Festa: Satanic Surfers | Knust Hamburg

Festa: Satanic Surfers | Knust Hamburg

Satanic Surfers was formed in August ’89 and after almost four years of rehearsing together they recorded their debut EP “Skate To Hell” in March ’93, later re-released on Bad Taste in August ’94. Various line-up changes followed and during spring ’94 Burning Heart Records released the EP “Keep Out!”.
The singer Ulf left the band in the beginning of ’95 and Rodrigo started singing while drumming. This was a temporary arrangement but after hearing Rodrigo sing and watching his double performance live everyone agreed that there was no need to look for a new vocalist.
Satanic played weekend shows in Sweden during spring and in May ’95 a split CD with Ten Foot Pole was released on Bad Taste. The summer of ’95 was spent rehearsing for their upcoming album. “Hero of our Time”, which was released in September on Burning Heart and immediately became a big success. To date it has sold more than 60,000 copies. After the release of “Hero” the band went on their first tour of Germany together with Millencolin. This opened their eyes to punk scene outside of Scandinavia and during spring the following year they did their first full European tour together with 59 Times the Pain. A Canadian tour followed in June as well as European festivals that summer.
By the end of ’96 they recorded “666 Motor Inn”, which was released just in time for the Canadian Sno Jam tour in March ’97. After the Sno Jam they went out on tour in Europe again, with The Almighty Trigger Happy. Another Euro tour followed in June together with Lag Wagon.
In ’98 they continued where they left off with a tour of Australia, a full European tour in March and then the work began on a new album. “Going Nowhere Fast” was recorded in Nov/Dec and before actually being released, Tomek left the band and Magnus’ twin brother, Mathias, took his place.
“Going Nowhere Fast” was released in March and the band went across to Canada for the Sno Jam tour once again. The touring continued with lots of festival that summer and another European tour during fall. Again, the band needed to take some time off to regain their strength. There were a lot of things they weren’t exactly happy about and for a while they were even considering starting over with a brand new name. Eventually they decided to continue playing under the Satanic Surfers name, but also to leave Burning Heart for Bad Taste and make severalother changes to ensure more control over their music once again.
Once all the decisions had been made the band was happier and more focused than they had been in the last five years! Their album ”Fragments and Fractions” was released in September 2000 and two days after that Satanic started their most successful European tour so far - 32 shows across Europe, 25 completely sold out! In Milan more than 3,500 people showed up! In November they returned to Canada for 10 dates on the East coast and during spring last year they did another hugely successful tour of Europe with sold out shows everywhere before taking a short and much needed break for summer.
During fall 2001 Rodrigo finally decided that touring as both a drummer and singer was getting too much for him. Within weeks they teamed up with old friend (and Bad Taste employee) Martin Svensson. After rehearsing frequently during winter the band entered Berno Studios in January to record their new album, “Unconsciously Confined”. 13 songs that sees the band continuing the transition started with the “Fragments and Fractions” album with more mid-tempo, up beat pop songs together with the fast, melodic punk that has become their trademark. With a sound far surpassing all previous recordings and just over a dozen of the their best songs ever.
Following an April 2002 release, a heavy touring schedule ensued. After three European tours and one across Canada, an otherwise successful year unfortunately ended with a cancelled South American tour and Martin’s decision to quit the band, and return to the Bad Taste office. Rodrigo got back on drums and work on a new album started. However, progress was slow and rehearsals were few and far between. In August Mathias left the band in order to move to Berlin, Germany.
Now the band needed to find both a drummer and a bass player. In November, Andy (from Intensity) began rehearsing with the band and with his bass playing and his never-ending enthusiasm he proved to be the man for the job. In March 2004 the band got in touch with their friend Samsa (from Adhesive) to see if he was interested. Once he got together with the band in the rehearsal room, it didn’t take long to decide on him being their new drummer. The Satanic line-up was complete for the first time in ages and rehearsals for upcoming shows began.
After completing three successful shows during May and June, the band did a two-week European tour in August and began writing their 6th album. ”Taste The Posion” was recorded in spring 2005 and released in September 2005. The band then took off on tours in Europe, UK, Japan, and Brazil. Taste The Poison was released in all these territories, on different labels, with slightly variated artwork. Magnus left the band after Brazil (March 2006) and was replaced by Dana (from Venerea). They went to Canada for an almost 5 week long tour with Mad Caddies, Loved Ones, Subb, & The Resistance (Grind Tour), and followed up with European festivals during the summer.
After 6 months of radio silence the band met up at a bar and called it quits. The press release was dated February 10th 2007 and since then all members have been active in other bands. Come present day, December 2014, the band has gotten back together with a new - yet secret - drummer and is currently rehearsing for summer shows 2015. More info TBA, stay tuned!