The Quill (band)

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The quill
General information
origin Mönsterås , Sweden
Genre (s) Hard rock , stoner rock , grunge , alternative rock , psychedelic rock
founding 1990
Website http://thequill.se/
Current occupation
George "dinghy" Atlagic
Christian Carlsson
Magnus Ekwall
Roger Nilsson
former members
Electric bass
 Peter Karlsson-Holm
Not so Haglund
Electric bass
 Robert Triches aka Hot Señor Rob
singing
 Magnus "Magz" Arnar

The Quill is a Swedish rock band from Mönsterås that was formed in 1990.

history

The band emerged from the group Quil, at that time still with the singer Tommy Carlsson and the bassist Mats Johansson. The Quill was founded in 1990 when guitarist Christian Carlsson and drummer George "Jolle" Atlagic were looking for a suitable singer, whom they found in Magnus Ekwall, who at the time was still involved in another band that had a rehearsal room in the same building as the Quill had. The line-up was supplemented by the organist Anders Haglund and the bassist Peter Karlsson-Holm. After the first local appearances in various bars, Karlsson-Holm left the group in late 1993 and was replaced by Roger Nilsson in early 1994. In 1993 the band also recorded the demo Another Fruitful Day , which brought them a record deal with Megarock Records . Half a year after Nilsson's arrival, the band went into the studio to record their self-titled debut album, which was released in March 1995. The album was recorded within three weeks at the Berno Studio in Malmö in June and July 1994. A music video was also created for the song Jet of Water . The album was later voted number 70 of the 100 best albums of the year in Swedish magazine Aftonbladet . After the album was released, in addition to a short tour through Sweden with Abstract Algebra , an appearance at the Karlshamn Rock Festival was completed. A planned tour of Germany had to be canceled due to problems with the record company. In May 1997, Haglund left the cast, after which the group continued without a replacement. Since Megarock Records had meanwhile stopped its record distribution, The Quill was now back without a record deal. At the end of the same year she recorded a demo with the help of Warner / Chappell Music . In August, the recordings for the second album began in the Berno Studio in Malmö, which ended about a month later. The publication was then delayed several times. In the meantime, the band continued to work on new songs before they decided in the summer of 1998 to return to the Berno Studio in order to be able to add these stragglers to the album. This also produced cover versions of A Sinner's Fame by Trouble and Fairies Wear Boots by Black Sabbath , which were contributed to tribute albums . After a small tour of Sweden in autumn 1998 with Bullhorn, the second album Silver Haze was released in early 1999 . The band was then to be seen at various Scandinavian festivals such as the Sweden Rock Festival . In the same year the EP Evermore was released via Froghouse Records . The group participated in 1999 in two sessions at Berno Studio covers of Iron Maiden Where Eagles Dare , Captain Beyonds Frozen Over and Mount Everest of November for tribute albums. In spring 2002 the next album followed with Voodoo Caravan , after which Michael Amott can be heard as a guest musician. The album, like the two previous albums, was recorded under the direction of Berno Paulsson . The publication was followed by appearances in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands . Atlagic also worked with the band Firebird and Nilsson with the Spiritual Beggars , while Carlsson and Ekwall wrote new songs. However, appearances after the album was released were limited due to problems with booking agencies. In 2003 the band was represented at the Wacken Open Air , before the album Hooray! It's a Deathtrip , which was created in the spring of that year under the direction of Daniel Bergstrand , was released. In the same year the band could be seen at the Metaldays in Switzerland and Sweden at the Eldfesten and the Parkfestivalen . In April 2004 the group went on a two-month European tour with Monster Magnet and Gluecifer . In early 2005 the band recorded a demo with three songs. In May 2005 Nilsson left the band. The reason for leaving was a lack of time due to his child and his full-time job. In August 2005 he was replaced by Robert Triches. He had been a long-time friend of the members whom they had known since childhood. Another three-song demo was then recorded. The following month the album In Triumph was recorded in the Area 51 Studios in Celle with producer Tommy Newton , which was published in April of the following year. The band had already planned to work with Newton on the previous album, but that hadn't happened. In mid / late April 2006 The Quill could then be seen live in Germany, among other places. The group also played various other concerts, including with the Camerata Nordica string orchestra . In December 2006 the group made new demo recordings in Blomstermåla . In 2007, Ekwall left the line-up in frustration due to a lack of support from the Steamhammer label . From 2008 the drummer Atlagic was also active with Hanoi Rocks , which delayed an album release even further. In 2010 the band resumed their activity , now with Magnus "Magz" Arnar as singer, whom they had met on Myspace , whereupon the album Full Circle was released in 2011 with the line-up of Arnar, Christian Carlsson, Triches and Atlagic. In April 2012, Triches split from the group and Roger Nilsson returned to the cast. The next album, Tiger Blood, followed in 2013 . The original singer Magnus Ekwall can be heard in this position again on the 2017 album Born from Fire . Ekwall had returned after being hired by the guitarist Carlsson for a "more or less private kiss party". It was through that fun session that he had been moved to join The Quill again. In their career, the band has so far been able to perform together with Motörhead , Deep Purple and Dio , among others .

