So the story goes...

Back in 1995 the two friends Katrine Stochholm and Henriette Sennenvaldt got the idea to form a band while on a bike ride. They had tried writing songs in English, but that didn't work for them, so they tried putting some of Henriette's Danish poems together with Katrine's piano tunes. While writing they soon figured they needed more instruments.
- The songs made us think of violin, cello and accordian, because they have very sensitive qualities. And they are in some way closer tied to reality, Henriette said in a 1998 interview.
They found the musicians they needed. Morten Larsen on drums, Anders Præstegaard on bass and guitar, Anna Budtz on cello, Poul Rørkenfelt on violin and Katrine's big brother Anders Stochholm on accordian and percussion. Now they could create the soundscape they wanted. In the spring of 1996 they played their first concert at the Library & Cultural House in Henriette's and Katrine's hometown of Hinnerup - a small town in a green valley outside Denmark's second-largest city Aarhus. First show
The band also had to find a name. Around that time they had a song called "Under Byen" - Below the city - and figured it would be a good name.

It somehow gives the notion of things going on beneath it all. And it has a good ring. I also think the lyrics tie to this city and my life in it. Like the buildings in it and the waters outside it, says Henriette.

Nils adds that the well-known local writer Svend Åge Madsen might have inspired them a bit too with his writings about "de underjordiske" - the subterraneans - a people living somewhere. . . below the city.

The band didn't play more liveshows then, but kept writing new songs and rehearsing them.
In October of 1997 they went into the studio and recorded three songs which they released on the self-financed "Puma" EP. Nineteen minutes that easily showed the talent and vision of this emerging band. The lyrics had several animal references and it was clear that the band wasn't afraid of being poetic - neither with words or sounds.
These recordings took place around the same time as the band was finding its permanent members. Budtz and Rørkenfelt left the band and in came Nils Gröndahl and Myrtha Wolf on violin and cello respectively.
In January of 1998 the band played at Musikcaféen - also in Aarhus. This time the experience was different. The venue - which holds more than a hundred people - was sold out. A big surprise for the band.

Under Byen then applied for financial support for touring from the Danish Rock Council (ROSA).

They did not use the money for its intended purpose, though. Instead they recorded the track "Veninde i vinden" at the famed local Feedback Studio in Aarhus in April of 1998. This turned out to be a wise choice.
The cd was essentially just a promo and was never sold anywhere, but sent to radio stations and record labels.
After their "first real gig" at Musikcaféen, as they called it, they were hired to play at the Aarhus Festival Week in August of 1998. On the strength of that one previous show they were put on the big stage on the main square in central Aarhus. A few eyebrows were raised at that event.
This was also the case at the annual local Spot 05 Festival for hopeful young bands where the band played in October 1998. Sara Saxild replaced Anders Præstegaard on bass at this concert and became the member of the band. The show helped spread the rumour about this new exciting band who played such enchanting music with Danish lyrics - a thing not attuned to the current trend among new bands at the time.
The rumour also reached the ears of Steffen Brandt, leadsinger and songwriter in the band TV-2 (who have been a part of Danish popular music culture since the early 80s). He and his band was just about start a new record label - Pladeselskabet Have A Cigar. He therefore attended Under Byen's show at the local venue Train on March 18, 1999 and reportedly proposed a record deal backstage afterwards. The same show was also recorded by Danish National Radio and broadcast later.

Around that time the band figured it was time to record some more music. Being very fond of the music of Swedish singer Stina Nordenstam the band took a chance and contacted one of her collaborators - the producer Manne Von Ahn Öberg who most notably worked with her on the albums "Dynamite" and "People Are Strange".
- We never thought he would accept, but we aimed high and to our surprise he said yes. This taught us that we should always aim high. If we should fail it's not the end of the world. We will always have our music and that is what matters, Henriette Sennenvaldt said in an interview in 2004.
So in March of 1999 the band travelled to the Atrium Studios in Stockholm to record with Öberg. Here they made a three-track demo.
On May 28 the band performed in Rådhusparken, the park behind the Town Hall in Aarhus, as part of the Cultural Night '99. Here they played two new compositions made especially for the event. The titles of the two ten minute pieces were "Englene sitrer / Gå ind i lyset" ("The Angels Are Jittering / Walk Into The Light") and they were accompagnied by changing coloured lights in the park's trees. The visual side of the event was arranged by John "Skæg" Hedegaard - the former Vildensky-member who later became the Under Byen's light engineer on tour.
The songs were never performed again, but parts of them later became "Syng hvide nat" and "Gå ind i lyset" on "Kyst".

(source: www.larsdideriksen.com)