tag:hfmcband.com,2005:/blogs/hasse-s-blog?p=6Hasse's Blog2019-01-04T11:37:30+01:00HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)falsetag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544862012-03-20T11:50:00+01:002023-12-10T18:47:37+01:00Studio report nr.9 (The full monty)With a one week perspective, it's almost like you have to ask yourself...what happened? The first two months of 2012 has without a doubt been the most intense in my life. Of course it's not an ideal situation to record under a tight deadline, nevertheless it's something you have to handle. Guess we'll have the answer to that specific question in about a month from now, regardless if we want it or not. Once again this is a very honest recording, where you can really hear, sense, feel, I mean almost smell the musician behind each and every instrument. I'd say this is the naked truth of what HFMC is about 2012.<br><br>
Before last night I hadn't listened to the album for some time and the first thing that strucked me when I put "Powerplay" in the CD player, is that it's more "wild and crazy" than "Futurepast". The arrangements are more "brave" and maybe "delicate"? There's lots more parts and sections in the songs, especially the longer ones. Since I still can't give you my 100% safe Jameson test (review of "Powerplay") and the fact that I still refuse to shovel my thoughts into your head, my recommendation for now is: "As soon as you get it, give it some spins and let "Powerplay" slowly invade your mind, soul and body!!!<br><br>
Tonight Thomsson and me (in other words the "demon directors") will start to work on "The making of Powerplay", as well as some other video related stuff. The only thing I can promise you, is that they'll be just as "bad" as the previous ones. Ladies and Gent's...prepare for POWERPLAY!!!<br><br>
HFMC will release their upcoming album Powerplay on Reingold Records. Release date: April 23 (preorders (April 13)<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544872012-03-14T11:50:00+01:002022-04-18T14:08:18+02:00POWERPLAYAs I'm sitting here writing down the info on titles and the length of the songs of our upcoming album Powerplay, I'm actually listening to it. After a couple of sleepless nights , due to late night mastering (thank you Jouni), I'm finally here listening to the album for real. Of course I promised Reingold Records we'll be ready about a week ago (because of promotion etc and even that would be late). Nevertheless, right now the stuff is on it's way to Dicentia to become the final product - Powerplay:<br><br>
Power<br><br>
1. "My river to cross" - 10.13<br>
2. "The world keeps turning" - 04.10<br>
3. "The final hour" - 12.28<br>
4. "Waves" - 05.17<br><br>
Play<br><br>
5. "Venice CA" - 04.59<br>
6. "Is it ever gonna happen" - 07.57<br>
7. "White butterfly" - 02.30<br>
8. "The chosen ones" - 07.37<br>
9. "Godsong" - 05.34<br><br>
On top of everything else, I've been busy with the American working visas, booking of gigs and preparations for the upcoming HFMC shows. Gotta tell you, I'm actually to put it nicely fed up with all the practical stuff at the moment. Lucky for me, I met the lads in the Musical Companion last sunday. We had a meeting about the near future and we even played a couple of bars. I have to say, that felt like a gift from heaven to me, since it reminded me of why I'm doing all this - the love of MUSIC! <br><br>
Powerplay releasedate:120423 (preorders 120413) <br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544852012-02-21T11:50:00+01:002022-05-30T06:29:32+02:00Studio report nr.8 (The year of the dragon)To say the schedule's been tight lately, would be a vast understatement. On top of that, corrupt files and missing solos that eventually ended up in 13 hours of troubleshooting yesterday. When things like this occur during your first day of mixing, you really need to remind yourself that music is fun. Nevertheless, here we are Tomas Bodin (sound engineer) and me mixing the new HFMC opus "POWERPLAY" and let me tell you, we really grabbed the bull by the horn. We started with the "epic" of the album, "The final hour" and today it feels a lot better. we've almost managed to make a "full mix" of the song, or maybe I should say songs because of all the different parts. In fact I'm going back to the studio when I've written this to complete it. Since I'm a man of traditions, I won't give away what I think about the songs and the album, until I've done the 100% proof "Jameson test". After that I might (just might) give you a little hint. By now, I've learnt that we missed out on one thing before our previous release "FuturePast". That's to give you the running order of the songs, titles, length, in fact all the data you need on "POWERPLAY". Since I'm a service minded lad, I guess I'll be able to give you just that by next week.<br><br>
At the same time as Tomas and me are mixing the new HFMC album, Roine is mixing the upcoming TFK record. Isn't that hillarious? I mean how is it even possible... Anyway, both Tomas and me has completed our contributions to the "standard edition" of the CD (TFK). As soon as we're done mixing the HFMC album, we'll start to record the extra songs for the "limited edition" (TFK), which by the way is supposed to be something EXTRA (but you won't hear anything from me). Well...right now I've got my hands full and before the summer's here, you'll have your hands full of new new music from both Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion and The Flower Kings. Stay tuned for information on upcoming gigs. I'm off for now, gotta song to mix!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544842012-02-11T11:50:00+01:002022-05-13T13:45:31+02:00Studio report nr.7 (Double speed)It actually hit us like a bomb, when we (Tomas Bodin and me, both very occupied with the upcoming HFMC record as well as the opus "Crime Of The Century") realized the plan, The Flower Kings recordlabel Inside Out/Century Media, has for The Kings in the nearest future. The deadline for the master is 120303. Considering the fact that we started the recording at 120123, that's the world record right there, when it comes to producing a Flower Kings album. I spent all of yesterday at the "Cosmic Lodge" (nice to be back by the way) doing guitar overdubbs. As I listened to the backing tracks that were recorded at "Varispeed" (the studio) it strucked me. I mean in less than a month ago, we didn't even have a drummer. It was just about over 2 months, since we met for the first time in approximately 4 years. Nevertheless, the music I heard from the Genelec speakers of Roines studio sounded in my ears classic TFK, with all the significant elements that needs to be there. Aside from that, I like to think that there's a new attitude in the playing, probably very much thanks to the new guy Felix Lehrmann, who really proved to be a "smoking" drummer. I don't know? maybe it's not as "fine or polite" as previous albums by The Kings but hey...that suits me fine. In fact that's my cup of tea.<br><br>
If I knew what I know now, at the beginning of November last year, I'd probably have postponed the recording of the new Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion album. With gigs lined up on both sides of the Atlantic plus the fact that we were in the middle of the recording, to postpone this new adventure with HFMC was not even an option. Talking about gigs, as soon as we have our working visas for our trip to The States, we'll go official with what we've got at the moment. Next to RoSfest it looks like The Musical Companion will play another major festival within the prog scene, amongst other gigs this summer. As I just said, details later.<br><br>
"See the opportunities"! I know it's a cliché but that's what I'm trying to say to myself when I can't sleep at night. Maybe it's too much going on after all??? To me it doesn't feel that way. I actually feel like I'm at least almost on top of it all, especially now that mr. Tomas Bodin and me were able to do a session (between the TFK ones), now on sunday. We will lift in Kjelles keys, Antons guitars, some replaced bass notes from Thomsson as well as Olas percussion. In other words, the moment of truth is here in the HFMC camp. Quite frankly, we couldn't wait any longer in case we need to adjust or rerecord something before the mix. In the middle of all this Tomas and me are still trying to deliver music to "Crime Of The Century" and we've managed to almost accidentally come up with a new song for it, more of that later. Ladies and Gentlemen, next on the agenda: Go official about the title of Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion's upcoming album and the release date. Until then my friends!!! <br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544832012-01-09T11:45:00+01:002022-03-11T07:05:47+01:00Studio report nr.6 (Special brew)On "FuturePast" I was very keen on using my voice in as many different ways as possible, trying to avoid sounding the same all the time. Everything to try to please you listeners of course! On this recording the word of the day has been "GO FOR IT!" By that I mean, when the song requires I've been giving it all I've got...meaning less control but on the other hand, more attitude. Frankly I'm happy with most of it, while I'm still trying to get used to some of my vocal contributions. What I do know though, is that it sounds "fresh and vital" (probably more than ever before) and the recording of my voice (the sound) has never been better.<br><br>
Personally I got approximately 3 more hours of work to do, before it's time to mix the album. I've given the lads the deadline 120120. By then I shall have the percussion from Ola, some new and improved bass notes here and there from Thomsson. All the keys from poor Kjelle and some solos etc. from Anton. After that I'll be away for a while, but when I get back we're gonna mix the album as soon as we possibly can.<br><br>
As I mentioned earlier, the keyword for this recording has been: "GO FOR IT!" With that said, I can state that this album rocks a lot more than our debut. Even though we have a ballad and even an acoustic song this time, the overall feeling I get when I listen through the material, is that there's a lot more going on. There's more guts in the playing and in my humble opinion, there's more "action" in the songs. Talking about my music, I like to think of it as my own "special brew". Last time I was very worried how it would come across because of all my different influences. This time I've decided for myself, that it's an advantage to be able to mix progressive/symphonic rock, classic rock, metal, soul and blues and hopefully make it a sound of your own. If you like it, it's fantastic! If you don't, there's not much I can do. Considering the reviews on "FuturePast", I guess there's only one way to go (down) and that scares me. Nevertheless, I know that the guys and me has done our utmost to make this a good record. At the point we are at the moment of the recording, I can truly tell you I'm proud. If we'll manage to get an awesome mix and an equally as good mastering of the record, with a little bit of luck...who knows?<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544822012-01-08T11:45:00+01:002022-03-09T20:57:47+01:00Studio report nr. 5 (Rocking Reckless again)As I've been doing lots of vocals lately, I've come to realize myself that the lyrics to some of the songs are more personal than I thought in the first place. Except for songs like "Venice CA", "Waves" (which are very personal and positive) and "The world keeps turning", I guess the lyrics are a bit darker this time, dealing with war, religion and other "serious" topics. As I've had a pretty turbulent year, maybe I chose to write about those things because it somehow reflected what I've been going through lately. I guess I'm not sure what I'm talking about myself but hey!....it's really up to you to decide what you read into the lyrics.<br><br>
I haven't only been singing, I've played lots of guitar as well. On the latest session I recorded some electric guitar. I played slide, harmony (twin lead "my part") and I also changed some of the "clean" guitar sounds. I prefer to do those with my Fender guitars, since there's a lot more "twang" in them compared to my Les Paul. It was a blast to play my Stratocaster directly plugged into my Fender Concert amp. In my book, it sounded just the way it should. Of course I also did some "heavy riffing" at loud volume and let me tell you, you'll never get too old for such a thing. I promise you, it's probably the funniest thing you can do during the recording! I've also had a great time with my recently bought 12-string acoustic guitar (Furch, strange name but a great sound!), which will be very prominent on this album.<br><br>
By now I know that the other lads in The Musical Companion are occupied with work for the upcoming album as well. I guess I'm gonna pay sir Kjellvete a visit, at his fabulous Kjells Angels Studios next week. Can't wait to hear what the guys have been up to!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544812011-11-21T11:45:00+01:002022-03-20T04:41:29+01:00Studio report nr.4 (The storm)Music is such a powerful thing! When I was younger, I thought by now I would have lost my passion for music. During this weekend I've learnt that my passion for music is even stronger than before. There were moments during this session that moved me in a way I've never experienced before. Just as I said, music is a powerful thing!<br><br>
