Stonefunkers

Last updated

The Stonefunkers
Origin Sweden
Genres Funk, hip hop
Years active1987–2001
2009–
MembersM-Rock
Top-Steen
ADL
Davono
Fredrik (Fronkpac) Jahn
Conan
Cheezo
Jean-Louis Huhta
Storm
Gonzo
Past members Papa Dee
MC Cane
Frenzy Jay/Frans James
Gavin Smart
Peter Towers

Stonefunkers is a Swedish funk, go-go and live hip hop band started by brothers Emrik and Torsten Larsson that was one of the first Swedish bands to play "urban"-style music. [1]

Contents

Career

Both Larssons spent a year in the US studying American culture and picking up on the soul and funk scene. [2]

Emrik went to high school in Rochester, New York and soon found out that a lot of the hot bands usually stopped to play in Rochester. During his year he got to see artists ranging from George Clinton with Parliament, D-Train, Tyrone Brunson, to Slave and Steve Arrington and also witnessed his first hip hop performance by Double Trouble (known through the hip hop movie Wild Style ). [3] [4]

Torsten went to Minneapolis and soon got into the rock scene but couldn't get away from that cities powerful funk movement led by Prince, The Time, André Cymone and others. [2]

Back in Sweden they both felt the urge to start a funk band. Torsten had previously played the bass in various punk/rock bands, and Emrik had done some singing in different choirs and also had a leading part in a musical. [3]

They recruited their old skateboard pal Christian on drums, a neighbour on bass, Emrik's friend David on Moog and Prophet synthesizers, and Torsten switched to guitar. Torsten came up with the name during a skate session. [2] [4]

In 1987 they became the first Swedish band to be interviewed on the Swedish radio show Soul Corner, a radio program covering African-American music. [5]

The early Stonefunk sound was guitar-driven rock funk influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Rose Royce and Sly Stone. In 1987 they were considered one of Gothenburg’s most energetic and exciting live bands and they recorded their first single, "Turn it Up", released in May 1988 on small indie label Radium. [3]

In autumn 1989 they started to work on their first full-length album, Hard as Kryptonite, with producer Christian Falk [6] (later known for his work with Neneh Cherry, Blacknuss all-stars and Robyn). During the recording of the album, the group was joined by toastingstyle-rapper Papa Dee, who brought in more evident hip hop influences than there were on the two previous singles. [7] Drummer & percussion player Jean-Louis Huhta [8] also joined the band at this time, which resulted in more inspirations from the go-go of Washington D.C. (groups like Trouble Funk and EU). [2]

Stonefunkers lineup 1989:

In 1990 the group switched labels to Warner, who decided to remix Hard as Kryptonite for an international release entitled Harder than Kryptonite. This remixed version of the album had a jazz-hip hop/Native Tongues direction and new added rap verses. Papa Dee also left the band and embarked on a solo career. The band decided to recruit rapper MC Cane (Marc Eastmond), with whom they recorded a brand new De La Soul-inspired new single entitled "Can U Follow". The song became a huge dance-floor hit and the video was shown on MTV Europe on a regular basis. The album Harder than Kryptonite was released all around Europe in 1991 and Stonefunkers also embarked on their first European tour, visiting the Nordic countries and Germany. [3]

With MC Cane still the main rapper the band recorded the 12" single LPC (Lucky People Center), a celebration of percussionist Jean-Louis Huhta club nights [8] of the same name. The actual club featured Ambient house/Trance [9] genres of music but this single was yet another Native Tongues inspired hip hop track. The single was a hit on Swedish radio. [10] [11]

In 1992 they started to work on their next album with producer Henryk Lipp. By this time MC Cane had left for a career in graphic design, and today works for one of Sweden's most prestigious and award-winning advertising agencies, Forsman & Bodenfors. [2] [12] [13] The band got a new rapper, ADL, [14] brother of percussionist Jean-Louis Huhta. ADL had previously appeared in the videos for Bass Race and Can U Follow and added rap verses on two of the tracks on the Harder than Kryptonite remixes album. The album No problem ’94 (non-believers stand back!) was a huge hit in the spring of ’93 and spawned two big hit singles, "M-rock theory" and "Funkadeena". [2]

The recording stint with Warner came to an end in 1994 and Stonefunkers were signed to Stockholm Records subsidiary Breakin’ Bread. They recorded the next album in Haarlem, the Netherlands and also toured the Benelux countries extensively. [3] The effort made in the Netherlands came out in the form of a Material-heavy P-funk-influenced album. The album contained the singles "Wreck the show" and "Individuality" but never made an impact in Sweden. The response to the album was greater abroad and Stonefunkers embarked on yet another tour that took them to Austria, Switzerland and other countries. [2]

