Origin Sweden | Years active 2002–present Active from 2002 | |
 | ||
Genres Dance, Rhythm Artists, Rock Music Members Niklas Karlsson
Thomas Bergstig
Johan Regnell
Bo-Erik Eriksson
Johan Eriksson
Kristian Lindin
Mikael Johansson Past members Michael Jansson
Fredrik Lexfors Similar Avercage, Blezqi Zatsaz, Lynn Carey Saylor, Vida Rock Band, Aniday | ||
JEERK is a rhythm performance group from Sweden, which was formed in 2002. The founding members were Niklas Karlsson, Johan Regnell, Bo-Erik Eriksson, Michael Jansson and Johan Eriksson. The group's name, JEERK, was formed by using the first initial from the founding member's surname; e.g., Jansson, Eriksson, Eriksson, Regnell, Karlsson. After two months, Thomas Bergstig joined JEERK. Each member has attended either the Ballet Academy or the Performing Arts School in Göteborg.
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JEERK writes and produces all of their material, e.g.: music, choreography, scripts, videos and graphics. JEERK is administered through two corporations: Greenhouse Production AB (Sweden) and DDFS Entertainment, Inc (USA).
JEERK specializes in visual music. They perform varied styles of dance, primarily tap dancing. The group features rhythms made by converting ordinary items (i.e., lunch boxes, hockey sticks, trash cans) into percussion instruments. The members of JEERK are all multi-instrumentalists and incorporate original songs within their performances.
Members
Performance History
JEERK's first show was at Pusterviksteatern, Gothenburg, in 2002 with the group's first showcase in Skene, the same year. JEERK has performed in many venues, including: stage shows, as guest entertainers on television programs, at special events, festivals, as well as several product launches. JEERK has choreographed several numbers for guest performers at Sweden's Onstage Event, and to promote new products for companies. Lindab is one of JEERK’s most devout partners and provided the group with ventilation pipes for drums. Whenever Lindab quests to conquer a new market, JEERK helps out with their special talent for loud sound. JEERK has also composed rhythmic pieces of music for German CLAAS and Swedish SKF. The song Emergency was originally written for a commercial for the diaper brand Huggies.
The JEERK Show tour with Riksteatern, was JEERK's first full-length show which toured almost 40 cities around Sweden. JEERKs second full-length show, Overload sold out for four nights in a row during December, 2004.
JEERK’s TV-breakthrough was Sweden’s most popular TV-show, ”Allsång på Skansen”, in 2003, with millions of viewers every summer. In 2004, they appeared as special guests on Lill-Babs 50 år, a television show celebrating the career of the Swedish singer and actress. On the show, which had 1,730,000 viewers JEERK performed a version of the famous Beatles song, "Come Together".
In 2006, JEERK performed in the opening ceremony of the European Athletics Championship in Göteborg, an event which had "a total audience of 340 million over the seven days of the championships." Singer, Ronan Keating, famous for his rendition of When You Say Nothing at All, also performed during the Ceremony.
In the same year, JEERK appeared as guest performers at the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest, with approximately 3,645,000 viewers.
In 2007, the group performed on Let's Dance, Sweden's version of Dancing with the Stars, which had a viewership of over two million people.
In 2008, the group performed on the Romanian show Dansez pentru tine which means “Dancing for you” in an episode where the contestants as well as the guest artists performed for a cause. JEERK, in this particular case, performed for a girl who was not able to pay for her dance school.
In 2009, the group had their first US performance at the theme park Silver Dollar City, performing several shorter shows per day. After a successful 10-week run at the theme park, JEERK returned to the US in 2010 to perform for two years at the Hughes Brother's Theatre in Branson, MO. Following the second year's performances, JEERK began to pursue a European and US tour. The group is now based in the US, while performing both in the US and Europe.
Album Release
In May, 2012, JEERK released their first full-length Album, FAMOUS. FAMOUS consists of nine tracks, composed and written by members of the group. June 23, 2014, JEERK announced the release of a new single, Play Your Mind.