In the middle of the "storm" we managed to get a whole lotta work done. Tomas is very fast and effective in the studio and since I like to be very well prepared myself, we moved faster than the speed of light. I did acoustic 6 and 12 string-guitars for "Venice CA", "Godsong", "Waves" and a totally new and fresh little tune called "White butterfly". In fact it's so new, the lads in HFMC hasn't heard it yet (it's just my voice and my 12-string guitar so far). I'm not 100% sure it'll end up on the album but I think it would really sound good between two "big ones". I've even recorded all the vocals for "Venice CA", "Godsong" and "White butterfly". That's quite an achievement since there's more harmony vocals on "Godsong", than any other song I've recorded. We're gonna continue next week and I guess that goes for Anton, Kjell and Thomsson as well. By that time, I bet there's gonna be some "steaming hot" nights in their studios. MUSIC IS A POWERFUL THING!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544802011-11-06T11:45:00+01:002023-12-10T19:45:29+01:00Studio report nr.III (The somewhat smaller guy on the second floor)I must have been "dizzy" last night. I really don't know if I should laugh or cry? In studio report nr. II yesterday, I mentioned I could go on for "ages" in the studio 20 years ago, of course I meant 30 years ago. It's hillarious for Christ's sake! However just as I stated yesterday, that's certainly not the case nowadays. Anyway, we've now completed recording the backing tracks. During these 3 days we've been working on 8 songs and I have to say we've been a lot more careful this time compared to the recording of "FuturePast". In fact we've got 18 versions of "The final hour, part 3" to choose from. That's the "world record" for this session. When it comes to the other songs, I would say we've played or at least kept 5-7 takes of each and everyone that we recorded. I bet it'll take some time to sort all this out but the overall feeling I have, is that the last recorded version is the best.<br><br>
This session was different from all the recordings I've done so far in my whole life and that goes for the other guys in the band as well. This was the first one we recorded without any headphones. Everyone except for poor Ola used the fantastic loudspeakers in the studio. Ola on the other hand was trapped on the second floor in the drum room with an awesome DW kit in front of him, so I honestly don't think he suffered that much. The atmosphere of recording without headphones, with an amazing sound to play on, standing next to the guys was incredible. It felt more like if you were rehearsing than recording and for this band it was an ideal situation. It actually felt like you were in your own livingroom, playing along to a cd you like with the exception of the remarkable clarity and separation in the sound.<br><br>
Wow!...now we're actually doing it! We've started it all, now I just got some singing to do, some acoustic guitars, slide and harmony playing left. Anton got some leadguitar to take care of and of course some other playing as well. Congrats Kjelle! It's now or never.... or maybe I should say that it's now his work more or less starts. Ola got some percussion to do and of course Thomsson has some overdubbs to do on the bass, then I guess we have a new HFMC album ready. I guess that's it for now. Look out for studio report nr.4, sometime in the near future. Hail Rock n Roll !!!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544792011-11-05T11:45:00+01:002022-08-25T21:32:01+02:00Studio report nr.II (Lying down feeding with the doubles)It's very common that you're in a more relaxed mood as soon as you've done your first day in the studio. That's what it was like today but it's a good feeling though. It's just that you have to remind the lads and even yourself sometimes, to play with the kind of "energy" the song requires (the older you get, the ears gets more and more tired). I have to confess, even your head gets tired faster nowadays. 20 years ago you could record for 15 hours in a row before someone reminded you that maybe it's time for lunch or whatever. That's certainly not the case nowadays!<br><br>
During the recording and before the release of "FuturePast", I refused to give you my thoughts or my reflections on the songs, since it's up to you to decide what you think and I won't do it this time either. Even though, I just feel I have to tell you the spontaneous reaction from our sound engineer mr. Jouni Niemi, after we tracked down one of our tunes. I actually think it was THE "key" moment for this recording when he stated after one of the songs: "Jesus...what a bloody good song you've got there!". After such a reaction you kind of get the feeling that nothing can go wrong. Of course I understand that plenty of things can go wrong, still it boosts up the confidence to hear such a thing, especially since you hardly know the guy who said it. <br><br>
Talking about Jouni, his knowledge, his talent when it comes to sound and all the technichal stuff that comes with it, is unbelievable. He's also a nice guy to hang around with and that's almost equally important if you want a good result. Tomas Bodin also paid us a visit today to get a hint of what's going on, to hear what the new material sounds like. As far as I could see he left the studio with a smile and promised to be back tomorrow and so will we. Who knows, maybe it's time to calm down with a little taste of the Swedish Whisky Mackmyra, before I go to bed. Tomorrow it's time for "Studio report nr.III". Talk to you soon!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/1544772011-11-04T11:45:00+01:002022-05-30T08:56:50+02:00Studio report nr.I (The earthquake)It's in fact walking distance from where I live to Big Jambo Studios. It's almost surreal to live that close to a nice studio like this. At 10 o clock sharp all the members of HFMC, sound engineer Jouni Niemi and Tomas Bodin entered the doors and within 5 minutes the "vibe" was there. To you who've met the band, I guess you know what I'm talking about. It's actually hard to describe but it's a kind of "lose and funky feeling", with a giant laugh just around the corner most of the time. After the compulsory drum (boom...boom...boom...) soundcheck, where the second floor tom sounded as big as a f....ng earthquake and Anton and me trying out about 5 amps each, we started to record about 2 o clock in the afternoon.<br><br>
It's kind of funny, I tried out a Mesa Rectifier, a Blackstar amongst others but I ended up with my Fender (Concert) amp. However, in this part of the recording the drums have the highest priority so I let Ola choose the running order of the songs. So far we've recorded "Godsong", "Venice CA" and "Is it ever gonna happen" in that very order. I guess we must have about 6 or 7 versions of every song, so that we'll have plenty to choose from. I actually just came home, so I'm gonna settle down and relax for a while and have me a dinner. Tomorrow it's time again at 10 o clock. Look out for the next studio report tomorrow evening. Until then...HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/909062011-01-12T19:23:41+01:002022-07-29T11:01:42+02:00The Amp (January 10, 2011) Happy New Year everybody! I've come to the point in my life where I'm looking for an amp with a loud but clean sound. For years I've been playing with a "sweet and thick" distorsion and the clean sound has always suffered. This time I thought it was time for a change. I've just bought myself a Paul Rivera built Fender concert (60 w) from 82. It's an all tube amp, loud as hell but still 100% clean, not even a little bit of "crunch". 10 minutes ago I switched it off and now I'm trying to digest the experience. I used the Strat, the Tele and of course my Goldtop. This amp really shows the personalities and character of these three guitars in a genuinely nice and honest way. I have to say it sounds bloody great! That's not all, the value of this little "creature" will increase (maybe a lot) if you take good care of it. I don't for one second think you're interested in this "nonsense", over to the next subject.<br><br>
Some of you might already have seen that we got a new date for the Oslo gig. The "combo show" with Magic Pie and HFMC will now take place on sunday 110410. The reason for this, is that one of our Norwegian friends got injured so bad that we had to cancel the gig at 110127. I hope you all can make it to the new date.<br><br>
I just mentioned live music, didn't I? The tour is less than 2 months away and tonight Thomsson and me are gonna start to work on a promotion video for the FuturePast tour 2010/2011. Since we don't have this BIG machine behind us (booking agency or major record label), we really need your help to to promote the gigs. We would really appreciate if you could post topics about the FuturePast tour on different webforums, talk about it in the office, at the cafè, in the pub or why not on other concerts you're visiting. You can also tell your friends about it on facebook or MySpace or whatever. We just have to try to create a buzz and hopefully an interrest about the upcoming gigs. Most important, see to it that you come to the shows yourself and of course bring Grandma! Now I'm gonna make us dinner, then I'm off to Thomsson to start to create a video that will become a milestone (hahaha...maybe not). A fabulous 2011 to y'all!!!!!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/909052011-01-12T19:23:04+01:002022-06-02T03:37:52+02:00Go Easy With Pyrotechnics (December 29, 2010) The mighty year of 2010 has come to an end and what could be a better way to end it, than to rehearse with HFMC! I've already told you about my feelings since we released FuturePast. I also mentioned some of the plans for 2011. I actually spoke to Mark "Truey" Trueack of Unitopia just before Christmas about "The Hope" project among other things. He informed me it's still on and it's progressing nice and easy but a little slow (sounds familiar!). Do you remember? Some blogs ago I mentioned a meeting that could turn into something "spectacular" and next week it's time for yet another one (the 5th meeting so far). I refuse to give you more than this, but I can inform you that we're just about to start to work on this so far "not official" project.<br><br>
2011: HFMC gigs. Writing, rehearsing and hopefully recording a new HFMC album.<br>
2011: The still not official project.<br>
2011: The Hope project?<br><br>
I have to say, it looks like the year of the rabbit will be a busy one!<br><br>
I certainly hope all of you've had a good 2010 and that you're looking into an interresting and great 2011! Stay strong, try to live healthy (whatever that is?) and take it easy with the fireworks. Hope to see you all on the road. On behalf of all the lads in The Musical Companion: Happy New Year!!!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898612010-12-23T00:50:30+01:002022-06-02T03:11:17+02:00Just Another Year (December 19, 2010) I'm actually not gonna quote the Irish schlager singer Johnny Logan and state that this has been "just another year". That's certainly not the case, quite the contrary I would say. 2010 has for the lads and me been rather extraordinary! After the fact that we mastered FuturePast for the third time and I realized that we wouldn't be able to release it before the summer, it was like bloody torture to sit on your ...ss and wait for over 3 months to get it out in the open. Since then it's been like a ride to paradise with "extra everything" the whole autumn and winter.<br><br>
I mean, who could foresee these types of reviews, all the way from big major magazines to small independent websites and fanzines? The reviews of FuturePast, has as far as I know without even one single exception, been nothing less than fantastic. As I see it, all publicity is good publicity, especially if it's "good". If it's one thing that we apppreciate even more, it's all the comments and messages we've received from all of you out there. It's so satisfying to know that the album means a whole lot, to a lot of people out there. Even so much that a lotta people consider it to be among the top 3 this year or as for some of you, who even holds it as their favourite of the year, nr.1! Thank you and thank you again, that really makes it worth all the work we've put in! Then it's the gigs, Including the secret one, we've done 3 shows so far and even if they not by any means have been perfect, I can really hear, see and feel the potential of the band. I guess all there is to do, is to work even harder. Hopefully you'll be able to hear the fruit of our labour, during our upcoming tour next year "FuturePast tour 2010/2011". More of that later.<br><br>
