11 Feb 2001

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (XV): Plastic Soul becomes Sing ... and Helena is not invited

Plastic Soul, the band from Lund with Helena Josefsson - singer -, Johan Duncanson - guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - leadgitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums-, has stood down.

The band began in 1996 (firstly as Jive with Clive and as Plastic Soul since 1997), when they were eighteen years old, and after two E.P.s (First harvest, 1997; Uneasy, 1999) and one unreleased album, some members are now involved in known projects.

According to Sydsvenskan.se, (2001-Feb-05), Helena Josefsson decided to leave the band in the summer of 1999, before a gig in Kalas-tour in Malmö. The gig was so successful that the band got an invitation to be a local band in Malmö's Popstad Festival in February 2000; they had even a contract with the label Stockhouse to release their first album. They know that Popstad Festival was their last gig together.

Since February 2000, the four members of "Plastic Soul" thought about looking for a new singer. Johan Duncansson and Fredrick Whitling have also been guests in a famous band of Lund, The June Platoon, centered around singer/songwriter Johan Järvung and producer Henrik Orrling.


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The June Platoon

Finally, Johan Duncanson - vocals, songwriter and guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - backing vocals, songwriter, leadguitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums- decided to sing themselves, continue together and recorded a new EP with four new songs, with the help of Danyal Taylan, vocalist of The Blimp, in the studio. They decided to change their name to "Sing" and debuted live at Cafe Element yesterday February 10th 2001. They insisted: without Helena, Sing is a new pop band, with more synths, but with the same "easy-listenings" melodies.

The guys from Sing were interviewed before his debut gig. According to John Duncansson: "Helena is extremely charismatic on stage. Not us. On the other hand, we are not looking for show, either. I like "shoegazerbands", musicians who stares at the floor while they play. The new songs are not so commercial but they are closer to the music I listen to". Fredrick Whistling says: "In Plastic Soul's final gig, I never felt any panic. On the contrary, I was excited, laughing at everything and began to see the new opportunities. We got the chance to do what we really wanted and found again the "old playfulness" we had when we started playing together".