Kent (band)

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Kent
Kent live at Roskilde Festival, 2005
Origin	Eskilstuna
Country	Sweden
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Rock
Labels	Sony BMG
Members	Joakim Berg Markus Mustonen Harri Mänty (96-present) Sami Sirviö Martin Sköld
Past members	Thomas Bergqvist (90–92) Martin Roos (92–95)
Website(s)	kent.nu

Kent is a Swedish rock band founded in Eskilstuna/Torshälla in 1990, with the name Coca-Cola Kids, later Jones & Giftet (Jones & the Poison), and Havsänglar (Angel sharks, lit. Sea angels). The band's logo is distinctive, using a lowercase "k" and the ITC Avant Garde Gothic Book typeface. Kent has had several big Swedish radio hits since the breakthrough single “Kräm (så nära får ingen gå) ”. As of 2005, they are probably the most popular rock band in Sweden, but are more or less unknown outside Scandinavia. Kent has tried an international career with English versions of the albums “Isola” and “Hagnesta Hill” with accompanying US tours for the former, but they gave up after not reaching the breakthrough they had hoped for. Kent continued their Scandinavian endevours with two more albums and and EP, continuing to win several awards along the way and becoming one of Sweden's premier bands.

Three of the band's five members are Sweden Finns.

1 Members
2 History
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] Members

Joakim Berg – Lead vocals, guitar
Martin Sköld – Bass, keyboards
Markus Mustonen – Drums, backing vocals, keyboards, piano
Sami Sirviö – Lead guitar, keyboards
Harri Mänty – Rhythm guitar, programmings and percussion (1996-present)
Thomas Bergqvist – Keyboards (1990–92)
Martin Roos – Rhythm guitar (1992–95)

[edit] History

[edit] Kent and Verkligen (1995–1996)

In 1995 Kent released their epynomous debut Kent. It was distorted and not much reminiscent of what Kent would release in later years. It got almost no commercial reputation at all. Four singles were released, with "Frank" closest to being a hit.

Only one year after, in 1996, Kent released Verkligen (Really). Guitarist Martin Roos had left the band for his career at Kent's record company BMG, but has since become the band's manager. The pre-release single "Kräm (Så nära får ingen gå)" immediately became a radio hit and gained Kent some serious fame for the first time. Two more singles were issued, "Gravitation" and "Halka" - The latter one later to be hated with a passion by the group. Musically, the album was slower with less distortion and more emotion. A Japanese release of "Verkligen" featured the group's first English-language song, an altered version of "Kräm (Så nära får ingen gå)" entitled "What It Feels Like".

[edit] Isola (1997–1998)

In 1997 Kent released Isola. Guitarist Harri Mänty had joined the group since Verkligen. Verkligen had been heavily toured, gaining some reputation for Kent. The pre-release single, "Om du var här" (If You Were Here), became a hit as would the second single, "Saker man ser" (Things You See). Musically the album changed a lot from Verkligen, going a lot in the direction of slower, more thoughtful songs with more emotion. The last song on the album, the 7 minute, 47 second-long "747", with a charasteristic keyboard riff and a long instrumental outro, became the band's closer for every show for the next 8 years, and won numerous best-song polls on Kent's website. It was also released as a single, cut down to four minutes and with an added short chorus.

In 1998, what many in Sweden had been asking for became reality when Kent released an English version of Isola, featuring an extra song only available on the English version, "Velvet". Kent embarked on two accompanying US tours to promote the album. The first was in support of fellow Swedes, The Cardigans, during which they highlighted new song, "Protection", and the second was a double-bill with American band, Papa Vegas. The band would close the shows for the second leg of the tour with what they described as their "only cover song", a version of Depeche Mode's classic single, "Stripped". Singles were released in various territories for three of the album's songs, "If You Were Here", "Things She Said" and "747" (featuring the English version of "Kräm", entitled "What It Feels Like"). The English version of the album was initially not meant to be released in Sweden, but public demand was too great. The English version sold poorly outside of Scandinavia.

[edit] Hagnesta Hill (1999–2000)

In 1999, Kent released Hagnesta Hill, named after Hagnestahill, a part of Eskilstuna where the band had had their first studio. The first, pre-release single, "Musik non stop" (Music Non Stop), a disco-rock song, became a huge radio hit and helped bring recognition for this album. The album was, for the most part, faster and less ballad-focused than Isola, and also mildly experimental with drum-machines and electronics. The singer and songwriter of Kent, Jocke Berg, later complained that he thought the album was too long (thirteen songs spread over one hour). Two more singles were released, the Depeche Mode-esque "En himmelsk drog" (A Heavenly Drug) and the ballad "Kevlarsjäl" (Kevlar Soul).

