EL.P

Biography

L.Stadt hails from Łódź, Poland, but its members met in Strasbourg. They played their first concert on a club stage during the 2003 Camerimage Festival. L.Stadt harmoniously fuses modern rock with old school. Their songs feature powerful electric guitar, the energetically pulsating rhythms of two drummers, and the vocals of Lukasz Lach, which seem to float straight out of scratched vinyl records of The Velvet Underground. L.Stadt is deservingly called the forerunner of rock music in Poland and h...

L.Stadt hails from Łódź, Poland, but its members met in Strasbourg. They played their first concert on a club stage during the 2003 Camerimage Festival. L.Stadt harmoniously fuses modern rock with old school. Their songs feature powerful electric guitar, the energetically pulsating rhythms of two drummers, and the vocals of Lukasz Lach, which seem to float straight out of scratched vinyl records of The Velvet Underground. L.Stadt is deservingly called the forerunner of rock music in Poland and has scooped up a multitude of awards at home and abroad within a span of a few years.

L.Stadt electrifies audiences with their atypical blend of sounds and powerful delivery, as well as their thoughtful lyrics and piercing vocals. Their music is melodic yet critics are at a loss when trying to pigeonhole their style, which is evidenced by one French critic describing their music as alternative-pop-garage-noise-rock.

They were among the finalists at Gazeta Wyborcza’s Gra Muzyka event. In the summer of 2004, they played the Class Rock Festival in Aix en Provence, France and their performance was included on the accompanying DVD. In 2005, they graced the stage of the prestigious Festiwal Czterech Kultur in Lodz.

From the 374 recordings submitted for the OFF-scena competition sponsored by Radio Trójka, Przekrój weekly and Onet.pl, 50 were selected by the jury and 4 were awarded – L.Stadt was among the winners.

The band had the great honour of performing on the main stage during the first day of the 2007 OFF Festival in Myslowice and their songs can be found on numerous compilations, such as: OFFensywa, Program Alternatywny, FDM, as well as on the soundtrack to the film Absolute Beginner.

L.Stadt’s self-titled debut album, which hit the shelves on 29 February 2008, was met with gushing reviews and the Polish media declared the band to be Polish music’s greatest hope. The band is also an ambassador of the city of Lodz in its efforts to be named the European Capital of Culture 2016.

After releasing its debut album in 2008, the quartet was called best polish rock export worth and the band‘s hit single, Londyn (only song in native language), was nominated for the best rock song of the year at Poland‘s prestigious ESKA Music Awards which was surprise because this award is rather for pop industry not alternative which L.Stadt is. L.Stadt have played already 200 club and outdoor shows in Poland and abroad, including USA, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Germany, France, England, Croatia and Serbia. On 4 July 2008, L.Stadt opened the Tent Stage at Poland’s largest festival, OPEN’ER, and in September, they rocked the Young Talent stage at the PKOBP LONDON LIVE festival at Wembley Arena in London. On 13 June 2009 they played at biggest Lithuanian Festival Be2gether and 28th of August they performed on ViertelFest in Bremen.

2010 L.Stadt played more gigs abroad then home. For the time of first trip to America boys played 2 night and 2 day showcases at SXSW in Austin TX and 9 other gigs including Houston, Dallas and Ft.Worth. Throughout that year they performed at most popular festivals in Poland like DachOOFka, Two editions of Taste & Feel Festival, Maj Music, ENGliwice, Heineken Open’er, Slot Art and Coke Festival. They also performed on showcase festival “Don’t Panic… We’re From Poland” in Warsaw presenting best polish acts.

Playing FILTER MAGAZINE Cedar Street showcase on SXSW fructified with second trip overseas where band showed their skills playing three gigs on CULTURE COLLIDE Festival in L.A. sharing the stage with White Lies. Afterwards at INDIE WEEK Canada in Toronto L.Stadt was amongst 10 finalist out of 170 bands.

Last months of 2010 L.Stadt was finishing work on their second album and touring with club gigs. Band decided to cooperate for album in mix and mastering with Mikael Count, San Franciscan producer known from working with names like DJ Shadow, Radiohead or No Doubt.
On the 6th of december album named EL.P was released by main polish independent label Mystic Production.

2011 started great, L.Stadt was recommended by Metro daily newspaper in Toronto to (be seen) on Canadian Music Week and Paste Magazine put L.Stadt into 100 bands at 25th anniversary SXSW and wrote „Polish vintage rockers mix in blues-rock with a hint of rockabilly. Jon Spencer meets Chuck Berry”.
April 2011 L.Stadt wins „Warranties of Culture”, polish cultural national TV award in category „rock, jazz and other” for EL.P album.
In summer L.Stadt plays a lot polish festivals like Streetwaves, Frytka OFF, Seven Festival music&more or biggest independent event OFF Festival, as well as they rocked at Moscow Afisha Picnic sharing main stage with Kaiser Chiefs. Came also second time to Belgrade to perform at Beer Fest In Serbia.

L.Stadt has under the belt over 200 gigs at festivals, clubs and showcases in Poland and abroad, including USA, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany and other middle european countries.

In February 2012 they came for the third time to Texas to make recordings for EP with covers. That project was a natural step after their American adventure as a tribute to local musicians. The material was recorded at Purple Bee in Lockhart by Grego Loboz. Mixing made by Cyrille Champange from Paris turned out to be a great decision given the final effect. Mastering was made by Shaw Hatfield. Finally, the album released October 2nd 2013 containing 7 songs from artists like Jim Sullivan, Townes Van Zandt or Lee Hazlewood and tilted „You Gotta Move” hit the shelves.
December 9th thanks to Foundation EDM+ band self-releases „You Gotta Move” album on vinyl.

Early 2014, L.Stadt is ready to make recordings for their third author album. After great reviews of „You Gotta Move” album and high opinions on the sound, L.Stadt decided to work with Cyrille Champagne again, but in a different way – he is now responsible for making recordings. Album is still in process. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.