As this will be the last blog this year, I can now officially say that we've started to rehearse new material. So far the guys have been their ususal themselves, inspired, big eared and extremely willling to do as good as they can and I'm so grateful for that. Thinking of all the times FuturePast got delayed, I think it would be wise not to give you a hint on where or when our follow up album will be released. Frankly, it's too early to say anything at all. All you need to know at this point, is that we've started working on our next album. With this little "sum up" of this year and these news , I guess all that's left to do is to leave you with yet another great review. This time it's from Holland "Background Magazine" and here's the link: http://www.backgroundmagazine.nl/<br>
From all the lads and me: We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898602010-12-23T00:49:46+01:002021-12-01T20:45:26+01:00Ready For Dessert? (December 15, 2010) Finally! At last I can give you the dates of our next little trip of the FuturePast tour 2010/2011. Since we decided to not do England this time, I was forced to cancel one show and "reschedule" two of the other gigs. After lots of e-mails and phone calls, this is what it looks like:<br><br>
110127: John Dee - Oslo (Norway). Together with Norwegian band Magic Pie.<br><br>
110226: Musikens Hus - Gothenburgh (Sweden). Festival with Wasa Express and Lone Star Retractor.<br><br>
110227: Into Music - Lund (Sweden).<br><br>
110301: Bergkeller - Reichenbach (Germany).<br><br>
110302: Spirit of 66 - Verviers (Belgium).<br><br>
110304: de Boerderij - Zoetermeer (Netherlands). Dutch supportband to be announced.<br><br>
As you can see I haven't booked saturday 110305 yet. Hopefully that can be solved by the beginning of next year. If you have some contacts or ideas about it, don't hesitate. Just send me a message here on MySpace or facebook and maybe we can work something out. The best option would be to do the gig somewhere in Germany. In case that doesn't happen, this is what the tour will look like. Do I need to say that we really need your support this time. As I said earlier, bring your friends, your family, even grandma cause this is it. This is the first time HFMC will play those regions and remember. There's nothing quite like the first time! After all the big holidays we're gonna try to promote the gigs as good as we possibly can and I guess we even need you to help. I'll get back to you about this early next year. Before that I hope I have more news about the tour and more news about everything really. I also hope I have a promotion strategy ready by then. So long boys and girls!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898592010-12-23T00:49:13+01:002010-12-23T00:49:13+01:00Here's Another Bite (December 6, 2010) First of all, tonight or today "and" tomorrow (depending on where you live) you can listen to Rick Dashiell of Delicious Agony and the investigating questions he had for me. I don't know what this little dialogue will end up like? But I remember we talked about the obvious, HFMC, FuturePast and also a little about TFK. As I remember it, we did it randomly in a relaxed and cozy way. For more information, this is the way to go: http://www.deliciousagony.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4078&highlight<br><br>
I guess it was yesterday I put up the latest review of FuturePast on facebook. I just feel the urge to introduce the guy responsible for it, mr. Janne Stark. He's the man who's written the books "The encyclopedia of Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal". Let me tell you, there's not an album, a song or a note by a Swedish band that he hasn't heard! If you keep that in mind while reading and at the same time try to understand my feelings, while reading it, you'll soon see that I've been walking above the clouds these recent days! I know it's just one man's point of view, it's just that this guy has been around since day one in my musical career and beside the fact that he's a journalist, he's a musician himself. He's always been dedicated to Hard Rock/Metal/Prog Rock and he knows all there is to know about it. The link I'm gonna give you, leads the way to his own blog but the review will be published on the website "Metal covenant" anyday now. All I can say is, it feels like my Christmas holiday started early this year: http://starkmusicreviews.blogspot.com/<br><br>
Outside the sun is shining, it's -8 degrees celsius and it truly looks like a remarkably beautiful Christmas card out there. Take it easy and buy your Christmas presents in time and why not let FuturePast be one of them: http://shop.textalk.se/en/shop.php?id=8412<br><br>
Take care out there.HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898582010-12-23T00:48:44+01:002020-03-31T18:49:17+02:00Something To Chew On (December 1, 2010) I had me some breakfast a little while ago and it strucked me, it's been a while since I informed you about what's going on in the HFMC camp. We're just about to start to rehearse some new material, we're gonna do that now on saturday. That means it's once again time for a "moment of truth" situation. I have to confess, I absolutely don't know what to expect of what the guys will think of the new songs? I'm mighty excited and frankly a little nervous about it. At the same time we have to continue to prepare for the upcoming gigs but that's just as inspiring.<br><br>
By now I feel I have to give you at least a little something about the gigs. The first one next year will take place in Oslo on 110127. HFMC has actually been invited to perform with Norwegian band Magic Pie at their "Release party" at the great rock club John Dee. We will start the evening with one hour of music and then Magic Pie will end the night. The next gig that's confirmed is Musikens Hus in Gothenburgh on 110226. It's the now legendary society GARF, who's booked like a nice indoor festival at the end of the winter. The classic Swedish rock (prog) band Wasa Express with none other than Dr. Åke Eriksson on drums will open the show. We will go on after that and then the Gothenburgh based Genesis cover band Lone Star Retractor (which are supposed to be very good) will end the night. In my ears those nights in Oslo and Gothenburgh sounds like real "killer nights", so I advice you all to be there!<br><br>
About the gigs, I'm sad to say we had to skip England this time because of what could be described as the lousiest timing ever. It was Miles who tried to help me out with the British dates, who was honest and had the courage to tell me what the situation was like, in and around week 10. This means I might have to "reschedule" some of the other gigs (if possible?). After this I won't probably have any grey hair, as I probably won't have any hair at all. Seriously, I'm fine it's just that it feels like I've done 12 rounds of Heavy weight boxing with my 72 kilos.<br><br>
Yesterday morning we had 22 below zero celsius, which means that you'll hardly gonna meet any mosquitos out there. That's about the only positive thing I can find when it's as cold as that, except for the beautiful landsape and the white and frosty trees. It's now December and it's soon Christmas time and FuturePast is still the perfect Christmas gift to your loved ones. You can order it from Reingold Records (Europe), ProgRock Records (US), Amazon, CDon.com, Ginza or why not Itunes or your local recordstore. Take care out there and remember to try to find the "real" Christmas spirit!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898572010-12-23T00:47:55+01:002010-12-23T00:47:55+01:00The Mystery (November 16, 2010) Life can be a mystery? A while back I got a message on facebook and yesterday we had our second meeting about it. I have to say that in the end this might turn out into something quite extraordinary? Yesterday, I talked to an old friend of mine who said that things were moving in a certain direction?�I know it couldn't get anymore cryptic than this but sometime in the future I hope I'll be able to say, remember where you heard it first with this blog in mind. Yesterday�I also got a phonecall from the "Swedish Bureau of Taxes" (could that be the name of Skattemyndigheten, I haven't got a clue?), who said they had some questions for me. WHOO���! Could it get anymore scary than that? Yesterday evening I also received the video to our song "Fallen Empire" and it makes me so sad to say, that I feel it doesn't suit the HFMC concept or the image of the band. The only one to blame here is me, who didn't give Kenneth and Gerri any directions whatsoever. I'm sorry I wasted their time, but I know they're great at what they're doing and I wish them the best of luck in the future!<br><br>
By now I guess all of you blog readers out there knows I'm trying to book a tour. It's not excactly a picnic and I guess I've gained LOTS of grey hair while doing it. If there'll be a next time, I'm definitely gonna hire another guy to do it. The plan was to do the tour together with the Swedish band Moon Safari, like a "double bill" (combo) tour. Unfortunately they'll not be able to do it because of other obligations, which means we're on our own from now on. I'm not saying I'm the most experienced musician there is when it comes to touring, but�I know one thing. I know it takes a lot to pull a crowd, be interresting enough to make the auidence show up at the gigs. It's not excactly like we're the only band out there who's looking for your attention. As soon as I got all the dates confirmed, I'm gonna ask you to help me out on this one. Help me out with creating a "buzz" about the tour. It might be things like talking about it on different webforums, asking your local radio station to play our music, promote the tour on your personal facebook and MySpace sites or other web related stuff. Last but not least, don't forget to bring ALL your friends and relatives including Grandma�to the concerts! I'll get back to you later on the subject, when�I have all the details.�Take care out there!����HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898562010-12-23T00:45:00+01:002018-12-01T09:24:58+01:00The Sign (November 10, 2010) Last week I got a sign from Ken and Gerri of the Canadian based "Longshot Productions". They informed me that they're putting the final touches on our upcoming video to the song "Fallen Empire". Let me tell you, I'm just as curious as you are! I haven't got a clue to what they've been up to? Normally I would've been more involved but the way this "thing" happened, made me leave the control to these Canadian friends. I've seen some other videos that they've done. That + the fact that they really love the band, makes me quite optimistic with this whole scenario. I promise you one thing dear friends. As soon as it's ready, you'll be the first to see it!<br><br>
Right now we have about 2 decimeters of snow outside and I've been sitting with my guitar, trying to write some new material. I honestly like to believe I have some good music among these tunes I've written. It's just the usual Fröberg problem, I need to come up with some words to them, before the ideas will fade out into nothing. I'm not that worried though, all of a sudden they might write themselves, like before FuturePast. In desperation I took a break yesterday and watched the latest Rush DVD "Beyond the lighted stage". That's truly an amazing video, with rare footage both on and off stage from VERY early in their career. There's one scene where guitarist Alex Lifeson is arguing with his parents at the kitchen table. How did that come about? Where did they find it? After I've seen this DVD for the third time now, I can just state that no guys deserves their success more than Rush!<br><br>
