Swedish House Mafia

Swedish House Mafia
From left to right: Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell, Steve Angello
Background information
Origin	Stockholm, Sweden
Genres	Progressive house electro house
Instruments	Logic Pro Pioneer CDJs Teenage Engineering OP-1
Years active	2008–2013
Labels	Virgin EMI Astralwerks Polydor UMG Ministry of Sound
Associated acts	Pharrell Williams Tinie Tempah Usher John Martin Laidback Luke Knife Party
Website	swedishhousemafia.com
Past members	Axwell Steve Angello Sebastian Ingrosso

Swedish House Mafia was a Swedish electronic music supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008. The supergroup placed at number ten on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll 2011^[1] and have been called "the faces of mainstream progressive house music."^[2] In the DJ Magazine Top 100 Poll 2012 they were ranked at number twelve.^[3] On June 24, 2012, the group announced via their website that they would split up after embarking on "One Last Tour", which ended at Ultra Miami 2013 on March 24, 2013.^[4]

Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso continued working together under the name Axwell Λ Ingrosso and have since released seven singles, "Something New", "On My Way", "Can't Hold Us Down", "Sun Is Shining", "This Time", "Dream Bigger" and "Thinking About You".^[5]

Musical career

Early beginning

Before the official formation in late 2008, the trio would often play shows together with fellow Swedish DJ Eric Prydz joining them for some shows. The name Swedish House Mafia came about after friends and fans began labelling the four as they played more shows together. Eventually the group adopted the name. Prydz decided not to join the group, describing himself as a 'control freak' in the studio who can't abide collaboration, even with close friends.^[6]

Releases

The first production that was released by Axwell, Angello and Ingrosso was "Get Dumb". It was produced with Laidback Luke and released in 2007. In 2009, they released "Leave the World Behind" with Laidback Luke and vocals by Deborah Cox.

In 2010, Swedish House Mafia signed a record deal with UMG's Polydor Records (formerly Polygram)^[7][8] after a falling-out with previous record label EMI, due to differing ideas. They released "One", their first official single under the name Swedish House Mafia, on Beatport on May 2, 2010, where it achieved international success, charting at number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. The group followed this with an equally well received vocal version featuring Pharrell, retitled "One (Your Name)".^[9] The next single, "Miami 2 Ibiza", with Tinie Tempah, charted at number 4 in the UK Chart in September 2010. Both tracks were taken from the album Until One; a collection of productions and remixes from both Swedish House Mafia as a group and as individuals. It has achieved a BPI Gold Sales award in the United Kingdom.

In May 2011, Swedish House Mafia released a new single, "Save the World", featuring John Martin on vocals, which charted at number 10 in the UK Chart.^[10] Later that year on December 16, they released the track "Antidote" with Knife Party. On March 12, 2012, Swedish House Mafia released their next single titled "Greyhound". Their final and most commercially successful track "Don't You Worry Child", also featuring John Martin, was released on September 14, 2012. That same month on September 17, the group announced the release of a second compilation album titled Until Now, forming the official soundtrack to One Last Tour.^[11] The album was released on October 22, 2012, exactly two years after the release of their first compilation album Until One.^[12] Axwell and Ingrosso also wrote and performed "Roar" for the 2013 Pixar movie Monsters University and its soundtrack.

Documentary

On November 29, 2010, Swedish House Mafia released their first DVD documentary called Take One.^[13] The movie was filmed over the course of 2 years, 253 gigs and 15 countries by two Swedish directors Christian Larson and Henrik Hanson. They commented on Take One by saying "It's not narrated at all. It's just sequences of them and it's made into a story. It's all chronological. It's just us following them around and they become characters in their own film. It all happened pretty naturally. It was pretty easy because they are all such strong characters, all three of them." ^[14] The documentary starts with Swedish House Mafia in the studio with Laidback Luke working on "Leave the World Behind" and concludes at Ultra Music Festival in 2010 premiering their hit "One".^[15]

After the end of their One Last Tour, it was confirmed that the group would create a second documentary called "Leave the World Behind" which was released in select theaters during spring 2014.^[16] It was officially premiered at SXSW film festival on March 27.^[17] "Leave the World Behind" is currently available for rental and purchase on iTunes and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 2, 2014.