style

According to laut.de , the band was mainly influenced by the music of the 1970s. On Voodoo Caravan , the band sounds "once again stylistically similar to their country colleagues from the Spiritual Beggars ", which is partly due to the fact that Roger Nilsson is the bass player in both bands and the guest musician Michael Amott is also active in this band. Hooray! Like its predecessors, It's a Deathtrip offers rock music in the style of the 1970s with a strong influence from stoner rock , whereby the vocals stand out in particular. Also on In Triumph there is “a mixture of tried and tested rock with psychedelic influences”. Thorsten Pöttger also felt reminded of the 1970s in Eclipsed , but The Quill did not achieve the strength of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. By Hooray! It's a Death Trip he thought in terms of later bands with the same inspiration to Audioslave and in triumph to Soundgarden . Janne Stark wrote in The Heaviest Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Ever! that the band played high-quality hard rock in the style of the 1970s when they were founded , while the previous band Quil still offered traditional melodic hard rock. The singing is quite high and based on the blues . The debut album is suitable for fans of hard rock dominated by Hammond organs in the style of the 1970s. The music has slight hippie traits. The group avoid sounding old-fashioned. On Silver Haze you have by adding stoner rock - riffs changed slightly and the omission of the organ passages the style that should arise so common with Spiritual Beggars and Black Sabbath. On Voodoo Caravan , the stoner-rock influences have increased further and a fuzz box is often used on the bass and guitars . The album is now less riff-oriented and is more oriented towards garage rock . At Full Circle they returned to riff-oriented hard rock in the style of the 1970s.

In his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 4: The '00s , Martin Popoff wrote about Voodoo Caravan that it was a commercial form of oppressive stoner rock paired with adult oriented rock and Chris Cornell- style vocals . However, the album reminded him too much of Kyuss . Hooray! It's a Deathtrip is very groove- heavy and resembles the material of the previous albums. The riffs would resemble those of Soundgarden and various stoner rock bands, and the vocals still resemble Cornell's. Occasionally vocal parallels to come King's X on. Triumph offers retro-style rock as played by groups such as the Spiritual Beggars and Locomotive Breath . Popoff described the music as qualitative groove metal and Hard Rock in the style of Black Sabbath was also represented. In the slower passages you get closer to psychedelic rock . The singing now reminds less of Chris Cornell's, it is cleaner and more soulful.

