The Flower Kings

Swedish progressive rock band. Formed in 1993 by veteran guitarist Roine Stolt as a touring band to support his solo album The Flower King, the band stayed together after the tour and has gone on to become one of the most prolific studio recording units in rock music of their era. In ten years it has released nearly 18 hours of music. The Flower Kings have seen frequent personnel changes. The original line-up for Stolt's solo album consisted of Stolt (vocals, electric guitar, bass, keyboards), Jamie Salazar (drums), and Hasse Fröberg (vocals). When the full band was formed, they added Michael Stolt (bass) and Tomas Bodin (keyboards). Michael Stolt and Salazar have both left the band since its formation, replaced by Jonas Reingold (bass) and Zoltan Csörsz (drums). Other contributors have included Hasse Bruniusson (percussion), Ulf Wallander (saxophone) and Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation (vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion). Zoltan Csörsz has recently been replaced by new drummer Marcus Liliequist. Marcus Liliequist is a studio/touring drummer and also left the band after the "Paradox Hotel" album/tour. Daniel Gildenlöw recently left due to personal issues. The newest members of The Flower Kings crew include Erik Hammarstrom (Drums) and Ola Heden (Keyboards, guitar, backup vocals). This is as recent as 2008. Roine Stolt has written the vast majority of the material the band has recorded, with Tomas Bodin contributing most of the rest. The music is perhaps best described as "symphonic," bearing a strong resemblance in many instances to that of Yes, and yet there are also hints of strong influence from the jazz fusion genre. The band's lyrics are almost uniformly positive, affirming such values as love, peace, and spirituality.