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THE
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QUIZ
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STORY
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The Quiz StoryMore than 20 years in the business, almost 250 gigs, holders of several records for attendance, two singles released - the first outselling The Rolling Stones by a huge margin. Most bands would settle for much less and hang up their guitars, well pleased with their achievements, but not Quiz or Status Quiz as they're alternately known as. "We first began playing together back in 1981 under
the name of Rocks", says founding member Jarmo Miettinen
who plays rythm guitar in the band. |
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In 1983, they changed their
name to Quiz and were soon established as the best live rock'n'roll
band in and around the Swedish County of Wermland. Their debut single,
8st i en Cheva / Digga rock'n'roll (roughly Eight in a Chevy
/ Groove to Rock'n'Roll), was released in March 1986 and with
just 550 copies made. It was sold out within weeks and for that
period of time actually outsold 'The Rolling Stones' latest single 500
to 23... locally! The balance, 50 copies, had been sent
to radio stations by the record company. The B-side reached number 2 on the local hit list. |
| By 1990, Quiz had
played well over 100 gigs, the top two being Karlstad in 1986 in front of a crowd of more than 5 000 and the world-wide Sports Aid on September 11th 1988. At the same moment that Status Quo were performing their Running All Over the World in front of the United Nations building in New York. Quiz were playing the same song on stage in Örebro, Sweden. The venue was of course much more insignificant but it was still fantastic to be doing it at the same time as "Quo". |
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Quiz second single, Come Back to Me / Rock'n'roll, was released to coincide with their tenth anniversary. Co-founder and former member of Status Quo Alan Lancaster has privately said of Come Back to Me that it is a very good song. The verdict of the press was that it was "almost like Status Quo". Very high praise indeed! |
| Although there had been temporary changes in personnel previously,
1991 also saw the first major changes. Due to private commitments, Micke Nilsson and Robert Werngren left the band and were replaced by Mikael Gustafsson (lead guitar), now a director of EMA-Telstar, and Christer Lindström (drums). With only two practice sessions behind them, the new line-up nevertheless managed an impressive third place out of 42 entries in the National rock band contest On Stage in Köping, Sweden. They also began touring, playing at least once fortnightly. Their set list was a mixture of covers, not only of Quo songs, and their own material. As they played Quo covers exclusively at some gigs, the band started calling themselves Status Quiz (A tribute to Status Quo) as well. It is also from this period, 1991-4, that the majority of their records for attendance were set. |
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In 1995 Lennart Rydén replaced Christer
Lindström on drums and from 1996, Mikael Gustafsson
was no longer able to play with Quiz on a regular basis and the
band went into semi-retirement for close on five years. Last year (2000), Quiz were joined by Mikael Laakso (lead guitar) and Erik Thompson (drums) and they are now on the comeback trail. Recent venues include the American Festival in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm, on July 7th where they were the cream of the crop according to both audience and organisers. There are also plans to release a CD with some of the best songs from that gig. Quiz is back! |
| And don't you dare miss downloading Come Back to Me from this website! | |
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Karlstad in October 2001 |
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| * For a short period in 1988-9, the line-up read Jarmo Miettinen, Christer Mellberg (lead guitar), Ulf Nilsson (vocals), Patrik Björk (bass) and Jörgen Ekener (drums). From February to July 1994, Kent Nilsson replaced Johan Öhrnell on bass. | |
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Updated Last: 24 April, 2009