The embryo of the group was formed as early as Autumn -61 under the name of Red River Band, a trio with accordion, trumpet and drums...(sic). Then it became Lee Riders and in August -63 the name finally became Lea Riders Group.
Hawkey founded the group and besides of him 12 other members have come and gone - Lars Prim(trp), Olof Svensson(drm), Lars "Yancey" Nilsson(in beginning pi,then elec.bass,vocal), Åke "Buddy" Johansson(guitar, vocal), Alf Sandher(drm), Åke "Ake" Engström(drm, vocal), Tommy "Slim" Borgudd(drm,vocal), Sigge Ehlin(guitar,harmonica,
vocal), Leif Alverstam(e-bass) and Bosse Häggström (elec.bass). Last week on the Golden Circle in Stockholm Georg Jojje Wadenius replaced Sigge Ehlin on guitar.(for a couple of short periodes Bonnie Zetterberg on elec.bass)
The group was founded in the small town of Borgholm on the little island Öland and conquered the whole country and was even mentioned abroad as a "raw, tough and genuin blues- and r&b-group...". Influences came from, among others, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Alexis Corner and of course also Rolling Stones and Beatles.
Lea Riders Group started to play during danceparties in school, the "Middle school" in Borgholm, and then it became small "dance-halls" in all parts of the island, further on mainland and Kalmar town, counties Småland, Blekinge, Västergötland where the group became "big and famous" in the towns Skövde, Skara and Karlsborg.
Went on to county Östergötland and in March -66 the group reached the capital Stockholm for the first time and played in clubs like Bobbadilla in the Old Town. In a very short time the group became "the in and hot band" in places like the University of Commerce, University Corps and the ´worldknown´ jazz&blues-club the Golden Circle. At the Golden Circle LRG became sort of houseband together with, among othters, Hansson & Carlsson. Other clubs were of course HitHouse, Pråmen(the Scow by the City Hall) and the famous Nalen.
At Golden Circle the filmmakers Jan Lindkvist and Stefan Jarl shooted the first live-appearance on TV with LRG for the youghtprogram "Stänk"(Sprinkle) produced by Mona Sjöström in Autumn -66.
First single was recorded in the new studio in Philip´s House. The "studio" was situated on the stage with a small compartment as controlroom with 4-channel recorder and Gert Palmcrantz and Bampe Carlsson as technicians. In that studio also the four coming singles were recorded, the last one in connection with the movie "Dom Kallar Oss Mods"/They Call Us Misfits in Spring -68. Hawkey and the group made the music for the film.(filmmusic was recorded at EuropaFilm)
In May 1968 Lea Riders Group performed the last week as group at the Golden Circle but then one of the mem- bers - Sigge Ehlin - already had left and got back to Öland. So, Georg "Jojje" Wadenius replaced Sigge on guitar. The group just had to get the very modest salary but it was, according to Hawkey, rather futile´jamsession -nights´ and as a natural consequence the band splitted and Tommy Slim Borgudd, Bosse Häggström and Jojje Wadenius became the new group Made In Sweden.
Lea Riders Group appeared live in the radioshow "Tonårskväll"/TeenageEvening some times and thanks to Hawkey, who saved tapecopies from these occasions, the small recordcompany GarageLand Records in Umeå, was able to release a LP with some live material and 8 titles from the singles in 1989. In May 1998 the same company released a CD - Lea Riders Group/The Forgotten Generation - with same material as the LP plus 4 bonus liverecordings. (certain is that one more release will appear with material never heard on record - recordings from before the singles - during 2007. ...process in progress...)
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Legendary Swedish rock trio led by Michael Maksymenko, as originally issued in 1980-81. Heavily influenced by the convoluted blues of prime-era Beefheart Magic Band, these guys played a fairly unbelievable variation on the style -- intense, full throttle guitar/bass/drum interplay with absolutely crazed Swedish vocals on top. Beefheart fanatics use to fall face flat when hearing this stuff back when it came out, and I'm sure there's a whole slew of newcomers ready for the same gust of Nordic madness. Guitarist Maksymenko went on to work with Henry Kaiser in the later 80s, forming the band Crazy Backwards Alphabet (along with Magic Band drummer Drumbo French). These recordings have been legitimately "weird" -- every single day, for 25 years now!
