Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand

Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand
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Born	1970 (age 53–54) Värnamo, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Occupation	Singer Guitarist Bass Player Songwriter

Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand, born in Värnamo, Sweden in 1970, is a singer, guitarist, bass player and songwriter, most notably as a member of the original Spiritual Beggars line-up. His current focus is on the solo project Band of Spice.

Biography

In 1988 Spice formed his first band Aeon, active until 1993 and resulting in a 7” single and several demo recordings. The band started out playing thrash metal but morphed into a more 70’s-influenced hard rock outfit as the years went by. It was after hearing one of Aeon's demo tapes that ex-Carcass guitarist Mike Amott first contacted Spice, something that would eventually lead to their collaboration in Halmstad-based Spiritual Beggars.

Spice participated on Spiritual Beggars' self-titled debut EP and the following three full-length albums. The band toured Europe and Japan, both as headliners and as openers for among others Monster Magnet, Queens of the Stone Age and Fu Manchu (band). Ad Astra, Spice's final record with the group and the one that is often regarded as the best, resulted in an opening slot together with Entombed on Iron Maiden's European reunion tour in 2000. After over eight years in the band, Spice left Spiritual Beggars in 2001.

Between 1996 and 2003, alongside his duties in Spiritual Beggars, Spice handled the vocals in the side project The Mushroom River Band which consisted of friends from his hometown of Värnamo. The band, which was part of the then growing stoner rock scene, released an EP and two full-length albums and made two European tours before disbanding.

The years following his departure from Spiritual Beggars and The Mushroom River Band Spice formed and focused on Kayser, a thrash metal band that up until 2016 released four albums and toured Europe with Volbeat and Ektomorf.

In 2005, while Kayser was still in its infancy, Spice decided to also launch a solo project, and so Spice and the RJ Band was born (the R stands for drummer Ruben and the J for bassist Johann). After two initial albums, line-up changes and Spice increasingly shifting his focus towards this musically more eclectic project, it was eventually renamed Band of Spice. Since then another five albums have been released and currently it is Spice’s only active band.

In 2016 the short-lived project My Regime saw the light of day, a thrash metal group that recorded three albums in three years. My Regime was basically the members of Band of Spice playing a harder style of music under a different name.

Several of the musicians that Spice has worked with over the years have taken part in multiple of his projects; The Mushroom River Band, Kayser, My Regime and Band of Spice have all had interchangeable members.

Some notable musical influences of Spice are John Frusciante and Tony Iommi.

Discography

Aeon

• Missing Ground/Under Silence (7”, 1991)

Spiritual Beggars

• Spiritual Beggars (EP, 1994)
• Another Way to Shine (1996)
• Mantra III (1998)
• Ad Astra (2000)

The Mushroom River Band

• Rocketcrash (10" EP, 1999)
• Music for the World Beyond (2000)
• Simsalabim (2002)

Kayser

• Kaiserhof (2005)
• Frame the World... Hang it on the Wall (2006)
• Good Citizen (EP, 2006)
• Read Your Enemy (2014)
• Beyond the Reef of Sanity (2016)

Spice and the RJ Band

• The Will (2007)
• Shave Your Fear (2009)

Band of Spice

• Economic Dancers (2015)
• Shadows Remain (2017)

My Regime

• Dogmas (2016)
• Deranged Patterns (2017)
• Peek Through the Pines (2018)

External links

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