Broder Daniel

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Broder Daniel
Country	Sweden
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Dolores Recordings
Members	Henrik Berggren (Vocals) Lars Malmros (Drums) Anders Göthberg (Guitar) Theodor Jensen (Bass)

[edit] History

Broder Daniel, BD - translating to Brother Daniel - is an indie pop band from Gothenburg, Sweden. They formed during the late eighties by classmates Henrik Berggren and Daniel Gilbert "to gain social respect" according to the members. It was decided early on that expression of feelings were more important than musical correctness, an idea no listener could fail to notice.

The first six years consisted of a number of name changes until the band finally settled on calling themselves "Broder Daniel". A couple of new members joined and they slowly started to find their sound. Swedish music press soon caught on to the hype of the now notorious band featuring the charismatic singer and songwriter Henrik who, with his singing out of tune and excessive use of make-up, had in a short time gained a following of maladjusted youth, looking for a leader.

Music label Jimmy Fun Music, owned by Roxette front figure Per Gessle, picked the band up and promoted them until they signed to EMI Music Sweden. In 1995 the band released their debut album Saturday Night Engine which contained a sloppy - yet fine tuned - mixture of distorted guitars and anxiety-filled cries for help.

After releasing their second, self titled, album the band resigned from EMI in 1997 and found themselves without a record deal - something few people in the music industry could understand. Though they didn't sell many records, the band was indeed a popular act on music festivals all over the country. One year later they signed to record label Dolores Recordings who released their most critically acclaimed album so far: Broder Daniel Forever. The new record was a dark one, with a focus on love and death. Its sound was inspired by Psychocandy, the debut album of indierockers The Jesus and Mary Chain. This album really seemed to strike a chord with the swedish people, and the band now had more followers than ever before, especially thanks to the inclusion of three Broder Daniel-songs on the soundtrack for the movie Fucking Åmål which turned out to be one of the most popular films in the nineties.

The release was followed by a catastrophical tour which the band ended prematurely. The members parted ways briefly to recover and according to themselves they didn't speak to each other for "a year or so." Bassplayer Håkan Hellström released a solo record which was equally loved and hated by the swedish population. He left the band soon after that, since the other members didn't think his reputation as a spreader of joy would reflect well on the band. Guitarplayer Theodor Jensen also released a celebrated record with his band The Plan. Five years since their last release, they once again got together to record their new album Cruel Town. This time around they had a clear focus on the lyrics which for once didn't consist of the usual four-five sentences being repeated over and over again. Since the Cruel Town tour, the band has played only a few gigs together and singer Henrik Berggren has performed solo, playing Broder Daniel-songs in an acoustic manner. No one knows if the band exists or not. Probably not even the members themselves.

[edit] Members

Henrik Berggren - Singer
Lars Malmros - Drums
Anders Göthberg - Guitar
Theodor Jensen - Bass and guitar (Left the band in 2004. Rejoined in 2005.)
Daniel Gilbert - Guitar (Left in 1996)
Johan Neckvall - Guitar (Left in 1997)
Håkan Hellström - Bass and drums (Played drums until his departure in 1994. Rejoined in 1998 when he played bass. Left again in 2001.)