Stellan Wahlström Drift Band

At the end of October “The Sleeper – A Live Collection” will be released on 10″ vinyl and streaming. The release party will be held at Twang in Stockholm October 30th!

It’s a collection of live recordings made throughout the years of Stellan Wahlström Drift Band. It starts off with “The Sleeper” (and later on “What are you made of?”) from Arlene’s Grocery in New York with a special version of the band consisting of Billy Ficca (of Television), Jason Victor (Dream Syndicate) and Patrick Derivaz (Tom Verlaine).
A couple of more recent tracks were recorded in Stockholm with the current line-up of the band, slow-flowing psychedelic versions of “And I was finally sleeping” and “Hotel Continental” with Fender Rhodes and phaser guitar. A piano based “An Old Monk in an Ambassador in the rain” is taken from a gig at the city’s premier book store/literary scene Rönnells.
There’s an acoustic version of “The Paying”, the opening track of the first album, together with singer/songwriter Amy Madden from a small club in the East Village, NY in the late 90’s. The album ends with an encore, found on an old cassette, a rowdy version of the old blues song “Let me play with your poodle” (written by Tampa Red and recorded by Lightnin’ Hopkins and others) recorded in the Cavern-like club Kaos in Stockholm in the early 90’s.

Stellan Wahlström Drift Band’s latest studio release is the album As real as in a dream from 2022. The recordings were made with the full band all together in the studio, straight on to tape using plenty of vintage equipment found at Örnsbergs Musikstudio in Stockholm.

Alexander Pierre (Jenny Wilson, Nicole Sabouné) did the recordings and the band in the studio consisted of Johan Werner (piano, Rhodes, organ and mellotron), Mats Grönmark (lead guitar and lap steel), Johan Adelman (bass), Johan Svahn (drums) and Stellan Wahlström (vocals and guitars). Latvian Radio’s Patric Westöö was guesting on backing vocals and Ylva Ceder added English horn.

The album is a diverse collection of songs, ranging from glam rock piano ballads, via psychedelic folk rock, to the guitar overload of the opening track and first single “Into the light”. The cinematic lyrics echo an era when time was spent staying in and being inspired by mythical cities around the globe. We’re taken to Tangier, Venice, the backstreets of Wahlström’s hometown Stockholm, as well as a return to New York.

Stellan Wahlström was previously in the garage rock band The Wylde Mammoths, touring Europe and the US and releasing records on the legendary Crypt Records label. He was also in The High Speed V, another wild rock combo coming out of that same scene. He has now left the garage and with his Drift Band is doing their own brand of modern big city folk-rock, or as US magazine The Big Takeover put it: ”A more sophisticated take on a cross between post-Velvets and alt-Country with a very clean almost jazz-like ambience”.

Stellan recorded the first album Time leaves you behind with Patrick Derivaz (who had previously worked with Television, Luna and John Cale among others) in New York. The song ”Watching TV” was featured in the independent film ”Rhimes and Reason”, and Stellan also did studio work for other artists, including harmonica playing on rock’n’roll band Sour Jazz‘s first album.

In the 2000’s he reformed the band, released the So this is what the end looks like EP, and started playing live again in Stockholm (as well as acoustic tours in India in 2003 and 2005). The second album The Excitable Gift was recorded by Sten Hårdbåge at Das Boot Studio in Stockholm and mixed by Linus Larsson (Anna Ternheim, Eldkvarn), and featured the slow piano song ”Ocean Ave” which plenty of US college radio stations quite liked. If the first album had a distinct taste of classic New York rock, the second album hinted more towards 70’s West Coast singer/songwriter-rock. That one was followed by Across the room (with the single “Charlotte says”) and in 2015 Hotel Continental, both recorded the analogue way on to 2-inch tape at Cobra Studio by Christian Gabel (1900, bob hund). Here the band speeded up the tempo a bit and cranked up the electric guitars again.

The vinyl albums can be ordered directly from our distributor Hot Stuff or if you’re in Stockholm you can find them at good record stores like Pet Sounds, Record Mania, Larry’s Corner, Runt Runt and An Ideal for living.

If you want to be on the mailing list or order directly from Belpid, or need press material, please mail us at info@belpid.com.

