The Sounds

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THE SOUNDS
The Sounds are a Swedish New Wave band. Formed in Helsingborg in 1999, the group's musical style has been compared to New Wave acts such as Blondie, The Cars, the Epoxies and Missing Persons.
Their debut album, Living in America, was released in 2002, with the follow up, Dying to Say This to You, on 21 March 2006. Their third album, Crossing the Rubicon, was released on 2 June2009.
Lead singer Maja Ivarsson is explicit about her ambition, claiming "I want to be the best female vocalist around...of at least this century".[1] She was featured on Cobra Starship's "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", for the film Snakes on a Plane. In addition to Ivarsson's contribution to the Snakes soundtrack, the entire band is featured as track 6, "Queen of Apology," remixed by Fall OutBoy's Patrick Stump.
Band members Jesper Anderberg and Felix Rodriguez have recently been working as songwriters for other artists, among them the Dutch pop band Krezip and the Swedish punk band Quit Your Dayjob.
For Krezip's latest album (Plug it In), the pair wrote three songs: "All My Life", "Play This Game With Me" and "You're Wrong". "All My Life" has been one of the most played songs of 2008in Holland. Krezip's album Plug It In was also produced by Adel Dahdal (with Peter Mansson), who produced The Sounds' debut album Living in America together with Jimmy Monell.

History

The Sounds were formed in 1998 by classmates Felix Rodriguez, Maja Ivarsson, Johan Bengtsson and Fredrik Nilsson in Helsingborg, Sweden. The group met Jesper Anderberg, the youngest member, by chance at theHultsfred Festival and was enlisted to play keyboards and guitar. The band's name was decided months later during a trip to London. Before becoming the lead singer of the band, Ivarsson had previously played electric guitar in other local bands.
Their debut album, Living in America, was recorded in Stockholm and produced by Adel Dahdal and Jimmy Monell. It earned them several "best newcomer" awards,a Grammis and a #4 position in the Swedish album charts, and established the band not only in Sweden but also in the United States. The band has played over 500 gigs since the album's release including participating in the 2004 Warped Tour. In 2006 they played again at Warped Tour, this time on main stage, and have toured with bands such as Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Morningwood, Angels &Airwaves, +44, Mando Diao, Panic! At The Disco and, most recently, No Doubt and Paramore during their last tour in 2009.
In the United States, the band has done several TV appearances and magazine articles and has reportedly built up a celebrity fan base that includes Dave Grohl, Pharrell, Quentin Tarantino, Thomas Johnson and Robin Botten, Bam Margera and his wife Missy Margera, David Desrosiers, BenKhodadad and Britney Spears. Dave Grohl wore a red "Sounds" T-shirt in the Foo Fighters' "Times Like These" video. The band has stated several times that it relies on word of mouth and concerts to promote its music[1][2].
The second album, Dying to Say This to You, was recorded at Studio 880 in Oakland, California, and produced by Jeff Saltzman (producer of The Killers' Hot Fuss). They started theEuropean leg of their tour in September and in October toured with Panic! At The Disco which included dates in London and several other major European cities. Following this tour, The Sounds made another run in the United States, starting with a Myspace secret show in Miami, Florida on Halloween and then stopping at 10 major cities from coast to coast with supporting act Shiny Toy Guns. Alltogether, The Sounds played over 200 shows in 2006, over half of which were in the United States.
In early October 2007, The Sounds wrapped up their worldwide tour in Western Europe and Australia.
One of the band's songs, the synth-pop-tinged, "Hurt You", was used in a Geico television commercial that originally aired in September 2008.
Maja Ivarsson was named in Blender Magazine's "Hottest Women...