The gig at Blå Bodarna on May 21 went very well and it seemed appreciated!
The line-up was:
Jesper Bergman: Bass Peter Åkerberg: Guitar Mattias Lennestig: Keyboards Jonas Englund: Guitar Paul Svanberg: Drums
It was a nice experience playing as a quintet. On June 11 we will also perform as a quintet. This time with Magnus Ramel on second keyboard and with only one guitar. I presume it will work well. The event is called Progressive Playground and the group teaming up with us is Pocket Size, a great progressive group lead by Peter Pedersen!
I present you with all the songs in the correct order. I am very satisfied and I think everybody did a great job. Paul Svanberg played amazingly and so did Jonas Englund! Thank you guys! I hope we will play together soon in a near future!
Enjoy all seven songs:
That's all for now! I hope you will enjoy the videos!
The gathering started on Sunday 8th of May at 1300h. The personnel consisted of:
Jesper Bergman: Electric bass Christer Bjernelind: Double bass Mattias Lennestig: Keyboard Magnus Ramel: Keyboard Milton Öhrtröm: Keyboard Peter Åkerberg: Electric guitar Jonas Englund: Electric guitar Peter Pedersen: Electric guitar Anders Bergman: Percussion Bill Öhrström: Percussion Per Tjernberg: Percussion Paul Svanberg: Drums Åke Eriksson: Drums
The intensity was obvious from the very start. Bill and Åke started off a groove and from there the airplane lifted off!
Everyone contributed magnificently and it all flowed.
Four really good numbers came out of this session:
Ambient Noise
From the Hilltop and Beyond
and
Horrorscope which infact is a Ralph Lundsten composition, Op 167. His original was recorded with Ralph Lundsten & The Andromeda Allstars in 1979. Watch the video at the end of this post!
Our version became quite interesting. I will present it when we know what to do with all the material.
The last piece I will mention was actually the first one we recorded. I call it "In a Strangely Nice Kind of Way". Press it and listen! It lasts for 20 minutes.
I am very proud that so many prominent musicians joined the group and helped us fulfill this dream. Nothing existed to begin with, but thanks to our universal mind everything worked out. I really hope we will play together some time in the future. I have great hopes for this album and it seems as if it will turn out as a double!
Here is Horrorscope by Ralph Lundsten:
Christer Bjernelind and Per Tjernberg played together in the group Archimedes Badkar in the 70s. A great Swedish progressive group. Listen to them here:
Per Tjernberg is a legend that has recorded numerous solo albums. He actually recorded an entitled Don't Stop in 1983. Listen to Lucumi Suite from that album with no one else but Doktor Åke Erksson himself on the drums:
Åke Eriksson is Swedish drum legend mostly known for his work in Wasa Express and Egba:
Bill Öhrström once turned down a part as singer in an English r&b band. This band later became The Who!!! On Jimi Hendrix' first visit to Stockholm Jimi stayed at Bills apartment in Stockholm. Bill produced the legendary Swedish duo Hansson & Karlsson and has all his life played music and lived for playing music. He has played with everyone! Bill is always young! Here is a a clip from one of the times when he played with us at Stampen. Åke is playing the drums:
Paul Svanberg is an up and coming jazz drummer. Listen to him playing with Ulf Wakenius! Impressive!!!
Today is a very joyful and happy day, although I am in bed with the flu!
The jam on Sunday has an almost complete line-up:
Electric bass: Myself Double bass: Christer Bjernelind (Archimedes Badkar) Electric guitar: Jonas Englund (Malak taus & Konstruktion Abstraktion) Electric guitar: Peter Åkerberg Keyboard: Mattias Lennestig Keyboard: Magnus Ramel (Keyboard: Milton Öhrström) Percussion: Anders Bergman Percussion: Bill Öhrström Drums: Åke Eriksson Drums: ?
As you can see the second drum chair is still not set. I am still waiting for some calls. Bill's son Milton will maybe join us on keyboard. That would be nice! Anyway, I have a feeling that Sunday will be great.
Another huge thing is that one of my idols and one of Sweden's, or maybe the world's or universe's, greatest electronic composers, Ralph Lundsten, has agreed to collaborate on our new album! I wanted to make the album as a "journey" with sound-bridges leading the listener from one song to the next. Ralph has agreed to help me with these bridges, which in fact is something huge!!! I can hardly believe it myself.
When I studied at the Royal University I had the privilege to have Ralph's old collaborator Leo Nilsson as a teacher of electro acoustics and electronic composition. Leo was a really interesting person who caught his students with experiments and weird anecdotes. The first time I met Leo I was late for class and stumble on the threshold as I entered the classroom. Leo immediately wanted me to do the exact stumble and sound once again so he could record it, but, of course, it was impossible to recreate what had happened. He said that "the sound was lost forever".
The wondrous of music is endless! Today I also received a guitar overdub made by Peter Åkerberg for Happy Landing. It was totally amazing and fit in perfectly with the rest of the music. I have great hopes for this album!!!
Here follows a short three-part-documentary on Ralph. He said in an interview that he does not care too much about receiving prices, but I believe that he should definitely receive the Polar Music Prize!
