Hans Erik

The band HanZsolo began as a Minneapolis/St. Paul based trio in 2002. It consisted of Ollie Bauer on drums, Corina Malbaurn on bass and Hans Erik on keys, guitar and vocals.  Their debut album, entitled Closet Pop, was released in 2004 and garnered heavy college radio play with their song Friends With Benefits.  I Wish I Were Your Hair was a Minneapolis local radio favorite while Act consistently drew the most praise live.


In 2004 Stein Malvey joined the band on lead guitar and vocals and Erik Naslund came aboard to play bass and sing backing vocals. It was this configuration of HanZsolo that saw the most action, playing throughout the Midwest to thousands in some of the region’s top bars and clubs.  Everything was moving along great, they were getting an increasing amount of press, regional and record label interest, when George Lucas’ legal team emailed Hans to ask him to stop utilizing the HanZsolo moniker, citing trade mark infringement and threatening legal action if he did not comply.  This was amidst the news that Ollie Bauer would be leaving the band.  So, after pausing for exactly one week of utter despair, Hans decided to forge ahead with a new band name, a new album and a new drummer….and Hanz Erik and the Hims was born.