Caesars

Formed in Sweden during 1995 under the initial moniker Caesar's Palace, the group later known as Caesars first gained notice in the United States when Apple placed their track “Jerk It Out” in an iPod campaign. Childhood friends since kindergarten—vocalist César Vidal and guitarist Joakim Ahlund—joined forces with bassist David Lindqvist and drummer Jens Orjeheim, the last of whom Nino Keller soon supplanted. Even though their technical skills were still rudimentary, the quartet began laying down demo recordings almost immediately, three of which appeared on the 1995 debut EP Shake It issued by Dolores Records. That same year’s single releases and the 1996 mini-album further showcased the raw, garage-oriented approach shaped by the early Stones, the Sonics, Billy Childish, and the 13th Floor Elevators. A vintage Farfisa organ that Ahlund acquired left an equally decisive imprint, audible throughout the band’s first full-length album, Youth Is Wasted on the Young, which Minty Fresh issued in America under the altered billing Twelve Caesars.

Both that record and its successor, Cherry Kicks, performed solidly on home soil, yet 2002’s Love for the Streets marked the true domestic breakthrough: the album earned gold certification and captured a Swedish Grammy for Album of the Year. International exposure followed in 2003 with the Astralwerks-distributed compilation 39 Minutes of Bliss (In an Otherwise Meaningless World), while “Jerk It Out,” originally featured on Love for the Streets, became one of the earliest digital singles to achieve gold status. Throughout that year the band toured Europe, Japan, and the United States before commencing work on a fourth album late in 2003. Apple’s continued use of “Jerk It Out” in iPod television spots during 2004 and 2005 returned the song to the charts, aligning perfectly with the spring 2005 arrival of Paper Tigers. Three years afterward the group resurfaced with the double album Strawberry Weed, produced by Ebbot Lundberg, vocalist and co-founder of the Soundtrack of Our Lives.