Blues Pills are a Swedish rock band, formed in

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

in 2011. The band has released four studio albums, two

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, three live albums and five singles since its formation. Their latest studio album, Birthday, was released in August 2024 through BMG.

History

Formation and EPs (2011–2013)

In 2011, step-brothers Zack Anderson (bass) and Cory Berry (drums) of the band

Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...

met singer Elin Larsson while touring in California. Together they recorded two demo tracks and published them on YouTube, after which label "Crusher Records" offered them a deal. The band toured to Spain and France, where they met 16-year-old guitarist Dorian Sorriaux, whom they invited to

and made a member of the band. The name of the band came from their friend, Jens Heide, who had a music blog called BluesPillz with obscure 60s and 70s underground music. In May 2012 they released an EP called "''Bliss''", followed by the "''Black Smoke''" single in July. The band toured extensively during 2013 with appearances in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

's "Desertfest" in April, in Bad Kötzting's "Void Fest" and

Geel Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...

's "Yellowstock Festival" in August, in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

's "Crossroads Festival" in October and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

's "Cherry Rock Festival" in November 2013. In July 2013, Blues Pills signed a contract with the "Nuclear Blast" label and released their "''Devil Man''" EP in October . Their appearance at the "Crossroads Festival" was recorded and released in the form of the "''Live at Rockpalast''" EP in March 2014.

The self-titled debut album and ''Lady in Gold'' (2014–2017)

In July 2014 they released their first album, ''

Blues Pills Blues Pills are a Swedish rock band, formed in Örebro in 2011. The band has released four studio albums, two Extended play, EPs, three live albums and five singles since its formation. Their latest studio album, Birthday, was released in Augus ...

'', the special edition of which included a DVD of their appearance in the "Hammer of Doom" festival from the year before. Shortly after the release of the first album, Cory Berry was replaced with new drummer André Kvarnström. In mid-2014 they appeared in the "Sweden Rock Festival", in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

's "Rock Hard Festival" in June and in the famous

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

in July 2014. The album became successful in Europe, climbing to No. 4 in Germany and No. 10 in Switzerland, while it also reached British charts at No. 68. During the end of 2015 and the start of 2016, the band started writing and recording their second album. On 22 April 2016, Blues Pills announced that '' Lady in Gold'' would be released on 5 August 2016 through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

with a ten track set-list. In 2016, Blues Pills toured with Kadavar, play festivals in the summer in North America and Europe followed by a UK tour in November. A live album Lady in Gold Live in Paris was announced with a release date of 3 November 2017.

Departure of Dorian Sorriaux and ''Holy Moly!'' (2018–present)

In November 2018 the band announced the peaceful departure of guitarist Dorian Sorriaux via a post on their Facebook page. Work on a third album will continue, with Zack Anderson moving to guitar. In October 2019, it was announced that Kristoffer Schander would be joining on the bass guitar, in the same post, they have also announced that they were working on their third studio album, set to be released in 2020. On 6 March 2020, the band released the first single of their third album, "Proud Woman", in the same video, they announced their upcoming third studio album is titled ''Holy Moly!''. On 10 April 2020, they released their second single from the upcoming album titled "Low Road" which was accompanied by an official music video. On 10 July 2020, they released the third and final single titled "Kiss By Past Goodbye". ''Holy Moly!'' was originally meant to be released on 19 June 2020 but was postponed to 21 August 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Band members

;Current members *Elin Larsson – vocals (2011–present) *Zack Anderson – bass (2011–2019), guitars (2019–present) *André Kvarnström – drums (2014–present) *Kristoffer Schander – bass (2019–present) ;Former members *Cory Berry – drums (2011–2014) *Dorian Sorriaux – guitars (2011–2018) ;Support members: *Rickard Nygren – guitars, organ (2016–present)

Discography

;Albums

References

BLUES PILLS on Rock Overdose: "It's all about the feeling and soul in the music for us"

External links

*

Blues Pills , Music Biography, Credits and Discography , Allmusic

Blues Pills – YouTube

Blues Pills – Metallum Rejections
{{Authority control Swedish rock music groups Musical groups established in 2011 Swedish musical quartets 2011 establishments in Sweden Female-fronted musical groups Musical groups from Örebro 21st-century establishments in Örebro County