Death of British indie-pop band Viola Beach members along with their Manager

Four young members of British indie-pop band Viola Beach have died, along with their manager, when their car plunged through the barrier of an open bridge into a canal in Sweden.

Swedish police said the men, aged between 20 and 35, were killed in the early hours of Saturday when the vehicle plunged more than 25m (82ft) through a gap in the highway bridge which had opened to let a boat pass underneath.

The band, made up of four friends from their hometown of Warrington, Cheshire, were guitarist and vocalist Kris Leonard, 20; guitarist River Reeves,19; bass player Tomas Lowe and drummer Jack Dakin, 19. Manager Craig Tarry, 32, was the fifth person in the car.

The up-and-coming band was in Sweden to perform at the Where’s the Music? festival in Norrköping on Friday night. It was their first overseas gig.

The bridge, at the Saltskogs junction between the E4 and the E20 motorways, in the Sodertalje area of Stockholm, has a middle section that rises directly upwards without tilting, leaving a gap that the Nissan Qashqai drove into, Swedish police said.

A barrier, 50m before the opening, has flashing lights and signs warning there is a bridge opening, the officer handling the case said.

Inspector Martin Bergholm said: "For some reason, the car drove through the barriers and crashed down into the canal."

Police received a call at about 2.30am and were first to arrive on the scene, a "maximum five minutes" later. Police and fire brigade divers recovered five bodies.

The band is described on its Twitter page as "Bucketloads of loveliness and 'dreamy shoegaze pop'." It was just weeks away from playing a sold-out homecoming gig at Warrington's the Pyramid on March 12.

Viola Beach was also due to play at the Boiler Room in Guildford, in Surrey, on Saturday night with fellow band Blossoms, but the gig was subsequently cancelled.

The group - who have a huge and loyal UK fanbase - had also announced plans to play their biggest home town show at Warrington's Parr Hall on October 1.

The singer Billy Bragg posted a message on Twitter saying: "Tragic news about Viola Beach. Young band, first tour outside the UK. My thoughts are with their families and friends."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm that five British nationals died in a car accident in Sweden on February 13.

"We are in contact with local authorities and supporting the families at this difficult time."

Truck driver Jonny Alexandersson told the Stockholm-based news website Aftonbladet that he was behind two other stationary vehicles when the car drove past at "at least 70-80km/h (45-50mph)" as the warning lamps flashed and two barriers blocked the road.

He said he heard a loud bang when the car drove into one of the beams on the bridge, then it disappeared.

"Many were obviously very shocked by this," he told the news site.

Folkert Koopmans, the CEO of FKP Scorpio, which arranged the festival in Norrköping, said: "It is horrible, a huge tragedy. I saw them playing on Friday night and it was actually the first time they played outside of the UK. They were really excited about it. My thoughts are with their families and friends.”

Kris explained last year how he formed Viola Beach with drummer Jack Dakin after bumping into him at Warrington bus station.

The pair both went to Bradshaw Primary School, in Grappenhall, Cheshire, but had lost touch with each other.

Kris had already met guitarist River Reeves on a music course at Priestley College and met bassist Tom at Warrington bar 'The Lounge'.

The Lounge was also where the band played their warm up show before making their debut at Liverpool's legendary Cavern Club on July 15.

Kris, said: "To play in this historic venue in front of all these industry people was a wake-up call.
"We had someone there from SJM Concerts who are now promoting our shows for us."

Viola Beach have also had airplay from Huw Stephens on Radio 1, Steve Lamacq from 6 Music and Jo Good at XFM.

The band's last post on Facebook was on February 2, when they excitedly wrote about playing a huge

gig in the USA next month - as they started to break into America.

They posted: "Very excited to announce we've been invited by to play BBC Introducing and PRS for Music Foundation's showcase at SXSW Music Festival in Austin Texas at Latitude 30 on Wednesday 16th March!!"

Viola Beach have become one of the fastest growing bands on the music scene after frontman and former cleaner Kris Leonard sent a track to BBC Introducing while in local newspaper The Warrington Guardian's office toilets.

The four-piece went on to tour with the Courteeners and work with Communion Records founder and Mumford and Sons producer Ian Grimble.