Floodgate
All you need to know about Floodgate...and a little more
The story of Floodgate starts somewhere in the fall of 1999, but let's take it all from the very beginning. Ola moved to Malmö, Sweden in 1994 to study at the Music Academy. When Daniel moved to the very same town in August 1996, he began every now and then to hear about this Ola, "the great pianist", without getting the chance to meet him. Then Daniel started his studies in the fall of 1997 at the same school that Ola already had graduated from. Now Ola started to hear rumors about this Daniel, "the singer". They even saw each other a couple of times without being introduced to each other. And when that joyous day finally arrived, sometime in the fall of 1998, neither of them could imagine the journey that lay ahead of them.
They started to play together in a band called "Big Brother" (yes, it was before the TV-show), and also, by what you could call an accident, to play tennis on Friday mornings. When "Big Brother" split up, the tennis games kept going. The tennis was often followed by lunches that tended to be longer and longer. The friendship developed as they started to share each other's lives in a deeper way. Many issues have been discussed, many visions, dreams, laughs and tears have been shared and many songs have been born out of it.
By the end of the fall of 1999 they decided to start a band with just the two of them. They started from scratch and dedicated the first year to just writing new songs and didn't have any thoughts at all of going live before they had enough great songs to fill a concert. From the beginning the name of the band was Hood. But when they found out the name was taken, they changed it to Flood, only to discover it was also taken. At that time they had a team from California visiting their church, and one member of that team (he didn't know Daniel was into music at all) one night prayed three times in a row over Daniel: "Your words are gonna go through the nations like a floodgate". And, oops, there you go. Touched by the prayer, they found Floodgate a great name for their band.
The first demo was recorded in the spring of 2000, named "Will you", and contained four songs. Later that same summer the first concert took place. It was at the festival PARK-00 in Alingsås, Sweden, and it was like most premieres: chaotic but a lot of fun. Two guys alone on the stage can't make enough noise, so this was also the first time with supporting musicians.
Demo number two was recorded in November 2000, named "Let the flood run", and contained three songs. In February 2001 a package with a CD and a presentation folder was sent out to about 30 record companies and booking agencies in the US. Eight companies gave feedback on the package, and it lead to further interest and some talks with a couple of the companies. In March Daniel went over to Nashville again to do some student teaching at a High School in the area, and met with some music industry people at the same time. More successful than the first time, yet still no contract. During spring and summer-2001, they made some successful concerts.
"Not about us" was the name of the third demo, which was recorded in June 2001, and was sent out to a lot of different record and management companies, and the work continued with more strength and inspiration than ever. In the end of September, Floodgate performed one of Olas songs in the final of Melody 2001, a nationwide Christian Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden. It resulted in the 5th place and it was a great arrangement to be a part of. Then October 2-9, Floodgate went to the USA for the first time together to perform live. Three concerts were successfully made during the week. Later in the fall a couple more live performances was also made.
During the fall of 2001 the songs from the "Not about us"-demo were played on several different radio stations. In December a live session, together with the whole band, was made with the Swedish Television. Six songs were recorded live during an intensive day.
The work on their first single began in the middle of December, 2001 and was released in the beginning of April, 2002 on their own label Running Flood Music. The single contained two songs - "Use me" and "Heal the love". To develop the sound they involved more new people in the project. Besides some airplay the single didn't get as much attention as was hoped for. The live performances made during this time were a success though. During spring and summer they did a lot of gigs with the band and the response from audiences were great. They also more and more started to "find Floodgate" in both sound, songs and performance.
Inspired by the feeling of the live performances and with an eagerness to produce something better than the single, they started the recording work of their first album in August 2002, with Jonas Reingold from Malmö turning and twisting the knobs, putting new ears and hands to the songs and the sound. This time the whole band was brought into the studio to try to catch the "live-sound" on tape.
March 2003 held a number of unplugged concerts and the debut album named "Open the floodgate" was released on April 1. The week after the album release they went to Nashville for the GMA-week trying to get some attention to the album. It was an interesting week, packed with experiences and a lot of fun, meeting with people and making new friends. A contact with The Breen Agency in Nashville ended up in a request about doing an unplugged tour in the States later that same year. Back in Sweden a contract was signed with Reliable Artist - a booking agency that from May-03 took care of their bookings in Sweden. Now they had established contact with the Breen Agency in Nashville who really liked their music and in September-October 2003 the US-tour containing 17 concerts in 6 different states took place.
In the beginning of 2004 the first two Floodgirls were born within seven weeks. Talk about timing even when it comes to having children. This of course turned their worlds upside down just like it does for everyone who becomes parents. It didn't stop them from working hard though. If the first album was recorded over a long period of time, the second album "More" was the total opposite. After an intensive spring and summer 2004 "More" was released on Sept. 1 by Talking Music. Before the album release the title track was released as a single reaching number 12 on the Swedish single chart. The second single from the album "Irresistible love" didn't reach as high in Sweden, but they decided to make another shot at the US market with that song letting an independent radio promoter serve it to Christian radio stations in the States for a month. A number of stations picked it up and played it frequently, but the total wasn't enough to get the ball running this time either.
After doing a lot of concerts in the fall right after the album release a break was needed. They had worked hard for a long time and they needed a break from working and get to spend more time with their families. This break extended to be much longer than they had planned to. During this break they did some concerts every now and then. At Christmas time both 2006 and 2007 they made two smaller tours together with Erik Tilling and Millan Holm containing a Christmas production who was a great success. In October 2007 the desire of writing was awakened and along with that thoughts of recording a new album. They decided not to push anything, not to set any time limits, but letting every part take the time needed. New songs were born and in April 2008 the recording session started. In July 2008 they shot their first video on one of the songs from the coming album and during the fall the work continued. On Nov 1 a new website was launched and the third album named "This is we" will be released on Nov. 26.
This is as far as the story goes today, but as time goes by more lines will be added to this page. That's one thing you can be sure of. Enjoy the ride of the running flood...