Behind the scenes of “Grande Rock”:

In September 1998 we had made around 100 shows, after our previous album ”Payin’ The Dues” was released in Oct ’97, and decided it was time to record a new album, our third. We wanted to try out something new and entered Silence Studios in Koppom, the darkest woods of western Sweden, instead of Sunlight Studio in central Stockholm, which had been our main studio up until then. We were also one guitar player short. Original guitarist Dregen had just quit the band a few months earlier and since we hadn’t found a steady replacement at the time it was decided that Anders ”Boba” Lindström would play second guitar as well as piano and organ. We had the intention of doing it all by ourselves in this remote residential studio without any distractions whatsoever. The basic tracks were done in only three days and then Kenny Håkansson (bass) and myself left to see The Rolling Stones in Stockholm. Nicke and Boba soldiered on and a week later when the rhythm section came back to the studio, most of the guitars and vocals were already done. When the album was finished, the touring for the previous album continued in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and USA/Canada for another 3 months leaving the record to be mixed without any of the band members present, also the only time this happened.

”Grande Rock” turned out to be a landmark album and the first one of ours that was released simultaneously in May 1999 by four different labels in four different continents (!). Right before it was released we had recruited Robert ”Strings” Dahlqvist on second guitar who became Dregens official replacement. The Grande Rock World Tour followed and saw the band playing 130 shows in 25 countries. 

Now, in 2021, 22 years after it’s initial release and since long a hot item within record collectors and only available through second hand record stores, Grande Rock will for the first time ever be out digitally on all platforms.

Sincerely, Robert Eriksson, The Hellacopters