Sturm Café

Sturm Café is an electronic body music band from Gävle, Sweden. Music made by Sturm Café provided the soundtrack of the movie Die Zombiejäger [sv]. Sturm Café was founded by the two teenage boys Gustav and Jonatan who met at a very young age in Gävle, Sweden. As teens they began playing with various instruments and the equipment in Jansson's father's studio. They released a couple of demo cassette tapes under the name The Xenophobian Alliance which were handed out to close friends. The instrumentation was a cheap digital synth with an Atari for sequencing and an analog 4 channel portable studio. Later on in 2002 they bought some analogue synthesizers and a digital portable studio and the music started to spread through mp3.com. At this time, the name of the band had been changed to Sturm Café as suggested by Gustav's father who was a fan of EBM bands such as DAF and Front 242. Influenced by Gustav's father's music collection, the duo moved toward an EBM sound with minimalistic analogue basslines, monotonous drum machines and chanting vocals in German. Despite being Swedish, they were inspired to sing in German owing to Löftstedt having learned German in school and the language being understood as a typical aspect of EBM style. This eventually led to some live gigs in early 2003 and in the summer of 2004 they performed live at Sweden's biggest open air alternative music festival, Arvika Festival. Later that year, they signed a contract with the record label Progress Productions and played several shows in Germany including at Berlin's Bodybeats club. One year later, the album So Seelisch, So Schön! was released and climbed to position 75 on the Swedish official album sell chart.[citation needed] That autumn, Jonatan moved to Poland for medicine studies. Sturm Café was put on hold. However, Jonatan moved back to Sweden the next year and the work with the band could continue. Even after returning to Sweden, Löftstedt and Jansson lived an 8-hour car ride from each other, making it difficult to work together given their dependence on vintage equipment. In 2010, the band opened for Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft at BIMFest in Belgium. That year the band also embarked on starting a label, SCR (Sturm Café Releases), with their first release being the 7" single "Koka Kola Freiheit". In considering starting the label, the band balanced demands of their non-music careers with the needs of a third-party label, ultimately deciding that the risks of running their own label were outweighed by control of the release schedule and creative process. The band played their first non-European shows in Mexico City in 2015 and the following year in Lima, Peru. Löftstedt also has a side project of dance music that he determined did not fit with Sturm Café called John Steiner Explosion. Some tracks from his side project were released on the band's Rarities 3 compilation in 2020. Jonatan Löfstedt - vocals, music Gustav Jansson - music, live keyboards & drums Pehr-Anders Stockenberg - live drums (2007–2009) Oskar Gullstrand - videoprojections, art work, music videos (2002–2006) Joakim Mohlund - guest vocals on "Schweiss Bier und Stahl", live keyboards and drums Slim Vic - credited as remixer on "So Seelisch, So Schön!" 2CD version. Chinese Theatre - credited as remixer on "So Seelisch, So Schön!" 2CD version Patrik Linderstam - visuals, graphic design So Seelisch, So Schön! CD/2CD (2005) Tot CDM (2008) Koka Kola Freiheit 7" (2010) Rarities 2xCD (2013) Europa! CD & 2x12" (2015) Es Geht CD, 12" & MC (2017) So Seelisch, So Schön! Reissue CD & 12" (2019) Europa! Second press CD (2019) Fernes Land CD, 12" & MC (2021) Der Löwe aus dem Norden CD & MC (2022) Zeitgeist CD, 12" & MC (2023) APE Produkt #3 CDR (contributing track: "Regimegegner") (2003) Electronic Compilation CD-R (contributing track: "In Meinem Griff" + "Radiosüchtig") (2004) Interbreeding III: Xenophobic 2CD (contributing track: "In Meinem Griff" + "Mr.T") (2004) ElectriXmas 