Deportees were formed in the summer of 2003. Two pairs of brothers, Peder and Anders Stenberg and Jonas and Mattias Lidström respectively, hired a small studio for the weekend to record some music with a couple of talented friends. The result was a two track CD which was sent to various people working in the Swedish music industry, instantly drawing a lot of attention. A&R Ismail Samie of highly regarded record label Dolores picked up the buzz on the band, called the singer Peder Stenberg up and had him playing back the songs over the phone. Before the conversation was over, he had decided to sign Deportees. A few months later the debut single “Arrest Me ´Til It Hurts†was out. The title track was a major hit tune on Swedish radio, and on October 27 2004 the album “All Prayed Up†was released. Critics and listeners alike were intrigued, charmed and sometimes confused by what they heard. Sounding like a whole lot in general, but not like anything heard before in particular, the record combined echoes from the pop-funk experiments of Prince; the simple melodic beauty of Nashville country music, both from the present day and the past; soulful grooves, anthemic rock and much more, often coexisting in the same song. The record was nominated for two Swedish Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist and Best Pop Group.
By the time of their album release, Deportees had already played a lot of shows all over Sweden. Even before the recording sessions began, Deportees had taken on the difficult task of perfecting their craft as a live act, only ever comparing themselves with the very best performers of music. With the tour following the album, the number of gigs made soon exceeded a hundred by far. They also made a brief visit in the U.S., showcasing at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and legendary venues like CBGB in New York City and The Troubadour in Los Angeles.
For their second album, Deportees decided to go for a slightly different approach to the recording process. Instead of locking themselves in for endless hours at a small and cheap studio in their home town, they went for a more session-oriented way of work, collaborating with established producers Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, Sahara Hotnights) and Björn Yttling (Peter, Bjorn and John, Moneybrother) in some of Stockholm’s best recording rooms. The first result of the sessions, the song “Damaged Goodsâ€, was released as a single in May 2006. In every bit as original and uncompromising as the songs from “All Prayed Upâ€, this single marked a new chapter in Deportees´recording career. Dark and grand, string-driven and more vibrating with emotion than anything they had done before. On the next offering, “Missing You, Missing Meâ€, the folksy moodiness was amalgamated with a driving beat and infectious melodic hooks.
The second album, named “Damaged Goodsâ€, was released in Sweden on September 27 2006. It heads in the direction pointed out by the single tracks: dramatic and dense, spanning from the dark, almost paranoid mood evoked in tracks like “Who Is Gonna Meet Me†and “Line of Fire†to more upbeat and direct songs like “A Sky to Talk Aboutâ€. For the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 the band was making an extensive tour throughout Sweden, as well as playing a number of supporting gigs in the U.K. and Ireland with French band Phoenix.
Deportees "Damaged Goods" music video:
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