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Janne Stark
Janne Stark (born 1963 in Karlshamn) is a Swedish guitarist and author. BiographyStark recorded his first 7" single with the band Paradize in 1979, then formed the band Overdrive in 1980. He released the 12" MLP Reflexions in 1981, after which the band was signed by Planet Records and released the albums Metal Attack (1983) and Swords And Axes (1984). The band split in 1985 and Stark formed Overheat together with former Overdrive-singer Pelle Thuresson on bass. The band only lasted a few years and made no official recording. In 1991 Stark participated in the national guitar competition Guitar Battle, where he went to the finals two years in a row, earning him tracks on the CD compilation Guitar Heroes Of Sweden. [1] In 1995 Stark formed the band Locomotive Breath. The band released its debut album Train Of Events in 1997 and 1998. The follow-up Heavy Machinery was released in 2002[2] and the band's third album Change Of Track was released in October 2005. This album featured Marcel Jacob (Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen) on bass. After this the band took a long (and still lasting) break, with only a brief break to record the track "Fill Your Head With Rock" for the 2008 Sweden Rock Festival CD sampler. In 1996 Stark released his first book, The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock And Heavy Metal 1970–1996, a 400-page encyclopedia featuring more than one thousand Swedish recording bands. In 2002 his second effort Volume 2 was released.[3] Both books released by Premium Publishing. Besides playing guitar in his ordinary bands, Stark has also made guest appearances on recordings by many bands, including Narnia, Blinded Colony, Faith, VII Gates, Chris Catena, Rod Chappell Band, Audiovision,[4] From Behind (featuring former Samson-singer Nicky Moore),[5] Zello etc. He is also responsible for layout and/or artwork for albums by his own bands, as well as Zello, Neon Rose, Zeelion, Axia, RAW, Have Mercy and others. In December 2006 Janne was part of the one-off Sweden Rock All Star Band which also featured Udo Dirkschneider, Ian Haugland, Ryan Roxie, Oscar Dronjak etc. In 2007 Stark released the debut by his new solo project Mountain Of Power on Grooveyard Records, dedicated to his influences from the seventies, such as Derringer, Moxy, Stray Dog, Captain Beyond and Budgie, featuring guests like Dan Swanö, Björn Lodin, Thomas Larsson, Anders Johansson, Chris Catena, Jonas Hansson, David Fremberg, Mikael "Nord" Andersson and Mike Andersson.[6] Further more an album with his collaboration with singer Chris Catena, christened Teenage Rampage, will release their debut in 2008. Also the resurrected Overdrive released the new album Let The Metal Do The Talking on Lion Music in January 2008.[7] In 2007 Stark joined forces with Björn Lodin and Mikael "Nord" Andersson in a completely new band called incarnation called BALLS. The band's debut album Chameleon was released on 10 October 2008, but the band folded shortly after its release.[8] Janne and Mikael are still composing songs together for a forthcoming solo album by Mikael. Janne also contributed with guest guitars on releases by Thalamus, M.O.B, Alyson Avenue and Tower Of Stone. In August 2008 The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk was published by Premium Publishing, written by Peter Jandreus, but where Stark is credited for layout, additional text and research. In mid-2008 Janne started working on his own third encyclopedia of Swedish hard rock, which was planned to be released 2010 (Premium Publishing), but finally hit the streets in November 2013 [9] In 2007 Stark started collaborating with Token/Scudiero keyboardist Mikael Rosengren in what was to become the band Constancia. The band's debut Lost And Gone was released on Frontiers Records in July 2009 and it was also released in Japan on King Records (with bonus track Wasted).[10] In 2013 the band started working on the second album, which was released in 2015.[11] In 2010 Overdrive started working on their seventh release, entitled Angelmaker. It was released in January 2011.[12] In March 2011 Overdrive released the vinyl LP The Angelmaker's Daughter which featured six non-CD tracks plus three tracks from Angelmaker. Late 2011 Janne joined melodic rockers Grand Design, who release the single and video of "Baby It's You" on 17 May 2013, a cover of Canadian band Promises.