In 1996 ADL left the band to work on his solo project Absent Minded, [15] and the band decided to continue without a rapper and instead put more focus on the vocals of lead singer Emrik "M-rock" Larsson. [3] In 1998 Stonefunkers signed a deal with Swedish label Independent Records and immediately began putting down tracks for the new album. Band member Torsten served as the project's producer and the album Outststanding [16] was finished in August 1998. [3]

Breakup and solo work

Torsten Larsson says, "The Poland tour around 95–96 have been our absolute low point, just a guitar, a bassynt, drums and tons of alcohol!" [17] After a few key members left and a disastrous argument about the lack of sales, the group broke up. The band officially disbanded in 2001, but performed live for the last time in 1999. [1] [18]

Guitar player and leader of the group, Torsten "Topsteen" Larsson, would go on and become a successful sound engineer and producer and in following years would work with such acts as Roxette, Olle Ljungström,. [1] The Royal Beat conspiracy [19] and The Soundtrack of our Lives.

M-Rock/Emrik would record three solo albums experimenting with punk, soul music, folk and singer songwriter styles of music. [20] [21] [22] In 2000, he and a few other members of the stonefunk crew contribute to the compilation album GAIS Rocks Da House in support of the football club GAIS under the name Stenkross. [23]

Reformation

In 2009 the band reformed and embarked on a short Swedish tour with yet another series of concerts lined up for the summer of 2010, starting with a gig Stockholm, 23 April. [24] [25]

The current members are:

Trivia

In 2010, Spanish band La calle del ritmo covered the track Can U Follow. [26]

Albums

Videos

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funk</span> 1960s music genre

Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths.

<i>Aquemini</i> 1998 studio album by Outkast

Aquemini is the third studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. It was released on September 29, 1998, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The title is a portmanteau of the two performers' Zodiac signs: Aquarius and Gemini, which is indicative of the album's recurring theme of the differing personalities of the two members. The group recorded the majority of the album in Bobby Brown's Bosstown Recording Studios and Doppler Studios, both in Atlanta, Georgia.

Go-go is a subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience call and response.

Alternative metal is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by heavily downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes sounds that are unconventional within other heavy metal styles. The term has been in use since the 1980s, although it came into prominence in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N.E.R.D.</span> American rock and hip hop band

N.E.R.D. was an American rock and hip hop band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1994. The Neptunes were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s, the duo formed the band with Shay Haley as a side project band of The Neptunes in 1994. N.E.R.D.'s debut album, In Search Of..., sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize. The band's second album, Fly or Die, sold 412,000 copies in the United States, but shipped at least 500,000 units, certifying it Gold.

Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, with an immediate origin in early hip hop and funk genres. Records in the genre typically feature heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals; if vocals are present, they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. It palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.

Emerging in the first half of the 1980s, Swedish hip hop originated in the cities of Stockholm and Malmö. Early on, most rappers in Sweden performed in English. Funkalics and The Latin Kings, two very different acts united by their innovative use of the Swedish language, debuted a decade later and paved the way for a second, and bigger, breakthrough for Swedish hip hop. Today, some of the most popular rappers use Swedish, often in different accents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rap rock</span> Music genre combining hip hop and rock

Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is considered to be rock music in which lyrics are rapped, rather than sung. The genre achieved its greatest success in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whodini</span> American hip hop group

Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York–based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, a.k.a. Grandmaster Dee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa Dee</span> Swedish rapper (born 1966)

David Christopher Daniel Wahlgren, better known by the stage name Papa Dee, is a Swedish rapper. His most commercially successful track is his version of the Cat Stevens song "The First Cut Is the Deepest".

Cymande are a British funk group that was originally active in the early 1970s. The band name derives from a calypso word for "dove", which symbolises peace and love; "Dove" is also the title of one of their best-known songs. With a membership deriving from several Caribbean nations, Cymande were noted for an eclectic mix of funk, soul, reggae, rock, African music, calypso, and jazz that they called "nyah-rock". The band formed in 1971 and released three albums before disbanding in 1974. After gaining newfound popularity when their music was sampled by many notable rap artists, Cymande reformed in the 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uriah Duffy</span>

Uriah Duffy is an American bassist. He is best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake. He is currently the bassist of the California-based progressive rock band Points North.

Christian Falk was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet.

Adiam, previously known by her full name Adiam Dymott, is an Eritrean-Swedish singer. Her debut album, Adiam Dymott, was released on 18 March 2009 on Swedish indie label Razzia Records. It included the singles "Miss You" and "Pizza".

