Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Bjorn Olsson, Mattias Alkberg, Mattias Alkberg BD, Björn Olsson
All Music Guide:
With an innovative style of clear, sophisticated pop that originated in the small tundra town of Lulea, Sweden, The Bear Quartet's original line up of Matti Alkberg (guitar and vocals), Jari Haapalainen (guitar), Peter Nuottaniemi (bass), Johan Forsling (guitar) and Magnus Olsson (drums) officially began in 1989. But it wasn't 1992 until when label recognition took place with Stockholm's A West Side Fabrication upon the release of The Bear Quartet's first album Penny Century. Since then, the band has maintained a healthy discography of full-lengths over the years, including Cosy Den (1993), Family Affair (1994), Everybody Else (1995), Holy Holy (1996), Moby Dick (1997) and Personality Crises (1998). However, with the constant cycle of touring and recording, The Bear Quartet experienced a revolving lineup since their recording debut. Eventually settling with Björn Olsson (guitars), Jejo Perkovic (drums) and Calle Olsson (keyboards) in 1998, Alkberg, Haapalainen and Nuttaniemi have remained with the band.
Wikipedia:
The Bear Quartet is an indie rock group from Luleå in northern Sweden. They have been playing since 1989 and have been making records at a steady rate since 1992, often to critical acclaim but never resulting in large sales.
The Bear Quartet are Mattias Alkberg on vocals and guitar, Jari Haapalainen on guitar, Peter Nuottaniemi on bass guitar, Jejo Perkovic on drums and Carl Olsson on keyboards. Peter and Mattias write the lyrics, while Mattias, Jari and Carl write the music.
The Bear Quartet have spawned many side projects. Mattias sings and plays in Mattias Alkberg BD, whose debut album Tunaskolan released in 2004 was very well received by the critics and audience. Their music can be described as classic punk/new wave in Swedish, with influences such as Tant Strul and Imperiet, both of which they have recorded cover songs of. Jari produces lots of other artists, such as Nicolai Dunger, Ed Harcourt, Camera Obscura, Kristofer Åström, The Concretes and Frida Hyvönen, and used to play with Maria from The Concretes in Heikki. Carl has Paddington DC, some kind of noise electro pop.
The name The Bear Quartet is taken from Klas Östergren's novel Gentlemen. The album titles follow an interesting naming scheme: every title is two words, of which the first ends with a "y".
All albums, except 89 and Monty Python, are released on Skellefteå-based independent label A West Side Fabrication.
