| Nicke Andersson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Niklas Andersson |
| Also known as | Nick Royale, Nicke Hellacopter, David Lee Hellacopter, Punk Andersson |
| Born | 1 August 1972 Sweden |
| Genres | Garage rock, rock, hard rock, garage rock revival, punk rock, garage punk, soul, death metal, death 'n' roll, heavy metal, thrash metal, psychedelic rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums, clavinet, piano, percussion |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | Psychout, Earache, BMG, National, White Jazz, Bad Afro, CBR, Nuclear Blast, polar Music International, Lookout!, Musikexpress, Music for nations, Wild Kingdom, Liquor and Poker Music, Universal, Moon, Easy Action |
| Associated acts | The Hellacopters, Entombed, The Solution, Death Breath, Imperial State Electric, The Hydromatics, Supershit 666, Nihilist, MC5, Stefan Sundström, Dismember, Neil Leyton, Cold Ethyl |
| Notable instruments | |
| TYM Guitars - The Royale Nickes signature guitar Mosrite Ventures model reissue Daguet Epiphone Crestwood replica |
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Nicke Andersson (also known as Nick Royale), born 1 August 1972 is a singer, guitarist, drummer, songwriter and composer most known for his work as the singer and guitarist of the successful Grammy award winning rock band The Hellacopters as well as the former drummer for Swedish death metal band Entombed. He has also done work as a producer as well as artwork for most the bands he has been involved with. Besides his work with the Hellacopters, Andersson is currently the drummer and songwriter in the soul band The Solution with Scott Morgan as well as the drummer, guitarist and songwriter in the death metal band Death Breath. Andersson has been involved in well over a hundred different official releases with different bands. He is currently touring with his new project, Imperial State Electric.[1]
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Andersson's interest began early in life with KISS as his favorite band and soon discovered his childhood friend and future band mate Kenny Håkanssons father's record collection and bands such as The Ramones and Sex Pistols. His interest soon turned towards heavier music, trading cassettes and vinyl and writing for fanzines.[2] It wasn't long before Andersson started playing music and was soon playing drums and guitars in rock and metal bands such as Brain Dead Bodies, The Breaking, Belsen Barnen, Parodi, Maximal Skandal, Sons of Satan, Blasphemy, Nihilist and a number of other bands.
Andersson formed Nihilist after answering an ad in Heavy Sound, a record store in Stockholm [2] When Nihilist broke up in 1989, the same musicians formed Entombed with a different bass player. Andersson was predominantly the drummer in the band but also contributed with bass, guitars and vocals as well. Entombed took influences from many different genres but mostly from death metal in the band's first two albums Left Hand Path and Clandestine. With their third album the group started incorporating more traditional influences from hard rock and heavy metal and the album Wolverine Blues is widely considered to be the origin of Death 'n' roll.[3]
In late 1994, Andersson formed The Hellacopters as a side project together with Dregen, Kenny Håkansson and Robert Eriksson, all of whom earlier had been roadies during Andersson's time in Entombed. In January 1995 they released their first single Killing Allan on their own label Psychout Records.[4] Their first full length album Supershitty to the Max! was released in 1996 and was recorded in 25 hours and later awarded with a Grammy. The group recruited Anders Lindström and supported KISS on their Scandinavian shows in 1997. The album was followed up the next year with Payin' the Dues. Due to the band's success, Andersson left Entombed to focus full time on his new band. However the next year guitarist Dregen left The Hellacopters to focus fulltime on his other band Backyard Babies.[5] With their third record The Hellacopters changed the direction of their music to a more cleaner sound than the early garage/punk rock style. The band continued to tour with temporary replacements before Robert 'Strings' Dahlqvist joined the band as their full time guitarist.[6] The band continued to release albums and tour extensively in Scandinavia, Europe and other parts of the world as well as opening up for The Rolling Stones on two shows in 2002. In 2006 The Hellacopters joined forces with The Hives, Backyard Babies, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Millencolin and embarked on a successful tour throughout Sweden. In 2007 the band announced that they would be breaking up after the release of their 7th full length album 'Head off', a collection of cover songs which will be followed by a last tour through Europe and Scandinavia. After the breakup of The Hellacopters Andersson is planning on recording a solo record, exactly what direction the album will take is still not decided.[1]
While on tour in USA with The Hellacopters, the band played several shows in the same venue as the former Sonic's Rendezvous Band singer Scott Morgan. This led to the formation of The Hydromatics which went on to release their first record Parts Unknown in 1999. Andersson and Morgan teamed up once again in 2004 this time under the name The Solution to release Communicate which was followed up with Will Not Be Televised in 2007.[7]
In 2005 Death Breath was formed by Andersson and Robert Pehrsson. Soon Scott Carlson and Erik Wallin joined, making the band's lineup complete. The band plays metal music inspired by some of Andersson's favorite early extreme metal bands such as Venom, Autopsy and Celtic Frost. The band released Stinking Up the Night in 2006 and Let It Stink in 2007.[8]
After the breakup of The Hellacopters, Andersson formed Cold Ethyl along with Thomas Eriksson, Tobias Egge and Dolf De Borst from The Datsuns who opened up for The Hellacopters during the later part of The Tour Before the Fall. The band states the they have no interest in recording or releasing any material at this time and that the only way to experience the band is through their live shows. the band played their first show at Debaser Slussen in Stockholm early 2009 and have more shows in the works.[9]
"...to have Nicke in the band is the piece de resistance you know, cause he is such a solid musician to begin with, just fundamental, knows music, knows chords, knows melodies, his technique is superior and he has the connection to the music. He gets it, you know, he understands how it all works together. So he's able to work with in the context of it and bring something to it."
In 1998 Andersson, together with former band mate Dregen, Ginger (from The Wildhearts) and Thomas Skogsberg formed Supershit 666, the bands music was very reminiscent of the early Hellacopters sound.[11] The band released a self-titled EP in 1999 but never played live. However Dregen and Ginger have both expressed interest in playing together again, possibly as Supershit 666.[12] After releasing "By the Grace of God", Andersson was invited to join Wayne Kramer and the remaining members of the MC5 for their reunion tour in 2003 and 2004.[13] In 2004 Andersson joined up with Swedish punk veteran Johan Johansson from KSMB and Strindbergs. They released the singel (Komma ut ur matchen) NU!. A Swedish version of (Gotta get som action) NOW! They were joined by musicians such as Anders "Boba" Lindström and Dregen from Hellacopters and Sulo from Diamond Dogs. The singel also contained the song 8 PM, an English version of the KSMB song Klockan 8.[14] Along with fellow Hellacopter member Robert Dahlqvist, Andersson recorded drums and guitars for Swedish singer/songwriter Stefan Sundströms 2004 album Hjärtats melodi. Apart from being a producer/co-producer with his own bands, Andersson produced Swedish rock band Dollhouse's second album The Royal Rendezevous in Acetone Studio, Stockholm in late 2005. Also at Acetone Studio he played on Neil Leyton's The Betrayal of the Self album along with Backyard Babies's guitarist Dregen. The next year he produced the Backyard Babies fifth studio album People Like People Like People Like Us.[15] In 2009, it has been announced that Andersson and Neil Leyton have a side-project called The Point, with a 7" single titled "Give it a try" due to be released in the spring of 2010.
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