In 2000, an English version of Hagnesta Hill was released, featuring two songs from the Swedish version replaced with two new English tracks ("Just Like Money" and "Quiet Heart"). The album was also released in a limited digipack with one of the excluded songs, "A Timekill to Die For", included as a hidden bonus track. The album was accompanied by the release of the single, "Music Non Stop", featuring the other omitted song, "Insects", as a b-side. A single show, played in front of a tiny crowd at London's Scala Club, was recorded for Japanese TV and has been widely bootlegged. A Japaneese edition was released, fearuting fourteen songs, one of them being the bonus track "Time Kill To Die For". A planned US release of the album was shelved, resulting in only "cut-out" promo copies floating around. Likewise, a US tour never materialized, as there was officially no album to promote.

Since their debut, Kent had recorded a large number of b-sides, usually exceptional in quality. Since most of these singles had long gone out of print, it was very hard to get these legally, so in 2000, Kent released the 2CD B-side collection B-sidor 95–00 (B-Sides 95–00). It featured 21 b-sides, re-recorded versions of two of these and two totally new songs. One of them, "Chans" (Chance), was also released as a single. A hidden bonus track, featuring Finnish vocals, was also featured.

[edit] Vapen & ammunition and the White Concert (2002–2003)

After a long break, Kent started to work on their next full-length in 2002. They reported from the studio that they tried to make an album consisting of 10 singles. The first single – Dom andra (The Others) became a huge hit on Swedish radio. When the album Vapen & ammunition ("Weapon(s) & Ammunition") came out, many fans complained that the sound was too produced, poppy and commercial, and too much focused on choruses. Despite this - or perhaps thanks to - both next singles, "Kärleken väntar" (Love Waits) and "FF" (from the double A-side FF/VinterNoll2), plus the album track "Pärlor" (Pearls) became huge radio hits, sending this album over 500,000 sales, more than twice as many as any other Kent album to date.

An English version of the album was planned – as can be seen on the tape titled "Guns & Ammunition" in the "Dom andra" video, but was cancelled, according to the singer: "We decided it was not worth it (releasing the album in English) when we realized we had sat in a tour bus for two long US-tours, and nothing had happened."

Kent hadn't toured for several months when it was announced that they would do one single performance in 2003, on June 6, the Swedish national day, in Stockholms Stadion which holds a crowd of 30,000. As the band told the crowd to come there dressed in white, it was nicknamed "The White Concert". It was generally considered to be a great concert.

[edit] Du & jag döden and The hjärta & smärta EP (2005)

After taking a one-year timeout, Kent returned to the studio to record their sixth LP in 2005. Studio reports said it would be "a very dark album". The first single released, Max 500, was well-received by both fans and critics and became, as the last three singles had, a radio hit. When the album Du & jag döden (You & I Death) was released, it was very well-received and was considered by most fans to be one of their best albums. Two more singles were released, "Palace & Main" and "Den döda vinkeln" (The Dead Angle) – the last one stirring up some controversy among Kent fans because Kent didn't release any b-sides along with it (but still the single has a shorter version of the song). The last track on the album, "Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)" (The Man in the White Hat (16 Years Later)) was very well-received and is seen by many fans as Kents' best effort.

During late spring 2005 they embarked on "Turné 19" (Tour 19), doing 12 gigs in Sweden, one in Norway and one in Finland. The concerts took place in huge tents with a capacity of up to 18,000. This was the only tour that followed the release of "Du & jag döden".

During the summer there were rumours about Kent releasing an EP, as they had been spotted in studio and guitarist Sami had said, "We might release an EP, but if we do it will only be digitally released." Just one month before the November 2005 release, the The hjärta & smärta EP (The Heart & Pain EP) was confirmed, as a CD as well as a digital release. It was well received and contained five tracks, "Dom som försvann" (Those Who Disappeared) becoming the radio single and having a video recorded. The single EP made #1 in Sweden.

During 2006, the band has played only once in Sweden on the Hultsfred Festival and on two festivals in Norway. They've also released the single “Nålens öga” for charity. It is their longest single to date, at a time of over six minutes.

On December 1st, 2006, the band announced that they have started recording a new album which is due for release by autumn 2007.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Kent March 15, 1995	Verkligen March 15, 1996	Isola November 12, 1997 (Swedish version) April 27, 1998 (English version)	Hagnesta Hill December 6, 1999 (Swedish version) April 28, 2000 (English version)
Vapen & ammunition April 15, 2002	Du & jag döden March 15, 2005