What is G2 and what’s the fuzz about?
In late 2005, we found each other at a bluegrass festival in Sweden. We ended up jamming together from 9 till 5 in the morning – the mix of people was just right and we felt a special sound and groove together that we just had to make something out of. The band was formed a month later and as our fathers introduced bluegrass music to Sweden in the 60s and 70s, we are the second generation of bluegrass musicians, hence the name G2 – (Generation Two.)
Things picked up quickly – the third time we played together we went into the studio and recorded three demo songs, two of which are featured on our debut album. We got great response from fans and musicians, one of them was Tim Stafford of Blue Highway who said good things about our music – a tap on the shoulder that felt good for us. We played festivals and concert halls during 2006 when 2007 came, we played with Jim Lauderdale, we competed at EWOB (European World Of Bluegrass) in Holland and won the title 1 European Bluegrass Band of 2007 - an award that gave us a free ticket to go to IBMA 2008 and present our music. However, we chose to go already the same year to showcase our music and we made a CD sampler that was put in 2000 goodie bags for the visitors at IBMA.
In 2007 we also recorded our debut album, ‘Where The Tall Grass Grows’, released on Cosmos Records (www.cosmos.se) in November 2007. The album got great reviews, in Bluegrass Unlimited, among others. We were signed with Cosmos Records, a big Swedish indie label that obviously never had signed a Bluegrass band before, but they liked our music and wanted to release our record. The CD has been played on radio frequently, on Sirius, small stations and our live performance with Lauderdale was broadcasted several times on national radio in Sweden. Quite an honor!
In January this year, we played on the biggest morning show on national Swedish TV, a show with several million viewers. This year (2008), we’ve also toured Sweden, Holland, England, Switzerland and Wales. We played at Bill Monroes’Bean Blossom, Indiana, in Holly Springs, NC and at ROMP in Owensboro, KY. This latest US tour was nothing but fantastic and becoming friends with bands like the Infamous Stringdusters, the Cherryholmes and Dailey & Vincent makes us feel welcome and that we’re getting established in the US.
This year, we’re also going to open for Kris Kristofferson here in Sweden, we’re playing in Ireland, Norway and at Fan Fest at IBMA. We are going to record our second album, starting this fall and the record with the anticipated released sometime in the first half of 2009 (a year with a more extensive tour in the US). We are represented by Roe Entertainment, who also represent Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Dan Paisley & Southern Grass, The Steeldrivers, Lonesome Riverband and others.
We are currently endorsing Bourgeois guitars, Flatbush mandolins, Eminence basses, Yates banjos and Red Note resophonic guitars.
So good things are happening for us and we take every possibility to play and move on. We’re currently writing new material for the new record and we’re always looking for good original material, so if you have something you think would suit us, let us know about it.
Keep your eyes and ears open, because here we come!
