BtV&tD got together in Malmo, Sweden during the recordings of the first album in the spring of 2004. The singer Lars Lindquist had some songs for a solo project but one person wasnt enough, he thought. Over the months of recording he persuaded some of his friends and others to be a part of the project.
In the beginning BtV&tD, as owners of their own record label Love Will Pay the Bills Records, took the decision to share all their music for free as a result of the down going CD industry, as a promotion tactic, as well as a way of doing it in an alternative and smarter way more adjusted to how the music industry had changed. After a couple of years and millions of downloads later, it has been proved to be a very effective way of spreading the word all of the world.
If you want to support the band and their label Love Will Pay the Bills Records economically you can do it here.
The entirety has always been important for the BtV&tD, to offer something more than just lyrics and music. "I have always considered us as a political band, but at the same time we dont want to write people on their nose. We want to ask questions without being too explicit. People dont know where they have us, but I think that they feel it in their stomach when they see us play live", says Lars Lindquist.
Discography
I Used to Wander This Streets (2008)
Released in 2008 by Love Will Pay the Bills Records
Where the Ocean Meets My Hand (2007)
Released in 2007 by Love Will Pay the Bills Records
The World According to Pablo (2005)
Released in 2005 by Love Will Pay the Bills Records
I Was So Unpopular in School and Now They´re Giving Me This Beautiful Bicycle (2004)
Released in 2005 by Love Will Pay the Bills Records
The band
Silvio Arismendi Percussion
Maria Carlsson Bass guitar
John Dunsö Acoustic guitar, Vocals
Frida Brattgard Trumpet, Accordion
Sofia Janninge Percussion, Violin, Vocals
Jon Lindquist Drums
Gustav Kronkvist Electric guitar
Lars Lindquist Vocals
History
2004
BtV&tD and Love Will Pay the Bills Records is created by Lars, with the members: Lars Lindquist, Maria Carlsson, Gustav Kronqvist, John Dunsö, Sofia Janninge and Lisa Haglind.
Debut album I was so unpopular in school and now they´re giving me this beautiful bicycle is released on Love Will Pay the Bills Records. The album gets great reviews in the press and also gets nominated at Manifest, the Swedish prize award for records released on indie labels.
National TV debut in Sweden at the show Gokvall. Weeks after the producers calls and says that they have never before received as much positive reactions from the viewers in the entire history of the show.
National radio debut with the songs Summercat och Good and Bad.
2005
A gig at Emmaboda festival. After days of consideration BtV&tD decides to do it even though they have to pay the entrance fee themselves. The Pipettes from England sees the show and wants to do a tour together.
Walking street tour in Malmo during the summer. BtV&tD reaches out to more people and extends their audience.
Silvio Mono Arismendi joins the band.
The second album The World According to Pablo is recorded during the summer and is released soon after. Also this album gets nominated at Manifest.
Autumn tour in Sweden and Norway as a support band for The Pipettes. BtV&tD debuts on the biggest club scenes and does a huge success. In Oslo they also meet Michael Hockel, who later will be their German label boss.
BtV&tD flies to England and meets The Pipettes and does three shows in London. A cooperation with The Pipettes manager Andy Barding begins.
The day before new years eve BtV&tD does their first show, headlining Malmos biggest club scene, Kulturbolaget.
2006
In the beginning of the year BtV&tD drives 1300 kilometers to play at Hola folk high school in the north of Sweden, in front of 30 persons. There they meet the blues musician Seasick Steve.
Europe tour in the beginning of the summer, debut shows in both Germany and Italy.
BtV&tD wants to do something different and arranges a high school tour in the south of Sweden in the autumn.
2007
The third album Where the Ocean Meets My Hand is recorded in the beginning of the year and is released in the spring.
In the same period as the release of the third album BtV&tD does a prison tour at some of the heaviest institutions in Sweden. The project is very rewarding in many ways.
In the autumn BtV&tD does their first big tour on their own in Sweden. The shows are sold out and BtV&tD proves for the media what an impressive fan base they have gathered by themselves without any PR agency helping them.
Seasick Steve calls and says that he has become huge in the United Kingdom and that he would want BtV&tD as a support band on his tour there in the end of January 2008. BtV&tD says yes.
2008
UK tour in the end of January as a support for Seasick Steve. BtV&tD plays at sold out clubs with an average audience of 2000 people every night.
The forth album I Used to Wander These Streets is recorded in the spring in Tamburine Studios in Malmo together with producer Per Sunding, and is released in the beginning of the summer.
Frida Brattgard and Jon Lindquist joins the band. Lisa Haglind quits.
2009
Out of 88 000 registered bands on Myspace.com in Sweden, BtV&tD is one of 12 bands nominated in the same category in the Swedish music award Rockbjornen. Its a peoples vote and BtV&tD wins their first Rockbjornen award in the beginning of the year.
In the end of the spring, BtV&tD precipitates in a Spanish beer commercial, made by Estrella Damm, with the song Summercat. The commercial starts going on air on the 1th of June.
