Dan Söderqvist and Karl Gasleben have been friends since school 1969. In the early 70s Dan played in ”Älgarnas Trädgård” (Garden of the Elks) and Karl in ”Anna Själv Tredje”, both bands part of the Swedish alternative scene and experimental minimalism, ambient and psychedelic music.
TOgether they started Cosmic Overdose in 1978 with Dan on guitar and Karl on synthesizers and rythm box.
After a trip to London in 1979 they got inspired by bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget and Joy Division and under this heavy influence Cosmic Overdose was changed into a five piece band with bass and drums.
At the end of 1979 the album ”DaDa KoKo” with its unique mix of Punk and Synth was recorded and by then tha band was reduced to a nucleus of Dan, Karl and Kjell The Rainmaker Karlgren on drums and saxophone.
A second album”4668” was recorded in fall 1980, released in 1981, and the interest from abroad was constantly growing. An US label wanted to release a ”best of” if English versions could be done. And so it was, the best songs were translated and remixed. The deal never went through and the material was instead released on a MC called ”Final CoCo”.
