Miike Snow
Miike Snow (pronounced "Mike Snow")[1] is a Swedish indie pop band formed in 2007. The band consists of producing team Bloodshy & Avant and American singer Andrew Wyatt. The band is often represented by a silhouette image of a jackalope. In their career, the band has released three studio albums: Miike Snow (2009), Happy to You (2012), and iii (2016).
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
Miike Snow was formed in 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden. Band members Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg were childhood friends who spent time playing in bands and working on various projects in studios throughout the city of Gothenburg. Karlsson was a former member of the Swedish hip-hop band Goldmine, who toured with The Fugees.[2] After separate moves to Stockholm, they reunited in 2000.
Karlsson and Winnberg collaborated under the moniker Bloodshy & Avant[3] and enjoyed a significant amount of success as producers and songwriters. They have worked with artists such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Kelis, Sky Ferreira,[4] and won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for Britney Spears' track "Toxic."[5]
In 2004, while working on writing a pop album for Britney Spears, Karlsson and Winnberg met the third band member, American songwriter Andrew Wyatt. Wyatt reports "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."[6]
The name "Miike Snow" is said to have come from one of their friends named Mike Snow.[3][7] Contrary to suggestions or statements to the converse,[8] the spelling of "Miike" does not derive from the Japanese film director Takashi Miike;[3] Pontus Winnberg states that, "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 once, called Jävligt Jagad. It's a bit like if Bergman's ancestors would make a movie inspired by Takashi Miike."[3] Miike Snow have, however, indicated that they are fans of Miike's work, specifically noting Audition, Visitor Q, 13 Assassins, and Ichi the Killer.[9]
Other activities[edit]
On 30 July 2011, the band announced via Twitter that their new record label, Ingrid, founded by Miike Snow, Peter Bjorn and John, Lykke Li, Coco Morier, and Dungen, was open for business.[27]