I don't wanna be the guy to make you feel stressed but remember Christmas is getting closer. What could be a better Christmas gift than a copy of FuturePast? All you need to do is to click on the album cover on the main page and order the CD. If you live in the US, you can order the album from ProgRock records, nice and easy just like that! This blog turned out to be about videos and DVD's. I hope we'll have our video to "Fallen Empire" up and running by the end of next week! Take care.HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/898552010-12-23T00:40:00+01:002021-02-10T10:13:12+01:00Chemistry (November 4, 2010)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">Hey, guess what! Playing in a band must be the greatest thing there is. First of all it's the sheer joy of playing music together, when you've become one with the song and the guys playing it (if you get what I mean?). Then it's of course the social bit. I mean you share both good and bad times but what really separates the boys from the men, is touring. Being together 24/7 for a couple of weeks or maybe a month, requires lots of qualities of all members. It's under conditions like these, you really can see what the chemistry in the band is like.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">During my years of playing, I've been on the road with 6 different bands. No band can be compared to the other. Some like to party, some like to soundcheck all the way up to the gig. Personally I prefer a combination of those two. The most easy going band up until now must have been Solid Blue. The attitude of both the music and the guys in the band was a little bit of a laugh. During our 5 year career, I can't remember that we argued even once and we played a lot. The gigs were mostly in pubs and rock clubs. We didn't even raise our voices once during our 10 nights in a row tour in England, despite the lack of sleep, the amount of booze and all the miles we drove. That tour might as well have been one of the most funny things I've done in my whole life. Highway Stars was like a machine. During the perod I was in the band, we did 3 or 4 gigs every week. It was a whole lotta partying, mostly becauze we always played at parties where everybody was drunk. It could be a 40 minute set in front of a packed and "Scandinavian drunk" audience at a nightclub, a ski resort, or why not one of those "Swedish summerparty cities" like Visby, Halmstad or Marstrand. We also did festivals, private (jet set) parties and the best thing of all, playing for companies and their employees. It was great money, spectacular shows and a hell of a party!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">The early days of Spellbound was as I recalll it, controlled chaos. We were hardly 20 years old and we had the feeling that nothing, no one could stop us. I was wrong, I mean just as we released our first album "Breaking the spell" it was my time to join the Swedish army, which was compulsory back then. When I look back at it now, It was actually there and then we lost the game. If we would have had the right recordlabel behind us and if I wasn't doing the military service for 10 months, who knows what would have happened? Anyway, I'm very glad for those years. The massive amount of hours practising during those years, has really more than anything else made me the musician I am today. In 97 I joined The Flower Kings, at the same time as they were getting a lot more active. I have to say TFK is quite an extraordinary band. In all my years of playing, most of the time there's one guy (sometimes that guy has been me) or maybe a team of 2 lads, who's taking care of business so to speak. That could be anything, writing songs, deciding what covers to play, owning the bus and the P-a, booking and arranging stuff or just as I said, taking care of business. I mean everyone knows that TFK is Roines baby. Still TFK consists of 3 men with BIG egos, playing their instrument like a true virituoso and they're all very good producers as well. All that + a drummer and me. Quite a line-up don't you think? With this in mind, yes we discuss a lot, we disagree in a lot of things but at the same time, we've had lots of fun over the years and in fact I think all of our differences, is part of the reason of our success.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">As you all probably know by now, for the moment I'm deeply involved in HFMC and I wouldn't change that for anything in the world. It's too early to tell but so far this has been like a dream. After a couple of years in the "back seat" I'm now back in the "drivers seat" again and up until now I've been loving every minute of it. If you find 4 musicians that'll do anything they can to help you realize your musical vision, these guys can't be anything but VERY good friends in my book. By now we've also done our first live shows and the answer those gigs gave me, is the fact that our chemistry works! In 2011 we'll be "moving in for the kill, the ultimate thrill". Hope to see you then dear friends!!!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; color: rgb(233, 221, 221); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; ">As it is now, I don't have any blogs planned. Who knows, I might wake up someday with a lot of subjects that I wanna write about. The reason it took a while for me to finish this one, was that I wanted to do those gigs with HFMC first. Let me just make one thing clear before I leave you this time. I will keep you updated on a regular basis as usual, regarding, gigs, videos, news and other HFMC related things. Love to you all!!! </span>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/820872010-07-29T17:52:29+02:002010-07-29T17:52:29+02:00Get on Your Bikes and Ride (JUly 22, 2010)With the wind in your back and the sun right above your head, try not to feel good while you're riding your bike between Venice and Santa Monica. Riding on the beach pretty close to the shoreline amongst yoggers, people on rollerblades, skateboards or other "vehicles", must be the perfect medicine for your soul. Hippies, hip-hoppers, tourists, teenagers, surfers, skaters, cops and God knows what, together with the smell of Mariujana, makes it a very "interresting" impression.<br><br>
Coming from Sweden, I guess California or at least L.A must have the perfect climate. It's not too hot. For most of the time it's like the perfect Swedish summerday over there. The ones we might have for maybe three weeks a year, It's just that these guys have that kind of wheather for 335 days a year. I have to say, this year together with 1994 seems to be like an exception from the rule though. Back in 1988 Thomsson and me spent 5 weeks in L.A trying to promote Spellbound. We did some interviews and met some "important" people but to be honest, our main interrest was to hang out in the clubs and see as many gigs as possible. When we left Sweden, we hadn't heard of Guns and Roses. Let me tell you, it was this year the Guns and Roses fever exploded and it was cool to be where it all started. It was Guns and Roses everywhere! You heard the "Appetite for destruction" material, in the clubs, shops, bars, the radio, shopping malls, on the beach, in restaurants, just as I said: EVERYWHERE! Since then I've visited L.A at least 5 times for shows with The Flower Kings and I like it a lot. It's always sunny, the people are friendly and I have to say, the city or at least the parts of the city I've visited, have a nice and calm atmosphere of their own.<br><br>
Back then in Sweden if you hung out partying in Stockholm, you met the guys in Treat, 220/Volt and maybe the guys in Glorious Bankrobbers to name a few. When we did the clubs on Sunset Strip, you could see a happy David Lee Roth at a table with some female friends at Rainbow Bar and Grill. (I've now heard that he's gay. If that's the case, I guess he did everything to live up to his image)? We also saw a totally wasted Vince Neil with his head (almost) leaning against the bar desk. One thing that took a while to figure out, was that even BEFORE Thomsson and me opened our mouths, people asked us: "Where are you guys from? Are you guys in a band? For how long are you guys gonna stay here? Those questions were also asked in that specific order, NO exception from the rule in that case. Later on a guy told me, they could see in a second that we didn't live in L.A because we didn't wear make-up. During our 5 week stay, we attended concerts with Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, David Lee Roth, White Lion, Krokus and Great White and more bands that I can't remember right now. We also saw numerous of clubgigs with struggling bands as ourselves, yes Thomsson and me was partying like there was no tomorrow. Everytime you had to take a leak, was a story of it's own. In the mens room you were offered both this and that but mostly cocaine. I guess the whole L.A rockscene tried to give me a line or two. I have to say, I felt like Björn Borg partying at Studio 54 back in the seventies.<br><br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/820862010-07-29T17:51:06+02:002020-10-12T06:52:52+02:00How the West Was Won (July 11, 2010)...mmm...hmm...psst...hello...are you still out there? It's been over three weeks since my latest blogpost and I've never had such a long break since I started this page. We're also in the middle of July and I guess some of you are on, or is just about to go on vacation, which has been the reason for me, not to be online that much. Except for some short updates on facebook, there's been nothing since the blog "Sweet", that was written almost while the cab was waiting to take us to the airport (almost), that's why I spelled Stephen Booth wrong and even messed up Mari Ljungstedt's name. Mari who's responsible for the character Knutas and has the great scenery of Gotland and the beautiful town Visby, as the centre of her books. Anyway, we spent three weeks in USA which is the longest time our family has been away from home. We did a really cool thing. We spent our time in The States together with HFMC's bassplayer Thomssons family, which means that everything we did was twice as funny! I must be pretty old and grumpy nowadays. For every (long) trip I've done, the jetlag only gets worse, I'm actually writing this blog at three o clock in the middle of the night, while the rest of the family is asleep. I also wanna tell you that I brought a pen and some paper, to write down some "keywords" for some possible blogs in the near future.<br><br>
As I haven't been online for over three weeks, there's plenty of things to take care of here on MySpace and facebook. The most important thing is to put up the "FuturePast snippets" to remind you, that there's actually an album that will be released soon. One great thing with the World Cup this year, is the fact that while we were in California, the early games started at seven o clock in the morning. That was the perfect start of the day for the Fröberg family before breakfast, since we had the whole day left then. I saw most of the semi-final between Holland and Uruguay on the Virgin America flight between LAX and JFK. I wonder how that game would have ended if Uruguay has had Suarez, Lugano and Fucile on the field? The semi-final between Germany and Spain, we saw at an Irish pub in the middle of Manhattan together with some crazy Spaniards. I have to say it's been a great and entertaining World Cup, even though Sweden didn't play (just kidding, ha ha). Good luck tonight guys!!!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/820842010-07-29T17:50:26+02:002010-07-29T17:50:26+02:00Sweet (June 18, 2010)<br>
"Sweet"<br>
If you're happy, music can make you more happy. If you're sad, music can make you even more sad. That's how it works for me. Back when the kids were young, everytime at the last day in school before the summer break when they started to sing "Den blomstertid nu kommer", I started to cry. It was "happy tears", a strange combination of relief, happiness and of course I was proud over the two junior Fröbergs. If you're talking about strong emotions, this is the winner.<br><br>
I guess it's the same with books. If you're in the mood and you have the time, reading a book can be just like walking into another world, or stepping into another mans/womans life. I love biographies. To read about Keith Richards or Led Zep (The hammer of the Gods), can be very interresting. I guess I must at least have read about 20 biographies about rock celebreties such as Ian Gillan, Eric Clapton, LOTS of Stones books, AC/DC, Lemmy's "White line fever" amongst others. Still got some more to take care of, for instance Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chilipeppers) is suposed to be very good. The one that tops the list is the book of Sharon Osbourne and her "power struggle" with her dad Don Arden. I also like English thrillers a lot, Peter Robinsson, Steven Both and Ian Ranking to name a few. I have to say, even though I might not be that objective, that the Swedish writers (thrillers) are really good nowadays. Roslund/Hellström, Kjell Eriksson, Håkan Nesser, Karin Ljungstedt and of course the international "smash hit" Stieg Larsson and his "Millennium trilogy". In less than a year ago, he was the second most sold author in the WORLD!<br><br>
