the
S T O R Y
It all started in December 1999 when Lasse Gudmundsson (lead vocals,
guitars) decided to start a solo-project LGB (Lasse
Gudmundsson Band), with the intention from the beginning to later on,
when the right people were found turn it into a real band. He had earlier
played with Perra (Per Ahlberg - drums) in the band Whimzy and since
they worked well together back then Lasse gave him a call to check if
he was interested in joining the project, which he most certainly was,
and did. Later, one day Lasse heard Conny Käll (bass) rehearsing
with another band, and liked his bass-playing and simply called him
up and asked him to join and so he did. Lasse had found what was needed
for now and the writing and rehearsing started. LGB did some gigs and
recorded some tunes and to temporarily complete the setup they had different
guitarists temporarily filling the lead guitar-spot live and in the
studio, among others the marvelous guitarist JJ March (now playing with
Glen Hughes).
Since everything now felt all right and LGB had really started to feel
like a band they changed the name to Lizard Eye and really became a
band, but still without a permanent second guitarist, in March 2001.
Around
the same time they recorded the first actual Lizard Eye-demo "Whiskey
for snakebites" with Erik Bonecrüsher from the band Iron Bird
temporarily on lead guitars, he also performed some gigs with Lizard
Eye. Then later, in June 2001, a second demo, "Diamond in the night"
was recorded with the guitarist Sören Cederberg from the band Solid
Blue.
In July 2001 Lasse got in contact with PM Saari (guitars) through an
add in a musicians mag who after a couple of phone calls and rehearsals
(..and a couple of beers) joined the band as guitarist in August 2001.
In February 2004 Perra parted ways with the band. After some months
of auditioning and meetings with different possible drummers the spot
was filled by Elin Eriksson who both personally and musically well completed the band.
In the spring 2007 Elin and Conny left the band, both due to lack of the time Lizard Eye demands. Lasse and PM decided to only go on when (and only if) the absolute right persons were found to fill the two empty spots.
In September 2008 bassist Johan Klevenskog and drummer Ralph Rydén officially joined the band to complete the line-up and making the band a tighter metal unit than ever. The important long-lost feeling of being a real "band" was again in the Lizard Eye atmosphere.
the
M U S I C
The style of Lizard Eye music could shortly be described as classic
80s heavy metal, with heavy roots in the British and German metal through
the 70-90s. The style and timing definitely makes Lizard Eye part of
the new rising: the New Wave of Swedish Heavy Metal (NWSHM). The songs
are mainly written by Lasse and PM, but rehearsed into shape with the rest of
the band.
Besides presenting high-quality, heavy, hitting, melodic material, performing
live is a very important part of Lizard Eye and it's clearly shown in
their stage performance that it's what they do best and a Lizard Eye-gig
shouldn't be missed if given opportunity.
"Out of nowhere" (2005)
Produced by Lasse Gudmundsson, PM Saari and Michael Hahne
Recorded 2004 at Promille Studios by Michael Hahne
Drums recorded at Dog-out studios by Daniel Bergstrand and Michael Hahne
Mixed at Promille Studios by Michael Hahne and Lasse Gudmundsson
Mastered by Emil Kristensen
Reviews:
Metal
Recensionen (in
Swedish)
Metal
Heart (in
Swedish)
Rock eyes
Metal
Central (in
Swedish)
Hard
Rock Info
Sweden
Rock Magazine (in
Swedish)
Rockeweb (in Norwegian)
Deepdive Magazine (in
Swedish)
"Afterlife" (2003)
Recorded and mixed at BeyondDimensionsStudio, Stockholm/Uppsala, 2002-2003. Engineered and mixed by PM Saari
Reviews:
Metal Heart (in
Swedish)
Monster
Magazine (in Swedish)
Rockeweb (in Norwegian)
Stockholmrock (in Swedish)
First Play's (in Swedish)