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The history of the
Swedish reggae band LionDub goes way back in time. Located in the town
of Gävle, (two hours ride north of Stockholm ) the embryo which
would become Liondub floated in the womb of slow-burning transition during
the era of punk, new wave and ska music. Some youngsters from the north
side of town stood sweating in their rehearsal space. And that rehearsal
space wasn’t a garage or some spooky basement. No, it was in fact
a dressing room, and a real small one. Can you imagine the smell? In those
distant days Bob Marley was touring reggae to world domination, and one
of those days drummer Mattias Bengtsson stubbornly said: “I refuse
to play anything but reggae”. Given no option the rest of the band switched direction and tuned into the Jamaican flow. Mattias elder brother, Jonas was also involved in the local music scene. He was also a drummer. Apparently the Bengtsson family loves to hit things hard… |
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However,
Jonas being a couple of years older played music with some other guys
from the downtown area. Of course there was some playful rivalry between
the two groups in the beginning, but mutual respect was always in the
air. Being very hungry ´bout music most of the members of what would become LionDub started various side projects. Jonas Bengtsson and keyboardist Mathias Andersson toured with experimental rock band King Fishermen. They also released a couple of singles and a full-length album; Schizo Cabin. |
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Slide trombone man, Ralph Benton and saxophone player Joakim Lindgren joined the happy-happy party band Kadesch Kadeng. ( The author of these very words actually once stole some beer backstage at a Kadesch Kadeng gig.) These brass guys have also been hired for sessions numerous times with, for instance, weirdo pop group Ulgebräk, Manitoba Prospect and Zielinski. Joakim is also the only Caucasian member of Latin group Mango. White men can jump. | |
| One of the members of LionDub, guitarist Lennart Wastesson, is a man who needs the day to expand to 36 hours. This man is bouzouki and mandolin-player with country-rock band Harvest. He is also member of art pop group Gröna Greven ( Which means The Green Count in Swedish. A seasick Dracula, someone? ). And he also has a solo project, a spacey avant-garde experimentation sounding like Robert Fripp meeting Ravi Shankar. Combined Guitars is the name of this project. And hold on, he’s actually written two songs for the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest this year. In Lennart’s hat there are many feathers… |  |
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But, in spite of all side projects, these guys returned to their common solid base ground; Reggae. Drummer Jonas Bengtsson and keyboardist Mathias Andersson began to fool around with dub reggae in 1997. Enter the scene – singer Kemo joined in and a single was released: “Headline News”, with flipside “Roses”. Behind the mixing desk was famous drummer Christer Björklund, who has toured with Robyn, Papa Dee and Titiyo among others. | |
| Bass was played by Rasta man Marko Kattilakoski. Dreadlocks and all, this man is reggae. You never ever hear anything but short staccato notes on the piano in his home. That’s good, the neighbours don’t like Rachmaninov anyway. Mattias Bengtsson switched from drums to percussion and live dates began rolling. |   |
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Trumpet player Kenneth Johansson saw the band playing live in a club. He had been out of town for some years but when he saw LionDub in action he felt an instant urge to join in. Being classically trained and all he fitted in with the rest of the brass section just the same. | |
Liondub has had a number of different lead vocals over all the years. But in the spring of 2003, after months of searching, the band finally found the current lead vocal Daniel Possnert. Daniel is a classically trained guitarist and has been a singer in a great number of different reagge bands in his home town Uppsala. By the end of the summer 2003 the second lead vocal joined the band, Peter Ekengren. Peter and Daniel have been singing together in various sessions for a great number of years but especially in the Soundsystem - Ligthning Strikes from Uppsala. In 2006 Daniel moved to Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden and Peter became the single lead vocalist. If you are lucky, ever now and then Daniel still joins in at some gigs. |
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In 2007 the keyboardist Mathias Andersson became very busy with other music projects. Therefore, the jazz keyboardist Alexander Lindström joined the LionDub crew adding yet another interesting dimension to the LionDub sound. |
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A final line up of the band |
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Liondub is: Additional member: |
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| Original written by E. Süss © and edited by R. Benton | ||