‘Painted By Numbers’ is the new punk-pop infused, hook-laden smash single from Swedish indie-rockers The Sounds. Picked by Q Magazine as one of their Essential Tracks earlier this year, it’s a superb, anthemic treat lifted from their highly acclaimed album ‘Dying To Say This To You’. The single version has been reworked and mixed by legendary producer Alan Moulder whose credentials include Artic Monkeys, The Killers (Hot Fuss / Sam’s Town), The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. The Sounds have been extremely busy touring the width and length of Britain after making an initial impact on sell-out dates with Panic At The Disco at Brixton Academy last year. Earlier this year they completed a club NME tour, and many of the dates on their last two headline tours sold out including London’s Mean Fiddler and Islington Academy. The band is currently busy playing all the key festivals this summer; from Roskilde and Oxegen to the Wireless Festival (main stage with the White Stripes) and T In The Park.
The Sounds will return to the UK in August to play the Radio1/NME stage at Reading / Leeds festivals and to complete a new run of UK dates. Their hard work, an incredible 300 plus shows in last year alone, has certainly been paying off as The Sounds myspace play count has since long passed the 6 million mark!
Their UK debut single, the sexed up ‘Tony The Beat’, became of the years biggest indie-dance crossover, filling dancefloors up and down the country.
NME compared it to “House Of Jealous Lovers’ and The Gossip’s ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ in their 2-page radar feature. They also named it single of the week, stating that it’s “The first great pop song of 2007”.
MTV recently broadcast The Sounds playing at Jackass star Bam Magera’s wedding as part of the “Bams Unholy Union” show where they were supported by the skateboarder’s other favourite band in the world - Iggy Pop & The Stooges!
The Sounds have also soundtracked major movies such as ‘Final Destination’, ‘Music & Lyrics’ and ‘Snakes on a Plane' and contributed to the recent FIFA soundtrack.
With a fanbase that includes Pharell, Dave Grohl, and Quentin Tarrantino, appearances on David Letterman, sold out coast-to-coast tours and support slots for The Strokes and Foo Fighters, The Sounds have certainly taken America by storm, and now this punk-rock-disco machine are hell bent on rocking the UK too.
A UK autumn tour to be announced shortly The Sounds are: Maja Ivarsson – Vocals, Felix Rodriguez – Guitars, Johan Bengtsson – Bass, Jesper Anderberg – Synthesizers & Fredrik Nilsson – Drums