Biography

Sweden’s Electric Boys were one of the first and most celebrated purveyors of the short-lived funk metal phenomenon of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Led by charismatic singer and guitarist Conny Bloom and with a splash of beatle-esque pop-psychedelia, the quartet garnered rave reviews and built an impressive following in Europe & America. Their creative juices were also quickly spent, causing the band to disintegrate into obscurity after only three albums.

In 1988, Conny Bloom formed Electric Boys with bassist Andy Christell in Stockholm. After scoring a significant domestic hit with their first single, “All Lips ‘N’ Hips,” the group completed their line-up with guitarist Franco Santunione and powerhouse drummer Niclas Sigevall and set to work on their first album, 1989’s critically acclaimed FUNK-O-METAL CARPET RIDE. Signed to Atco by former Kerrang! scribe/ turned A&R man Derek Oliver, the band took Europe and the U.K. by storm with their extremely funky retro-hard rock sound and gaudy psychedelic look.
In the meantime, they recorded a single with swedish comedian Svullo that became a huge 1 hit in Sweden and sold platinum.

The band was developing fast and so was Conny’s songwriting. In 1990 producer du jour Bob Rock was brought in to record 5 new tracks prior to release stateside. The video for “All Lips N’ Hips” was placed in daytime heavy rotation by American MTV for many weeks and ended up on the Billboard chart at 16.The album went to 90 and the band followed up the success with tours in Europe and America.

Electric Boys second album, GROOVUS MAXIMUS (1992) was recorded in Abbey Road studios and showed a great melodic improvement in songs like the single “Mary In The Mystery World” and “Dying To Be Loved” combined with their trademark grooves. After intensive touring following the release, personal issues led to a split of the band, enter guitarist “Slim” Martin Thomander and drummer Thomas Broman. The band started working on new heavier material (According to Conny: -”Too many bands are doing what we started nowadays and this funk-rock band wagon is gettin out of hand”). First gig with the new line-up was supporting Metallica.

Released by independent Music for Nations in 1994, their third effort, FREEWHEELIN.., was a more straightforward hard rocking album in the same vein as “stoner rock” before the word had become a cliche. Following the cancellation of a planned European tour supporting King’s X, Conny and Andy felt they couldn’t take the band any further and decided to call it quits with a final gig in their hometown of Stockholm. Conny Bloom would remain active as a solo artist and eventually joined former Wildhearts main man Ginger in Silver Ginger 5.

In 2005, Andy Christell & Conny Bloom joined the legendary Hanoi Rocks and have been touring since then frequently in Europe & Japan.

Influences: 70s hard rock & funk and 60’s pop & psychedelia
Record Label: Universal

The Band