Second tour

On June 24, 2012, it was announced via the group's website that the final leg of their 2012 tour would be their last: "Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved."^[18] They stated three show dates, with the last leg of their tour set to be announced in August. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in regards to the group's breakup, Angello said that "we just decided that we reached a point where we didn't know what the next move would be," and that "we've had beyond our dreams and we've come very, very far"; Angello also stated that he is focusing on developing his own brand, Size Records, while on hiatus.^[19]

On September 24, 2012, Swedish House Mafia announced the dates for their farewell tour, called "One Last Tour." The tour kicked off in November 2012 and concluded in March 2013.^[20] Due to extremely high demand, additional shows were added^[21] and the group also made their final appearance together at the Ultra Music Festival with an opening and closing set on March 15 and March 24, 2013, respectively.^[22]

Phoenix Park concert

On July 7, 2012, Swedish House Mafia played for a sold-out crowd in Phoenix Park, Dublin. The concert descended into chaos, with a "significant number" of random unprovoked attacks at the show, leading to comments from the Irish justice minister concerning the "very unusual" nature of the events.^[23][24][25] A total of nine people were stabbed.^[26] The possibility of multiple attackers was not immediately ruled out.^[27] All those attacked were in their teens or twenties.^[28] One man was stabbed five times as his girlfriend looked on in horror, receiving wounds to the liver and requiring stitches to his elbow and head.^[29] Another man was left in a critical condition after being stabbed four times in the back and kidneys.^[30] Two young men, Lee Scanlon (20) and Shane Brophy (21), also died during the concert; the circumstances of their deaths were not immediately clear.^[31] Brophy, from County Laois, was rushed to hospital but died there.^[32]

Swedish House Mafia released a statement upon learning of the events:

“We played a festival in Ireland at the weekend and reports of incidents are coming to us. We didn’t see anything but have asked for all the info and are respectful of the promoter’s need to wait and give us all the clear facts. When we know more we will liaise with the festival promoter directly on what we can do to help but for now we have to respect their request to us that we remain quiet and respectful of their event safety processes. The festival itself was amazing and we had no idea this had happened and neither did the other numerous artists who played. Once we know all the facts we will deal with it in the best way we can. Thank you. Swedish House Mafia.”^[33][34]

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was appalled when he learned of the events: "Absolutely disgraceful, appalling and simply scandalous".^[35] Kenny also wondered "whether it's in relation to the sort of music that is played there or not", observing that "800,000 people turned up in Galway for the Volvo finale without any incident and this particular concert in Phoenix Park was in between two others where there were no incidents at all."^[36] Another minister, Brian Hayes, said the incidents were "unacceptable [...] very serious, it is wrong and we need to find out what went wrong".^[36] Jim Carroll in The Irish Times wrote, "The off-stage events which have dominated the news agenda since the Swedish House Mafia show [...] will forevermore be associated with stabbings and suspected drug deaths rather than the music."^[37] Also writing in The Irish Times, Brian Boyd stated that 'the comment [that] “the genre of music has a lot to do with it” bears further examination. Swedish House Mafia are broadly speaking a “dance culture” act [...] and always had a drug component. [...] Today’s generation – brought up with binge alcohol tendencies – is popping and dropping indiscriminately. And when you mix a rave drug with large quantities of alcohol, it really is time (for the rest of us) to batten down the hatches.'^[38]

Hurricane Sandy Relief

On December 11, 2012, Swedish House Mafia announced that they would throw a Black Tie Rave on February 28, 2013 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief, with 100 percent of the net proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.^[39] The proceeds benefited both the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.^[40]

