Formation
In early 1993, guitarist and singer Roine Stolt had written material for his third solo album The Flower King and sought for musicians to perform it. He had wanted to release a progressive rock-style album for a while and felt the time was right to pursue the project. The album features Stolt on vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards, Jaime Salazar on drums, and Hasse Fröberg on vocals, and was recorded in Sweden between May 1993 and January 1994.
In preparation for Stolt's concert tour to support the album's release, Stolt, Salazar, and Fröberg were joined by Stolt's brother Michael on bass and Tomas Bodin on keyboards. The five performed their first gig on 20 August 1994 at an outdoor festival in Uppsala, Stolt's hometown and the city where The Flower King was recorded. After they decided to become a full time band, they officially adopted the name The Flower Kings, named after Stolt's album. Stolt had produced a list of potential titles for the record, one of which was "The Flower King", and chose it because of its positive meaning and its reference to the hippie era of the 1960s.
Activity
After performing a series of concerts through 1994, the band entered the studio in December 1994 to record their debut album, Back in the World of Adventures. The recording process was gradual, finishing in September 1995.
In 2000, Michael Stolt was replaced by Jonas Reingold. Two years later, Salazar was replaced by Zoltan Csörsz. Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation joined the band the same year as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist.
Other contributors have included Hasse Bruniusson (percussion) and Ulf Wallander (saxophone).
Stolt has written the vast majority of the material the band has recorded, with Bodin contributing most of the rest. The music is best described as symphonic progressive rock, bearing a strong resemblance to the music of Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and early Genesis, with jazz fusion and blues influences. The band's lyrics are almost uniformly positive and uplifting, affirming such values as love, peace, and spirituality, and furthering their association with Yes.
Their 1999 album Flower Power contains the eighteen-section, almost 60-minute "Garden of Dreams".
In June 2007, they released The Road Back Home, a compilation of remixed songs from 1994 to 2006, plus "Little Deceiver" (a previously unreleased track) and the full version of their cover of "The Cinema Show" by Genesis.
Zoltan Csörsz was replaced by new drummer Marcus Liliequist for one album, but returned for the 2007 album, The Sum of No Evil. He was subsequently replaced by Erik Hammarström in 2008.
In 2008, Ola Heden, previously of Reingold's side project Karmakanic, joined on guitar, vocals and keyboards.
In November 2008, the band were the opening act of the Ecco Prog Fest in Moscow.
After touring in 2008, The Flower Kings were inactive for four years. Stolt felt the band had varied levels of focus in their direction and had started to feel lost. They reunited in 2011 to work on new material after Stolt felt it was the right time and sensed eagerness from the other members to work together. This marked the arrival of German drummer Felix Lehrmann. Banks of Eden, the group's eleventh album, was released in June 2012 and was recorded with analogue recording techniques and styles reminiscent of the height of vinyl records. This was followed by Desolation Rose in October 2013.
The line up of Stolt, Bodin, Reingold, Fröberg and Lehrmann played together for the last time in 2015. 2016 and 2017 saw the bandmembers busy with other engagements.
In December 2017, the first part of a career-spanning box set titled A Kingdom of Colours was released. This first box, with 10 discs, covers the period from 1995 to 2002 and includes the studio albums from Back in the World of Adventures to Unfold the Future. The second box set, titled A Kingdom of Colours 2 and covering the albums Adam & Eve through to Desolation Rose, was released in June 2018.
In September 2018, Stolt announced a new album named Manifesto of an Alchemist. The album did not feature long-time keyboardist Tomas Bodin, and as such it is credited to "Roine Stolt's The Flower King" rather than "The Flower Kings"
In August the same year Roine Stolt presented a new band called "Roine Stolt and friends play The Flower Kings". The band featured Stolt, Fröberg and Reingold with new keyboard player Zach Kamins and new drummer Mirko De Maio. Roine Stolt stated that he was done being in a group and wanted to tour as a solo artist like Roger Waters or Steven Wilson. Tomas Bodin was not a part of this group and made his displeasure quite public. The band toured with Spock’s Beard in November and December 2018 and continued to do shows in 2019, this time under the name "The Flower Kings Revisited".
