Bonafide (band)
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Bonafide is a Swedish
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
band, formed by singer/guitarist Pontus Snibb in Malmö in 2006.Black Lodge biography
, 2009.
Releasing their eponymous debut album the following year and playing two shows at the
Sweden Rock Festival Sweden Rock Festival is a rock festival outside the town of Sölvesborg in Blekinge in southern Sweden. The festival offers the best possible mix of classic rock, hard rock, metal, blues and related genres. The first version of the festival, k ...
in 2008, as well as opening for bands like
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
,
Quireboys The Quireboys are an English rock band formed in 1984 in London, with strong ties to Newcastle. Originally known as The Choirboys, then The Queerboys, billed as The London Quireboys in the United States and Canada, settling at last with their ...
, and
Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...
, quickly brought them a nationwide audience. Their most well-known song, ''Fill Your Head With Rock'', was written for the aforementioned festival, and has since been named as one of 2011's best songs by
Classic Rock Magazine ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...
. Snibb, Ekelund and Matsson are also members of
Mustasch Mustasch is a Swedish rock band. They were formed in the fall of 1998 by Ralf Gyllenhammar, Hannes Hansson, Mats Hansson and Stam Johansson in Gothenburg. History Mustasch was formed in Gothenburg in 1998, and recorded demos at "The Mustasc ...
.


History


Formation

Pontus Snibb had played blues and rock for several years; toured and made records with bands such as Mescaleros, SNiBB, and Buckaroos; played with Swedish folk rock artist
Mikael Wiehe Mikael Christian Wiehe (born 10 April 1946) is a Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer. As the main songwriter and driving force of Hoola Bandoola Band he was also one of the most important people in the progg movement. Career W ...
; and was the drummer for American country-punk band
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, when he decided to go in a classic hard rock direction with his next project.Rockbladet (SWE) interview
2011.
The album ''Bonafide'' was recorded in his home studio together with bass player Micke Nilsson (Brickhouse,
Mats Ronander Mats Ronander (born 1 April 1954) is a Swedish rock musician, guitar player, producer and composer. Biography Ronander was born in Sundsvall, but grew up in Örebro. At the age of sixteen he succeeded Peps Persson as singer in the band Blues Qu ...
), and caught the interest of former
Sweden Rock Festival Sweden Rock Festival is a rock festival outside the town of Sölvesborg in Blekinge in southern Sweden. The festival offers the best possible mix of classic rock, hard rock, metal, blues and related genres. The first version of the festival, k ...
and Sweden Rock Records head Michael Ivarsson. After the addition of guitarist Mikael Fässberg (from original
Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...
singer
Paul Di'Anno Paul Andrews (17 May 1958 – 21 October 2024), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, was an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno ...
's touring band) and drummer Sticky Bomb (real name Per-Åke Holmberg, from
Kriminella Gitarrer Kriminella Gitarrer (named after New York band The Brats song "Criminal Guitar")https://www.discogs.com/master/1771625-The-Brats-Criminal-Guitar was a Swedish punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk roc ...
,
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and Torsson), a revised version with a few new songs was released in October 2007.


Breakthrough

The following year, 2008, saw the band playing two shows at the
Sweden Rock Festival Sweden Rock Festival is a rock festival outside the town of Sölvesborg in Blekinge in southern Sweden. The festival offers the best possible mix of classic rock, hard rock, metal, blues and related genres. The first version of the festival, k ...
, one of them in place of former
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singer
Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...
, who cancelled his appearance at short notice. This exposed the band to a large audience and the debut album was re-released by new label, Sound Pollution, in 2009 with the addition of two songs taken from the festival performance, as well as the
Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...
song ''Miss Misery''. In January 2009, Bonafide started recording the follow-up album, ''Something's Dripping'', with producer
Chips Kiesbye Chips Kiesbye is the guitarist and vocalist for the Swedish rock band Sator formed in the late 1980s in Borlänge. Kiesbye is also a successful music producer and has worked with several of Sweden's most successful rock bands and artists such ...
( Sator,
The Hellacopters The Hellacopters are a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson (vocals and guitar), Andreas Tyrone "Dregen" Svensson (guitar), Kenny Håkansson (bass) and Robert Eriksson (drums). Andersson (sometimes known as Nic ...
, The Nomads,
Sahara Hotnights Sahara Hotnights are a Swedish rock band from Robertsfors. Since its inception, the band has been composed of lead singer Maria Andersson, drummer Josephine Forsman and sisters Jennie (lead guitar) and Johanna (bass) Asplund. Their style inco ...
),Lokaltidningen, Malmö (SWE) interview
2009.
which upon release made it to the 16th position on the Swedish album charts. The album was followed by the band's first
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an tour, supporting all-female metal band
Crucified Barbara Crucified Barbara are an all-female Swedish hard rock and heavy metal band, formed in Stockholm in 1998. Background Crucified Barbara started out in 1998 as a punk rock band, but soon they changed their primary style to hard rock. They signed ...
, for 35 shows all over the continent. Drummer Sticky Bomb was replaced for a tour of
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in the spring of 2010 by Niklas Matsson (from
Backdraft A backdraft (North American English), backdraught (British English) or smoke explosion is the abrupt combustion, burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a windo ...
and
Raging Slab Raging Slab is an American rock music, rock band that plays a blend of southern rock and Boogie rock, boogie with influences from Heavy metal music, metal and Punk rock, punk. They released six albums between 1987 and 2002. History The group ...
), who became a permanent member later in the year. In September, the band recorded three cover tunes for a new EP: ''Fill Your Head With Rock – Old, New, Tried & True'', which would also contain one previously unreleased song and two songs from their previous studio album, of which ''No Doubt About It'' was also featured on the soundtrack of the
Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...
racing game
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. The EP was released in January 2011 Über Röck Magazine (UK) interview
, 2012.
and topped the Swedish midprice charts. This was followed by a full European headline tour.


