About Alberta Cross
Alberta Cross are an Anglo-Swedish rock band, formed in 2005 in London, England by singer-guitarist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers.
In 2013 Wolfers left the band, leaving Stakee as the only permanent member. The band's official Facebook page lists band members as "Petter Ericson Stakee and friends!".
Petter Ericson Stakee from Uppsala, Sweden, and Terry Wolfers from Waltham Forest, North East London, England met at Strongroom Bar & Kitchen in Shoreditch, East London in the early 2000s. Stakee grew up in a musical family with his father, singer-songwriter Peter R. Ericson and older brother leading the way. Wolfers joined Stakee's band Historia at a time when Stakee had begun writing new material that didn't suit the band. The duo developed and recorded the songs together in Wolfers' home studio in Highams Park, Waltham Forest and soon departed from the band to concentrate on the new material. They began playing acoustic gigs together in London before forming a live band with drummer Sebastian Sternberg and Stakee's brother John Alexander Ericson on keyboards. After four gigs as a band, they signed to Universal subsidiary Fiction Records in the UK and Europe and Geffen Records in the United States. In April 2007 the band released its debut, The Thief & the Heartbreaker, a collection of self-produced demos. In October 2007 the band, now with drummer Paul Cook, released the single/digital EP Leave Us Or Forgive Us.
Since 2007, Alberta Cross have toured with bands and artists such as Oasis, Them Crooked Vultures , Neil Young, Mumford And Sons, Rag N Bone Man, Portugal The Man, The Shins, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Norah Jones, Heartless Bastards, Daniel Johnston, Ringo Starr, Ben Harper, Black Francis , Dave Matthews Band, and many more and played festivals all around the globe like Coachella, Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Lollapalozza, Reading and Leeds, Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, Splendour In The Grass in Australia, Lowlands Festival, Pukkelpop, Southside and Hurricane Festival, Rock en Seine and many more plus doing countless of headline tours throughout North America, Europe and Australia.
In early 2008 Stakee and Wolfers re-located to Brooklyn, New York to begin work on a new album. Once there, they decided to re-locate permanently to New York City. After a few low-key shows they caught the attention of ATO Records. In April 2008, with a desire to turn Alberta Cross into more of a band, the duo recruited new members drummer Austin Beede, guitarist Sam Kearney and keyboardist Alec Higgins and began work on new material together as a unit. After parting ways with Universal the band signed to Ark Recordings and PIAS in the UK and Europe.
The band recorded its debut album Broken Side of Time in Austin, Texas with producer Mike McCarthy. Stakee described it as "kind of a desperation album, a darker album; it's definitely angrier" in relation to the debut EP. The album was released in the United States in September 2009 via ATO Records and in the UK and Europe in October 2009 via Ark Recordings/PIAS. The band toured extensively across the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia and Japan.
Map & Directions To Venue