2004 CD (contributing track: "Ein Mann Und Sein Bart") (2004) Born / Evolve / Progress vol.1 CD (contributing track: "Stiefelfabrik" + "Schweiss Bier und Stahl") (2005) Hymns of Steel CD (contributing track: "Schweiss Bier und Stahl") (2006) Sonic Seducer Cold Hands Seduction Vol. 56 2CD (contributing track: "Die Wahrheit") (2006) Infacted vol.3 CD (contributing track: "Radiosüchtig") (2006) Born / Evolve / Progress vol.2 CD (contributing track: "Weltliches Leben") (2007) Mortal Decay 2CD-R (contributing track: "Der Grosse Schwein (Terror Punk Syndicate Remix)") (2007) Infected vol.4 2CD (contributing track: "Tot (Terror Punk Syndicate Remix)") (2008) Machines Against Hunger 2CD (contributing track: "1/15") (2008) Nacht Der Maschinen VolumeTwo CD (contributing track: "Ich Spekuliere") (2008) 5 Years Of Progress - 2004-2009 CD (contributing track: "Der Löwe Ist Zurück") (2009) EBM Collection Vol.1 12" (contributing track: "Der Löwe Ist Zurück") (2009) Swedish EBM - The Collection CD (contributing track: "Scheissnormal") (2010) Nacht Der Maschinen Volume Three (contributing track: "Der Löwe Ist Zurück") (2011) Electronic Body Matrix 1 (contributing track: "Die Wahrheit") (2011) Doppelhertz Vol. 2 (contributing track: "Sicherheit") (2011) Klubb Volga, Sweden Stockholm, April 23, 2003 Club Absynth, Sweden Gävle, May 30, 2003 Kungen, Sweden Sandviken, July 18, 2003 Valhall, Sweden Falun, July 20, 2003 Musikhuset, Sweden Gävle, December 13, 2003 Electrobash #2, Sweden Uppsala, January 23, 2004 Adrenalinfestival, Sweden Sundsvall, January 31, 2004 Club Spacelab, Sweden Gothenburg, February 6, 2004 Club Absynth, Sweden Gävle, March 11, 2004 Kungen, Sweden Sandviken, April 3, 2004 More Than A Party '04, Sweden Uppsala, April 11, 2004 Vogon Variety, Sweden Malmö, May 8, 2004 Plasticity, Sweden Gothenburg, July 9, 2004 Arvikafestival, Sweden Arvika, July 15, 2004 Electronic Wonders, Sweden Oskarshamn, October 30, 2004 Bodybeats, Germany Berlin, November 13, 2004 Beatclub, Germany Dessau, November 20, 2004 Club Harrow Road, Sweden Örebro, December 3, 2004 ElectriXmas, Sweden Lund, December 11, 2004 Allhuset, Sweden Stockholm, December 17, 2004 Club Spacelab, Sweden Gothenburg, February 4, 2005 Musikhuset, Sweden Gävle, March 18, 2005 Sticky Fingers, Sweden Gothenburg, November 4, 2005 Nuclear Nation, Sweden Linköping, November 5, 2005 Neostalgia, Sweden Malmö, February 4, 2006 Allhuset, Sweden Stockholm, February 11, 2006 SAMA, Sweden Gothenburg, April 14, 2006 Der Bunker, Sweden Gothenburg, July 28, 2006 Beatclub, Germany Dessau, September 9, 2006 Klubb Lakritz, Sweden Norrköping, November 24, 2006 Das Boot, Baltic Sea December 8, 2006 Sus Fel Nap, Hungary Budapest, January 19, 2007 Tech Noir, Sweden Stockholm, January 27, 2007 Musikhuset, Sweden Gävle, February 23, 2007 Die Villa, Germany Leipzig, April 7, 2007 Club Undercut, Sweden Lund, May 3, 2007 Void Spring Festival, Sweden Kalmar, May 5, 2007 Club Hellfire, Norway Trondheim, June 9, 2007 Club Maiden, Norway Oslo, June 10, 2007 Familientreffen III, Germany Sandersleben, August 4, 2007 Club Radium, Sweden Karlstad, November 2, 2007 Beatclub, Germany Dessau, March 23, 2008 Club Arkham, Finland Turku, November 21, 2008 Club Lagerhof, Germany Leipzig, December 6, 2008 Musikens Hus, Sweden Gothenburg, May 16, 2009 Familientreffen V, Germany Sandersleben, July 24, 2009 Bodytåget, Sweden Stockholm, March 6, 2010 Klubb Kalabalik, Sweden Växjö, March 20, 2010 Traffic Club, Italy Rome, April 3, 2010 Salzmanns Factory, Germany Kassel, July 10, 2010 Collapsed City Festival, Poland Szczecin, October 31, 2010 Belgian Independent Music Festival, Belgium Antwerp, December 18, 2010 Holdeplassen, Norway Trondheim, March 19, 2011 Beatclub, Germany Dessau, March 26, 2011 Bodyfest, Sweden Stockholm, October 1, 2011 Neostalgia, Sweden Malmö, March 24, 2012 Kulttempel, Germany Oberhausen, September 7, 2012 EBM Music Club, Germany Cologne, February 23, 2013 Familientreffen IX, Germany Sandersleben, July 5, 2013 Kafka