Brainpool is a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

group from

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The band was most popular in the mid-1990s, mostly in the Swedish indie-pop scene together with other bands like

Eggstone Eggstone is a Swedish indie pop band, formed in 1986. They have been called the "godfathers of Swedish pop." History The three members of Eggstone -- Per Sunding (vocals, bass), Patrik Bartosch (guitar) and Maurits Carlsson (drums) -- were raise ...

or Beagle.

History

This Swedish band was formed in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, and the original members were vocalist Jan "Janne" Kask, guitarist David Birde, bassist

Christoffer Lundquist Carl Christoffer Lundquist (born 16 January 1970) is a Sweden, Swedish musician and producer. He was once in the band Brainpool (band), Brainpool, where he started as a bass player and backing vocalist, but moved to play both the bass and the g ...

, and drummer Jens Jansson. The band signed to

Per Gessle Per Håkan Gessle (; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbande ...

's music publishing company Jimmy Fun Music and released three albums: ''Soda'' (1994; Swedish Grammy as New Band), ''Painkiller'' (1995) and ''Stay Free'' (1996). They took part as support act during the ''European Crash! Boom! Bang!'' Tour by

Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...

in 1994. Janne Kask left the band in 1997 to pursue a solo career. For a while the other band members were looking for a new lead singer, but soon gave up. "It didn't take long for us to realize that it would be impossible to let another person join", David Birde explained in an interview t
The Daily Roxette
"It would have to be the three of us, or split up. At first we thought about changing our name, but that turned out to be difficult -

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

had already paid for the recording of ''You Are Here'' and they wanted us to keep the name. We had to choose between ditching the recordings and lose our record deal or go on calling ourselves Brainpool. We cowardly chose the latter." The band not only decided to stay together after Kask left, but they decided to change their style and their music. "We realized our audience was getting younger. We were 26, we were smelly and unshaven and drunk. There were 11- and 12-year-old fans who wanted a hug, we just thought it was so wrong, that's when we realized we had to do something else," says David. It was time for their music to reach the level of maturity that they were at. ''You Are Here'' was released in 1999. After this release, the band worked for 4 years on a

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

which was finally released in 2004 with the name ''Junk'' and with the topic of

anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology. It has been described as "''intentionally'' and ''meaningfully'' excluding or cutting goods from one's consumption routine or reusing once-acquired goods with the goal of avoiding consumption". The ...

. The premiere was in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

on August 19, 2004 where the band was backed up by

Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra () is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was founded in 1925 with Walther ...

. The album was published by the band's own publishing company Junk Musik which releases singles only on the Internet. In 2005, Brainpool released the compilation ''We Aimed To Please''. The album only contains songs from 1992 to 1997 when Janne Kask was still in the band. There are no songs from ''You Are Here'' or ''Junk''. In May 2007 Brainpool's ''Junk: A Rock Opera'' premiered at a small venue in Los Angeles to mixed fan reviews. It sold out 36 shows, and, in the beginning of 2009, was performed as a staged reading off-Broadway in New York City.

Members

started in the band as a bass player and backing vocalist, but has moved to play both the bass and the guitar. He has recorded and/or produced albums by

Gyllene Tider Gyllene Tider (; "Golden Times") is a Swedish pop group fronted by Roxette singer, guitarist, and songwriter Per Gessle. They are one of the best-selling Swedish bands ever and have had numerous hits in Scandinavia, starting with their break ...

Ed Harcourt Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith (born 14 August 1977) is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released ten studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, '' Here Be Monsters'', was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Pr ...

Christian Kjellvander Christian Kjellvander (born May 13, 1976) is a Swedish singer-songwriter.
, Music Eldorado, February 27, 2007

Helena Josefsson Helena Marianne Josefsson (born 23 March 1978) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist in the band Sandy Mouche and has collaborated with Per Gessle, Roxette, Arash Labaf, The Ark and various other Swedish musical proje ...

, ... in his own studio in Scania, AGM Studios. He played in the backing groups of Per Gessle since 1998. * David Birde, guitar player, songwriter and lyricist. He also became the lead singer since ''You Are Here''. He has released some single songs with Magnus Börjeson from Beagle as 'Metro Jets'. * Jens Jansson, drummer. He has played and recorded with many international artists:

Peter von Poehl Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Righteous Boy Righteous Boy is the solo project of Magnus Sveningsson, bassist from Swedish rock group The Cardigans. Sveningsson began the project during the long hiatus between the Cardigans' '' Gran Turismo'' and ''Long Gone Before Daylight'' albums. To da ...

Florian Horwath Florian may refer to: People * Florian (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Florian (Marcus Annius Florianus), Roman emperor in 276 AD * Saint Florian (250 – c. 304 AD), patron saint of Po ...

, ... * Jan "Janne" Kask is a former member of the band, singer and songwriter. He had a hit as a solo artist with ''Golden Heart''. Currently, he is studying

medical education Medical education is vocational education, education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship (medical), internship) and additional trainin ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. * James SK Wān – bamboo flute

Discography

Albums

* ''Soda'' (1994) * ''Painkiller'' (1995) * ''Stay Free'' (1996) * ''You Are Here'' (1999) * ''Junk'' (2004) * ''We Aimed To Please - Best Of Brainpool, Vol. 1'' (2005)

Singles

* At School / Popstar (1993) * Every Day (1994) * Girl Lost (1994) * In The Countryside (1994) * That's My Charm (1994) * Bandstarter (1995) * We Aim To Please (1995) * Tomorrow (1995) * Sister C'mon (1996) * In A Box (1996) * My Sweet Lord (She's So Fine) (1997) * You Are Here (1999) * Live Transmission (1999) * Junk (2004) * Metro Jets Premier Concert (2005) * A Different Life (2005)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Lund 1993 establishments in Sweden Musical groups established in 1993 English-language musical groups from Sweden