The latest book I read is called "Snabba cash" (Fast cash) and is written by the Swedish author Jens Lapidus. I had my doubts because of the "corny" title but the book is fantastic! It's about a world you wish didn't exist. There's three main characters, with three totally different backgrounds. One of the guys is from a little town in Sweden, with one goal in life, to become rich. He studies at the university and drives a cab in his free time. In the weekends he parties with the "jet set" and among them the kids of the royal family, in the clubs around Stureplan in central Stockholm. He's very smart, he got the look but he lives a "doublelife", since he doesn't have rich parents and the way of life those people have. To get the possibility to party for a FORTUNE every weekend he starts to sell cocaine and supply his so called friends with it. Another guy is from Chile, has done some time in jail but manages to escape and changes his looks radically. He lives in one of the nothern suburbs to Stockholm, he's also smart and creative but he doesn't have the look that will get him into the "fancy" clubs and that makes him very frustrated. The third guy is from Serbia and he was very active in the ethnic war in former Yugoslavia. He can kill or torture people just like if he was changing his underwear. He's one of the main guys in the Serb Mafia, who controls lots of the criminally related stuff in Stockholm and also the drugs and the drug dealers in and around the capital city of Sweden. The book is VERY exciting and Jens (the author) reaches a very psychological level as well, where you sometimes, feels lots of sympathy and sometimes hates the guys. It's never just black and white, if you know what I mean. To be somebody and to be rich, no matter the cost is the common thing for these three. After a while they cross each other paths while they're still on their "way up" making big deals and earning lots of money. At the same time they're now heavily addicted to coke themselves, which clouds their judgement and they don't know who to trust. This, lots of other interresting side stories and a pretty cool ending makes this book a real "killer". If this will become an international hit, remember where you heard it first!<br><br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/820832010-07-29T17:49:45+02:002010-07-29T17:49:45+02:00Low Profile (June 14, 2010)The summer is just around the corner, at least for us here in Sweden. Beside the fact that it's actually quite nice outside, the "World Cup 2010 in South Africa" is the perfect proof of that. This time Sweden didn't qualify (thanks to Denmark). Seriously, as soon as I saw that we had them in our qualification group (again), I said this time it's there turn. Sad for us I was right. On the other hand, earlier on we qualified on there behalf a couple of times, so I guess in the end some kind of justice has been made. Congratulations Denmark! As I told you last time, lately it's been hysterical! Not musically, loads of other stuff has been needed to take care of. I guess most of that's done by now and it's such a relief. Why is it that every year around this time, all hell breaks lose? Let me tell you, this year was definitely not an exception from the rule! Funny, just the other day I kind of realized that "Song for July" doesn't mean a shit if you live in Florida, Brazil, Thailand or whatever. I know the lyrics is a bit "nonsense" on that one, but if you live in the nothern part of the world this "nonsense" means a lot!<br><br>
I also want you to know that I've decided to keep a low profile for a little while. That means I'm not gonna be that active here on MySpace or on facebook. I think that's a wise thing to do, so that you won't get fed up with HFMC or me before we release the album. In time before the release of "FuturePast", we'll be back with a new looking/sounding page and hopefully some good news and fresh blogs as well. During this period I'm gonna try to compose some more, experience some new things, so that I'll have something to write about and of course try to relax some. In the meantime, you can check out all our videos to really get into the right "FuturePast" mood. You can also check out all our related pages (see the links) and of course visit our beautiful official website http://www.hassefroberg.com and maybe say hi or something else in our very cool guestbook. Talking about MySpace pages, it never seems to stop. Magnus Friberg is now working on a HFMC South America MySpace page, in Spanish and Portuguese (is that the name of the language?) I think that's a good thing to do before we release the album! Before I'll let you go, I'll try to write the next blog: "Sweet" sometime next week.<br><br>
Dear friends, have a wonderful summer and enjoy every minute of it. Before you know it, we'll be back!!!!!!!!<br><br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/820822010-07-29T17:49:05+02:002023-06-18T22:09:42+02:00Heard the Radio (June 14, 2010)Heard on the radio about a boy, who took his life because he wasn't allowed to play as much computer games as he would've liked.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, in Pakistan the Taliban bombed a school for girls.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, British Petrol is cleaning up the mess in the Mexican Gulf with an "antiseptic", that's almost as bad as the oil.<br><br>
Heard on the radio about yet another priest, who have molested a child.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, in Haiti they amputate without giving anaesthesia.<br><br>
Heard on the radio about yet another bomb, this time on Times Square, New York.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, Greece is bankrupt.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, a hurricane hit China.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, a sixteen year old very drunk girl in Stockhom, fell off a bridge and died.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, peace in the Middle East is more far away than ever.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, British Petrol is lying about the amount of leaking oil.<br><br>
Heard on the radio, there's a civil war going on in central Bangkok, Thailand.<br><br>
Sorry if I ruined your "Friday feeling", that was certainly not my intention. This is what the morning news is like on the Swedish national radio, while I'm having my breakfast. Seriously, every now and then it's some positive news but all in all, this is pretty much what it sounds like. If I remember correctly, this is some of the stuff I wrote down during a two week period some time ago. Pretty depressing isn't it?<br><br>
On a more personal level, I've really had me some hectic weeks. It's been like an "orgy" in moving furniture, since both my mother in law and The Thomssons are moving at the moment. Aside from that it's been chaos in the Fröberg family, as we're getting closer to the summer school holiday, with LOTS of activities (even for us parents) and the kids schedule regarding soccer is hysterical right now, with 2-3 games every week for both of them. Some of the matches are over 100 km:s away which means it takes about a day (huh!), but don't forget it's funny! Before I forget, thank you all you wonderful people out there, for the feedback on the "FuturePast" video. I know it's not much, but I get the feeling that most of you really like the short samples and that means a lot. I mean I've been going on about this for a year now and it wouldn't have felt good, if you met the video with total silence or if you said it sounded like crap. Tomorrow, I'm gonna be a good boy! I'm gonna sing at a wedding in Dalby kyrka (Dalby church). I think I better round off this blog and start to prepare for tomorrows show, since I haven't had time to do that. By the way, after the wedding it's party time (another party), which means I'm really heading for a "killer weekend". I hope you are too!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/708842010-04-26T19:43:35+02:002021-05-15T19:21:32+02:00The Volcano Swedes (April 24, 2010)I know I shouldn't write this because of all the people and companies that has gotten into trouble because of the volcano (dust) from Iceland. For me the timing couldn't be better. That little bugger actually gave me some time off from Arlanda that has been very useful as we're putting the final touches to the mix. On the other hand I have to say I feel so sorry for J.L.Anton and co. Last week I called him to see how they were hanging, before their trip to The States. I was actually trying to get information for a blog about Anton and his brother Mårten (bass) and a drummer I don't know the name of, since I didn't need to write the blog. Thanks to the dust from the volcano with the very strange name, the flight got cancelled and so did the gigs. The guys were supposed to fly to LA to do clubgigs for a week.<br><br>
Today I woke up and it feels like I'm walking above the clouds. Yesterday we mixed the last song for "FuturePast" and last night Thomsson and me tried to be Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper, as we and 3 other gentlemen did a Blues Brothers tribute show, in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Stockholm. We had the black suits, the black ties, the black glasses, the black shoes and the black hat and we brought down the house. Once again I can only state: "Playing live is the THING!". The interaction between the guys on stage, the energy from the audience and the sheer pleasure of playing! If you compare that, with synchronizing the ambience michrophones and the cymbal mikes with the snare and the tom michrophones (we're talking MILLI seconds here) the choice is very easy. Anyway, this is what the days will look like for Petrus and me now on monday and tuesday before the mastering now on wednesday. Now I feel like I'm repeating myself but the sky is blue, the sun is shining, so I guess there's just one thing left to do then. Have a killer weekend out there, all of ya!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/708832010-04-26T19:41:09+02:002010-04-26T19:41:09+02:00The Time Optimists (April 21, 2010)Since I started the recording of FuturePast, I'm afraid I belong to the above mentioned cathegory myself. Usually I have no problem to estimate time. I'm never late, I never miss a train, a buss or a flight. As I just said, I have no problem to estimate how much time I need for this or that (at least that's what I think myself, with FuturePast as the exception from the rule). Anyway, what's the reason for this? Was I born like this? Was I brought up and taught to be like this? I really don't know and I really don't know if I should write about this either but Roine is a cool guy so I bet he can take it, in fact extremely cool. I've never seen the guy stressed. A "time optimist" is a woman or a man that believes it takes for instance 10 minutes to do a certain thing, while it actually takes 25 minutes to do it. If it happens once in 3 years, I don't consider that person to be a time optimist. If it happens all the time, maybe even so much that it's a part of your personality, you definitely belong to the "time optimists". Roine started to work as a "full time" musician even before he finished school and as far as I know, he's never had a "regular" job. I guess you can say he's been his own boss for all his life. He's very well organized and he has good control of everything except for one tiny little detail, time (and maybe distances). I honestly believe and I'm pretty sure Roine does too, that after a 4 hour! soundcheck, in Roines world the actual time might be something like 90 minutes. During TFK rehearsals, I always catch up Tomas on my way to the studio. If we're supposed to start at 10 o clock in the morning, we're always there just before the clock strikes 10, even though we have by far the longest way to drive. Normally Roine (who has the key) and sometimes even the rest of the guys shows up maybe 10-30 minutes later. Once again, I truly believe he thinks he's on time and he probably wonders why we're all so early?<br><br>
I just mentioned Tomas. If Roine is a "time optimist" then Tomas has to be the perfect "time pessimist". He's the total opposite, he always thinks that he will be late or miss all the fun. He's always the first to board the plane, the first to notice if there's no towels backstage and very often he wants to start the gig before gig time as well. Maybe it has something to do with the name, since Thomas Thomsson is just like Tomas Bodin. It's very important for him to be on time, so you can say that he lives his whole life 10 minutes pre-real time, since he always shows up 10 minutes before we decided to meet. If there's such a thing as the king of the "time pessimists", my good friend Göran is definitely the guy. He's so afraid of being late, that he has set his clock 10 minutes before the actual time. That's not easy to beat!?<br><br>