[13] In November 2013 Janne's third encyclopedia, "The Heaviest Encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Ever!" was published. It features information about 3600 Swedish hard rock/metal bands on 912 pages. <[14] 2014 marked the 30 year anniversary of Overdrive's second album "Swords And Axes" and the band also made their first tour in Japan, playing Club Zeela in Osaka, Birth Club Shunjuku and an in-door show at the HMV Store in Shibuya.[15] Grand Design released the album "Thrill Of The Night" (AOR Heaven Europe/Rubicon Music Japan) and the band played the Melodicrock Fest in Chicago on 3 October.[16] In 2015 Janne released the second album with Constancia, a re-issue of the first album by Grand Design and the third release by Mountain of Power. The latter featured guest spots from Carl Dixon (Coney Hatch), Kee Marcello (Europe), Mikael Nord Andersson (Roxette, Scorpions), David Angstrom (Hermano, Luna Sol), Hank Shermann (Mercyful Fate), Michael Denner (Mercyful Fate) etc.[17] In 2016 Janne recorded a guest solo for Italian prog band Il Rovescio Della Medaglia on the album Tribal Domestic.[18] He also recorded most of the guitar solos for Swedish/Canadian metal band Assassin's Blade's debut album Agents Of Mystification.[19] Later the same year Janne started working on an album together with singer/bass player Neil Merryweather, under the name Merryweather Stark. The band was signed by GMR Records in 2017 for a release of the debut album in January 2018.[20] The album, entitled Carved In Rock, was released on GMR Music in 2018 on CD and double-LP (with one bonus track). GMR Music also signed Grand Design and released the band's album Viva La Paradise,[21] later in the year re-issued as Viva La Paradise – Special Mission, featuring four bonus tracks. In 2017, Janne joined Danish Thin Lizzy tribute band Falling Hazard,[22] who released their first vinyl single I Lie Not (a tribute to Phil Lynott) and Old Town (a cover of Phil Lynott) in 250 copies.[23] In August 2019 Janne left Grand Design.[24] In November the same year, Janne recorded a tribute to Welsh hard rock band Budgie under the project name Bandolier Kings.[25] The album also features singer/guitarist Tony Spinner and guest spots from former Budgie members Tony Bourge and Steve Williams. Other guests includes for example Kyoji Yamamoto of Bow Wow, Ian Haugland of Europe, John Gallagher of Raven and Bill Steer of Firebird. 27 November 2020 saw two releases emerge from Janne, first off was of the second album by Merryweather Stark, entitled Rock Solid (CD/LP on GMR Music) [26] and secondly the fourth album by Mountain of Power, entitled "Volume Four".[27] This album featured guest spots from musicians such as Rob Lamothe of Riverdogs, Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch, Neil Merryweather and more. On 18 June 2021 German label Pride & Joy released the third album by Constancia, entitled Brave New World.[28] and in 2024 the follow-up IV Evermore saw the light of day on the same label, now seeing Janne handling both guitars and bass, plus mixing and mastering the album. [29] In 2022 Overdrive played their 42nd anniversary shows (which were supposed to be in 2020 as the 40th anniversary, but were postponed due to Covid), for example at the Sweden Rock Festival,[30] a show which was also filmed for a future DVD. The same year Regain Records also re-issued "Reflexions", "Metal Attack" and "Swords and Axes" with lots of bonus tracks.[31] On November 11 Grooveyard Records released the second Bandolier Kings album "Time To Remember", featuring guest spots from Budgie members Tony Bourge as well a musicians such as Andy La Rocque, Rowan Robertson, Doug Rappoport, John Gallagher etc.[32] In the same month German label Metalville released the CD and LP "Cosmic Affect" by Merryweather Stark Wackerman, an album recorded already in 2019, but not finished until 2022.[33] Besides Janne, the trio features Neil Merryweather and drummer John Wackerman. EquipmentGuitars
Reference: [34] Releases featuring StarkParadise – "Caress of Steel" (7", 1980) References
Further reading
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