Here is a new song from our rehearsal on the 22 of March. I call it Three Part Dream since it consists of three different parts and dream because it has quite a dreamy mood. I hope you will like it!
I would like to share this clip with you. Phish performs Watcher of the Skies by Genesis when the group was inducted into Rock'n'Roll hall of Fame. It was very nice to hear this blend between USA jam band and prog rock pioneers from England. Very good!
A few days ago I came to think about a piece called In the Fir Wood (I Furuskogen) written by the Swedish national romantic Wilhelm Peterson Berger in the 1890s. Maybe I was a bit touched to see the snow starting to melt away and to hear and see how everything started to live up again after this cold and dark winter. I wanted to arrange and play this beautiful piece! I presented the group with the idea and they agreed to play it. When trying it out with Magnus he suggested a Steve Reich-like improvisation over four chords and I had heard Jonte singing while soloing so I asked hime to make a unison voice-guitar solo. Everything came out beautifully.
In Sweden right wing extremists have stolen our flag and our right to say that we love our country and to sing our national anthem. I love Sweden and its strange, quiet ambience and its beauty with all the woods and all the rivers and lakes and how it is constantly changing because of the huge differences between the four seasons, but I believe in a multicultural society unlike those who call themselves nationalists. I really would like to call myself a nationalist but I cannot because the term is associated with something I definitely do not support!
Time to reveal everything for those of you who still haven't found the concerts on Youtube. I am referring to the concerts with Reform from Regent Pub and with Berglund, Kullhammar & Bergman Trio from Stampen. Here follows the two sets from Regent Pub. Unfortunately no one there was willing to hold the camera, so it was placed on a stand. Anders played drums the first set and Åke the second.
Set 1:
Set 2:
Here is the Berglund, Kullhammar & Bergman concert from Stampen:
Next time I will present you with the audio from the second Reform set at Regent, the audio from the Reform rehearsal on February 14 and with the audio from BKB at Stampen.
Today I'll bring you some, of many to come, musical experiences that I want to share with you.
To start with I present you with the first video from the first set that we played at Regent Pub on February 17. It is the Uncle Urri Suite. Peter got a bit confused and started his solo on the second theme. Just a curiosity since he managed to cover it up very skilfully. We played on a very low volume therefore the sound of the audience is quite audible.
Jonathan Hansson: Electric guitar Peter Åkerberg: Electric guitar Jesper Bergman: Electric bass Anders Bergman: Drums Bill Öhrström: Harmonica Magnus Ramel: Keyboard
The second thing I present you with is the recording from the rehearsal from February 14. The first song is Happy Landing. It is quite interesting to compare this version with the one from Reformed. Things have changed quite a bit, although the record is still very "us" and very representative for our sound. We have been oriented towards a more dreamy sound. Totally without the intentions of doing so. That is the interesting part of having this kind of band and playing this kind of music. It is forever changing and you never really know into what. Very well... Here it is: Happy Landing.
Jonathan Hansson: Electric guitar Peter Åkerberg: Electric guitar Jesper Bergman: Electric bass Anders Bergman: Percussion "Doktor" Åke Eriksson: Drums Bill Öhrström: Harmonica Magnus Ramel: Keyboard
One of my great heroes in jazz, apart from Miles Davis, is the drummer Tony Williams (who actually was Miles' drummer during the 60s) and especially his early work as a solo artist, Tony Williams' Lifetime. On the second album, Turn It Over (1970), Tony Williams, John McLaughlin and Larry Young are joined by, my favourite bass player, Jack Bruce. He blends into the mix beautifully with his distorted, aggressive sound. This is the music that I think about when I play with Thomas and Janne: the raw energy, the rhythmic displacement and the skilfulness. Listen to it:
Here is the first video from the first gig with Berglund, Kullhammar & Bergman Trio from February 28 at Stampen. Everything went very well and we did not save up on the energy and we did not play it safe. We kept it on the edge and relied on each other. This song was composed by Thomas and he calls it Ica Store.
Thomas Berglund: Electric guitar Janne Kullhammar: Drums Jesper Bergman: Electric bass