According to Rock Hard , the band can " easily stand up to fellow countrymen like the Spiritual Beggars or the Mushroom River Band ". The sound is based on rock music from the 1960s to 1980s without sounding old-fashioned. Vocals remind you of Steven Tyler and Ray Gillen . Overall, the group plays groove- oriented, timeless hard rock. In an interview with the magazine, Magnus Ekwall stated that his record collection mainly consists of classic hard rock releases. As a child, he was mainly influenced by Black Sabbath, Badlands and Blue Murder . Now he's more of a fan of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell . The drummer Atlagic, however, is more inclined to groups like Mötley Crüe . Ekwall resisted classification in stoner rock, as they see themselves more as a normal rock band and have not been influenced by bands like Kyuss . Ekwall was responsible for the lyrics of The Quill. In a later rock-hard interview with Andreas Himmelstein, Christian Carlsson stated that the addition of the much younger singer Magnus Arnar had brought significantly more modern influences such as Guns n 'Roses and Skid Row than the previous 1970s bands. He is also, unlike the other members, a fan of grunge and stoner rock groups. Frank Albrecht, who also works for Rock Hard , described Tiger Blood as a mixture of classic rock 'n' roll , hard, stoner and alternative rock . In an interview with him Magnus Arnar stated that with Tiger Blood they tried to deliver a stylistically diverse album. Arnar also said that he has been compared to Chris Cornell many times , but he wouldn't name Soundgarden as one of his influences. Andreas Schiffmann noticed in another issue that Born from Fire is again oriented more towards the debut album. In writing the album, Ekwall processed everything that had happened during his break from The Quill. In his review of the debut album, Marcus Schleutermann from Rock Hard compared the group with the Swedish band Crossroad Jam , "because they, too, conjure up a homogeneous blend of authentic seventies rock and modern grunge sounds". The Hammond organ is particularly noticeable, offering "warm sound carpets" at times and solos in the style of Jon Lord at other times . The vocals are reminiscent of David Byron's mixed with a little Layne Staley . The other instruments are also played competently, with the rhythm section focusing on a “full groove foundation”. Voodoo Caravan summarized Uwe “Buffo” Schnädelbach as a mixture of Spiritual Beggars and Kyuss, whereby The Quill tends a little more towards the former band. The songs also contain many references to 1970s hard rock bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mountain , Hawkwind and Black Sabbath. Due to the contemporary production, the album is not just something for “retro freaks who were yesterday's forever” and the focus is on “the magnificent, bluesy voice of vocalist Magnus Ekvall”. The singing evokes memories of Ray Gillen. Andreas Himmelstein looked at Hooray! It's a Deathtrip as a continuation of Voodoo Caravan , as it is still based on the music of the 1970s and has “heavy riffs in the Black Sabbath style and the outstanding skills of singer Magnus Ekvall” as the foundation. In terms of quality, it has meanwhile been able to catch up with the Spiritual Beggars. In a later review, Himmelstein wrote of In Triumph that the style had hardly changed and that Ekwall's vocals had remained the most prominent element. The album could not be as convincing as its two predecessors, but it "still surpasses most of the material from the remaining competitors of the once large stoner and retro rock community". According to Himmelstein, singer Arnar on Full Circle has succeeded in adequately replacing previous singer Ekwall. He described the music as "power rock", in which the spirit of groups like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple would still shine through, but now Arnar's vocals, which are similar to Chris Cornell's, have similarities to Soundgarden in the times of Badmotorfinger , mixed up with some Monster Magnet. By not using the Hammond organ, they moved away from Stoner Rock. With Tiger Blood , Himmelstein found that the band has stayed on the path they had chosen, away from 1970s sounds and stoner rock. Instead, grunge and alternative rock in the style of the 1990s dominate, as is the case with Soundgarden. The vocals are a mixture of " Glenn Hughes with a sonorous Chris Cornell timbre ". Thomas Kupfer, also from Rock Hard , noted in his review of Born from Fire that after Ekwall left, the band "said goodbye to hard rock in the style of the 1970s a little bit towards arbitrariness". On the album you can still hear influences from Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and occasionally Led Zeppelin, but you sound “not quite as fresh as at the beginning of your career”. In terms of craftsmanship, however, the band continues to operate at a high level.

According to Matthias Mineur from Metal Hammer , the band plays hard rock influenced by the blues in Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath styles, which "would also cut a good figure in the wake of Kyuss or Monster Magnet". In an interview with him, Roger Nilsson stated that The Quill could learn a lot from them when performing with Motörhead, Deep Purple and Dio. Atlagic's texts have no clear meaning; each listener has to find it individually. However, the albums are based on a concept: the first is about seas and lakes, the second is about mountains and rocks and the third is about travel. In a later edition, Detlef Dengler wrote that groups like Mountain, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath were among the influences on The Quill. He found that the bass played a more important role in the songs than in most other bands. In an interview with him, Roger Nilsson stated that this is due to the lack of a second guitarist, which they try to compensate with bass and drums. He is a fan of bands like Soundgarden, which were influenced by 1970s music, while Christian Carlsson likes the blues, Magnus Ekwall Neil Young and George Atlagic Mötley Crüe (particularly Tommy Lee ). For the albums, Carlsson and Atlagic would first work out the basic ideas before further developing them together. Since the appearance of Silver Haze , the group has been assigned to stoner rock again and again, as Nilsson said in an interview, this happened because this genre was fashionable at the time, and he could not agree to the assignment. Rather, they try to mix “hearty rockers” with “intense ballads and slightly psychedelic things”. Hooray! It's a Deathtrip deals with the subject of death this time. Matthias Mineur assigned Voodoo Caravan to retro rock, which comes close to the music of the Spiritual Beggars and Monster Magnet. The group thinks back to the early Black Sabbath, whereby one can also maintain the level of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age . Ekwall's smoky and charismatic vocals reminiscent of Chris Robinson and Carlsson's guitar playing are particularly characteristic . Detlef Dengler, also from Metal Hammer , found that Hooray! It's a Deathtrip offers “catchy songs with expressive melodies and great guitar riffs”. He described the music as Spiritual Beggars with fewer solo passages with an outstanding singer who had a powerful, clear and variable voice. He also summarized them as a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rainbow , Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Monster Magnet and Kyuss. Christof Leim wrote about In Triumph that the band continues to play “nice thick rock with a lot of classic bases (Sabbath, Zeppelin, Purple)”. The contemporary music produced is interspersed with a “retro feeling” and “bluesy undertones”. The singing is typical rock singing based on the " soul of the seventies and the melodies of the eighties". Most of the time, Ekwall sounds like Chris Cornell is singing a Black Sabbath song. In contrast to the previous releases, they now use "sluggish Doom grooves" more often . Occasionally, oriental sounds are also incorporated, which is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin. Manuel Liebler noted with Tiger Blood that it still contains retro rock influenced by Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, which is enriched by influences from grunge as well as stoner, psychedelic and alternative rock.