In July 2019, "Revisited" was removed from the band name, making it clear that this line up was now "The Flower Kings". The band went on to release the double albums Waiting for Miracles in 2019 and Islands in 2020, the latter having been recorded entirely remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 24 March 2021, Roine Stolt announced two big projects. The Flower Kings are working on a brand new album "in the same innocence" of Stardust We Are. On 19 April 2021, Roine officially teases that Stardust We Are is getting a brand new vinyl remaster.
On April 8th 2022, InsideOut and Roine Stolt announced that Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis were getting "remastered and partly remixed". The release date for both was placed on May 27th 2022. Also Stardust We Are and Flower Power are getting remixes and remastered in June.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flower_Kings
Studio albums
The Flower King (1994)
Back in the World of Adventures (1995)
Retropolis (1996)
Stardust We Are (1997)
Flower Power (1999)
Space Revolver (2000)
The Rainmaker (2001)
Unfold the Future (2002)
Adam & Eve (2004)
Paradox Hotel (2006)
The Sum of No Evil (2007)
Banks of Eden (2012)
Desolation Rose (2013)
Manifesto of an Alchemist (2018)
Waiting for Miracles (2019)
Islands (2020)
By Royal Decree (2022)
Black and White
The Flower Kings Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
leave it's mark in every way
Sisters of the night will take you in,
tell you lies of what she's seen
Who can see the truth is half her name
All that's in between, but never heard,
nor freely spoken
no second view is there for you
Details may be lost but still not gone
These plastic tales are still untrue
Telling tales of hate for old times sake
equal to the love your neighbour takes
and bury slowly
Days of future passed so rapidly
After all these lies
do you really doubt
it's black and white
The first verse of The Flower Kings' song Black And White refers to a time where the world is viewed as either good or bad, right or wrong, and how this view is pervasive in every aspect of life. The second line refers to how this perspective leaves its mark on everything it touches, and the next line mentions 'Sisters of the night', which seems to imply a group of women who will offer comfort in the form of lies. These lies could be about anything that people want to hear just to feel better, and the song suggests that many people respond to this kind of talk.
The chorus brings things into sharp focus by showing that life can have only one view, and that no matter how much one wants to, they cannot change this. There is no second view of life, and the details can be lost, but they are still there beneath the surface. The plastic tales in the next line refer to the words of the Sisters of the night when they tell their stories about what they have seen. The second verse is a lament for the loss of truth in a world that is caught up in these black and white scenarios. People tell stories of hate so often that they compare in weight to the positive and loving tales people tell each other.
Overall, The Flower Kings' Black And White is a song about the polarizing effects of people's views and beliefs. The chorus repeatedly underscores the notion that there is only one perspective on life and how it should be viewed. It speaks to the idea that people need to see themselves and others in shades of grey, rather than just in extremes of black and white.
Line by Line Meaning
Days of black & white are here again
We are experiencing a time of stark contrasts and simplicity.
leave it's mark in every way
This period will have a lasting impact on everything in our lives.
Sisters of the night will take you in,
Untrustworthy individuals will try to manipulate and deceive you.
tell you lies of what she's seen
They will fabricate stories to further their own agendas and mislead you.
Who can see the truth is half her name
Someone who can see through deception and uncover the truth is valuable.
All that's in between, but never heard,
There are many things that are not spoken or acknowledged in this time of simplicity.
nor freely spoken
This is due to the oppressive nature of this black and white world.
Day's of black & white is all you get
There is no variation or nuance in this environment.
no second view is there for you
You will not be able to consider different perspectives or interpretations.
Details may be lost but still not gone
Important information may be overlooked or ignored, but it still exists.
These plastic tales are still untrue
The fabricated stories that are being told are completely false and lack substance.
Telling tales of hate for old times sake
People are perpetuating hate-filled narratives to uphold outdated beliefs or traditions.
equal to the love your neighbour takes
This hate is just as strong and pervasive as the love that people show for their community.
and bury slowly
This hate is insidious and will only become more entrenched over time.
Days of future passed so rapidly
Time flies, even in this black and white world.
After all these lies
Despite all the falsehoods and deceit,
do you really doubt
Can you truly question the reality of this black and white world?
it's black and white
The truth of this world is simple and uncompromising.
Contributed by Adeline L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.