Now that we have the king of the "time pessimists", you may wonder who has the crown of the "time optimists? After some thinking, I decided to declare the former guitar/keyboard player in the swedish coverband "Highway Stars" Janne Hellman (yes, the name is for real and it's a bloody cool !), to be the king of the kings. I think it was in 1990, we did 3 to 4 gigs every week during the winter, in the summer I guess we did 4 to maybe 6 gigs almost every week. Thinking back at it now, maybe Janne was sick or something, I don't know? I guess he slept for 15-18 hours everyday, while we were on the road. During the hours he was awake, he was very energetic and funny. His biggest moment, or his moment of glory that actually made him win this prize, took place in Borås, a city approximately 60 km:s east of Gothenburgh. We played at the Plaza Hotel, a pretty big and nice hotel with a nightclub on the ground floor. The conditions couldn't be better. The hotel rooms and the food was great. The stage, the sound and the lights were killer and that was not all. On the top floor they had a spectacular looking spa, with different types of saunas and in the middle of the room on an "etage" (placed higher), they had a giant jacuzzi with big panorama windows all around, with the view of the city centre. After the dinner we booked the spa between 21.30 - 24.00, when the show started. Before we went there we decided we should meet in the dressing room 10 minutes pre-show with the "stage gear" on, dressed and ready to rock! I guess we spent around 2 hours at the spa just like God created us, preparing for the gig with some Gin and Tonics, sauna, jacuzzi and lots of laughs. Everyone was there except for Janne, as he felt a little bit tired. 10 minutes before we were supposed to enter the stage, everyone was in the dressing room except for you know who? The nightclub was full and we were ready to go but still no Janne. 3 minutes before the show should start, I said to the guys I'm gonna go and get him. As this was before the cell phone era, I took the elevator met some "ordinary" people along the way who watched me with big eyes, as I was running with my high heeled shoes, my red headed wig and my green and golden costume and my "mantel" on. After I've been knocking at his hotel room door for maybe 2-3 minutes, he finally opened. His eyes were hardly open and he almost looked like a pillow himself. You better hurry up now gentleman, we're supposed to hit the stage in about 1 minute. I guess 5 minutes later we stood on stage. At least Janne had his costume on but he had no shoes, no underwear and his wig was put on the wrong way around. Yet another successful gig was in the making at the same time as the king of the "time optimists" was born!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/708822010-04-26T19:40:20+02:002010-04-26T19:40:20+02:00Studio Report No. 14 (April 15, 2010)The funny thing is that the mixes gets better and better, at least that what it feels like. In this process you do small adjustments along the way, which constantly improves the sound. Because of this fact we had to go back and take a look at the early mixes and "tweak" up the sound a little here and there. Last night we (almost) finished the song "Only my blood", which means that we've now mixed the 4 "epics" on the album (even if they're not even close to "Garden of dreams"=1 hour!, or some of the other long songs by TFK), these 4 songs have a running time between 10-15 minutes. In fact, last night I even brought Thomsson to the studio to replace maybe 20 seconds of bass guitar, or to be precise, 16 notes. Now you may think I've become a perfectionist but I'm still far from it. I just wanted looooong notes, instead of the staccato ones he played up in Tierp, almost a year ago. When we started the session last night, we were dead tired all 3 of us but Thomsson managed to deliver the goods quite easy anyway and after a while even Petrus and me woke up from our coma. After some "technichal mess" with the computer, we got very creative and managed to do a lot of work. When I couldn't hear the difference between Olas kick and Kjelles Mellotron, we decided to round things off.<br><br>
I also want to take the opportunity to inform you, that I've booked Tailor Made to do the mastering. That will happen on the 28-th of April. I did this to put the pressure on me and Petrus, to actually finish this thing. I feel this whole process has taken way to long. The amount of time we've been working in the studio is not much really, it's just that it's been so damn hard to synchronize our schedules. Even though we decided to work like this about a year ago, I couldn't in my wildest dreams think it would take as long as this to finish the recording. In case you haven't noticed it already, time flies! It's now week nr.15 and we started the recording of "FuturePast" in the now "legendary" week 21 in 2009. I have to say it feels absolutely great to be able to move on to the next phase but before that, I can promise you one last "studio report" in a week or so.<br><br>
Once again the weekend is slowly "creeping" upon us and as usual, I wanna take the opportunity to wish you all a great one!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/708812010-04-26T19:38:33+02:002010-04-26T19:38:33+02:00Got Mail (April 5, 2010)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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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 .<br><br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/629452010-03-15T12:32:47+01:002010-03-15T12:32:47+01:00Winter Olympics (March 15, 2010) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px; ">I don't know if they did it on purpose? The sandwiches, the hot chocolate and the oranges were packed. Mom and dad, my little sister and me were just about to go cross country skiing (when I was a kid). I'm not sure but I think those "picnics" and the fact that my mother didn't drive, has made it very natural for me to move (walking, running, skating, skiing or whatever). Later on from my schooldays up until I was 16 years old, I was very active playing soccer (I was doing allright, I even scored every now and then but my strongest asset was probably my working capacity). I even played ice hockey for maybe 3 or 4 years. Even though I was a pretty good at skating, I was terrible. Maybe I was too polite, I don't know? I honestly think I may have had a future in "track and field", running that is, 800 m - 3000 m. For a couple of years I competed for Rånäs and I won some races around Sweden with tough competition. The race I remember most, is the big "DN-galan" (for kids and youngsters) at Stockholm Stadium. It was my first race at a distance I had never run before, 1000 m. Because of that I didn't have an official time for that specific distance. The trainer wanted to put me in the last heat with the toughest competition, so he made up a time 2 minutes and 58 seconds. If you'll do like 3.15, I'll be more than happy, he said. I think I was 13 years old and extremely nervous. As soon as the race started, I wasn't nervous anymore (just like when you're gigging) and I could follow the lads pretty easy. Just as we were about to start the last lap, I decided to take the lead. I could see my trainer with eyes like big tennisballs and his tounge almost hanging out of his mouth, trying to shout. I couldn't hear a word. In the beginning of the last turn, I think I had a couple of meters down to the guy at second place. Just because the whole scenario was so uplifting, I didn't take notice of how tired I had become during the last 100 m. At the end of the turn I was almost drained with power and I had almost "cramp" in my legs. I had my eyes pointed at the finishing line and I ran as fast as I could and for a little while I thought I was able to make it. Around 15 meters before the line, the first boy passed me and before it was all over, 2 more guys hit the finishing line just before me. Directly afterwards, I was dead tired, angry, dissapointed and a little happy, all at once. The trainer was the total opposite, he was in ecstasy and told me all the plans he had for me. With this said, I wanna pay my respect to all the athletes that came at 4-th place in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Sweden had lots of them. By the way, if I remember it correctly the time I had was 2.51.<br><br>
When Björn Ferry won the gold medal in Biathlon, the first one to congratulate ME! was my son William. He knows I've been a fan of Björn for many years and why is that some of you might wonder? It's very easy, the guy is a genius! Of course he's good at what he's doing (the gold medal is proof enough for that) and he's one athlete that actually has something to say. The interviews in Swedish with him are very often a pure madhouse! He's extremely funny, he can be provocative at times, at the same time as he's "deep" and philosophical. Truly a rare blend among sportsmen. By now he's famous in Sweden for his "oneliners" and his blog "Ferrytales". In my world, no Swede deserves a gold medal more than Björn. Way to go!<br><br>
Talking about sports, I was a coach for my daughters soccer team between she and the girls were 7 years old until they were 14. That was quite an experience! Because of my interrest, I had also followed Williams team pretty closely. It didn't take long before I noticed the big difference between leading a group of girls compared to boys. During the trainings, the boys did what they were told, no questions. The girls on the other hand, had questions for everything. They needed to know the excact reason for every excercise we did. Me and Roger, who also took care of the team, we started with big plans. Pretty soon we understood that it would lead to nothing if they didn't think it was fun. In other words, you had to adjust the excercises to the level they were at and to do the things they thought were fun. By that you get the most out of the group (at an early age). It was also very important to us, that everyone in the team shall play (if they have been active, training). The thing is, you will always have a player who's the "worst" in the team. If they never gets the chance to play, they will give up sooner or later, then you'll have another one that'll go through the same journey and in the end, you won't have a team left. The biggest challenge though was to "build" a team, a group. We had around 20 girls with different backgrounds. Some were there because they loved football, some were there because their friends played and some played because of their parents. Everyone should have an equal chance to develop themselves, since that's such an individual thing, it was really like walking on thin ice to keep the best girls happy at the same time as you helped out those, who just had a hard time to hit the ball. Even though I probably gained some grey hairs, it was definitely worth it. The cups and the tournaments when you slept in classroms or in tents, the freezing cold late autumn trainings and of course the gold medal when we won the league 2006. In retrospect, I even use some of the stuff I'd learn as a coach today with HFMC and probably my everyday life too.</span>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/616782010-03-01T19:06:07+01:002019-01-04T11:37:30+01:00Love (February 24, 2010) What happened that day in Seattle at the fast food restaurant, when Roine became "Groina"? What was the truth behind the "Dwayne incident" in New York. In Paris, at one of the public restrooms, all of a sudden "Aaaaah..., Monsieur Bodin!" became a fact and has lived with us ever since. Will those stories ever be told? Frankly, at the moment I don't know? What I do know is the fact that TFK still has a break or a time out. I'm speaking with all the guys on a regular basis and for the moment everyone is busy with their own projects (me included). I guess it's still gonna take some time before you'll hear new material from TFK, except for the "Tribute to TFK" album that now is being recorded by various bands and artists around the world. Isn't that awesome! Other bands playing your songs on a record. Keep your eyes and ears open for that, I sure will. In fact I've told Roine a couple of times to make an official statement about the status of TFK. Nothing has happened yet. I can only tell you, what he tells me. For the moment he's not up for it. First of all there's some issues to deal with and most importantly, he needs to get the hunger, the urge to do it back. I just wish he could be a little more clear about it, for his sake, our sake and most of all you, the fans sake.<br><br>
To me it's amazing TFK is still around. To lead such a band, can't be like a walk in the park. We're talking BIG egos here, that don't take no for an answer. Despite those circumstances, I believe we've found a way to work, to be creative and productive. From day one, Roine has been very democratic, we all have our say but if we disagree, Roine has the last word. For instance, before the latest tour we did, I thought Roine made some wrong decisions and I told him that. Still I respect him and his choices. He did what he thought was best for the band at that point. One decision we all agreed on, was to take a time out. I honestly don't think we could have continued because of the friction between Tomas and Roine. To some of you it might come as a surprize, but they haven't excactly been lovers lately. I do hope and I do believe that these two Gentlemen will work this out. I know for a fact, TFK been offered a tour, that means the interrest is still there. Most importantly, when (if) we'll record again. We have to make it the best album we've ever done.<br><br>
About thirty minutes before the show I start with my vocal excercises. Not only to warm up the voice, it's equally important to get in the mood, or to get out of the "bus choma" or whatever. I don't know if this is the reason you don't see Jonas in the backstage area, until three minutes before we enter the stage. He might be chatting with a friend, watching a movie in the bus or the hotel. Even though, as soon as he hit the first note, he's spot on. Tomas is very restless before the show. If there's a curtain in front of the stage, he's already there playing with his headphones on. Roine is the total opposite. He's having like a meditative thirty minute pre-gig session, with a glass of red wine and closed eyes. I think he's mentally preparing the music and sometimes I actually think he falls asleep. As you probably understand, the lads in TFK are quite some characters and I love them. Tomas is funny, during rehearsals, if he gets lost. First of all he stops to play, he starts to shake both his hands in front of his chest at the same time as he looks at his keyboards. When we stop playing, he ALWAYS says: "This is not gonna work". Now, when you've heard that sentence approximately fourhundred times and it always works, you've learnt to be indulgent. I've done lots of crazy gigs over the years, but none of them tops Jonas gig at Tivoli in Copenhagen (the amusement park). He played there every afternoon together with some of the best jazz musicians out of Scandinavia. The money was right, the start time was right (you could even have another gig in the evening). The only thing that did'nt feel allright was the smell on stage but first of all in the backstage area. Hundreds of kilos of summer warm raw herring was carefully placed all over the place, just to please the star of the show: Adolf - the sea lion! I have to say I love the thought, that some of the best jazz musicians in Scandinavia, have to play the second fiddle to Adolf.<br><br>
