It’s not often that you can discover something that is both original and commercial, but still pays tribute to the great poppy hard rock of the 1970’s. With S.K.o.R we have 2018’s answer to bands such as The Sweet, Nazareth, Slade and a touch of Aerosmith perhaps.

S.K.o.R (which stands for Some Kind of Rubus)  was formed in 2006 by lead vocalist Emil Gammeltoft, who just recently released an Ep with Manny Charlton’s (Nazareth) No Borderz project. As for the name, Rubus is Latin for a large and diverse group of flowering plants in the rose family. Emil Gammeltoft picked the name Rubus from the milk tetras that had the northern Swedish landscape flower “Rubus Arcticus” on the packaging, when he was raised (so it is a “root” thing). Then added “Some kind of” to that later on. As most of the fan-base calls the band “SKoR” the band decided to shorten their name down from “Some Kind of Rubus” to S.K.o.R.

The mission for S.K.o.R was to combine folk music and hard rock and several Ep:s and one full length album, ‘Smorgasbord’ were released in that vein on the bands own label. The band had a minor hit in Sweden with ”Chop Song” in 2011, but apart from that several line-up changes combined with the will to rock harder again meant a change of direction from 2015 onward.

Rubus Tellus was produced by the band’s drummer, Mats “Mally” Hoxell and recorded in S.K.o.R.s headquarters studio in Stockholm with parts of it also in the village of Junsele in the North of Sweden (actually in a northern zoo). The poppy, catchy first single “Bubbleman” opens the album and “is about breaking free from the norm. To dare to be who you really are can sometimes be difficult. The song addresses that, breaking free from the bubble most of us live in,” says Gammeltoft, while “Rhythm ‘n Blues” is somewhat autobiographical, relating Emil’s musical road to Stockholm from  and the story about vocalist Emil Gammeltoft’s road to Stockholm from the northern Swedish town of Luleå where he was raised. “Hell to Pay” is an acoustic track that tells the story of someone being used at work by a boss who uses dirty laundry to weed out his staff and “Mystify” is about making life more interesting than it really is – “about trying to push anything you want to get something out of,” explains the frontman.

Taking all the best elements of classic rock, this Swedish quartet are set to explode.

Emil Gammeltoft, Lead Vocals

Lorenzo Fugazza, Lead Guitars

Anders Thorgren, Bass

Mally Hoxell, Drums