PRESS “As real as in a dream”:

“Wahlström has found a pace and space that remains pleasingly consistent. Skirting close to artsy alt-rock – think Television or even Lou Reed – he has an amazing talent for telling clear narrative stories set to lovely lilting melodies. There’s a distinctly live feel to this album which was recorded directly onto analogue tape with the minimum of overdubs or flashy effects from The Drift Band.”
★★★★
//Shindig (UK)

“He sings with similar unhurried patience, surveying scenes and seeing wider, discontented pictures, like “Nothing more will come out of this” with its “bleaker morning coming”.
But the more rousing, guitar-centric “Into the light” and “Waiting” are best, befitting boys that once played CBGB, and whose leader drummed for ’80s garage faves Wylde Mammoths.
Good songwriting remains anyone’s friend“.
//The Big Takeover (US)

“A perfect soundtrack for the autumn of 2022. The will to tell and the ability to reach the listener is something Stellan Wahlström seems to have in his blood and it sounds like he performs his art without any noticeable effort. The beautifully melancholic and melodic music heightens and reinforces what he wants to say in the same natural way, and after a couple of songs you’re completely drawn into the dreamlike journey that “As real as in a dream” offers. Tindersticks comes to mind. “As real as in a dream” is yet again a very successfully executed album by Stellan Wahlström Drift Band.”
8/10
//Zero Magazine (Sweden)

“Most of the songs on this album could sooner or later be released as singles.”
//Rootstime Belgium

PRESS “Hotel Continental”:

“The warmth of Stockholm’s Cobra Studio’s two-inch analogue tape setup shines through on this thoughtful collection. Poetic and crammed with narrative intent, clever lyrics evoke a spirit of international travel long gone. “Waxholm Hotel” and “Already done” are superb examples of this artful storytelling at work. Patrick Derivaz, whose credits include John Cale and Television, renews a longstanding acquaintance with Wahlström, delivering a sensitive mix that compliments some excellent guitar work from Dream Syndicate‘s Jason Victor.
Subtle, clever, a little morose; this is a fine album.”
//Shindig (UK)

“Stellan Wahlström Drift Band show attention to expertise and care. He fits this friendlier, warmer, settled format like reliable sneakers, even if the more Luna/Dream Syndicate-like electricity is as comfortable. Nicely delivered.”
//The Big Takeover (US)

“The guitar rock here could originate from the classic new wave-period on Manhattan when Television, Blondie and Talking Heads were the hippest bands in town. Sounds very un-Swedish in a good way.”
//Gefle Dagblad (Sweden)

“Dynamic piano and playful guitars. It was indeed a long wait for the successor to the album Across the room, but the long wait is more than made up by the new album Hotel Continental.”
//Rootstime (Belgium)

PRESS “Across the room”:

“I have to admit I’m a sucker for heartfelt tunes like these as long as the
songwriting is good and it is played with passion, like these songs are.”
// Dagger Zine (USA)

“This album definitely deserves recognition. Alt-country and Velvet Underground in a perfect symbiosis.
The fine ringing guitars make a notable impression. More than anything there is a sincerity in Stellan Wahlström’s voice which makes the words he’s singing meaningful and elevates the music.”
// Östran (Sweden)

“They elegantly hang around Lou Reed as confidently as when they occasionally sneak into some Americana.
And Stellan Wahlström’s lyrics on top of great songs like “Burn baby burn” and “Never look a woman in the eyes” can definitely be enjoyed.”
// Oskarshamns Tidning (Sweden)

“Across the room” is an excellent album, the first single “Charlotte says” is a true gem. There are a couple of piano songs on this brilliant album where “Burn baby burn”, “What are you made of?” and the very passionate and tender highlight “Don’t go” stand out.”
// Rootstime (Belgium)

“8 / 10”
// Side-line (Belgium)

PRESS “The excitable gift”:

“That’s what I like – his ability to make the listener feel that the lyrics are for real, that what he is singing about is important and that he manages to convey a visual sincerity with his vocal expression.
Reminds of Lou Reed’s Berlin album.”
// Zero Magazine (Sweden)

“The music is beautifully performed and even though there are many artists and albums that sound similar to this, “The Excitable Gift” has a perfection that is impressing – the ringing electric guitars, the sparse piano, the desolate violin.”
// Musiklandet (Sweden)

PRESS “Time leaves you behind”:

“A very strong band performing some amazing music. Wahlstrom is a songwriter of the Townes Van Zandt/Bob Dylan school – not that his work sounds anything like either of those artists, but he has the same confidence in his storytelling.”
// The Big Takeover (USA)

“True feelings and authenticity… Might come to mean a lot to many people.”
// Upsala Nya Tidning (Sweden)

“Stellan is succeeding well with the down to earth melancholy.”
// Ett Noll Ett (Sweden)

“Definitely honest.” (7,5/10)
// Ici Magazine (Canada)

“Some of the intensity from which great albums are made.”
// Realmusic (Germany)

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