麦克史诺乐团

Miike Snow is an indie pop trio formed in Stockholm in 2007, consisting of Swedish production and songwriting duo Bloodshy & Avant (Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg) and American singer Andrew Wyatt. A silhouette of a jackalope is often used as the band's logo. They have released three studio albums: Miike Snow (2009), Happy to You (2012), and iii (2016).

History

Early years

Miike Snow was formed in Stockholm in 2007. Swedish band members Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg were childhood friends who spent time playing in bands and working on various projects in studios around Gothenburg. Karlsson was a former member of the Swedish hip hop band Goldmine (band), who toured with The Fugees. After they both moved to Stockholm separately, they reunited in 2000 and formed the production and songwriting duo Bloodshy & Avant.

Bloodshy & Avant have enjoyed a significant amount of success as producers and songwriters, working with Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Kelis, and Sky Ferreira, as well as winning the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for the Britney Spears song "Toxic". In 2004, while writing an album for Spears, they met American singer and songwriter Andrew Wyatt. He later recalled in 2009, "I was in Sweden visiting, and someone told me that I should hook up with these two guys. Actually, it turns out I'd met Christian in the studio maybe a year before, but we only actually recently remembered that."

The band's name is said to have come from one of their friends, named Mike Snow, and it is thus pronounced like "Mike" and not the Japanese name "Miike". Contrary to some sources, the name is not a reference to Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike. Despite this, the band members have indicated that they are fans of Miike's films, specifically noting Audition, Visitor Q, 13 Assassins, and Ichi the Killer. Winnberg also name-dropped Miike in an interview whilst explaining that he is not the source of the band's name: "When we sat down to come up with a name, one of us got an email from a mutual friend by the name Mike Snow. We liked it and added the extra 'I' because we liked the look of it. [...] We once found a possible classic Swedish film on our tour bus, called Jävligt Jagad. It's a bit like if Bergman's ancestors would make a movie inspired by Takashi Miike."

Miike Snow

Miike Snow, the band's eponymous debut album, was recorded in Stockholm and released in Sweden on 22 May 2009. A single for the track "Animal" was released on 17 February 2009.

Upon a UK release of the song later in the same year, the track reached number 98 on the UK Singles Chart. The 'Punks Jump Up' remix of "Animal" is used as the theme music for the British Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner. The second single was "Black & Blue". Both singles have made the BBC Radio 1 Playlist B-List.

The Guardian spoke highly of the band, saying Miike Snow's "coolly emotional pop suggests A-ha meets Animal Collective." In an interview for ClashMusic.com, Wyatt revealed their unexpected popularity, saying, "I don't think our project was that thought out when we started. We just wanted to make music together. Three people just messing about. I don't think we anticipated the level of attention that it's getting right now. We didn't even think about touring when we started the album."

Miike Snow have remixed tracks for Depeche Mode, Passion Pit, Peter Bjorn and John, Kings of Leon, I Blame Coco and Vampire Weekend. Their music has been remixed by Mark Ronson, Crookers, Peter Bjorn and John, Treasure Fingers, Tiga, Caspa, Style of Eye, Emalkay, Fake Blood, Benny Blanco, Savage Skulls, Netsky, Hood Internet and DJ Mehdi, amongst others. A remix of the song "Silvia" by DJ's Sebastian Ingrosso and Dirty South was released on 2 April 2010.

Their song "In Search Of" was originally a collaboration with Crookers for the song "Remedy". The band liked the result so much that they decided to create their own version for their album.

In 2011, Miike Snow won a European Border Breakers Award for their international success. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.

In 2012, the band toured the United States.