ATLAS LOSING GRIP
We are Atlas Losing Grip and we're from Lund, Sweden, the town where we all
grew up. Our band started out in early 2005 at a local youth centre in the
heart of Lund. Stefan and Gustav used to play guitar together in the basement
rehearsal room of the youth centre and felt that there were too few melodic
punk bands left in Sweden and that the scene more or less had died out.
The youth centre had for many years been dominated by punks and hardcore kids
and many famous punk bands have started to rehearse in the very same basement
where we started out. The idea from the beginning was to play straight 'skate
punk', as it was called during the 90's. Songs were written and a bunch of
members were replaced before we felt that the line-up was steady enough to
rely on as a band. Stefan switched from playing guitar and took over the duty
as bass player and along came Max, who used to play guitar in another band
together with Gustav.
At this time, Stefan sang and played the bass, Gustav and Max played guitars
and Willy, Gustav`s older brother handled the drums. We started to write more
songs and rehearsed frequently until we had enough songs to put on a demo.
In 2006 the four of us moved our equipment two floors up to the studio and
recorded an eight-song demo. Gustav recorded and mixed the demo. We made an
awful cover and copied the demos ourselves. To spread the word around we handed
out the demos at local shows, music events and independent record stores.
The rest of 2006 was spent playing shows around the south of Sweden mainly.
In 2007 the line-up changed. Gustav's brother decided to quit and was replaced
by Julian, a guy who had played drums with Gustav and Max earlier. Stefan
joined Enemy Alliance with members from Satanic Surfers and Venerea. We wrote
more and better songs and we felt that we wanted to get out there. Our master
plan was to release a full length album but first we needed record labels
and distros to help us out, so we went back into the studio to make a promotional
recording just to hook us up with the right contacts. We recorded what became
a four song promo, songs that were supposed to end up on the upcoming full
length - with Mattias Persson who used to do FOH-sound for Satanic Surfers.
Gustav booked a show for dutch band Antillectual in Lund and they hooked us
up with different contacts to labels in Europe, and when Stefan was on tour
with Enemy Alliance, he talked to the Italian label that had released Enemy
Alliance's record. At the same time we got in contact with a Japanese guy
who could make a release in Japan. We were stoked with the positive feedback
and booked studio time, again with Mattias Persson behind the knobs. Our first
full length was to be called 'Shut the World Out' and contained 13 songs +
a bonus track for the Japan release. It took us about nine months from the
first recording day until the Japanese release date.
Our friend Rodrigo Alfaro did some guest vocals on the album and his voice
suited the songs very well, since we had always held Satanic Surfers as a
strong influence in our music. After the release of 'Shut the World Out',
in September 2008, we followed up with a 17 day European tour. The response
of the shows were really good even though it was the first time we played
outside of Sweden. During that tour we had a day off and didn't know what
to do, so we met up with Venerea in Germany, they were also touring Europe
at the time. They managed to get us a support slot for their show in Dortmund
the day after, and that show turned out great. After the show we had a few
drinks together and before we said goodbye to Venerea, Rodrigo said: "when
we're home again, you have a new singer". Stefan and Rodrigo had discussed
the matter before, but now it was settled.
We had already written five new songs that we rehearsed with Rodrigo's vocals
when we got home and it sounded amazing. This was what we felt we always lacked
in Atlas, a great vocalist, and with the knowledge and contacts that he had
we could take the band to a new more serious level. Stefan had also always
felt that he wanted to focus on the bass only. On the first day of 2009 (literately)
we began the recording of what to become our five song EP 'Watching the Horizon'.
When Rodrigo joined the band, the songs for Watching the Horizon were already
written and this time around we recorded and mixed it by ourselves. Gustav
felt confident enough to do to it and it turned out great.
Though the EP wasn't released yet, but with Rodrigo announced as new lead
singer, we booked two tours. The first took us around Europe, through Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands and the second one was three dates in Greece.
Later that year, in October 'Watching the Horizon' was released in both Europe
and Japan and we followed up the release with a lot of touring around Europe.
The touring schedule was busy as far as to late summer 2010, when we supported
'Bad Religion' in sold out venues on their Scandinavian tour and we finished
off by doing a few festivals by ourselves. During the summer and fall of 2010
we spent many sunny days sitting inside, writing songs and rehearsing for,
what was to become, our second full length album 'State of Unrest'.
We spent a lot of time perfecting the songs and polishing them during the
fall of 2010, rehearsing and trying different things out, recording demos
and whatnot. Now we were all more involved in the songwriting and we had a
vision to let the songs focus more around choruses and let our egos as instrumentalists
step down just a bit. I guess when Stefan played bass and sang at the same
time, it felt more natural to have a lot of instrumental sections in the songs.
We had to make this album the best album in the world. The great reviews that
'Watching the Horizon' had received and the anticipation and pressure we felt
was really driving us and when we had written enough songs we eventually booked
studio time. We we're recording this album by ourselves again. The project
was to important to let anyone but ourselves, control it. We started recording
the album on Dec 25th. It was the perfect way to get away from all the Christmas
hysteria by relaxing in the studio. We recorded the drums in "Discrete Motion
Recordings" in Malmö until Dec 30th, when we moved to our dear "Studio Bengt"
on the top floor of the youth centre where we used to rehearse.
Jason Livermore of "Blasting Room" - Fort Collins, CO will handle the mastering
of the album, this was a decision made pretty early by the band that if anyone
else but ourselves is going to have something to say about the album, it's
him. He have worked with all the greatest bands in the genre, including: Rise
Against, Good Riddance, Propagandhi and many many more. Producing genre-defining
albums year after year - having him putting his finishing touch on our album
felt like an important, easy and natural decision. We think that this album
will be highly appreciated within the melodic punk scene. It really has strong,
personal songs and lyrics which many people can relate to. We are willing
to do almost whatever it takes to spread our music and passion for it across
the universe, fully prepared to tour a lot and be available in ways needed
from us.
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Infos:
Website: www.atlaslosinggrip.se
Soundfiles: www.myspace.com/atlaslosinggrip
Facebook: listn.to/AtlasLosingGrip
Youtube-Channel: youtube.com/user/ALGchannel?feature=watch
Label: Blackstar Foundation
Booking: Europe
Agent: Mutti
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