Kaleo (band)


Kaleo is an Icelandic rock band that formed at Mosfellsbær in 2012, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist JJ Julius Son, drummer David Antonsson, bassist Daniel Kristjansson, and lead guitarist Rubin Pollock. They have released two studio albums, Kaleo and A/B, as well as an EP, Glasshouse. A/B has sold over one million albums worldwide. One of the singles from A/B, "Way Down We Go", was certified double platinum in the US and reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart on 20 August 2016. Kaleo received a Grammy nomination in 2017 for Best Rock Performance for the song "No Good".
Julius Son is currently working on the follow-up to A/B, titled Surface Sounds on Elektra. Lead singles "I Want More" and "Break My Baby" were released on 15 January 2020. The band's song "Alter Ego" was released on 13 March 2020. A fourth single, appearing on the album, "Backbone" was released on 17 April 2020.

History

2012–2013: Early years and self-titled album

Best friends since attending elementary school outside of Reykjavik, band leader JJ Julius Son, drummer David Antonsson, and bassist Daniel Kristjansson began playing together at the age of 17 before adding guitarist Rubin Pollock to the mix in 2012. They named the band Kaleo, which means "the voice" in Hawaiian, and started their career with a handful of well-received shows at the 2012 Iceland Airwaves music festival, which was the band's first major public appearance.
Kaleo gained fame after covering the song "Vor í Vaglaskógi" which received heavy rotation on Icelandic state broadcaster RÚV's radio station Rás 2 and was featured on the station's top 10 list. This song is also featured in the first episode of the TV series Trapped. By year's end, Kaleo had signed with Sena, the country's main record label. Their self-titled debut went gold in their home country, spawning five number one hits and inspiring their first European tour.

2013–present: Major label record deal, departure to America, ''A/B'' and touring

In 2014, the band gained further attention with their single "All the Pretty Girls", which garnered over 87 million streams on Spotify. In early 2015, they signed with Atlantic Records and subsequently relocated to Austin, Texas. Throughout 2015, Kaleo received increasing attention in the United States. The band's South by Southwest debut in 2015 garnered press from Esquires "40 Bands You Need to Hear" as well as NPR's "The Austin 100: SXSW 2015 Feature and All Songs Considered SXSW 2015 Music Preview". "All the Pretty Girls" peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.
Another three singles were released to promote their upcoming major label debut album A/B: "Way Down We Go", "No Good", and "I Can't Go On Without You". The single "Way Down We Go", was released on August 2015 and gained critical acclaim. The single was certified gold in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, South Africa and Germany, Platinum in Russia, Australia and the United States, and triple platinum in Canada. The single "No Good" was released shortly after and was featured in the promo for HBO's Vinyl. The fourth single, "I Can't Go On Without You", was released on 18 February 2016. The album was released worldwide later that year on 10 June 2016.
The album peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200, and the band embarked on a tour, the Handprint Tour, in order to promote it. The tour began on 11 September 2016 and concluded on 30 November 2016. The band embarked on a second tour, the fall Express Tour, which started on 25 August 2017 in Anaheim, California and ended on 25 November in Moscow, Russia.

Genre

Kaleo's music genre mainly focuses on Indie and Alternative Rock music with elements of Folk Music and Blues Rock. The Icelandic folk music has inspired Kaleo. In an interview with Rolling Stone, The band Frontman JJ Julius Son explained "Growing up I was listening to a lot of American music and Blues artists and such and that was what kind of connected us.". Their blues influences are mainly drawn from Delta Blues which was the target for some of the heavier songs in their album A/B. Their music prominently features a distinctive resonator sound.

Television appearances

The group has made multiple appearances on late night television shows including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live! Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Their songs have been heard on many other television shows including Orange Is the New Black, Blindspot, Suits, Vinyl, Grey's Anatomy, Riverdale, Empire, The Leftovers, Frequency, Supergirl, Lucifer, Longmire, The Vampire Diaries, Frontier, The Blacklist, Bering Sea Gold, and The Good Fight. "Way Down We Go" was featured in a no7 Skincare ad in the UK and in the second trailer for the film Logan.

Use in media

Kaleo's "Way Down We Go" was featured in the film Logan, while "Automobile" was used in Collateral Beauty.
Several Kaleo songs including "Way Down We Go", "Hot Blood", "No Good", "All the Pretty Girls" and "Glass House" have been featured in FIFA 16, Madden NFL 17, NHL 18, Far Cry 5, The Crew 2, Rocksmith 2014 and .
Way Down We Go was used in the conclusion of Season 2 Episode 5 of the show Manifest, as well as the conclusion of Season 16 Episode 22 of the show NCIS. Their song 'Break my Baby' features in the video game MLB The Show 20.

Members

The band is made up of:

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Awards