The Beginning - Tech Noir
In the Sci-fi thriller film The Terminator, the heroine hid from the machine sent to kill her in a noisy Los Angeles dance club named Tech Noir (a name akin in Fench to "black technology"). The name of the club stuck in the minds of some Swedish musicians, who adopted it as the title of their synthesized pop group, the group that later became the internationally famous Ace of Base.
Tech Noir was formed in 1986-1987 and originally consisted of Johnny Lindén and Nicklas Tränk, along with Jonas Berggren. In need of some talented singers, they recrutied Jonas' sisters Jenny and Malin to provide the vocals. Nicklas left the group in 1989 to work in TV and 3-D animation. Johnny decided to concentrate on his career as a graphic designer. Around 1990-1991 when Ulf Ekberg began working with the group, the band changed Tech Noir's name to Ace of Base. The reason was that people had problems to pronounce and spell the name and furthermore there was another band with that name.
Tech Noir's music continues to appear on Ace of Base releases, and includes tracks like "Hear Me Calling" and "Young And Proud". "Walk Like A Man" once slated for release on what was planned to be Tech Noir's single "Hipnotize" is less familiar. Before becoming Tech Noir, the band went under other names like Kallinin Prospect (name of a street in Moscow) and CAD (Computer Aided Disco). Still ealier, Jonas (age 17, 1984) played in a band named G Konrad, but parted company with the group when he wanted to play his own disco songs instead of covers.