NEW YORK (RCA Records press release) - For a country half covered with glaciers, Sweden has generated plenty of hot music over the years, and never more so than with
Sahara Hotnights, a hard-rocking female quartet burning up the Scandinavian and European pop/punk scene.
With two top-selling indie releases under their belt, the band makes its U.S. major label debut with "Kiss & Tell," their new RCA CD. The album drops July 27th, just in time for Sahara Hotnights' U.S. club tour opening for The Hives.
The band's premiere single, "Hot Night Crash," arrives at radio at the end of June. A video of the single will soon hit outlets everywhere. Directed by Jeff Gorden (blink-182), the circus-themed clip was filmed in Los Angeles based on Cinco de Mayo in Mexico. Later this summer, Sahara Hotnights will play a handful of festivals in Scandinavia before embarking on that U.S. tour with The Hives. The tour kicks off in Washington D.C. July 20, and continues on to major markets like New York, Boston, Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, Denver, Seattle and San Francisco.
Written by the band, "Kiss & Tell" was produced by Fireside's Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives) and mixed by Rob Schnapf (Foo Fighters, Moby, Beck, Elliot Smith). Guitarist/singer Maria Andersson, drummer Josephine Forsman, guitarist Jennie Asplund and bassist Johanna Asplund comprise the quartet Rolling Stone named one of "10 Great New Bands."
The band first formed a decade ago in Robertsfors (population 2500) in northern Sweden. In 1997, they released their debut EP Suits Anyone Fine, followed two years later by C'mon Let's Pretend.
In addition to selling more than 55,000 copies in Sweden alone (gold is 40,000), the disc garnered critical praise and two Swedish Grammy nominations. Sahara Hotnights went on to tour the world for two years with the likes of The Donnas, Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Hives, Cooper Temple Clause and The Datsuns. In 2002, they played their first U.S. gigs (CBGB's, SXSW and The Roxy), and in spring 2003 went on the tour America on their own as well as with The Mooney Suzuki.
Their second album, Jennie Bomb, kept the buzz going. Most recently, the band performed at the 2004 Coachella Festival.
Rolling Stone lauded their "Seventies-style rock that combines the pop rush of the Ramones with the pissed-off sneer of the MC5." Spin called them "foxy" and "super-badass... they're really the incarnation of 70's cherry bombs the Runaways - language barrier be damned."
Blender magazine also, applauded them for taking "a blowtorch to the image of the icy, submissive Swedish pop girl (think Abba, Ace of Base, Cardigans)."
The following are Sahara Hotnights' confirmed dates opening for The Hives:
July 20 - Washington, DC
July 21 - New York, NY
July 22 - New York, NY
July 23 - Boston, MA
July 24 - Toronto, Ontario
July 25 - Pontiac, MI
July 26 - Chicago, IL
July 28 - Denver, CO
July 29 - SLC, UT
July 30 - Seattle, WA
July 31 - Portland, OR
August 1 - San Francisco, CA
August 4 - San Diego, CA
