Swedish Erotica was a Swedish rock band founded in 1985 and disbanded in 1996. The same members also played in the 90's in the cover band Double Trouble. Former members of Swedish Erotica have played with Yngwie Malmsteen, TNT, Vinnie Vincent, Treat, Black Ingvars, Shotgun Messiah, John Norum, Talisman and King Diamond.
History
Prehistory
The band was started in 1985 under the name "Swedish Beauty" by the members Magnus Axx (Axelsson, guitar), Ken "Ulf" Sandin (bass), Dag Ingebrigtsen, a former vocalist of the Norwegian band TNT, Dan Stomberg, a former guitarist in Madison, and drummer Magnus Nybratt. Stomberg was quickly replaced by Anders Allhage on guitar, best known as Andy La Rocque, guitarist of King Diamond since 1985 and who also played briefly with Death and Megadeth. This line-up played on a Norwegian album of Christmas themed rock songs with various vocalists: "The Grønne Glitrende 3 Og Dag". Nybratt then left the band and was replaced by Jamie Borger from Treat on drums. This line-up was not able to secure a record deal but Magnus Axx did not give up, changed the band name and hired new musicians.
Formation and early career
Swedish Erotica formed in 1987 with members Magnus Axx and Morgan Le Fay (Morgan Jensen) on guitar together with bassist Johnny D'Fox (Jonas Tångström) and drummer Pete Sanders (Petter Svärd) who was soon replaced by BC Strike (Bjarne Johansson). First singer was Göran Edman, a former member of Madison who sang on two of their albums, and for a brief period in 1985 Edman fronted Vinnie Vincent Invasion between Robert Fleischmann and Mark Slaughter. Edman soon left the band to sing in former Europe guitarist John Norum's solo project, where he sang on the album Total Control (1987). Later, Edman sang for Yngwie Malmsteen and on the early demos with former Malmsteen bassist Marcel Jacob's band Talisman. Edman was replaced by an old friend of BC Strike, Tony Niva from the bands Vanessa and Traci Goes Crazy.
Record deal and debut album
After living in Los Angeles in 1988, where they hung out with among others Kee Marcello and Stevie Nicks and met with several record companies, eventually Swedish Erotica were signed to Virgin Records thanks to A&R representative Donna Simmons, based on the strength of the band's demos with Edman singing. Towards the end of the year the band recorded demos in Tuff Studios with several different singers, including Mats Levén. In early 1989 the band recorded a demo in Norway with producer Ole Evenrude. Levén contributed background vocals, and was asked by Evenrude about why he was not the lead singer of the band. Levén told me that he had declined the offer last year but was now actually interested in fronting the band. Swedish Erotica released their first single Downtown with Niva on vocals the same year. Cooperation with Niva did not work out, and soon he was replaced by Levén.
The debut album "Swedish Erotica" came out in 1989 with Levén singing and former frontman Tony Niva featured on background vocals. Videos for the album's first two singles "R'n'R City" and "Young Wild & Free" were filmed and the videos played on MTV. Thanks to this the band got more attention than many other artists signed by Virgin Scandinavia. Second single, "Wild Young & Free," reached high on the charts but the album was delayed when the distribution company, Elektra went bankrupt, so that all copies of the debut album stayed in a warehouse for a month. The album was not distributed to the stores when demand existed, which led to reduced sales and lack of success for the band. After numerous gigs in and around their hometown, among other the clubs Alexis and White Corner and Frölunda Culture House a UK tour followed, which included a gig at the Astoria in London for 700-800 people, even before the album was released in the UK. After touring for their debut album, the band returned to the studio in the spring of 1990 to record some demos for a second studio album. Virgin evaluated the material but found it lacking material similar to the first two singles, which were written by the album's producer Ole Evenrude. The third single from the album, Hollywood Dreams, was also written by an outside writer, British songwriter Jimmy Scott.