Pelle Hillstrom
Songwriter/artist Pelle Hillstrom grew up in a small village called Jarbo in middle Sweden. His pursuit of music began early, playing saxophone in jazz orchestras in the afternoon and learning Iron Maiden riffs in the evening. Eventually, his desire to play music for a living led him to the U.S., where he quickly worked his way into the Los Angeles music scene.
Hillstrom met Nine Inch Nails keyboardist Alessandro Cortini in early 2000. The two began an intense collaboration, forming electro/rock act Modwheelmood. The duo released their debut EP Enemies and Immigrants on Buddyhead records to critical acclaim. Their busy schedules hindered touring at that time but they have since built an impressive following of loyal fans. www.myspace.com/modwheelmood
Around that same time, Hillstrom also joined the original Eels bassist Tommy Walter in the band Abandoned Pools. The band toured the US, Japan, Canada and UK, opening for bands like Lenny Kravitz, Garbage, and The White Stripes. They played The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Craig Kilborn Late Night and Top of the pops(UK), and were onheavy rotation on MTV.
Pelle continued to dig into the scene working as hired guitarist for producers like Patrick Leonard (Madonna, Elton John, Pink Floyd), Polarbear (Korn, Bootsy Collins, Snoop Dogg), Marc Jameson (Christina Aguilera, Felix da housecat), Redcola (commercials for Nike, Ford, Kodak etc), and Brad wood (Smashing Pumpkins, The Bangles, Pete Yorn etc).
In 2005 he formed the band Forever Like Red and got signed to Echo Records, UK and to Chrysalis Publishing in the US. The band moved to London in 2006, and recorded their debut album Distance, and The Sunday Times gave it four stars and called the band the next U2. Hillstrom toured the UK and Scotland extensively in 2007. Opening up for acts like Silverchair and Pete Murray, he also played Hyde Park Calling with bands like Aerosmith, Crowded House, Jet, and Chris Cornell among others. The single What Will You Pay, written by Hillstrom and Cameron Meshell, was spinning on BBC 1 and the bands song Dream On, was featured in an episode of the hugely popular TV show Hollyoaks in England.
Hillstrom is currently in Los Angeles hard at work on various projects as a songwriter/artist for Chrysalis music publishing and is completing Modwheelmoods first full length album Pearls to pigs due to be released in early 2009.