By now I've told you a couple of times, that this was the last blog on TFK. Remember, what I've written here was my impression of the adventures with these guys. I might have forgotten some names or some important things for that matter, but I've tried to be as honest as I could. I also tried to describe it as real as I could. From now on I'm gonna concentrate fully on HFMC and I'll try to write some blogs every now and then. As a matter of fact I got one coming allready.HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/616772010-03-01T19:03:24+01:002010-03-01T19:03:24+01:00Studio Report No. 13 (February 15, 2010)Last week I finished the vocals and we're now lifting in the solos and the percussion and preparing for the mix. Since my voice will be the only one you'll hear on the album, it's been very important to me to use it in as many different ways as possible, so that it won't get "static". It's the same with the harmonies. I've been very keen to find the "right" expression and sound to those as well. Even though I've mostly made all the vocals in the morning, starting at 9.00 o clock and as most of the musicians I know of, I function better in the evenings, I'm quite happy with the result. Of course it can always be better, but at some point you have to draw the line. One thing I've tried more than ever before is to "be" the part I'm singing. That means, you'll probably gonna hear me in ways you've never heard before. More dramatic, softer, rougher, cleaner and more aggressive, depending what the music and the lyrics requires.<br><br>
Musically, now that almost everything is in place, I think I dare say that my idea about the dynamics really works out fine. Every song, every part, was written back home on my acoustic guitar. I've had the arrangements in my head and the key element in the writing, rehearsing and the recording process has been "CONTRASTS", dynamically speaking that is. Compared to The Flower Kings, where we very often use long "ramps" to slowly build from nothing to a big crescendo, HFMC goes from nothing to everything in just a second, which in my ears sounds both very dramatic and effective. As you probably understand, we don't use it all the time, still the "CONTRASTS" are a vital part of the music of HFMC. Next up on the agenda before the mix, will be Petrus and me outdoors, recording some sounds from the ordinary life to put in the music. Right now, I hope the ordinary lives of all you people out there are just as great, even though it's a monday. Love you all!!!HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/573892010-02-02T12:59:38+01:002010-02-02T12:59:38+01:00Don on the Road (January 28, 2010) We'd never met before, even though we’ve lived in the same city and we both played frequently on the citys ”live circuit”. I mean, back then I’d heard of him, strange enough we’d never met. Could it be the fact that he’s 5 years older than me (hahaha…) If you go back 25-30 years, those years made a hell of a difference and today they mean nothing. Anyway, of course I’m talking about the TFK keyboard player Tomas (Don Tomasso) Bodin. The first time we'd hit the road together, we both sat in the backseat of the Chevy van, that we used to call “Chickelimojjen”. As soon as we left the town, he started to talk about his drinking days, scandals, living out on the street and so on. By the time we hit Denmark, 7 000 km’s later, I guess he’d come halfway through the story and I have to give it to him. That man has done a remarkable journey.<br><br>
Today Tomas and me are both friends and colleagues in TFK. He’s been a sober alcoholic (just as Jonas) for it must be over 15 years now. He ‘s now moved out on he countryside (15 minutes by car from me) at the same time he took his drivers license, after he turned 40!!!! Compared to me and some other of my friends, he must still have a “pink” brain I guess, despite his drinking days. If it’s one thing I envy of him, it’s the fact that he’s still curious and he’s never satisfied. He can’t hardly finish one project, until he starts another one. One thing that really is a part of Tomas, is the way he’s driven by his emotions (for good or for bad). His strongest asset apart from being a great musician, is the fact that he’s very ambitious. One proof of that is his and the rest of the guys in Eggs and Dogs album “You are”. 3 years, 3 000 hours is what it took to record that bastard. If you’re talking money, it might not’ve been a good investment but when it comes to the music and the production, it paid off very well. If you ask me, that album is FANTASTIC!<br>
I don’t know if Don will kill me for telling you this, but I’ll take the risk. Don has done many exceptional things during his time here on earth. It was actually quite a task to chose which story to tell, since there’s so many. This is one of them. The first time we toured with a “nightrider” didn’t exactly turn out a success for Tomas. When Lutz (the driver) welcomed us onboard, he said: There are 2 things you need to know, before we start this journey. First, there’s a code to the doors that you need to know and remember. Second, at the loo, you’re only supposed to do nr.1. nr.2 is heavily forbidden. After a long day in the bus, we all went to sleep. The morning after, I woke up pretty early so I was surprised to see Tomas awake, staring out the window with a miserable look on his face. What’s wrong? I asked him. You won’t believe what’s happened, he replied in a second. Then Tomas told me he woke up in the middle of the night, with 2 options. Nr.1. To do it in his underwear and probably also the entire inside of the bus. Nr.2. Use the forbidden toilet. He chose alternative nr.2. Why in Gods name didn’t you ask Lutz to stop the bus and do it on the road so to speak. Tomas answered, there was no time. I said you have to go and tell Lutz about this catastrophy, you’ll not be able to keep it a secret much longer, for obvious reasons. Amazing, one night and we’d already broke one out of two rules. From what I understand, Lutz took it like a man, he just looked a little sad. After a while, we stopped at a parking lot in central Utrecht (Holland). I went out for a walk and to try to find a shirt, to have on stage. All of a sudden as I was walking between the stores, an “explosive cocktail of fragrances” hit me. Lutz had dropped it on the parking lot! I was in chock, the whole city centre of Utrecht smelled like some kind of “chemichal warfare” was going on. First of all, couldn’t he have chosen a more proper place to “dump” it? Second, how will I be able to get onboard the bus, without embarrassing myself. After all this, I sincerely want to apologize the entire population of Utrecht. Keep on Rocking!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/588992010-01-21T17:58:56+01:002021-09-30T07:11:45+02:00Endlessly Pulling the Straw Sometimes I wish I was playing in a blues trio (especially during the soundchecks). Imagine a guitar, an amp and maybe a “Blues Breaker” effect pedal to “tweak” up the sound a little. Playing this music called “progrock or “symphonic rock” or whatever you’d like to call it, is a challenge. I mean, you’re gonna have maybe 20 minutes of music in your head, sometimes 30, or why not 45-50 minutes as in “Garden of Dreams”, which we did for a couple of tours between 99-02. The point here is that it’s not just the music. If the audience are gonna have the experience they deserve during a concert with TFK, all of us are simultaneously gonna have to succeed with the changing of the sounds, while we’re playing and singing. During a 10 minute song, you’re maybe using 5-6 different sounds that you kick in and out, depending on what part you’re playing (Tomas probably has a LOT more than that). The thing that annoys me with all this, is the amount of energy and focus it steals from the performance. You have to be in the moment, play with the dynamics, the feel and the tempo the section you’re in requires. At the same time, you have to prepare for the next, what’s the right sound, the right tempo, the right level of attack (or no attack), the attitude and of course the right notes. I have to say the setlist we had for the tour of “The sum of no evil”, was almost ridiculous when it comes to changing of sounds. Roine and me looked like we were members of a new “super hyped” Britpop band, that the British and Swedish media were raving about. You know the kind of bands that are looking at their shoe strings all the time, while they are playing. One thing though, we had a reason for it. We were trying to hit the right pedal or knob all the time, very often at the same time as we were singing. With all this said, I wanna make one thing clear. I love playing this kind of music and whatever comes along with it! To me, this music means “freedom”. The bass is not just there to support the guitar. The guitar is not just there to support the rhythm section or whatever, that might be the case in some genres of music. After my years with TFK and now HFMC, we all try to support each other musically and every instrument is as important as the other. After all, if I compare this music with blues, I guess I would prefer to play this 10 nights out of 10, despite all the hitting of pedals. The bigger the challenge – the bigger the reward.<br><br><br>
I know Roine doesn’t agree with me, but to me the highlight of all the touring we’ve done with TFK so far, are without a doubt the tours we did after “Paradox Hotel”. The material from that album suited the live formula very well and the line–up almost became a “machine”. We could almost “reproduce” both new and older songs. We could also put new “clothes” on them if needed, with a positive result. Once again, this is my opinion and I respect everyone that doesn’t agree with me. The drummer we had back then Marcus Liljequist, was (is) a VERY funny chap, with a humour of his own, with words only he used like MAST! He ended or should I say ends all his sentences with the word MAST! Don’t ask me what it means, I have no idea. If you wanted a serious chat, or discuss something that was important to you, maybe Marcus wasn’t the ideal guy to turn to, but if you wanted a laugh, he was (is) up there among the best!<br><br><br>
In 2006 we played in Whittier (LA) California for the second time, under the wings of the wonderful Jim Harrel. The concert actually ended up as an official bootleg “Carpe Diem”, released on Roines own label Foxtrot Records. In fact I used the song “Psychedelic Postcard” on my player a while back, taken from that very CD. By the time we got to LA, we’ve been on the road for quite a while and Marcus repetitive jokes had become hilarious. He just needed to put that grin on his face and I would start to laugh. Anyway, after the show and LOTS of red wine, we started to get hungry. I have to say, I almost feel sorry for Christine Holtz of “Music News Network”, who drove Marcus and me to the only 24 hours open restaurant in the neighbourhood, Taco Bell. She must really have thought that we were retarded. During the ride to Taco Bell Marcus was singing “Mommy leave the light on”, which we’d played every night since the tour began. His version had one exception though, he sang it with a “fake” Spanish accent and with the state I was in, I couldn’t stop to laugh. On our way back, the rendition of “Mommy leave the light on” got even worse. Inspired by Taco Bell, Marcus added his own words to the song. At the end of this marvellous version of that sweet little tune, Marcus started to pull the straw in and out of the soda mug, singing “Endlessly pulling the straw”! After that even Christine joined the choir and started to laugh out loud. With some Californian sun, a first class hotel, LOTS of red wine and the hospitality of Jim Harrel, this is what a day on the road can end up like!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/588982010-01-21T17:57:47+01:002010-01-21T17:57:47+01:00The Sum of No Evil (January 6, 2010)You can never tell anyone, what’s right, what’s wrong or what to think. When we released the latest TFK studio effort “The sum of no evil”, the critics were more divided than ever, from 10/10, to worst crap ever and that amazes me. Before the recording during the pre-production and the rehearsals, we were all very happy with the material Roine had written for the album. In fact so much that I did’nt even bother to present the song “It’s only my blood” because I did’nt think it suited the rest of the songs. The music written for that album were in my opinion homogeneous and had a “language” of its own. Personally, I think if both Jonas and me would have contributed with material, I guess that would have split up the sound we were going for, at that point. I’m not even sure Tomas song “Flight 999 Brimstone air” fits the formula, even though it’s a funny little melody. As I remember the recording, first of all the surroundings were perfect on the countryside in Skåne (southern Sweden). The studio “Varispeed”, was out of this world with first class equipment, that made the “technical fanatics” Roine and Jonas drool. The atmosphere in the studio was relaxed and positive. If a session did’nt come out as constructive and creative as we would like, we could easily put on “Borat-the movie” (that just had been released on DVD) to get our energy, fantasy and feeling back. I remember take nr.6 of the end section of “Life in motion”, when all of a sudden all 5 of us Roine, Zoltan, Jonas, Tomas and me, were surrounded by magic. All 5 of us transformed into one person and the dynamics and the ritardandos and everything, sounded in my ears perfect.<br><br><br>