International

Bonafide was featured in four consecutive issues of
Classic Rock Magazine ''Classic Rock'' is a British magazine and website dedicated to rock music, owned and published by Future. It was launched in October 1998 and is based in London. The magazine publishes 13 editions a year, mainly covering rock bands from the 196 ...
in the fall of 2011, gaining UK airplay Metal Gods TV (UK) interview
2011.
for ''Fill Your Head With Rock'', which became the editor's choice for one of the best songs of the year, and the band's performances at the
Hard Rock Hell Hard Rock Hell is a three day music festival held at Vauxhall Holiday resort, Great Yarmouth. It was previously held at Hafan y Môr Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales, and up until 2011 at Pontin's Holiday Village, Prestatyn, Wales. ...
festival became their UK breakthrough, being introduced on stage by designer, radio show host, and DJ, Steve 'Krusher' Joule. Original bass player Micke Nilsson quit the band in the fall of 2011 and was replaced by Martin Ekelund (from Waterdog), who made his recording debut during 2012 on the third full-length album, ''Ultimate Rebel'',Get Your Head (UK) interview
2011.
recorded during February at Gig Studios in Stockholm with engineer Conny Wall ( Electric Boys,
Ane Brun Ane Brun (; born Ane Brunvoll on 10 March 1976) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist of Sami people, Sami origin who sings primarily in English. Since 2003, she has released eleven studio albums, six live albums, five compilations, o ...
, Imperial State Electric). In February 2012, Snibb also released the ''Loud Feathers'' album with his new project Pontus Snibb 3,Fuzz (SWE) review
2012.
which also features drummer Niklas and bass player Mats Rydström (from
Backdraft A backdraft (North American English), backdraught (British English) or smoke explosion is the abrupt combustion, burning of superheated gases in a fire caused when oxygen rapidly enters a hot, oxygen-depleted environment; for example, when a windo ...
and
Raging Slab Raging Slab is an American rock music, rock band that plays a blend of southern rock and Boogie rock, boogie with influences from Heavy metal music, metal and Punk rock, punk. They released six albums between 1987 and 2002. History The group ...
).


Members

;Current members * Pontus Snibb – vocals, guitar (2007–present) * Anders Rosell - guitar (2013–present) * Martin Ekelund – bass (2011–present) * Niklas Matsson – drums (2010–present) ;Former members * Sticky Bomb – drums (2007–2010) * Micke Nilsson – bass (2007–2011) * Mikael Fässberg – guitar (2007–2013) (Died in 2018)


Discography

;Studio albums * ''Bonafide'' (2007, Sweden Rock Records) * ''Something's Dripping'' (2009, Sound Pollution) * ''Fill Your Head With Rock – Old, New, Tried & True EP'' (2011, Sound Pollution) * ''Ultimate Rebel'' (2012, Rootsy/Off Yer Rocka) * ''Bombo'' (2013, Off Yer Rocka) * ''Denim Devils'' (2015, Off Yer Rocka) * ''Flames'' (2017, Off Yer Rocka) * ''Are You Listening?'' (2023, Black Lodge Records)


References


External links


Official web page
* * {{Authority control Swedish heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2007 Musical groups from Malmö