Recording and mixing

FINALLY - the new Mountain of Power album is slowly but safely coming together. Last week I recorded my final guitars and bass. Did it a bit differently this time. The bass was recorded with my old Peavey T40. Looks like shit but sounds awesome!! Recorded it to two channels, one line and one through a Pod. The Pod track sounds great, but the line gives you some more options. The guitars I've recorded basically with two rigs:

1. My Hughes & Kettner Trilogy head, through a THD Hotplate, through a H&K 4x12 (V30). On most occasions I also used a Xotic Effects BB PreAmp.
2. My Orange Tiny Terror head, through the same Hotplate and cab as above. usually no BB PreAmp here.

The guitars have been My Gibson Les Paul True Temperament, my Gibson Explorer 76 Re-issue and my Highway 1 Fender Strat. On the solos I've altered between/sometimes in combination, the BB PreAmp, the Toad Fuzz/Dist, Dunlop Cry Baby, Keeley Compressor and the Boss Noise Supressor NS2.
I miked the cab up with just a Sure SM57, except for a couple of tracks where I also used a big membrane mike placed in the room for ambience.

I've now received most of the guests' vocals, drums, guitars. All of them outstandingly great!! I take care of the rhythm guitars, one more solos in each song and bass.
Mixing will start in the next couple of days and will be done by Johan Blomström at Studio Sound Palace.

Here's a rundown of the guests:

Guitarists:
John Norum (Europe)

Ty Tabor (King's X)

Rusty Burns (Point Blank)

Sven Cirnski (Truth, Bad Habit)

Jay Jesse Johnson (solo)

Clas Yngström (Sky High)

Greg Martin (Rufus Huff, Kentucky HeadHunters)

Conny Bloom (Electric Boys)

Mikael Nord Andersson (Balls, Roxette)

Martin J Andersen (Blindstone)

Thomas Larsson (Glenn Hughes, Baltimoore)

JJ Marsh (Glenn Hughes)

Thomas Juneor Andersson (Kamchatka)
Kjell Sjöström (Thalamus)
Joe Romagnola (Character)

Singers:
Paul Shortino (Ruff Cutt)
Christian Rivel (Audiovision, Divinefire)
Maria Rådström (One More Time)
Jarrod England (Rufus Huff)
Cindy Weichman (Nail, Helix)
Mattias Osbäck (Locomotive Breath)
David Fremberg (Andromeda)
Conny Bloom (Electric Boys)
Clas Yngström (Sky High)
Mikael Nord Andersson (Balls, Roxette)
Pontus Snibb (Bonafide)

Drums:
Peter Svensson (Constancia, Faith)
Ed Collins (Pod)

25 hours a day!

Well... at least that's what I feel I need right now! Everything was just fine up until my dayjob suddenly started taking over! It's been more like a well paid hobby that will allow me to dive into various musical projects, be it writing or playing, without having to put the economical aspect in the forefront. Just when I feel I am at my peak recording the new Mountain of Power, writing for FUZZ, composing for Overdrive, writing songs for "a big German band" and working on my third encyclopedia... disaster strikes.

Project Management
Two days before we're off to New York for a mixed vacation/Constancia promotion trip, my boss tells me - "I've sold a course in Project Management that you will be holding. It starts Thursday in three weeks and it's 12 days of lectures spread out over 6 weeks". Well, ok, ... thanks. It's been a while since I did had PM training, but as I'm still working as one, it would be ok, I guess. "They have a new book they want you to use". Eh... ok. I brought the book on my trip, spent a few hours reading it, to find there were lots of new things like Conflict Handling, Johari Windows, Feeback handling etc that were not really dug into when I had my training.
Ok, the book had several exercises... except that the publisher hadn't printed the Exercise book yet! The three days I spent planning the lectures, figuring out exercises etc was agonising! When I found out I had 46!!! students at the same time the agony grew even bigger! Not because of the amount as such, but because 46 students, it's not a lecure it's a seminar!! Fuck me!

Mountain of Power
The Mountain of Power album is coming on good! When in New York I spent some time with Joe and Sami at Grooveyard Records and we honed out some of the details. I've got quite a list of cool guests on this one, people I've selected with the song in mind, songs that will fit their style! Now I'm just waiting for the files to start rolling in (some already have). He's a quick rundown of the songs and musicians: (I'm playing bass, rhythm and lead guitar on all tracks):

1. Keychain/Bad Penny (Rory Gallagher) - Conny Bloom, Mikael Nord Andersson
2. Bedroom Thang (ZZ Top) - Clas Yngström, Mikael Nord Andersson
3. Waves (Resurrection Band) - Christian Liljegren, Maria Rådsten, Ty Tabor, Ed Collins
4. Monkey (Trapeze) - Jarrod England, Greg Martin, JJ Marsh
5. Talking Bout A Feeling (Mahogany Rush) - John Norum, Martin J Andersen, Tomas Juneor Andersson
6. This Kids/Reasons Love (UFO) - Martin J Andersen, Sven Cirnski
7. I Stand Alone (Blackfoot) - Mattias Osbäck, Rusty Burns
8. Making Magic/Makes No Difference (Pat Travers) - Jay Jesse Johnson, Mikael Nord Andersson, Joe Romagnola
9. Money (Leslie West Band) - Kjell Sjöström
10. Deadly Weapon (Trigger) - Martin J Andersen
11. Indian Dawn/Hellcat (Electric Sun/Scorpions) - Liz Vandall, Thomas Larsson,
12. Struck Down/25 Hours A Day - (Y&T) - Mikael Nord Andersson, Joe Romagnola, Ed Collins
13. Checkin' Out/Sister Madness (Ozz) - Mattias Ia Eklundh
14. Urban Guerilla (Sammy Hagar) - Cindy Weichman, Jay Jesse Johnson

Encyclopedia
Well, what can I say... I'm trying to keep it up to speed, but it's hard. There are soooo many bands to write about, over 2500. I'm currently halfway through the letter B...

Magazines
For reasons I can't go in to at the moment, I have stopped all co-operation with Sweden Rock, both the festival and magazine, and will have NOTHING whatsoever to have with either. I'm still, with great pleasure, writing for FUZZ magazine and also Metal Covenant and Metalcentral.

Other stuff
I did a guest solo for a upcoming released by the band Ruined Soul, great heavy stuff! I also contributed with a solo, the logo and the title of the new CD by Grand Design (Metal Heaven). Check it out!

Sweden Rocked!

So, now this year's Sweden Rock Festival has come and gone! Some highs and some lows. The definite low was of course the weather. Some shine, but a lot of rain, worst weather since 1992! Well, at least I managed to witness some great performances!
ELECTRIC BOYS - Awesome return! Great heavy funky vibe! They still rock!
ZZ TOP - Despite a brief blues dip in the middle, the trio prooved they are still the world's biggest little band from Texas!
THALAMUS - Outstanding 70s rockers with a way to short set!
GRAND MAGUS - Love their records, LOVED them live!! Awesome!
RIOT - Despite a little too much high speed stuff (I'm a fan of their first 4-5 releases) they still rocked! "Outlaw" and "Warrior" saved my day!
FOREIGNER - Sounded surprisingly good and heavy despite only one original's in the line-up. Kelly Hansen did a great job fronting!
IN FLAMES - The music was tight, heavy and really great, but man, the rambling between the songs was pathetic!
STORMZONE - Harv Harbinson was definitely one of the best singers of this festival. Love the man's vocals!!
UFO - The came, they rocked and they ruled! Classic riffs delivered with freshness and determination. You gotta love 'em! Lovely guys, too!
SEVENDUST - Another bunch of great people! Heavy as hell, but very humble!
Other notes:
HEAVEN & HELL weren't as bad as some said, but the sound guy should be hung, drawn and quartered. Where were the guitars?
THOR - Oh god... the man is a mystery. Was it pathetic or funny? He obviously has no knowledge of Sweden whasoever. "Here's a song about the Swedish tundra". Ehhh... say, what?

Now it's back to the grind. The promotion time for the up-coming CONSTANCIA release has started and I'm continuing my work on the new MOUNTAIN OF POWER. I'll keep you posted!

New goodies!
RUFUS HUFF - "Rufus Huff" - Outstanding southern rawk! KILLER debut!!
THREE MINUTE MADNESS -"Disgraceful". AWESOME debut!!! These Swedes rock!!
BIBLEBLACK - "The Black Swan Epilogue" - Holy crap!!! What just ran over me?? Prog-math-power-death metal of the prime order! Mike Wead is on the loose!
INTO THE PRESENCE - "Into The Precense" Rock? Pop? Ambient? I dunno, reminds me a bit of Danish band DIZZY MIZZ LIZZY at times! Great melodies!!

Climbing the Mountain!

Now I've finally started working on the second Mountain Of Power CD. The plan is for it to be released this fall, and as I'm also working on a new Overdrive and two books at the same time, I'd better get started. Said and done. I have picked out a list of songs I'd like to cover this time around. But, wanting and succeeding are two different things... Like last time I demoed probably 20 tracks, of which 13 were recorded. The ones left out were so because I wasn't happy with my arrangement and felt I couldn't do it the justice I wanted to.

The songs I've demoed so far are:
MAHOGANY RUSH - "Talkin' 'bout a Feeling"
TRIGGER - "Deadly Weapon"
UFO - "This Kids/Rasons Love" - a two-in-one combo
RORY GALLAGHER - Keychain"
TRAPEZE - "Monkey" (this one's for Mel Galley, who even picked it for me)

Next up are:
MAX WEBSTER - Here I'm not sure... I'm trying out both "Oh War" and "Here Among The Cats"
RESURRECTION BAND - "Waves"
ZZ TOP - "Bedroom Thang"
SAMMY HAGAR - "Urban Guerilla"
DIAMOND REO - "It's A Jungle Out There" or "Power"
and some more contestants:
PAT TRAVERS - "Makin' Magic"
THUNDERMUG - "Hard Luck"
SCORPIONS - "Drifting Sun"
We'll see what happens.

If all goes as planned I will have some really cool guests on this one!! Some have already agreed, but before everything is settled and finished I don't want to say anything.

Currently listening to:
SUFFRAJETT - "Black Glitter" - Great female fronted Danko Jones rock 'n roll!
BLACK SABBATH - "We Sold Our Soul For Rock N Roll" - Great comp!
IMPELLITTERI - "Wicked Maiden"
FIREBIRD - "Grand Union" - Outstanding 70s style hard rock!!

Today's the day!

It took almost two years to get the baby off the ground (if you can get a baby off the ground...). I'm talking about CONSTANCIA! The multi-nation band I'm currently involved in! Geographically spread out in Sweden and Germany, but we still managed to get it together and make it sound like a band. Thanks to the internet and PhotoShop!

It all started one day when Token/Scudiero keyboard player Mikael Rosengren asked me to add some guitar to some songs he had written. I really liked what I heard. It reminded me of the good old pomp rock of the late 70s/early 80s, but with a modern twist. Melodic, a bit progressive and alightly aggressive... "melogressive", I thought! New genre - tadaa! Well, I started arranging and recording guitars and got more and more into the songs, helped out with some lyrics and did some re-arrangements. Now, programmed drums suck. I talked to my friend Peter "TrumPeter" Svensson, once a member of my bands Overheat and Locomotive Breath, plus he played the majority of the drums on the Mountain of Power CD (a new one in progress, but I'll get to that later). Mikael came to think of Jaded Heart bassist Michael Mueller and asked him if he was into it, which he was. We tried out some different singers, but after one test round with Andromeda vocalist David Fremberg (who had also conributed to my MoP disc) we figured he was the one.

Now started a year of demoing, recording, sending files, re-recording etc. At first we finished five tracks "Shadows", "Save Me", "Wish I Could Fly", "I Never Said Goodbye" and "King Is Calling". These were quite roughly recorded, all guitars done with a Pod XT, I recorded some bass and one song even had programmed drums. We tried different producers, taking on one track each;
Beau Hill - killer 80s producer who had worked with Europe, Airborne etc etc)
Pontus Norgren - Sound engineer/producer who has worked with Thin Lizzy, Talisman etc
Pontus Lindmark - Roasting House producer; bands like Cloudscape, Planet Alliance etc
Pelle Saether - Studio Underground founder whom I have worked with on Locomotive Breath, MoP etc.
Johan Blomström - Local knob wizz who mixed the latest Overdrive album

We of course also had to find a label! We sent out demos and received some great interest from a couple of labels, but they all wanted a finished CD to consider. We figured, ok, let's finish it and shop it around. However we had not even finished the recording when Italian label Frontiers made us an offer we just couldn't refuse. Some quite smooth negotiations later we had inked the deal.

Now we started considering who should mix the album. At this stage, as a late contestant, Mikael came to think of Fredrik Folkare, his former Scudiero guitar colleague who has produced bands like Eclipse, Unleashed and Siebenbürgen. He did a test mix and we bought it! It had all the elements we wanted - the heaviness, the fat sound and the ambience.
We now started re-recording all the basic tracks. Mikael had already recorded most of the keyboards to a click track and programmed drums, so Peter did the drums on top of this. I now re-recorded the guitars using my Hughes & Kettner Trilogy amp (miked up with an SM57 and a big membrane mike), Mueller recorded his bass in Germany with Michael Voss and David recorded the vocals in his own studio and at a local studio in Malmö.
It the came down to me to collect all the tracks, merge it all together and make it work. After getting all the vocals, keyboards, bass, drums and rhythm guitars in, I actually re-recorded some guitar parts as I had got some new ideas, especially since the vocals came in, but also I wanted to enhance some drum/bass riffs. I then added the guitar solos, all except one which I actually kept from the demos (not saying which one :-).
I then bounched down all the tracks, burned them onto a couple of DVD records and sent the stuff to Fredrik with some instructions and "wishes". It was an impatient wait until we received the first couple of tracks a few weeks later. I was quite stunned! He had actually exceeded my expectations. Besides getting a fat, big and great sound, he had added his own twist on several spots, which finally made us state him as co-producer, because that's what he did!
The mastering was made by Dennis Ward (PC 69), recommeded by Frontiers, and he did and awesome job giving the album that final push!
Now we also needed to come up with which track to use as a Japanese bonus track, and of course, the track order... At this point I felt I was way too "involved" to be unbiased so we let the label decide. The track "Wasted" will be the Japanese bonus track.

During the mixing period we also started thinking about the whole artwork thing. I had a couple of ideas which I made drafts of, and at the same time David came up with a great looking logo, which corresponded nicely to one of my ideas. The cover depics an old world map, a log book and a comapass. The title is "Lost And Gone", where the lyrics are really about the internet and getting lost there, but I though the world map, compass etc would serve as a nice metaphor. I also made a slightly different version for the Japanese release, adding a twist to the front cover (not telling what).
Before this we also had to take some band pics. Well, the geographical difference actually cause a slight problem, but we solved it. Three of us went into a studio, took pics prentending the other two were there. We sent them the pics, they had their pics taken with our "band pic" serving as a template (they used the same background, light setting, posing etc). Then David did his PhotoShop magic and here we are!
Today Frontiers will go public with signing us and that "Lost And Gone" will be released in Europe on July 3, in the US in August and Japan later on. We have also opened our (temporary) sites http://www.lostandgone.com/ and http://www.constancia.se/
Check it out!!

Listening to:
RICK DERRINGER - Knighted By The Blues
ROADSTAR - Grand Hotel
TRUCKFIGHTERS - Mania

FUZZ Guitar show - new guitar!

On April 18 we were at the FUZZ Guitar Show in Göteborg. Lots of people, lots of nice stuff and some awesome performances! Just like Sweden Rock Festival it often turns out as a sort of family gathering where you meet people you know but have never actually met in person. I bumped into Jonas Hörnqvist (ace guitarist of Trasure Land) whom I've known for years, but never actually talked other than on the phone and mail. Also met some of the guys from Hellspray, Vindictiv guitarist Stefan Lindholm, Disdain guitarist Gunnar Hård af Segerstad etc.
We saw the performaces of Freak Kitchen and Micke "Nord" Andersson. Freak Kitchen played a short 30+ minute set with some old favourites like "Taste My Fist", "Silence" etc., a GREAT set but far too short. No new songs were played as Ia figured they would be Youtubed in only a few hours. Micke did an awesome acoustic set with his interpretations of songs by, for instance JJ Cale. It's interesting to see a performance by somone you know well, have recorded and written with, but never actually seen in this context and with this type of material. Outstanding!
I met up with my friend Anders Thidell at True Temperament who introduced me to his new "invention", the B-tuned True Temperament guitar. Holy crap!!! So heavy!!! They are building one for me "as we speak".
Also met Hasse Danzon (formerly Johansson, singer of Million) who got me involved in their new, and highly interesting, musical site Crank It Up (www.crankitup.se) which will be launched this summer.

Currently listening to:
JESSE JAY JOHNSON - Play That Damn Guitar - Another ace Grooveyard release!
SAGA - The Human Condition - Gotta ger used to the new singer!
IMPELLITTERI - Wicked Maiden - No bad at all!
SLAMER - Nowhere Land - Mike Slamer rules!
TRUCKFIGHTERS - Mania - Swedish stoner

Back from Japan!

Returned back from a totally outstanding trip to Japan just a few days ago. Takes time to digest all the impressions!


Some things I will surely miss are:


1. The way the Japanese people show respect for their fellow man. No prejudice, no sneering, no looking down at others. Just a very, very friendly and helpful people!

2. The clean streets. Hardly no waste baskets, despite this people don't throw crap on the street!

3. No graffitti! You can actually see the colour the walls were intended to be painted in. No f**cking badly painted signatures, dirty words or amateur paintings. Nice, clean walls!


We met some wonderful new and old friends! Thanks to Naoko Furuhashi, Mitsuhiro Nishida, Hiroko Hayashi, Yasu Fuji, Mikitoshi at Rock Stakk, Yushi at Soundholic, Tomo Ando etc. You really made our stay a memorable time!

The interviews with Burrn! and Captain Wada went great thanks to Yushi and their great interpreter. I did some rockin' out at Club Crush where I played live to "Swords & Axes" (some of the stuff I hadn't played since 1984!). See below :-)

Bought almost 100 CDs and some vinyls! Had to ship some stuff by mail to avoid expensive overweight!

Air France and especially Charles De Gaulle airport SUCKS! Rude staff, totally unorganized and no sense of logistics and efficiency whatsoever!


The bottom line, though - Japan rocked and we will be baaaak!!


Current list of goodies:
1. FIREBIRD - "Grand Union" - Outstanding new album by this retro-trio
2. VINNIE MOORE - "To The Core" - About time! Good instrumental!
3. SAGA - "The Human Condition" - Strange to hear the band w a new singer, but it works!