I ARE DROID
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I ARE DROID

Band Alternative Rock

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"The Next Big Thing"

"I Are Debut" - I ARE DROID

The most ubiquitous men in Scandanavian music make up half of I Are Droid. A bionic fusion of pre, post and prog fragments brewed cask strength.

Konie Ehrencrona and Jens Lagergren have teamed up with Peder Bergstrand and Fredrik Bergström to create the cool frankenstein that is “I Are Debut” (Razzia). Their influences, according to their myspace - where you can hear the whole album - are listed as "wine, midgets and reversed circus music - in that order".

Sonically, I detect elements of BÖC, (Systems of Romance, pre-Midge) Ultravox!, Big country-esque dynamics and even Franz flippin’ Ferdinand. Some mighty sounding stuff, majestic even - without falling foul of the pomposity that often befalls such a beastie. I can think of no better complement to describe the closing strains of “Before The Fall” than it could have come from “Secret Treaties”.

IAD are packing the kind of sound that could sweep the world. My brother reckons that there’s more than a touch of the Foo Fighters about them. My own opinion is that Grohl’s crew throw great rock shapes but have no songs, the Droid do and they fit the sensurround like a glove. With the chops to turn yer average arena into a church, a sweet lightshow would clinch the deal and make them virtually unstoppable. Like one of the machines they take their moniker from, there's some kind of unbridled electricity running through these collective veins and "I Are Debut" is quite the cattle prod.

- Lindsay Hutton


Discography

CDS RAZZIA081 "Time on time" (incl. video)
Debut single with massive radio and TV airplay in Sweden.

CD RAZZIA084 "I Are Debut" (incl. video)
Debut album

RAZZIA096 "Blood & Ether" (digital only)
2nd single

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Bio

I ARE DROID - "I Are Debut"
Released june 11th 2008
www.iaredroid.com

Maybe you've already heard "Time on time" on the radio or seen the video on MTV or Youtube. It's the first single off I ARE DROID's debut album, "I ARE DEBUT". The first time you heard it you probably stopped for a second and reacted to the sound.
You thought, 'This sounds big. Huge. Ferocious. And still it makes me feel... mellow?'
You thought It's like being run over by a huge freight train made of cotton.

Or maybe you just thought it was a killer track. Ten repeats later and you realize that this is a track that just gets bigger by every listen.

It all started 3 years ago:
"My old band Lowrider faded out into nonexistence, but I kept on writing music, without any definite end purpose or goal - the only thing I know was that I wanted to do something different." says Peder Bergstrand, I ARE DROID's guitarist, singer and song writer.
A late winter's night after a show in the outskirts of Stockholm, Peder ran into an old childhood friend, drummer Fredrik Bergström.
"We hadn't seen each other in ages, like 6 years or something. But after a minute we were right back where we left off.
It was just one of those things, you know?" smiles Peder.
Pretty soon the two realized they should be making music together. There was only a tiny catch: Fredrik was moving to Tokyo.
- We started sending ideas for songs back and forth from Stockholm to Tokyo. It was like that type of juvenile, naive teenage thing like when you where a kid and you met a girl on your vacation. It's like "We're gonna make it, I'll write you every day!
I'll come visit you in six months!" laughs Peder.

Except this time it actually happened. Peder went to Tokyo and the two-piece started rehearsing. And when Razzia Records heard what they were up to and wanted to sign the unit, Fredrik decided to move back to Stockholm so they could pursue I ARE DROID full on. When Konie Ehrencrona (Konie, Don't Be A Stranger) joined on guitars and vintage synthesizers and bassist Jens Lagergren (Thunder Express, Hello Saferide) became member no 4, I ARE DROID was complete.
- It's heavy and direct, but at the same time light and soaring. The songs balance in that undefinable zone of melancholy between major and minor key... it's a Swedish thing they say, chuckles Peder.

The album was recorded in Decibel Studios and Studio Cobra in their hometown of Stockholm. It was a long process, finalized by I ARE DROID mixing the album themselves to get just the sound they sought.
- We've recorded, produced and mixed the album ourselves, plus we do our own artwork and music videos.
We like to keep it in the family, y'know? If you want it done right - do it yourself, smiles Peder.

Peder Bergstrand works as a graphic designer and director on the side of I ARE DROID, and have directed promos for Turbonegro, Timo Räisänen and Hello Saferide and sleeves for numerous swedish and international acts. That means graphics and the overall look is a big issue for I ARE DROID. It comes across on a big scale when I ARE DROID are playing live, backed up by a live visuals show.
- We've been working in the club scene for the past couple of years as DJs and VJs, and have seen what a VJ set (visuals set)
can do for the total live experience. In a club VJs and visuals are a natural part of the experience,
and that's something we want to incorporate in our live shows.
When I ARE DROID played live in Tokyo at the ultra hip Le Baron de Paris, they did so with a
VJ set of custom made animations and graphics.

- So, expect big sounds and big visuals from the live sets to come, says Peder.
- Right now, after being locked into Konie's Studio Cobra for 6 months finishing the album,
we can't wait to play the songs live. That's what we're all about,
finishes Fredrik Okazaki Bergström.