica) and three days later supporting Mötley Crüe. The band also appeared at the Woodstock Festival Poland, the biggest open air festival in Europe with Avatar’s drummer John Alfredsson filling in for Adde, who was about to become a father.
Come summer 2013, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR supported yet another iconic band. – We were offered to open up for KISS in Stockholm, where their European Tour kicked off, Martin says.
– I grew up a total KISS nut, so this was really special to me. I remember catching the sound check and seeing Gene check the rig he uses to ”fly” during ‘God of Thunder’. In the fall, HARDCORE SUPERSTAR spent a month on the road in Europe, co‐headlining with US sleaze giants Buckcherry.
– That was definitely our best tour so far, Adde gushes. Most venues were sold out and in London, we got to play at a packed Koko. We also got along great with Buckcherry and their crew, so that tour is a fond memory.
-HCSS 2015
It all started when a fan gave Martin a copy of a demo the band recorded back in 1994. Martin adds --We all got very surprised about the great vibe and how good we sounded that early in our career. The tracks were literally drenched in sweat, excitement and inspiration. So when it was time for us to start working on songs for our new album we returned to those demos and relearned those old riffs and by that got inspired for all the new stuff that we came up with. Basically, to reinvent ourselves we had to go back to the summer of 94 when we first started this band and through that re-connect with the feeling and the vibe that inspired us in the first place.
--That same philosophy applied for the whole album, Adde continues --how we approached the recordings, artwork, choosing the right guy to mix the album and so on. In a way we are returning back to our roots to show ourselves why we once started this band. What we found out is that the very things that got us together in the first place are the same things that still get us going.
--So this is nothing less than Hardcore Superstar coming full circle by showing our fans where we come from and what we still believe in!
HCSS was definitely HARDCORE SUPERSTAR’s most complex album to date and the band enlisted ‘Joe Baressi’, famed for his work with Slipknot, QOTSA and Soundgarden (to name a few) to mix the album. The end result was a diverse album that was quite different to anything that the band had ever put out before. The album spawned three single releases including the massive genre crossing ‘Touch The Sky’ which Jocke co-sang as a duet with the renown Swedish Reggae singer ‘Etzia’.
True to form the band wasted no time and headed straight back out on tour promoting the album with shows throughout the UK, Europe and a highly successful co-headline tour across America with the legendary Michael Monroe and his band including a sold-out headline show in Hollywood at the legendary Whisky A Go Go.
-You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll 2018
After completing numerous tours and Festival appearances in support of the HCSS album, the band spent the next twelve months playing selective shows and writing and recording a new album (You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll) that they released on September 21st 2018. The vision for YCKMRNR was to capture all the energy and passion that the band create when they get together to play live and translate that into a record that represented exactly who they are as a band.
In typical HARDCORE SUPERSTAR style they overachieved, and at a time when Gene Simmons famously proclaimed that “Rock is dead”, ‘You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll’ overflowed with big songs and even bigger hooks to prove that Rock n’ Roll was very much alive and safe in the hands of HARDCORE SUPERSTAR.
Produced by the band themselves and recorded at Martin’s Österlyckan Studio (just outside of Gothenburg) YCKMRNR was a clear statement of intent that HARDCORE SUPERSTAR were still very much a force to be reckoned with. This fact was cemented with the bands headline appearance on the main stage at the World famous Sweden Rock Festival 2018, breaking the record for a headlining act on the opening night of the Festival with over 22’000 screaming fans in attendance.
This magical evening at Sweden Rock Festival was captured on film and turned into the music video for the single release of “You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll”. The song was a huge hit, resonating with music fans worldwide and embraced as the ultimate ‘feel good’ anthem of the Summer and beyond, resulting in excess of 500’000 views on YouTube alone.
You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll album became an instant fan favourite with five singles being released as the band embarked on a world tour that took them across Europe then back to Japan, Australia and onto America and the highly revered Monsters of Rock Cruise where they won over the crowds with two incendiary performances on the main stage, gaining them high praise and a wealth of new fans.
-Abrakadabra 2021
The success and acclaim of You Can’t Kill My Rock N’ Roll inspired the band significantly and writing for the next record enthusiastically started whilst out on tour. Connecting with so many fans, old and new has helped to influence the shape and sound of the new record, with Adde commenting that the new album “feels like the record we should have released after the Black album”.
Abrakadabra will be released worldwide on March 25th 2022, containing 10 hard hitting songs exploding with riffs, attitude, intensity and that magical feeling you get when work is over and the weekend is here. This is an album for the fans and best shared with great friends, cold beers and very loud speakers!!
Recorded in 2020 and early 2021 at both Österlyckan and Bombastik in Musikens Hus - Gothenburg, the decision was made early on to once again work with Johan Reiven, who was responsible for production duties on the bands ‘Black Album’. Adde states “Working with Johan was like stepping back in time, there’s a shared intensity and commitment to excel that collectively drives us and ultimately brings out the best in us all… I am 100% happy with the result”.
This shared intensity can be heard on every one of the tracks from the defiantly rebellious “Dream in Red” through to the bar soaked philosophy of “One For All” and the thundering powerhouse that is “Catch Me If You Can”.
Abrakadabra is uncomplicated, Rock N’ Roll escapism and entertainment at its best… sprinkled with a little bit of magick for good measure
Gustaf Höök & Ian Golcher
