NEWSLETTER

IN THE NEWS

Thomas Johansson and Mikael Frithiof met for the first time in 1995 at a local music store in Halmstad. After becoming better acquainted, they discovered that they both lived on the same street, just a few doors away from each other.

Thomas needed a guitar solo on one of his songs. That particular song turned out to be the first one Thomas and Mikael worked on together, and Paste(swe) was formed.

Mikael and Thomas share many influences, from The Beatles to Depeche Mode. In the early days, their sound resembled, synth-orientated, melodic, industrial guitars, with distortion on both instruments and vocals. To some extent, this sound is recognisable on the EP Wired. After removing the distorted vocals, the music leaned more in the direction of catchy pop.

In 1997, they decided to record their own album, but since money was a major issue, they settled on the EP Wired, which features five songs. This release was supported by local record label, Silver Records. All the music on Wired was recorded in Thomas’ studio in Halmstad. Shortly after the EP was released, Mikael moved to Stockholm, leading to a pause in their mutual work. The project was forced to rest for a while.

In the year 2000, Paste(swe) tied up all the loose ends, and recorded and released their first full-length album, Superpop. Part of the album was recorded in the Halmstad studio, and part in Stockholm. Superpop gained lots of interested and Paste(swe) received various distribution deals worldwide.

February 2003 saw the release of the single Everybody Knows, which has received frequent airplay on Swedish National Radio P4, as well as on various college radio stations. This was followed up in May 2003 with the release of the next single and video, Hard To Be In Love, and Paste(swe)'s second album Sequel in May 2004.

During 2005, Paste will celebrate their 10 year anniversary, with an album release in September.