Backlash

Backlash was formed 1998 in Lidköping, Sweden by Oskar Lygner, Niklas Lundquist and Erik Torstensson. They had previously been involved in another project and felt it was time to move on. During the making of their first EP, Erik left the group to pursue another career. The first EP, EP1, was in fact nothing more than the bands first demo and was thought to be of such quality that Telegram records released it in the fall of 1999 without modifications to the sound or production. Due to differences in opinions about the future of the group Backlash searched for another label while working on their next album. In the fall of 2000, Malin Andersson joined the team adding some fresh new vocals to their sound. The album Impetus was released on Memento Materia on August 28th 2001 and was hugely acclaimed by the press. Impetus was nominated as best newcomer and album of 2001 at the Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards. The success of the album was followed by live shows in Scandinavia and Europe. The single Blind was released in april 2002 and also featured a Backlash version of the Front 242 hit «Operating tracks». In the late autumn of 2002 Malin left the group as the sound moved on in another direction. She was replaced by Erik who re-joined the group as lead vocalist. Erik had been performing live in different acts during the past years and together with Oskar and Niklas he now felt it was time to push Backlash further in their pursuit of a new electronic sound and stage act. In the Christmas Holidays 2002 they tried some vocals on the new material and found what they had been looking for. The first track from this session to be recorded and released was Lodestar and it marked the direction of the new album Heliotrope. Their first live performance with Erik as lead singer took place at Electric Christmas and was a blazing success as the group had also enhanced their liveshow with bass player and extra back vocalist Anders Torstensson.