The Poodles

The Poodles is a glam metal/heavy metal band from Sweden. They are best known for their hits Metal Will Stand Tall and Night of Passion, the latter of which was played in the Swedish Melodifestivalen in 2006.

The band is formed by singer Jakob Samuel (A.K.A. Jake Samuels) who in the early 90's was Talisman's drummer, bassist Pontus Egberg (ex Lion Share), guitarist Pontus Norgren (also in Talisman, Humanimal) and drummer Christian Lundqvist.

They also played in the Swedish Melodifestivalen contest in 2008, this time with E-Type.

In addition, they played at the Sweden Rock Festival 2006 and 2008.


Background information
Origin Sweden
Genre(s) Hard rock
Heavy metal
Glam metal
Years active 2006–present

Melodifestivalen 2006

In 2006, Jakob Samuel was asked to sing the track Night of Passion (text: Sonja Aldén and music written by Matti Alfonzetti, Johan Lyander and Robert Olausson) and as he loved the song he asked to Christian Lundqvist to join him as drummer for that session. Later Pontus Egberg and Pontus Norgren joined them to perfom it as a band, called The Poodles during Sweden's official representative at the Eurovision Song Contest in Greece.

The Poodles were one of ten finalists in the running and by the moment of their performed in the Melodifestivalen 2006 they count with old friend of Samuel, Mats Levén on backing vocals.

Finally The Poodles, finished in fourth place at Melodifestivalen 2006, then released their debut album called 'Metal Will Stand Tall', only for Swedish market in May and later they inked a deal with Germany's AFM Records and then was released in the rest of Europe on January 19, 2007.

Single 'One Night of Passion' was certified platinum and follow-up single, 'Metal Will Stand Tall' (a duet with Tess from the Swedish dance band Alcazar), was certified gold.

The song, 'Kingdom Of Heaven', was co-written by Jakob Samuel and Marcel Jacob.

[edit] Sweet Trade

The band made an initial selection based on 35 songs to be used for their second album. They chose 12 tracks for his release titled 'The Sweet Trade', that was released on September 28, 2007 by AFM Records.

Seven Seas, produced by Matti Alfonzetti and Johan Lyander, was selected as the first single.

The song was written by Jakob Samuel, Jonas Reingold and Peter Stormare. Stormare is a swedish actor well know worldwide for his role in Prison Break, Fargo and Jurassic Park.

[edit] Leaving of a Member

On April 22, 2008, Pontus Norgren left The Poodles.

The band issued the following press release:

We regrettably have to inform you that Pontus Norgren has decided to leave The Poodles. We would like to thank Pontus for all the great times we’ve shared and wish him the best of luck for the future.

Norgren himself said the following:

I like HammerFall. I think they have amazing stage shows and I like their songs, so when I heard they were looking for a guitar player I thought I'd give it a try. Playing in The Poodles has been a wonderful experience in many ways, but I have always liked a little heavier music and have felt at times that this wasn't the right kind of forum for the music I'd most like to play. It's simply time to move on.

[edit] Band Members

* Jakob Samuel - Vocals
* Christian Lundqvist - Drums
* Pontus Egberg - Bass
* Henrik Bergqvist - Guitar

[edit] Former Band Members

* Pontus Norgren - Guitar

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

* Metal Will Stand Tall (2006)
* Sweet Trade (2007)
* Clash of the Elements (2009)

[edit] Singles

* "Night of Passion" (2006)
* "Metal Will Stand Tall" feat. Tess Merkel (2006)
* "Song for You" (2006)
* "Seven Seas" feat. Peter Stormare (2007)
* "Streets of Fire" (2007)
* "Line of Fire" feat. E-Type (2008)
* "Raise the Banner" (2008) Swedish official song for the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008
* "One Out of Ten" (2009)
* "I Rule The Night" (2009)

[edit] Compilations

* Various Artist - Melodifestivalen 2006

[edit] External links

* Official web
* German The Poodles Fanpage
* The Poodles Brasil (Brazilian fan page)
* Jacok Samuel Spanish Interview