Albums I Wish Existed: The Wannadies

Friday, December 3, 2021

The Wannadies - Want More (1996)

The Wannadies formed in 1988 in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, and the initial line-up was Pär Wiksten on vocals and guitar, Christina Bergmark on keyboards and vocals, Stefan Schönfeldt on guitar, and his younger brother Fredrik on bass, with Gunnar Karlsson on drums and Björn Malmquist on violin. They played their first concert at a festival in support of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in October 1988, and only weeks later entered local studio KN to record the three tracks that would become their debut release, in the form of the 'Smile EP'. It was released in February 1989 and managed to pick up several 'single of the week' accolades from national newspapers, as well as airplay on indie radio shows, despite little or no marketing. Following the band's appearance at the Hultsfred Festival in August 1989, they signed a recording contract with MNW Records, releasing their debut single 'My Hometown' in May the following year. The band's eponymous debut album was released in August 1990, supported by tours of Sweden, Finland and Norway, and their second album 'Aquanautic' was released in October 1992 on Snap Records, the indie subsidiary of MNW. In the summer of 1993 Björn Malmquist moved to Stockholm and left the band, and initial recording sessions for their third album 'Be A Girl' were beset by problems. First choice producer Dagge Lunquist took paternity leave late in 1993, and a second attempt with producer Micke Herrström had to be abandoned after just a week and a half when both he and engineer Adam Kviman Herrström were taken sick with hearing injuries. 'Love In June' was the only song to be completed with Herrström, and was released as a single while the band had another go at recording 'Be A Girl', this time with producer Nille Perned.
The album was finally finished by late 1994, and was released along with the second single 'You And Me Song', to critical acclaim in their native country. Shortly afterwards the band came to the attention of Indolent Records in the UK, who signed them in the summer of 1995, and they toured extensively with labelmates Sleeper and The 60 ft Dolls, while regularly commuting to studios in Gothenburg, Skellefteå and Stockholm to record tracks for their next album. Further singles 'Might Be Stars' and 'How Does It Feel?' were taken from 'Be A Girl', but it was not until the re-release of 'You And Me Song' in April 1996 that the band really made an impact in the UK, where the song peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Problems with Swedish record company MNW led to delays with the release of the group's fourth album 'Bagsy Me', which was eventually released in January 1997 on Sony/BMG Records, and it included the hit singles 'Someone Somewhere', 'Friends', 'Hit', and 'Shorty'. All of the singles mentioned so far had exclusive recordings on the flips, and so this post collects all of them from that first EP in 1989 to the 1996 release of 'Someone Somewhere'. It's a great collection of some of the best indie/pop of the early 90's, which had remained a well-kept secret until they exploded onto the scene with that re-issue of 'You And Me Song' in 1996, helped massively by it also being included on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmnan's film of 'Romeo And Juliet'. The cover is a homage to the band's fondness for putting pictures of sleeping girls on their albums and singles from 'Be A Girl' onwards.