Discography

  • 1992: Promo Tape (Demo, Q Production)
  • 1993: Demo (Demo, Q Production)
  • 1993: Another Fruitful Day (Demo, Q Production)
  • 1995: The Quill (Album, Megarock Records )
  • 1999: Silver Haze (album, Roxon Records )
  • 1999: Evermore (EP, self-published)
  • 2002: Voodoo Caravan (album, Steamhammer )
  • 2003: Hooray! It's a Deathtrip (Album, Steamhammer)
  • 2006: In Triumph (album, Steamhammer)
  • 2011: Full Circle (album, Metalville )
  • 2013: Tiger Blood (album, Metalville)
  • 2017: Born from Fire (Album, Metalville)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h The Quill. laut.de , accessed on September 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b The Quill . A perfectly normal rock'n'roll band. In: Rock Hard . No. 179 , April 2002.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g History. thequill.se, archived from the original on March 29, 2008 ; accessed on September 11, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Janne Stark: The Heaviest Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Ever! Premium Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-91-89136-56-4 , pp. 627 f .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Biography. musicmight.com, archived from the original on August 6, 2016 ; accessed on September 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e Eduardo Rivadavia: The Quill. Allmusic , accessed September 11, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b c The Quill . Three timpanists on a death trip. In: Rock Hard . No. 198 , November 2003.
  8. ↑ BORN FROM FIRE - THE QUILL IS BACK! thequill.se, accessed September 11, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b c d Andreas Himmelstein: The Quill . Man or machine. In: Rock Hard . No. 292 , November 2009.
  10. ↑ a b Elmar Salmutter: The Quill . Come ye Ye Children. In: Metal Hammer . May 2006, p. 56 .
  11. ↑ a b The Quill . Gene Simmons is to blame. In: Rock Hard . No. 364 , October 2017, p. 70 .
  12. ^ A b Matthias Mineur: The Quill . Geographers. In: Metal Hammer . April 2002, p. 76 .
  13. ↑ a b T [horsten] P [öttger]: The Quill. In triumph . In: Eclipsed . Rock magazine. Art, Progressive, Psychedelic, Classic, Hard Rock. No. 81 , April 2006, CD Reviews, p. 60 .
  14. ↑ T [horsten] P [öttger]: The Quill. Hooray! It's a death trip . In: Eclipsed . Rock magazine. Art, Progressive, Psychedelic, Classic, Hard Rock. No. 56 , October 2003, Shorties, p. 40 .
  15. ↑ Martin Popoff , David Perri: The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 4: The '00s . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2011, ISBN 978-1-926592-20-6 , pp. 404 .
  16. ^ Frank Albrecht: The Quill . More cake please! In: Rock Hard . No. 314 , July 2013.
  17. ↑ Marcus Schleutermann: The Quill . The quill. In: Rock Hard . No. 96 , May 1995, pp. 104 .
  18. ^ Uwe "Buffo" Schnädelbach: The Quill . Voodoo caravan. In: Rock Hard . No. 178 , March 2002, p. 82 .
  19. ↑ Andreas Himmelstein: The Quill . Hooray! It's a death trip. In: Rock Hard . No. 197 , October 2003.
  20. ↑ Andreas Himmelstein: The Quill . In triumph. In: Rock Hard . No. 228 , May 2006.
  21. ↑ Andreas Himmelstein: The Quill . Full circle. In: Rock Hard . No. 290 , July 2011.
  22. ↑ Andreas Himmelstein: The Quill . Tiger Blood. In: Rock Hard . No. 313 , June 2013.
  23. ↑ Thomas Kupfer: The Quill . Born from Fire. In: Rock Hard . No. 313 , September 2017, p. 110 .
  24. ↑ Detlef Dengler: The Quill . Oden to death. In: Metal Hammer . November 2003, p. 46 .
  25. ^ Matthias Mineur: The Quill . Voodoo caravan. In: Metal Hammer . March 2002, p. 99 .
  26. ↑ Detlef Dengler: The Quill . Hooray! It's a death trip. In: Metal Hammer . October 2003, p. 112 f .
  27. ↑ Elmar Salmutter: The Quill . Triumph. In: Metal Hammer . May 2006, p. 107 .
  28. ↑ Manuel Liebler: The Quill . Tiger Blood. In: Metal Hammer . July 2013, p. 88 f .