Group members

Axwell

Axwell (born 18 December 1977) placed at #12 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll in 2011.^[41] In late 2004, Axwell released a global hit, "Feel the Vibe", which was re-released under Ministry of Sound in 2005 with added vocals from Tara McDonald as "Feel the Vibe ('Til the Morning Comes)". In the spring of 2006, Axwell and Steve Angello, under the Supermode alias, remixed Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy", producing "Tell Me Why". In August 2007, Axwell teamed up with performer Max'C to create the track "I Found U", which peaked #6 in the UK Singles Chart. Axwell has been producing remixes for other artists – mixes have included Usher's "Burn" (BMG), Room 5's "Make Luv" (Positiva), Clipse & Faith Evans "Ma, I Don’t Love Her" (RCA), Stonebridge's "Put 'Em High" (Hed Kandi), N*E*R*D's single "Maybe" (Virgin), and more recently Hard-Fi's "Hard to Beat", Deep Dish's "Dreams", Pharrell's "Angel", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" and Madonna's "Jump". In 2012, Axwell released the 'Axwell Mix' of the progressive house track, "In My Mind", which was originally released by Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl through Axtone. The mix would eventually go on to become a global success.

Steve Angello

Steve Angello (born 22 November 1982) placed at #23 on the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ Poll 2011.^[42] Steve Angello's claim to fame came when he released his remix of Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" in late 2004. In 2007 his remix with Laidback Luke of "Show Me Love" by Robin S. was released on Data Records. Angello produces under several different aliases. On his own, he has called himself Who's Who and released tracks called "Not So Dirty" and "Sexy Fuck". He often works closely with his childhood friend Sebastian Ingrosso on many projects. Aside from DJing together, they have also produced under the names Buy Now, Fireflies, General Moders, Mode Hookers, Outfunk, and The Sinners. Most recently, they released "Bodycrash" under their Buy Now alias, sampling the 1978 disco hit "Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band. The track was first played by Pete Tong on his Radio 1 show in late 2007. Eventually, the Dirty South remix of the tune leaked out onto the Internet in January 2008. The track has since received a much larger release via Positiva Records, also including the Laidback Luke remix. He has produced with Eric Prydz under the name A&P Project. Also, he has created a track with his friend Axwell under the name Supermongo, later renamed Supermode. They made a cover of an old Bronski Beat track, calling it "Tell Me Why". This was released via Ministry of Sound's Data Records imprint in summer 2006. Steve Angello's productions can mainly be classified as house ("Summer Noize"), progressive ("Yeah"), Tech house ("Partouze") and electro house ("Raining Again"). He also owns his own record label, Size Records. Angello's brother, Antoine Josefsson, is a DJ and a producer who goes by the name AN21. Together they have released the tracks "Valodja", "Flonko" & "Swing N Swoosh".

Sebastian Ingrosso

Sebastian Ingrosso (born 20 April 1983) ranked at #26 in 2011 on DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ list, ranked at #18 in 2013, and won the award for the highest new entry into the chart in 2009, a record beaten only by Deadmau5 into the 2008 Top 100 DJ list at #11.^[43] In 2009, Sebastian Ingrosso saw the releases of Laktos, Kidsos, Echo Vibes and Meich (with Dirty South) on his own imprint Refune, "How Soon Is Now" (featuring Julie McKnight with David Guetta and Dirty South) and the vocal stormer House anthem "Leave the World Behind" together with Axwell, Steve Angello and Laidback Luke, with Deborah Cox on vocals. He has co-written and coproduced the track "Cupid Boy" on the Kylie Minogue album Aphrodite along with Magnus Lidehäll, Nick Clow and Luciana Caporaso. Ingrosso has also produced tracks for Lazee ("Rock Away") and Kid Sister ("Right Hand Hi" with Steve Angello). Remixed artists during the years includes Justin Timberlake, Moby, Röyksopp, Hard-Fi and Deep Dish. In 2012, Sebastian Ingrosso released his early summer anthem of 2011 "Calling" with Alesso. The following year, a vocal version of the anthem was released in August featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, titled Calling (Lose My Mind). The song reached #2 on Beatport's Top 10. His latest single with Tommy Trash, "Reload", was released in 2012, and then a vocal version featuring John Martin in June 2013.

Discography

Studio albums

• Until One (2010)
• Until Now (2012)

See also

• Swedish popular music

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swedish House Mafia.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Swedish House Mafia

• Swedish House Mafia's channel on YouTube