The Thousand Dollar Playboys
Stay

Imported from Sweden!

"..The $1000 Playboys from Sundsvall make the most outrageous American rock n roll a Swedish band has ever done. A fantastic album for those of you who like the Rolling Stones and Gram Parson."
-Aftonbladet (Swedish national daily newspaper)

"The Playboys develop the heritage from Gram Parson, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds and other countryrock artists with honour - sensitive ballads, passionate rock, strong songs, great choruses, slick brass in Jesus and powerful pedal steel. Top that with lyrics that are not cowboyhat-stupid."
-Slitz (culture, entertainment and fashion magazine from Sweden)

"The $1000 Playboys album sounds like a lost tape from 1975, discovered in a safe of a manic publisher in Nashville searching for the country music of the future."
-Dagens Nyheter (Swedish national daily newspaper)


In the fall of 1996 Lars Bygdén convinced some of his friends to start a band. The $1000 Playboys played their first gig that December at Pipeline (in Sundsvall) and totally stunned the audience. And this was just the beginning. Peter Svensson of the Cardigans saw the band perform and he realized that this was a band aiming for the stars. Svensson financed an album recording at Tambourine Studios in the fall 1997. The road to fame seemed paved and ready. But after 1½ year of fruitless negotiation with several labels they still had no record deal.
In the winter of 1999, the band signed with independent record label Massproduktion. A new recording session was planned. Meanwhile, national Swedish radio P3 broadcast the Playboys live during a PopStad event and this was released as a track on the promotional CD "The Rope". The $1000 Playboys were now in rotation on national radio despite the fact that they still hadn't released an album!
In May the recordings started, now with Linus Larsson as producer. A wide variety of guests are featured on the album and several of the tracks were captured live in the studio...only three tracks from the Tambourine recordings made it to the self titled debut album (released 25 October 1999).

The first single "Preacher" was play-listed for 8 weeks by the National Radio P3. Spring 2000 meant a new video, a new single and more gigs all over Sweden. The fall tour under the name "Järnvägar!" was filmed by National TV and resulted in a documentary that was broadcast late 2000.
Now, with the release of their second album "STAY!" they have developed into a band ready to compete on the international scene. Produced by Micke Herrström, the album was recorded live at the legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm. The prospect of a live recording scared the band a bit but Herrström's vision prevailed: "...everything sounds much better if you record live, you think less- and regarding Lars, I wanted to bring out the Johnny Thunders in him..." At the time lead singer Lars Bygdén saw it differently: "...everything was so terrible, I almost fired Micke, too much pressure..."

STAY cuts a wider musical path than the debut. The single Got to Keep Moving and albumtrack As The Desperation Comes was frequently played by National radio P3 and P4 found their favourite in Stay. The press is great. Featuring more guest artists and showcasing the band's strength as a fantastic live act; "STAY!" is an album to brag about.
During spring 2002 the new album was released in Europe and Canada receiving great reviews and the band also played gigs in Paris and London. During
Christmas 2002 A very special Christmas got even higher rotation on regional and national radio than during the release year. 2003 the band toured the US
for the first time, receiving good reviews and quite a lot of attention - even by CNN.
Price- $15.00

Check out the first CD from The Thousand Dollar Playboys as well.

 

Tracks

1. Lonesome Town
2. Lay You Down
3. It's A Very Special Christmas
4. Stay
5. As The Deperation Comes
6. Take Me Away
7. Borrowed Money Blues
8. Got To Keep Moving
9. The Mirror
10. The Playboy's Theme
11. Something Fine