In 1991 four teenagers, Mark, Tobbe, Kim and Knodde formed a band and soon chose to call it Chainsaw. Lead guitarist Mark was influenced by technical bands and virtuoso gurus such as Yngwie Malmsteen, while front man Tobbe would lean more towards groove based heavy rock and modern metal with melodic vocals. We found common ground in Metallica and started off playing a lot of covers but gradually blending in some material of our own. A demo song was recorded and Chainsaw’s activities culminated in a gig at Tre Backar with a good size crowd (probably just about everyone we knew was there). The line up changed a couple of years later as drummer Knodde was drafted into the army and sent off to protect the far northern lands. Mark and Tobbe successfully dodged this fate, and I almost did too, but in the end was stationed in Stockholm for eight months with my bass guitar crammed into an army locker to be brought out at every opportunity. Two new songs were recorded, this time with Mark standing in as a studio drummer. They were put on a CD demo together with songs from a dozen or so other metal bands seeking a record contract. Later the first proper demo, Universal Darkness, was released. Still not having found a drummer we had to use a machine, which didn’t really suite our style In 1995 the band was joined by new drummer Toffe, who brought a new dimension to our sound with his unique way of combining double kick pedals with funk style hihats and snares. A new start demanded new thinking, and we scrapped Chainsaw in favor for Villainthropy (later to be elected one of the five most disturbing band names on an internet survey!). As Villainthropy we had a few gigs in Stockholm at places like Tre Backar and Lilla Maria and recorded our, in my opinion, best demo Lost which was professionally mastered. After a burglary (may Lucifer punish the bastards adequately ;) ) we lost our equipment and part of our inspiration. Tobbe left to persue other interests and the rest of us began to lose interest too. However, I had written some new songs that I felt strongly for and wanted to at least record before putting the band to rest. For this last demo we were joined by lead singer Tobbe Almer, who was two meters of pure dark goth rock. He certainly had an impact on our sound and contributed with creating some of the vocal melodies. The demo was reviewed as “a heavy rock version of Sisters of Mercy” which to me was good praise. To mark the change from earlier music we released this demo under the name Shades of Grey as suggested by Almer. A second and even third (!) burglary effectively put an end to the band. Former Chainsaw drummer Knodde and I used the name Shades of Gray for my solo project to begin with and produced a demo that among other things contained a cover, House of the Rising Sin. This was some years ago, and I won’t use the band name again because I noticed from a web search that it has been too widely spread amongst other new bands. My current ambition is to release some new creations one at a time under Saga’s Needle which is derived from the godess of history, Saga, and the needle she uses to weave the threads that become our universe.