Biography
Spiritual Beggars was formed in 1993 by Michael Amott. The band was started as a side project after Amott left the British death metal band Carcass. Spiritual Beggars debuted with the self titled Spiritual Beggars in 1994, and have since released albums as Michael's schedule permits (who is also the founder and full time member of the melodic death metal band Arch Enemy), including 1996's Another Way to Shine, 1998's Mantra III, 2000's Ad Astra, 2002's "On Fire", 2005's Demons, 2010's "Return To Zero" and 2013's "Earth Blues".
The second album, Another Way To Shine (1996) was nominated for a Swedish Grammy. The album featured artwork by the legendary artist Hans Arnold, depicting the members of the band in a fairytale looking world.
The third album, Mantra III, saw the band adding Per Wiberg on keyboards. A tour of Europe with Fu Manchu along with festival appearances saw the band expanding their fan base.
The fourth album, Ad Astra, was released in 2000 to rave reviews and strong sales across Europe and in Japan. The band toured heavily on their Chasing The Stars tour that followed, supporting bands such as Iron Maiden, Monster Magnet, Queens Of The Stone Age, as well as playing festivals and their own headline tours in Europe and Japan.
2002 saw the release of the bands fifth studio recording, On Fire. This album featured a new line-up following the departure of original singer Christian "Spice" Sjöstrand. The replacement was Janne "JB" Christoffersson (vocals) who had been recommended to Michael Amott by a mutual friend.
The "On Fire" album was musically and vocally more melodic and saw the band reaching deeper into the epic 70's hard rock style of song writing. A European tour was put together in 2003 under the "Monstergroove" banner which featured Spiritual Beggars, Clutch, Spiritu and Dozer. A successful tour of Japan was also done in 2003 (with Clutch as the opening act).
A new album called Demons was released in Japan in March 2005 and in Europe on June 20. Demons was released in two versions – a single CD version and a two-CD version, which includes live material recorded in Japan during 2003. The touring on this record was limited to a three date Japan tour with DIO and a headline performance in London, UK.
In early March 2010, it was announced that Spiritual Beggars had entered the studio to record their first studio album in five years. The album features new singer Apollo Papathanasio.
The latest studio album, titled Return To Zero, was released in Europe on August 30, 2010 via InsideOut Music, in Japan on August 25, 2010 and in North America on October 12, 2010 through Trooper Entertainment Inc. Following the release, the band played live shows in Greece, Japan, Belgium, France and Finland.
Their performance at the famous Loud Park Festival festival in Japan on October 17, 2010 was recorded and later released as the "Return to Live: Loud Park 2010" live album (only released in Japan).
The band is currently working on a new studio album. It will be released on April 15, 2013 via InsideOutMusic and is called "Earth Blues".
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