Drain S.T.H. Biography

When ladies play heavy metal, gender politics get complicated. American girl rockers like L7 or Babes in Toyland use the perception of metal- as-a-guy-thing to make snarling pop product that's metal in quotes - a musical attitude well-suited to irony-flooded America. Any place less awash in irony, however, can be expected to forge another kind of metal. Sweden's Drain, four women from Stockholm, steer around the fun and games, instead heading straight for the brooding psychodrama-metal pioneered by Black Sabbath. "We're doing just fine cultivating our breed of agony," the ladies have declared.

Like Bergman with a Marshall amp, Drain rides metal's buzz and crunch into a harrowing, claustrophobic space that admits but two entities, a "you" and an "I". The occupants of that cramped psychological space may be two people slugging their way towards an understanding, or the mind confronting brutal realities, or they may be the flesh and the consequences of its actions; whatever their identities, the mood of the up- close-and-personal wrestling match is accusatory and confrontational. A trust has been betrayed, an unnamed injury sustained, and the "I" ain't about to take it.

The band's formation was gradual as the arrival of a distant storm. Martina Axen (drums) and Flavia Canel (guitars) had played together for a decade, four years into which Anna Kjellberg joined them on bass; with the more recent addition of Maria Sjöholm's power-drill voice, the band was ready to unleash its power. A democratic affair, Drain's songwriting technique reflects the input of each member's sensibility, with Anna generating throbbing bass lines, Flavia raiding her closet-full of eerie headbanging riffs, and Martina and Maria contributing the nightmarish scenarios. In rehearsal the four women practice collective cut-and-paste to distill their roiling kettle of bang and blast into potent stuff indeed.

Signed to MVG Records in March of 1994 ("we double-dared the head of A&R, there was no way he could chicken out"), recording began in January 1995, and within a year both an EP, "Serve the Shame", and an album, "Horror Wrestling" had been released. "We are still a young band," they say, "but the four of us have been around for awhile. We feel no need to rush things. When our day comes, everyone will know."

Flavia's first band was when she was 17 years old, it was called Living Sacrifice. At 21 Martina joined in and was re-named Aphrodite. Then came Anna, which changed the name to Ragdoll. After that, was Maria, with the current line up.

Band Member Birthdays

Anna-November 22, 1969
Flavia-July 7, 1963
Maria-March 2, 1965
Martina-April 1, 1967

Drain Discography

Horror Wrestling       MVG 122      Album     1996
Serve the Shame        MVGCDS 32    EP        1995
I Don't Mind           MVGCDS 37    Single    1996
Crack The Liars Smile  MVGCDS 38    Single    1996