The Loveninjas, a fun-loving, dancefloor-friendly indie pop ensemble hailing from Sweden, are the vehicle for the songs of Tor Helmstein, who masterminded the project in 2004. According to an interview with It's a Trap!'s Roni Brunn, Helmstein explained that he started writing songs when his father passed away. "[M]ost of them were really s****y," he said. "Because, you know, when you get emotional and basically when you write songs about love and stuff like that, it gets sort of corny." This phase didn't last for long; fueled by Shogun (the book, not the movie), Helmstein soon became interested in Japan and wrote a tongue-in-cheek song called "Sweet Geisha Love," which in turn inspired him to create a ninja-themed band. He wasted no time in recruiting his roommate Olle (who didn't really know how to play keyboards at the time), former bandmate Tobbe, and guitarist Dennis to round out the group, and the Loveninjas were born. In their formative years, the bandmembers performed in costume -- Olle donned a giant papier-mâché heart (handmade by his mother, with the help of Helmstein) and the others wore black ninja gear; they eventually stopped when they accidentally left Olle's giant heart costume in Stuttgart while on tour. The Loveninjas' debut EP, Keep Your Love, was released on Labrador in 2005. Another EP, I Wanna Be Like Johnny C, came out the following autumn, and led up to the release their first full-length album, The Secret of the Loveninjas. Having spent the majority of 2007 touring Europe, the Loveninjas returned to the studio and recorded a few new tracks, which were made available via their MySpace profile in 2008. ~ TiVo Staff