Red Hot (Swe)

The Story Behind Red Hot (from Eyes Of The World CD compilation booklet)
Formed in the early to mid-eighties in Helsingborg, a coastal city in the south of Sweden, RED HOT were hoping to follow in the footsteps of bands like Deep Purple, Def Leppard and Rainbow. At the time, guitarist Lasse Wendel was playing in two bands and neither of them seemed to be working. The first band, Quicz Quix, featured Wendel (Guitar), Ulf Wiglund (Guitar) and Lasse Göransson (Vocals), whilst the unnamed second band saw Wendel joined by Per Nordström (Drums), Mats Ohlsson (Bass) and Bengt Andersson (Hammond, Piano). With both Ulf Wiglund and Lasse Göransson wanting to play heavier music in the style of Deep Purple and Def Leppard, they left Quicz Quix and joined Wendel's other band, the soon to be named RED HOT. Back then most of the local bands worked together, making their own little festivals around town. And what they lacked in knowledge they made up for with effort and hard work as they helped each other by spreading posters and terrorising local pub owners to get gigs.

Working alongside bands like Acacia, Queen Ann, Black Widow and the Boogie Liquer Band, who today are better known as Bai Bang, they played places like Helsingborg concert hall and clubs such as "La Dolce Vita", "Star Club" and "Mogambo Sundsparlan". Whilst there was no deep meaning behind their name, other than it looked good in red on a black background, it proved to be an easy name to remember in the cliché-ridden eighties. Whilst this inaugural version of the band did record a few demos, in the basement studio of Lasse 'Lala' Larsson, it saw them in full-on Deep Purple mode on tracks like 'Living In Madness', 'Shadow Of Your Love' and 'Someone'. Despite gigging around the south of Sweden, they didn't really move forward which resulted in both Göransson and Wiglund, who wasn't enjoying it anymore, leaving the band. Having seen vocalist Peter Wennerberg fronting the band Rising, Wendel approached the sixteen-year-old frontman with a view to joining RED HOT, an offer he duly accepted. With Wennerberg considerably younger than his new band-mates he brought with him a great sense of melody and stage performance, not to mention a great, high-pitched voice. He was also into the likes of Treat, Malmsteen and Europe and had a more modern approach, which appealed to his new band-mates as they adapted by moving forward in the style of bands of that ilk.

With Wennerberg at the helm, they recorded a slew of demos, mainly recording at weekends, with tracks like 'Fight Fire', 'One Way" and the quite wonderful 'Eyes Of The World', showcasing their new approach. "The studio work was always easy for us," reveals Lasse Wendel. "We recorded mostly live and then Peter did the vocals and we dubbed solos and additional guitar and keyboard tracks and then backing vocals afterwards. We used to get through five to six songs most weekends." With things moving along at a fair pace, the idea of making a promotional video was mooted and they took the chance. Working alongside a guy from Swedish television, whose name escapes Wendel, they recorded and filmed the track 'Hot Girls' and the best thing was, it was free! However, just as things were starting to happen, Peter Wennerberg decided to leave, having had an offer to join the band Vanessa after their singer, Göran Edman, had left to join Yngwie Malmsteen. Unperturbed, they recruited Miquel Persson, but the loss of keyboard player Bengt Andersson was another blow, with his place taken by Niklas Kenez. With bass player Mats Ohlsson leaving shortly after, replaced by Robert Marinkovic, they felt that they should move forward with a new direction, bringing the fun back to their music, not just playing what they thought other people, mainly record labels, wanted to hear from them.

The new sound with Miquel Persson was more party hard rock, typified by songs like '1999' and 'Bad Girl', as he and Niklas Kenez brought a lot of musical ideas to the table. But Persson had a totally different voice compared to that of Peter Wennerberg and was more hooked on Van Halen and Aerosmith, adding a bluesy swagger to their sound. They tried to do something different, and it was working out well. Whilst writing and rehearsing in the studio together, they took advantage of free studio time at night in a professional studio, recording a total of eight songs that were split over two demos. It was certainly a move in the right direction as they caught the eye of the Danish arm of EMI records, who were impressed with their cover of 'Delilah'. But it ultimately didn't go to plan as Wendel explains. "When the record company contacted us, they made us promise not to play any of the songs for anybody and just keep on writing for the album. Somehow a cassette found it's way to Los Angeles and was reviewed by a Hard-Rock fanzine, which resulted in some angry phone calls from Denmark. In the end I lost interest and so did the others. It led to the break-up of the band, and we walked away from the record deal."

Despite the break-up of the band the various members have kept in touch and are still involved in the music industry in some shape or form. "Whilst I haven't heard from Ulf Wiglund in a long while, the rest of us have been busy," reveals Wendel. "Singer Miquel Persson is involved in a band called Hicks, as well as working with Eclipse, Jeff Scott Soto and others as a songwriter. Lasse Göransson runs a rock club and sings in a Hard-Rock cover band, whilst Peter Wennerberg works with Jörgen Elofsson (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys) and others as a songwriter. Bobby Marinkovic plays in a successful cover band, but Mats Olsson has problems with his hands and plays when he can, whilst Nicklas Kenez writes, plays and records in his home mostly."

With Wendel playing live with his wife, or as a hired hand, his big passion right now is writing for a brand new RED HOT album, as he excitedly explains. "RED HOT is back - alive and kicking - with a new bass-player Chrille Lindberg, an old dear friend of ours. I'm still on guitar and now also the lead singer. Bengt (Andersson) is back on keyboards and Per (Nordström) on the drums. We've got new material and we'll be heading for the recording studio in September to record our new and updated rock songs for 2023."

- Rob Evans (POWERPLAY AND FIREWORKS MAGAZINES - August 2023)