The Poodles


The Poodles were a Swedish hard rock band formed by singer Jakob Samuel, bass guitarist Pontus Egberg, guitarist Pontus Norgren, and drummer Christian Lundqvist. The band's songs include "Metal Will Stand Tall" and "Night of Passion", the latter of which was performed in 2006 in Melodifestivalen, the annual music competition to decide the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. The Poodles performed in Melodifestivalen again in 2008, this time with the musician E-Type, and played at the Sweden Rock Festival in 2006 and 2008.

History

Prior to the formation of The Poodles, Norgren and Samuel were members of Talisman and also played together in a The Lord of the Rings-themed power metal trio called The Ring. In 2006, Samuel was asked to sing the track "Night of Passion", and asked Lundqvist to join him as drummer for the session. Bass guitarist Egberg and Norgren subsequently joined them to perform the song as The Poodles.
The Poodles were one of ten finalists in Melodifestivalen 2006, and by the time of their performance had added Mats Levén, a friend of Samuel, on backing vocals. The band finished in fourth place and released a first album, Metal Will Stand Tall, in Sweden in May 2006. The band signed a deal with Germany's AFM Records and then released the album in the rest of Europe on 19 January 2007.
The single "Night of Passion" was certified platinum and a follow-up single, "Metal Will Stand Tall", a duet with Therese Merkel from the Swedish dance band Alcazar, was certified gold. The song "Kingdom of Heaven" was co-written by Samuel and Marcel Jacob.
The band made an initial selection based on 35 songs to be used for its second album. 12 tracks were chosen for this album, which was titled Sweet Trade, and it was released on 28 September 2007 by AFM Records. "Seven Seas", produced by Matti Alfonzetti and Johan Lyander, was selected as the first single. It was written by Samuel, Jonas Reingold and the actor Peter Stormare.
On 22 April 2008, Norgren left the band to join HammerFall and was replaced by Henrik Bergqvist.
On 22 October 2016, The Poodles appeared at the three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
In 2017, Samuel and Egberg were reunited in the project band Kryptonite, with the drummer Robban Bäck and the guitarist Mike Palace, recording an album for Frontier Records.
On 20 December 2018, the band announced that it would disband with immediate effect, due to other musical projects.

Band members

Final line-up

  • Jakob Samuel – vocals
  • Christian Lundqvist – drums
  • Henrik Bergqvist – guitar
  • Germain Leth – bass

    Previous members

  • Pontus Norgren – guitar
  • Pontus Egberg – bass
  • Johan Flodquvist – bass
  • Emil Lindroth – keyboards, vocals
  • Kristian Hermansson – vocals

    Discography

Albums

;Studio albums
;Live albums

Singles

;Other singles
  • 2009: "I Rule the Night"
  • 2011: "Cuts Like a Knife"
  • 2011: "I Want It All"
  • 2013: "40 Days and 40 Nights"

    Compilations

  • 2006: Various artists – ''Melodifestivalen 2006''