WIZ

It was at fall in 1996 participating in a rock-competition, Johan Weicht (Bass) and Stefan Lindquist (Drums) played in a band called Children Of The Grave. Also participating in another band was Magnus Hansson (Lead Guitar), Johan and Magnus started talking and they discovered that they shared musical interest. The decision was made to leave the bands they presently were in and the duo started to write material. Putting the band together Johan and Magnus asks Stefan to join in and the three of them starts rehearsing while looking for a singer.

While rehearsing it became obvious that it wasn’t enough with only one guitar. At this time Magnus was studying music at a musical school and told Johan about this guy in class named Jake Fredén (Guitar). Jake was already in a band called Vapid but accepted to join. Together Johan, Magnus, Stefan and Jake decided to call the band WIZ.

While writing and rehearsing they still couldn’t find a proper singer. At the same time Johan’s brother Peter who played bass in Vapid also played in another band called Sten & Stalin. People were saying good things about their singer named Freddy Persson, Johan called him up and he agreed to join the band. Rehearsing and writing new material, months went by when suddenly Magnus decided to leave the band. The rest of the group decided to carry on without him and kept writing, rehearsing and recording demos with only one guitar.

In fall of 1998 Freddy and Jake decided to put a band together just for fun to participate in a rock-competition, (Nostradameus). In April of 1999 Nostradameus signs with AFM-Records.

In the summer of 1999 WIZ records another demo, shortly after Stefan announces that he is leaving the band. Fredrik "Figge" Johansson replaces him, but things don’t work out.Figge chooses to leave after only 2 rehearsals and luckily Stefan who has just heard the final mix of the last recorded demo changes his mind and wants to be back in the band.

In early fall 1999 WIZ records another demo this would be the last in a long time. The demo turns out great and everyone’s very happy with the result. At this time it became obvious once again that another guitar was needed, if the band should be able to perform the new songs live. This time the group turned to an old friend of Johan and Stefan named Martin Karlsson. He had played with Johan and Stefan in a band some years earlier. He frequently visited the band during rehearsals and therefore the choice was obvious, as they all already know him. The band started rehearsing with Martin and Jake became lead-guitarist. In the early spring of 2000 things started happening for Nostradameus and with the first album on its way Freddy and Jake really had to focus on their own thing. For WIZ there were only two choices, to split up or put the band on hold until things settled down. Then in late summer of 2001 Johan and Freddy starts talking about WIZ, and agrees that the time is right. A meeting was held at Martin’s house with all five band members present.

The group decided to re-record the best songs and send them to different labels, rehearsals started in fall of 2001. The demo was finally recorded in the spring of 2002 and sent to labels all around Europe. During one year of communications with different labels, WIZ recorded two more demos. In April 2003 a decision was made to send the three latest demos to Arise-Records and the answer came fast.

In May of 2003 WIZ signs with Arise-Records, the first album of the band will be recorded at Gain Studios to be mixed at Fredman Studios in Sept/Oct

Wiz are:
Freddy Persson - Vocals
Stefan Lindquist - Drums
Johan Weicht - Bass
Martin Karlsson - Guitar
Jake Fredén - Lead Guitar

A finales de 1996 durante un concurso de rock Johan Weicht (bajo) y Stefan Lindquist (batería) tocaban en una banda llamada Children Of The Grave. Durante ese concurso también participaba Magnus Hansson (guitarra), Johan y Magnus comenzaron a hablar y descubrieron muchos puntos en común. Tomaron la decisión de dejar sus bandas y comenzaron a escribir material mientras buscaban un vocalista.

Pronto se dieron cuenta de que necesitaban otro guitarrista y Magnus que estaba estudiando en una escuela de música decidió incorporar a Jake Fredén (guitarra) un compañero suyo de la escuela.Los cuatro miembros decidieron llamar a la banda Wiz. La banda no conseguía encontrar un vocalista adecuado y Peter (hermano de Johan) que tocaba en una banda llamada Sten & Stalin y la banda había oído muy buenas referencias de su vocalista Freddy Persson, después de una llamada de Johan, Peter decide entrar en la banda. La banda después de unos meses recibe la noticia de la marcha de Magnus, pero deciden seguir la composición y la grabación de demos con un solo guitarra.

Freddy le llama y junto a Jake forman una banda juntos para participar en un concurso de rock, esta banda es Nostradameus, que finalmente firman con AFM-Records.

En verano de 1999 WIZ graban una nueva demo, poco después Stefan deja la banda.Fredrik "Figge" Johansson le reemplaza pero las cosas no funcionan y Fredrik decide dejar la banda poco después, aunque afortunadamente Stefan decide volver a la banda después de escuchar la nueva demo de la banda. A finales de 1999 WIZ graban una nueva demo que sería la última en un largo tiempo.La banda decide llamar al guitarrista Martín Karlsson para ocupar un puesto como segundo guitarrista.

En primavera de 2000 las cosas empiezan a funcionar muy bien en Nostradameus pero Johan y Freddy deciden continuar su trabajo en WIZ. La banda opta por regrabar las mejores canciones y enviarlas a diferentes sellos discográficos a finales de 2001.Finalmente, estas grabaciones se realizan en la primavera de 2002, durante un año WIZ registran 2 demos.

En Abril de 2003 la banda envia sus últimas 3 demos a Arise Records y la respuesta es imminente. En Mayo de 2003 WIZ firman con Arise Records, el primer álbum de la banda se grabará en los estudios Gain y se mezclará en los Fredman en Septiembre/Octubre de 2003

Wiz son:
Freddy Persson - Vocals
Stefan Lindquist - Batería
Johan Weicht - Bajo
Martin Karlsson - Guitarra
Jake Fredén - Guitarra solista