Sofia

Have you ever thought about what Johnny Thunders had spinning in his mind when he wrote “Chinese Rocks”? What is actually a “streetwalking cheetah” depicted by Iggy pop in the song “Search & Destroy”? What is Phil Lydon of Sex Pistols mouthing of about in the song “Pretty Vacant”? Did the fact that Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks was homosexual have any resonance in his lyrics?



In the beginning there was Ramones. The path to their existence was paved by, amongst others, New York Dolls and Velvet Underground. Malcolm Mc Laren, the British visionary, took it all in and brought it back to England and became the manager for Sex Pistols. The wheels were in motion.



It was a pioneering time. Anyone could grab a guitar, learn three chords, consume an appropriate amount of drugs and enter the stage to join the punk movement.



But what happens when you take all this testosterone-fuelled rock n roll overdose and put a magnifying glass over the lyrics and melodies? If you take these stories of fast fucks, bar brawls, prostitution and hate against the society and let them be interpreted by a female voice? What happens when you bring down the furious tempo and give these songs some time for contemplative hindsight?



This is the essence of: Sofia: Search & Destroy.



Everything turns out differently than intentioned. The melodies, and in many cases the lyrics, gets a tweak that forces you to take notice of details that you probably would not have given a shit about while you were pogoing around to the originals.



Covers have been done before! Many times, with varied results… Search & Destroy is a careful and celebratory tribute, a kind of soothing hand caressing the old, scarred punk heroes. Sofia Allard and Carl-Michael Herlöfsson have done some serious searching in the vinyl crates in the back of the closet and extracted a handful of favorite songs from the last three decades of thrashing bad boys. It felt like a totally natural continuation of the project to move from Iggy, Ramones and Sex Pistols to the more recent voices of debauched rock like Nirvana, Queens of The Stoneage and Thin Lizzy. They all have one thing in common, apart from a dubious lifestyle; they rock! So to speak…



Sofia has a past as a DJ studying Tibetan language and eastern science. She worked in restaurants and played coffee houses and bars around Stockholm to make ends meet. She supported her cravings for the latest 12” dance floor killers by part timing as a model. But above it all, the singing was always the main passion! She hooked up with Carl around ’99, who at that time was running the record label Primal Music. They quickly found common ground for their musical goals. Carl went on to produce Sofia’s debut album that she released under the name “Krom”. It was a collaboration with the songwriter Johan Lejdemyr. The album was titled “This “ and was met with rave reviews. Following that she did a bunch of feature appearances on various projects, one of them being the electronica project “Eclectic Bob”. Also produced by Carl.



Carl-Michael Herlöfsson who also produced, and plays most of the instruments on this album, is one of Sweden’s more prolific producers/writers. His work includes Fleshquartet, Rammstein, Baxter, Nina Ramsby & Martin Hederos, Goran Kajfes, Weeping Willows, Aha, Ulf Lundell, Leila K, Melvins, Timex Social Club and many, many more. He received a Swedish grammy award as producer of the year and is responsible for close to hundred albums over the last two decades. He has also composed film music for a number of feature films and TV-series.



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