"HOOKS, CROOKS AND BLUNDERS"

• 19 May, 2016

In August 1996 new bass player Johannes tells the band he's moving to L.A. to attend a music-collage (eh...?) so the band turns to their old pal and Gothenburg rock scene veteran Crippa Elvis Odin, who in September joins the band on bass. By the time of early summer 1996 MNW approaches the band and ask if they are up to signing a new record-deal. Enchanted by this offer Jörgen again starts to write new material to present to the label by the end of September. Since MNW soon starts to show great instability, the band decides to withdraw from the offer and instead go for the German market by releasing two new songs on a split-CD along with German band The Richies. Burned by the failed MNW deal Jörgen goes whacko and buys his own 24 channel studio. New songs are recorded in the autumn of 1997 and winter of 1998 in the cold rehearsing room by the band's live sound engineer Rune Johansson, who lends out his bedroom for recording the vocals. The new album "Stereoids" which is planned for a February 1998 release, isn't finished until the end of August.

In mid September 1998 the "Stereoids" album is released over Europe by license to the German label Wolverine Records. Avoiding to do the same mistake again, the band decides to manage the tour themselves, a decision that at first seems right, but soon proves to be a blunder when the booking agency runs away with the money and never show up to see the band perform. Thanks to swag-man and roadie Martin Olsson's market skills, the band finally manages to get back to Sweden. A cold and hungry band arrives at the docks of Gothenburg one rainy morning in October 1998.

Since the "Stereoids" album is in need of Scandinavian distribution, Jörgen turn to his friends at Dolores Records who offer to handle it all. The album is released on November 11th 1998. After a short while Dolores breaks the contract with their distributor and leaves the Psychotic Youth without any distribution throughout Scandinavia. In the spring 1999 the band makes some gigs in Sweden, but family responsibilities force the band to abstain from any further activity. After a couple of years of hard struggling with no success, last remaining original member Jörgen Westman finally decides it's about time to let the fat lady do her thing. A show is booked to end the band's career in a decent way: the Höga Kusten festival up north in Kramfors, where the band once started. The Psychotic Youth play their last gig on June 25th 1999 to an enthusiastic crowd. The gig is recorded on tape and gets released on the US and Japan version of "Stereoids". A couple of years later the whole concert is released as "Alive under the Midnight Sun" on Japanese label Target Earth Records

Finally, the Psychotic Youth seem to get a worthy end of their career in 2000 by landing a deal for the "Stereoids" album on classic American independent label Bomp Records.

So that would be it...? I don't think so!