Mando Diao

Mando Diao
Concert of Mando Diao in Vienna, 2014
Background information
Origin	Borlänge, Dalarna County, Sweden
Genres	Indie rock, garage rock
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Universal, Nettwerk, Mute, EMI, Majesty
Website	www.mandodiao.com
Members	Björn Dixgård Carl-Johan Fogelklou Daniel Haglund Patrik Heikinpieti
Past members	Samuel Giers Fredrik Nilsson Anton Grahnström Mats Björke Gustaf Norén

Mando Diao is a rock and pop band from Borlänge, Sweden. The band got their breakthrough with the release of the album Hurricane Bar. Their main fan base is in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. Band members are Björn Dixgård (vocals, guitar), Carl-Johan Fogelklou (bass), Daniel Haglund (keyboard) and Patrik Heinkipieti (drums).

The roots of Mando Diao date back to 1999 when Björn Dixgård (vocals, guitar) and Daniel Haglund (keyboard) played in a band called Butler, which they had founded in the middle of the 1990s. In 1996, Gustaf Norén (vocals, guitar), joined the band. In 1999, Carl-Johan Fogelklou (bass, backing vocals) and Samuel Giers (drums) became members and completed the original band. The current line-up decided to take the project more seriously. Björn Dixgård and Gustaf Norén locked themselves up in a summer house and spent 14 months writing songs. They claim the Beatles as their original source of inspiration. Allegedly, Gustaf joined the band after he and Björn had talked all night about this band. The two renamed their band Mando Diao, a name that appeared to Björn Dixgård in a dream in which a man came up to him and shouted "Mando Diao!".

Mando Diao made their first public performances in the clubs of their hometown Borlänge in 1999. A local writer described them in an article as the best unsigned band he had ever seen. This was soon followed by a record deal with EMI Sweden.

The release of their debut album Bring 'Em In in 2002, and of their first single "Sheepdog (song)" made the band popular in Sweden; the 1960´s and 1970´s music style and sound as well as the singers´ voices were soon seen as the "typical" Mando Diao sound by their fans. Gustaf Norén once compared Bring 'Em In to music by The Kooks, the Small Faces and The Kinks, declaring his band´s music best and even better than many albums by The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.
The band began touring Sweden and other Scandinavian countries together with local bands as The Hellacopters or Kent.