Alternative hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip hop groups that refuse to conform to any of the traditional stereotypes of rap, such as gangsta, bass, hardcore, and party rap. Instead, they blur genres drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae, and even folk."

Jean-Louis Patrik Huhta is a Swedish musician. He has played in various bands going back through the mid 1980s, ranging from punk and art music to grindcore and funk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quincy Mumford</span> American guitarist and singer-songwriter (born 1991)

Quincy Mumford is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his debut in 2008, and is also rhythm guitarist and frontman of the band Quincy Mumford & The Reason Why, a five-person group based in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Mumford's style has been described as "funk, soul and surf music, with a dash of reggae thrown in." After the release of his second album South Edgemere, he won three Asbury Music Awards in 2009, including Best Male Acoustic Act. That year MSNBC also named Mumford one of their "1 of 10 up and coming young artists."

<i>Infinity</i> (Shtar album) 2010 studio album by Shtar

Infinity is the debut studio album by Jewish hip hop band Shtar. Produced by then-drummer David Epstein, the album was originally released by the independent Shemesh Music label on May 2, 2010. After the band was signed to the larger indie label Shemspeed a year later, it was re-released by that label on March 5, 2012.

Absent Minded is the name for Swedish rapper Adam Baptiste, also known as ADL's solo hip hop music when paired with producer Vladi C. Both the Absent Minded project and ADL are considered pioneers of hip-hop and urban music in Sweden, and the 1996 Absent Minded album Extreme Paranoia in Stocktown is considered a classic of the era.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stonefunkers återupptar festandet", Svenska Dagbladet 31 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Emrik Larsson at stonefunkers.com. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stonefunkers biography – 1998 Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at stonefunkers.com. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  4. 1 2 Tatiana Karas, "I'm a Stonefunker, yes I am". Interview with Emrik Larsson at musiklandet.se, 18 November 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  5. ↑ "Svart musik på skånska – Kultur & Nöjen – Sydsvenskan – Nyheter dygnet runt". Sydsvenskan. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  6. ↑ Stefan Malmqvist (9 March 2010). "Christian Falk tar ton på nya skivan | SvD". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "Inget Snack om Saken, nu är Papa Dee en av de Tunga!", Frontface magazine issue 3 2008, p. 2a. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  8. 1 2 Fredrik Strage, "Jean-Louis Huhta", Tidskriften Pop Revisited 4 January 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  9. ↑ "Lucky People Center Discography at Discogs". discogs. 30 October 2002. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  10. ↑ "Vad är Stonefunkers?". Learning4sharing.nu. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  11. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Discography Stonefunkers". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  12. ↑ Fredrik Hansson, "Månadens print", resume.se October 2007, 6 December 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  13. ↑ Forsman & Bodenfors Contact page. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  14. ↑ "Stonefunkers 2010 Nedräkningen har börjat!", presskontakt.se 12 May 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  15. ↑ ADL, Absent-Minded
  16. ↑ "Aftonbladet puls: Veckans cd-recensioner". .aftonbladet.se. 5 December 1997. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  17. ↑ Stonefunkers 2010 at mynesdesk.com, Torsten Larsson Musik AB, 24 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  18. ↑ Kal Ström, "Stonefunkers finns inte mer" at dagensskiva.com, 21 March 2001. Retrieved 21 March 2010: "Efter nästan femton år lägger Sveriges mest kända funkare, Stonefunkers, av som band". – "After almost fifteen years Sweden's best known funkers, Stonefunkers, are calling it quits as a band".
  19. ↑ Håkan Steen, "Vi för facklan vidare: The Royal Beat Conspiracy vårdar rock’n’roll-arvet på debutplattan", Aftonbladet Puls 11 June 1999. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  20. ↑ Malena Rydell, "Emrik: 'Soul Swedish Man'", DN Kultur & Nöje 21 May 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  21. ↑ Soul/blues/rock: Emrik — Soul Swedish Man; Friska Viljor — Tour de Hearts", Blaskan 2, 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  22. ↑ "Soulblues för medelåldern", Review of Emrik's Soul Swedish Man at dagensskiva.com, 10 May 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  23. ↑ "GAIS 'Rocks Da House'". dagensskiva.com. 8 August 1969. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  24. ↑ Kai Martin, "Comeback för Stonefunkers", Expressen GT 26 March 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  25. ↑ "Stonefunkers @ Fasching", Fasching.se. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  26. ↑ " La calle del ritmo", www.diariodelaltoaragon.es. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.