Summary of the Backstage Festival, Reform on Spotify!!!

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Hi there everyone!

First some Reform news:

The first three Reform albums are now available on Spotify.

Try the following links:

Reform - Conierto en Altxerri

Reform - Easy

Reform - Reduced & Maximized


The Backstage Festival

I guess it's time to give a short review of the Backstage Festival. This year's festival was the best one so far and not only thanks to the good weather. Everything was high-standard and very well organized. You need people like Mats Jarl to make the world go 'round.

The festival started out with

Carl-Eiwar Sect. It went very well. The Asian psyche was a success which made us very happy.

The Merdé was next and they were very good. I would call it a post-grunge band, but heavier. They had a new singer, Ola Sivefeldt, who made a great job. Their music was quite "dark" and should have fit better later when the sun had set.

Then there was food break.

Alison Clay was the next act to enter the stage. It is one of Mats' groups. This year with Björn Stigsson (Leviticus and XT) on lead guitar. He played great and his highlight was when the band played Like a Hurricane by Neil Young.

I was quite satisfied with Mountain Men's performance. We had rehearsed that same day for the first time at Uffe's place. Roland could unfortunately not participate in the rehearsal, so his first time with the group was on the actual gig. He made a great job! It went well, but I prefer to rehearse and to have a steady group. I will upload some videos later.

Helena & Southfarm is always nice to hear. Their guitar player, Carl Gösta, is something special. You can hear all his influences (Clapton, Green...) but with his own touch to it. He is like brought from the sixties without being a copycat.

Then there was a coffee break.

Volume Unit is a very, very tight group that delivers explosive rock. Their frontman, Rickard Andersson, is born to be on stage. He's got IT. Jukka Kemmpainen is a very experienced and inventive guitarist. Ronnie Hasselqvist is also born to be on stage. He seems to transform into a sort of animal overdosed on adrenalin. They also had two guest singers, Berith Stennabb and Maria Biederbeck. They also did a great job.

My Name Is Jonas was a very good band that only played Weezer tunes. I know the bassist Marcus Åblad from when I studied music in Skövde. A great bassist. Though I did not find the opportunity to talk to him.

Last band out was Mats' second band, Studded Soul. They delivered soul classics with great enthusiasm. Christer Hammarberg played an awesome guitar and the drummer, Stefan Carlsson, backed up the energy from the three lead singers.

The jam continued until very late that night!

THANK YOU MATS JARL FOR A GREAT EVENT!!!