The Motorhomes

The Motorhomes was a Swedish rock band. The band was formed in 1997 and released two albums - Songs For Me (And My Baby) in 1999 and The Long Distance Runner in 2002 - before disbanding in 2004.

The Motorhomes Biography

The Motorhomes began in the small, quiet town of Jönköping, Sweden. The five young men who would form The Motorhomes - Mattias Edlund, Peder Claesson, Petur Mogensen, Adam Starck and Daniel Skaar - had previously struggled separately in various local bands. The future bandmates had been acquainted with each other without being best friends. It was not until 1997 that they all ended up in the same rehearsal studio and formed the band The Motorhomes, with Mattias singing vocals, Peder playing drums, Petur playing bass, Adam playing guitar and Daniel playing guitar.

Songs For Me (And My Baby)

The rehearsal studio became a place where the band spent almost all of their free time. Peder wrote most of the band's music and made all the arrangements and Petur, who went to music school with Peder, wrote the song lyrics. Soon the first demo tape made its way to the Swedish National Radio P3 (Sweden's biggest Public Service radio channel) Demo Show, where it was named Demo Of The Month. This then led to the band playing a concert at Hultsfred Festival. Before long, The Motorhomes had the raw-material for what would later become their debut album "Songs For Me (And My Baby)".

In 1998, The Motorhomes wrote a contract with Air Chrysalis (Publishing) Scandinavia. With all major record companies vying to sign them, the band then ended up signing a record deal with Sony/Epic.

The Motorhomes released their first single "It's Alright" in June of 1999. The band shot a video for the song with director Filip Engström, featuring the band members cruising in an old convertible while swinging at mailboxes with a baseball bat.

This was followed by the second single "Into the Night", a dream-like ballad where Mattias' vocals dwell in the upper registers. The song became a breakthrough for the band, being the most played Swedish song on National Radio P3 that year. Along with climbing P3's Tracks Chart, Into the Night also spent three weeks on Swedish National Television's Voxpop Chart. The video for Into the Night, which was directed by Adam Berg (Kent, The Cardigans, Gay Dad, DeUS), is set in the late 1950s and depicts Mattias' border collie piloting a rocket which is launched into space. Both ZTV and MTV showed the video on high rotation.

On 6 October 1999, The Motorhomes' debut album "Songs For Me (And My Baby)" was released in Sweden through Sony/Epic. The Motorhomes had mixed the album with Ian Grimble (Manic Street Preachers, Everything But The Girl, St Etienne etc.) in London. The songs on the album have been described as melancholic guitar pop and fragile pop music, with a basis in classic British songwriting tradition and a focus on melodies.

Despite not having a release out in the UK, The Motorhomes soon found themselves playing a concert at Reading Festival, after a booking agent saw them performing at The Monarch i Camden. The band would later tour the UK along with Shed Seven & Gene. The Motorhomes also got to play as the support act for Suede on their Scandinavian tour.

During 2000, The Motorhomes released two more singles from the album Songs For Me (And My Baby): "For Whom It May Concern" and later "For Tomorrow". They also continued their success in the UK by touring the country with JJ72 and also performing a headline tour, as well as a concert at Glastonbury. Later the band also played a concert at Scene: Pampas at Hultsfred Festival.

The Long Distance Runner

Spending so much time on the road eventually took its toll on the band members, leaving them feeling bewildered and disillusioned, and guitarist Daniel Skaar even quit the band. Things also ended with the band's manager, Martin Roos. The Motorhomes eventually took a break from touring and began working on their second album.

In 2001, the bandmates finished writing the songs that would make up the next album and later on completed the recording of the album in the studio. Following this, The Motorhomes temporarily split up, before rethinking things and putting the band back together. The album's debut single "The Man" was later released and went on to become a hit single.

The Motorhomes' second album "The Long Distance Runner" was released in Sweden in 2002, followed by its second single "I Wanna Make You Sing". The band performed the "Long Distance Runner" tour in support of their new album. However, internal difficulties among the band members and musical differences had resulted in the drummer and principal songwriter Peder Claesson departing The Motorhomes. The band also ended their cooperation with Sony/Epic after realizing the label didn't share their visions. Another change took place with two new members joining The Motorhomes: Niklas Korssell, ex drummer from Swedish band The Plan, and Henrik Carlsson who played keyboards. Plus, The Motorhomes signed with Talent Trust who also managed The Cardigans and others.

The band, in 2003, worked on writing songs for what was intended to be their third album. However, in 2004 The Motorhomes broke up after singer Mattias Edlund left due to personal reasons.

John ME

Four years after The Motorhomes ended, Mattias Edlund began a new solo career as "John ME". His debut single "Love is My Drug" was released on 20 December 2008. Mattias later performed a live duet of the song with Amanda Jenssen at the P3 Guld Awards on 17 January 2009. Prior to Love is My Drug, Mattias had showcased three acoustic ballads on his myspace ("No No", "Kingdom Come" and "I'll Hide You in a Song") and his upcoming album was said to be an eclectic mix of soft melodies and pop songs.

On 6 April 2009, the second single "Run" (co-written with Joakim Berg of Kent) was digitally released and John ME's debut album "I Am John" came out two days later on 8 April. Contributors to the album included Joakim Berg of Kent, Pär Wiksten of The Wannadies and Andreas Matsson of Popsicle. John ME launched a tour in support of the album in early 2009 which continued through to mid year.

The Motorhomes Members

Original Members:


Mattias Edlund (1997-2004) - Vocals


Peder Claesson (1997-2002) - Drums


Petur Mogensen (1997-2004) - Bass


Adam Starck (1997-2004) - Guitar


Daniel Skaar (1997-2000) - Guitar

Later Members:
Niklas Korssell (2002-2004) - Drums
Henrik Carlsson (2002-2004) - Keyboards

The Motorhomes Quotes

"If you choose to play in a band, it's probably because you feel that something is missing. It can essentially be no matter what, something to do, something else to think about. If we wouldn't have The Motorhomes, every one of us would probably feel like shit."

"If you write music, it's because you haven't found 'that specific' album you need. If we hadn't lacked anything, we hadn't felt a need for creating."

"We brought twelve songs to the studio, songs ready to record. But the problem still is to find the outline in what you make. Simon (Nordberg, Producer) and Ian (Grimble, mix) were definitely the right persons to help us out." (about Songs For Me (And My Baby))

"Adam, Mattias and Danne had nagged at me for a while about using a chorus, that had been put aside for quite a while. Me and Petur went to his place and finished writing it." - Peder Claesson (about It's Alright)

"The fact that 'It's Alright' would become a single was obvious from the very beginning. It's uncompromising as well as ugly, at the same time as it's sensitive and beautiful."

"A lot of things in this song has cleared the way for us. It's the kind of song that becomes a classic, immortal." (about Into the Night)

"The song is a little magic and spellbinding in a certain way, and together with Adam Berg's fantastic video... we are really satisfied, to say the least." (about Into the Night)

"Even if it's a heavy and ominous song, there is still a sense of hope in the song as well as in the text, that's what makes it beautiful in a way." (about Into the Night)

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