Asterisk

There are several musical projects with the name Asterisk. The first: Asterisk (or “A*” as they have been called occasionally) was formed in Umeå, Sweden out of pure boredom in the autumn of ’99 (possibly the only grindcore band to ever arise from that area). The participants were fed up with (slow) punk and metal bands and seemed to want to create something new while still playing as fast as they possibly could.

There are several musical projects with the name Asterisk. The first: Asterisk (or “A*” as they have been called occasionally) was formed in Umeå, Sweden out of pure boredom in the autumn of ’99 (possibly the only grindcore band to ever arise from that area). The participants were fed up with (slow) punk and metal bands and seemed to want to create something new while still playing as fast as they possibly could. Influences frequently named by the band were Slayer, Ruins, and minimalist composer Arnold Dreyblatt. The three band members (vocals, drums and guitar, who often use the pseudonyms "Angel", "Beetle" and "Rose", (which are all somewhat connected to tattoos) shared a love for philosophy, videogames and “Flubber” riffs.

Asterisk* started their career with an LP (Dogma I) in 2000, then made a split 7” with Nasum (Dogma II) and a split 7” with Jenny Piccolo (Dogma III) in early 2001. Asterisk* also appeared on some compilations in 2000 and 2001. Live performances however, were very rare. The band never went on tour or played outside of northern Sweden.

The vinyl releases were all inspired lyrically by specific themes such as the effort of human speech, French philosophy, and angels. In 2002 the band went on hiatus. However, a CD discography of the collected vinyl was released in 2003 by Three One G. A collaboration with Masami Akita (Merzbow) and Lasse Marhaug followed, released by Swedish mega-label Lady Godiva as the final “Dogma” installment. The Second: Asterisk (or *, as it was originally called) was a one-off musical project of Elliott Hird.

The only song he ever made under this name is "Where Do You Want to Go Today?", made out of various Windows sounds. The Third: Japanese composer Yoko Ueno has used this name (*) for two studio CDs (in 2002 and 2006) as well as a live recording called YK20. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..