"Demons" are a punk rock/garage punk group from Sweden. The band includes quotation marks in their name to differentiate themselves from other bands with a similar name. Their music has been described as "punk 'n' roll", but the band claims it should only be described as high-energy rock. Their musical style relies heavily on the energy derived from punk rock. Influences include 1960s garage rock bands such as The Sonics, The Standells and Shadows of Knight, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and New York Dolls; and punk rock bands such as The Damned, Misfits, The Heartbreakers and The Saints; and early hardcore punk bands such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys. "Demons" has often been compared to contemporary groups like New Bomb Turks, The Hellacopters and Electric Frankenstein.
The band established themselves in the mid-1990s Swedish punk/garage rock scene with releases such as Electrocute and "Demons"... Come Bursting Out!. "Demons" initially gained more popularity in the United States than in their homeland, and thus much of their music has been released on American record labels, most notably Gearhead Records based in Oakland, California. They have completed several US and European tours, including two appearances at SXSW as well as two tours of Japan.
The Hellacopters recorded a cover version of Electrocute for their final album Head Off in 2008.
During "Demons" existence, other groups have used the same name. Actions have been taken to prevent the issue.
Band history
In the late 1980s, Mathias Carlsson and Stefan Jonsson, both just thirteen years old at the time, formed the band Jawbation with school friends. Drummer Mikael Jacobsson joined later. Jawbation slowly disintegrated and morphed into a new band in 1994, which they named "Demons" on the advice of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy from The Cramps.
A session was recorded in 1995 which was supposed to be the band's debut album. It was never released but used as a promotion cassette called Strings for Hanging and Twanging. In the mid-to-late-1990s, "Demons" tracks appeared on many compilation releases such as Another Real Cool Time – Distorted Sounds from the North and released their debut single "Electrocute" on Ruff Nite Records. Their six-track EP "Demons"... Come Bursting Out! was released in 1998. The album was recorded in Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg (known for his work with The Hellacopters as well as several notable Swedish death metal bands such as Entombed). The band signed with Gearhead Records in 1999, and released their debut album Riot Salvation in 2000.
After the release of Scarcity Rock and its following tour in 2011 the band took a break. They resurfaced for a show in 2015 and recordings followed. In 2016 the Electrocute single was reissued for Record Store Day. In March 2017 the brand new single "Kids are Gonna Cry" was released by Alaska Productions. It had a strong anti fascist message. The next single was a split with UK's The Hip Priests, a collaboration with Savage Magic Records and Cracking Stuff Records. It was released in March 2018. After that "Demons" put out ...Was Here on Ghost Highway Recordings. The band also appear on the festivals Drenched in Beer and Gutter Island Garage Rock Festival.
Several more records was released in 2018 as well as appearances with material in films, on soundtracks, compilations and split singles. On April 30, 2019 the band's first full-length in nine years, Kiss Off was released. It was highly anticipated and got great reviews.
In January 2020 "Demons" did a short tour of Japan to prepare for what was going to be their 25th anniversary as a band. When the pandemic hit their whole anniversary tour was cancelled and no shows were played. Even so, the band decided to release a couple of archival albums starting with No Loitering! - Burn Down the Club recorded in 2004 at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle.