Got mail from a "young" man maybe a month ago. One thing strucked me. If I compare his life, his musicianship today, with back in the days when I was young. In my case, it's like we're talking ancient history. In the message he described his situation, starting a new band, trying to find some place to rehearse etc. To be honest, I didn't have much to tell him, especially since he lives somewhere in Stockholm. After the rehearsals I did together with the guys in Planet Marsh in a studio in Hökarängen (Sthlm), I think I got the picture pretty clear. I don't think I've ever seen so much equipment in one place before. I guess we're talking 15-20 square meters and it was 4 of everything. Drums, amps + cases, recording equipment and a couple of Pa - systems. If I would have moved 30 centimeters backwards, I would have fallen all over one of the drumkits. Anyway, the only type of advice I could offer him that had at least some kind of substance, was to stick to the plan (even though it never works). If you're the guy in charge, decide how you want to present yourself and the band. Try to find a way to get the best out of the musicians and so on. I don't know, but in his reply he was very grateful for the answers I gave him.
Another young man that has crossed my path this latest year, is the HFMC gunslinger Anton Lindsjö. To work with him in the studio is almost "frightening". By now I know myself as a musician pretty good. I know there's some things I'm good at and there's some things I'm not so good at. Antons capacity seems to have no limits. He plays whatever you ask him to play. If you're going for a certain kind of timing, a rough attitude, or maybe some slick fills, he delivers at once. By now, you know I've played with some fine guitar players over the years. Still, Antons easy and fluid way of dealing with everything (musically that is) and of course his sound impresses me a lot. On top of that, despite the fact that he's more than 20 years younger than us in HFMC, he's probably the most mature fellow of all of us.
Around the time Jesus Christ was born, at least that's what it feels like, when I'm thinking of my early days playing. When we started Spellbound, we were lucky, we could rehearse at my parents house. We rehearsed 4 times a week, year after year. Actually I think those years are one of the most important components to the musician I am today. At one of the first gigs we did outside Uppsala, we had some friends with us to help us carrying the equipment and so on. After the show we were invited to a party. There were lots of people there, that we've never seen before and I guess they were thinking, who the hell are these guys, where the hell do they come from? After a while one of the guys asked my friend Roger (who didn't play in the band, we're still good friends and we still keep contact). The guy said: "Who are you?" I'm the guy fixing all the "birds" to the band, Roger replied in a second. You should have seen the look on this poor lads face and actually mine too. Roger pulled it off with such a grace that the guy was probably more impressed by him than Spellbound.
By the way, the guy I "got mail" from is called Carl Lindquist. Please check out him and his project coexistense here on MySpace: www.myspace.com/carllindquist6 .
Another young man that has crossed my path this latest year, is the HFMC gunslinger Anton Lindsjö. To work with him in the studio is almost "frightening". By now I know myself as a musician pretty good. I know there's some things I'm good at and there's some things I'm not so good at. Antons capacity seems to have no limits. He plays whatever you ask him to play. If you're going for a certain kind of timing, a rough attitude, or maybe some slick fills, he delivers at once. By now, you know I've played with some fine guitar players over the years. Still, Antons easy and fluid way of dealing with everything (musically that is) and of course his sound impresses me a lot. On top of that, despite the fact that he's more than 20 years younger than us in HFMC, he's probably the most mature fellow of all of us.
Around the time Jesus Christ was born, at least that's what it feels like, when I'm thinking of my early days playing. When we started Spellbound, we were lucky, we could rehearse at my parents house. We rehearsed 4 times a week, year after year. Actually I think those years are one of the most important components to the musician I am today. At one of the first gigs we did outside Uppsala, we had some friends with us to help us carrying the equipment and so on. After the show we were invited to a party. There were lots of people there, that we've never seen before and I guess they were thinking, who the hell are these guys, where the hell do they come from? After a while one of the guys asked my friend Roger (who didn't play in the band, we're still good friends and we still keep contact). The guy said: "Who are you?" I'm the guy fixing all the "birds" to the band, Roger replied in a second. You should have seen the look on this poor lads face and actually mine too. Roger pulled it off with such a grace that the guy was probably more impressed by him than Spellbound.
By the way, the guy I "got mail" from is called Carl Lindquist. Please check out him and his project coexistense here on MySpace: www.myspace.com/carllindquist6 .