The band started out as a studio project by John seemingly as it was just another project, but he had much bigger plans for it. He pulled a band together by contacting his childhood friend Freddy, whom he had played with before, and also his friend and classmate Ivve (vocalist in Pretty Wild). The trio was in need of a drummer and Ivve knew about a guy called Martin (ex. drummer in Chains) whom he had met some years ago and had just started studying music production with. John had an idea about a name for the group, a name which Ivve had used with another project but never got launched, The Grand Masquerade. Everyone thought it was a solid and good name and agreed on it. The first time the quartet stepped into the rehearsal studio there was instant magic, everything just fell into place.
Швеция
The band was almost complete; the only thing left to do was making an image, something new and exciting. Ideas had been forming in Johns head about bringing the Venetian opera and masquerade theme into the band to further enhance their name and image and so, The Grand Masquerade was complete and ready to take on the world!