Even though some of the critics, the album sold very well. After some tough rehearsals with once again a new (temporary for the tour) drummer Pat Mastellotto of King Crimsson, Mr. Mister and The Rembrandts fame, a new sound engineer Paul Deviller (who’s worked with Yes, Stevie Wonder and Bette Middler amongst others) and a new crew, we hit the road. Maybe it was the combination of all the new faces, the limited time of rehearsals, or the complexity of the songs (and the moose of course), that was the reason it took maybe 5-6 gigs before we took off and started to sound good. Onboard the bus, we took off immediately and I think we had a good time all the way to Calais. When we arrived to board the train this time (first time we used the tunnel). The guys at the border saw that we had an American drummer and asked us if he had a working visa for EU. We were totally knocked out by these news and immediately got a flashback of the incident 10 years earlier at the Montreàl airport, on our way to Los Angeles. Of course we had’nt think of that and the custom officers tried to act psychologically correct and talked to us in a very slow and informative way, that we needed a new drummer for the show tonight. There were lots of drummers in England, at least one of them must have the night off and could help us out. After 10-15 minutes of hard discussions, we managed to convince the guys at the border, that Pat ARE GONNA PLAY with us tonight. We jumped onboard the train, where the bus and the trailer already were parked, with approximately 24 seconds before the doors were shut. Once again Chris Squire watched the show together with his wife, who actually bought a t-shirt and did the thumbs up to Brian, who took care of the merchandise. The result of all this, was that Pat and Paul crossed the Swiss border by train, before our show in Pratteln. Since Switzerland is not a member of EU, for some reason they’re quite tough at the border. The venue in Pratteln, I think it’s called “Z2” or “Z7”, is in fact the best venue I’ve ever played at. The top two shows during this tour was the one in Pratteln and the one in Jonas home town Lund, at the club “Mejeriet”.<br><br><br>
I’m gonna end this blog with a little chat I had with Paul at the bus, after one of the shows. I asked him what it was like to work with people like Stevie Wonder or Yes etc. He had lots of interesting things to tell me. He was the producer for the Yes album “Big Generator” and he told me that Jon Anderson and Chris Squire were not the best of friends at that period. Their working relationship was so infected, that they refused to see or meet each other. They recorded the album and they did’nt meet once. At the end of the day, after the recordings, he had to sit and wait for either Jon or Chris, to record messages they sent to each other. I hope we’ll never come to that point.HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/570102009-12-15T13:06:15+01:002021-10-21T09:25:29+02:00Studio Report No. 12 (December 15, 2009)We've been working quite intensively in the studio recently and a lot of things has been done. It's funny though, the more you record, the more you realize it seems to be left to do. Some things (especially when it comes to sounds) works out just fine, while other sounds can take hours to find. I know all this but I somehow seems to avoid that fact. Actually I feel a little bit sorry for Kjell, since he had everything left to do (except for the Hammond) after the session we did week 21. For the moment now, I think he can see the light in the tunnel though. Vocally I got 2 and a 1/2 songs left to do + some last minute changes (I guess). That's nice to know. I also know the fact that one of the songs is "Piece of the sky" and it's like three songs in one. Becauze of the guys schedules and Petrus (sound engineer) limited time, I'm gonna handle all the vocals myself. It's not an ideal situation, especially since the guys themselves are pretty good singers. The alternative is not even an option. I mean that would mean a release, probably next autumn or so.<br><br>
The winter has finally hit Sweden. At the moment we got lots of snow and I remember, this was what it looked like when I wrote most of the songs to the album. This was what it looked like, when we did our first photo session. It's remarkable how fast this year has gone by, at least for me. It's almost only a week before Christmas is here and before that, I'll give you a Christmas blog and HFMC has also arranged a little Christmas surprize for all you persons out there<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/568842009-12-14T12:25:27+01:002022-04-05T14:57:22+02:00Best Barbeque Ever! (December 10, 2009)If you’ve never tasted ”Walker’s non such” (the ones you hit against the table), or “Callard and Bowser”, I consider you to be a virgin! These two brands are in my opinion the top producers of English toffee. The taste is so intense, full and rich, that your saliva starts to drip. Actually about the same calibre as Scapa (single malt), Mariestads 5,3 (Swedish beer), remember the “oral orgasm” I told you about earlier. I have to give my compliments and lift my hat off to “Good olde England”, for producing such fantastic toffees. Except for that, I can proudly declare Sweden as the nr. 1 Country, when it comes to candy, sweets, caramelles, or whatever you like to call these unhealthy darlings. I don’t wanna brag but I’ve tasted candy almost everywhere and there’s not a country who’s even close, to have the same kind of inventiveness and quality as Sweden. Here, we also have a thing called “Lösvikt”, which means you can pick up whatever you fancy and then you pay/weight. You can find chocolate, liquorice, toffee, fruit tasting toffees and candy that I even can’t describe. They all have one thing in common though. It tastes delicious! I also have to mention Keiko and her Irish chocolate “Lir”. Keiko is a huge fan of TFK and everytime we have toured in Europe, she’s been showing up at a couple of gigs, with this marvellous box. For Roine and me it’s almost been like a religious experience. One bite and you’re hooked for life. It’s like the earth stops to move, when you put one in your mouth.<br><br>
One of the most rewarding things about being a band on tour, is without a doubt, all the different food from around the world, you get the chance to try. While we’re at the subject, I have to mention Marco, Vincenzo and the rest of the crew in ..Northern Italy... Their hospitality and service is first class and the food they serve us, is always excellent. Playing under the wings of these guys is always a treat. You really have to have a good sense of self discipline, after all you have a gig to do. All I can say to these gentlemen is: Thank you big time! FORZA ITALIA!<br><br>
The best thing I’ve ever tasted, I had in Rochester USA. We’ve played there twice at the “Water Street Music Hall”. It’s a classic rock club (British style) big, black and a loud Pa. I like it there a lot. What’s even better, is the promoter Dan Wahle. Everytime you enter the backstage area, you think you’re a member of “The Stones” or “U2” or something. The catering is marvellous, top notch, top of the line, first class! The last time we played there, you won’t believe what happened? The soundcheck ran overtime (heard that one before). Actually so much that we missed the dinner. I was devastated, since Dan told me the food would really be something “extraordinary”. We had some food from the catering just prior to the show, entered the stage and did the concert (a good one) in front of a big and supportive crowd. Afterwards Dan told us, it was too late to eat at the restaurant. It was like getting a punch in the nose but he carried on telling me, that he managed to do it like “take away” instead. Said and done. Just as we got back to the hotel, Dan and some of the crew members, came to our room with the food. The smell was heavenly and Dan told us, that the chef was top 3 at a big Bbq competition. When we started to eat, we all immediately understood why. Roine and me almost bursted into tears. We all ate under total silence. The Coleslaw was outstanding, with I guess small pieces of apple in it. Everything tasted superb but the highlight was the thin slices of Pork, that had been grilled for 24 hours. To be honest, I’ve never been closer to God, than at that very moment!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/536342009-12-03T03:52:10+01:002009-12-03T03:52:10+01:00Pioneers of Aviation (November 29, 2009)The older I get, the more I seem to respect the ”big birds”. I would’nt say I’m afraid of flying, but somehow, for every year, every flight I seem to say to myself: We made it – once again! I don’t think anyone with a “healthy” mind think it’s fun to fly. As a touring musician, it’s just something you have to do. The first time I was overseas with TFK, on our way from Montreál to Los Angeles, we were stopped by this guy with an attitude like a bomb that’s about to explode. He saw the instruments and rightfully assumed we were going to USA to work, to make money. In a way he was right, we were gonna make some money but just enough to get our expenses paid. This was an investment for the future. Roine tried to convince him, we were on our way to California to make promotion, not to make the big buck. The more we explained about the situation, the more determined he got about us not going to The States. The most funny thing, was that Tomas and Jaime had already boarded, so they made an announcement in the speakers all over the airport, that these two gentlemen had to leave the aircraft. They also had to find our luggage, that already had been loaded on the plane. After a couple of hours with total chaos, five Swedish guys took a cab back to the hotel again. The cab driver was a “super cool” gentleman from India (I guess), that said “RELAX MAN! With the typical Indian accent. The morning after, we got a fax from the promoter down in L.A where he verified, we were there to make promotion (even though we had a gig). By the way, during that gig Chris Squire of Yes fame, stood beside us on the stage the whole set and watched us with an intense look. It was my second show with “The Kings”, and that did’nt excactly ease my nerves. In case you’re curious, you can find a clip on You tube from that show, when we’re playing “Humanizzimo” (I’m the one with short hair, Roine has long hair, it looks weird!) Back at the airport, it was no problem at all at the check in. It was a happy lady who took care of us and she did’nt mind at all that we were musicians. One thing we or Roine learned from this, is to never tour USA without a working visa, which costs us about 3500 euro or close to 6900 dollars.<br><br><br>
Delays are not funny. I remember , we’d just boarded the Boeing 747 from London Heathrow to LAX, Los Angeles(again), when the captain said; “Sorry, we’ll be delayed by 20-30 minutes, because they could’nt close one of the doors or hatches properly. 4 hours later we were ready for take off, with a hurting ass even before the plane left the ground. Luckily enough we started to chat with this Swedish stewardess, who’s been working for British Airways for 15 years. She told us, she’d just sold her flat in the middle of London and that she’d just made a fortune. She bought a big house in Värmdö (a luxurious) place outside Stockholm for the money and she still had plenty left, some are lucky! Spending 13 hours on a plane is nothing but torture. I know you can watch movies, read or whatever but in the end your butt and back starts to hurt. A little walk might help for maybe 5 minutes, (could it be I’m getting old?).<br><br><br>
I guess the alarm clock rang at 4.30 in the morning, after 1! hour of sleep. We were supposed to fly from LAX (once again, huh…!) to Seattle. When we got to the airport at approximately 5.45, we found out the flight was cancelled. They offered us to take the evening flight instead, or fly via Denver, a plane that had a departure time in about 4 hours. We chose the later alternative. At the Denver airport we had a couple of hours to kill as well, so we decided to have lunch. We ordered and when Roine said he wanted a beer with the food, the lady who served us asked him for an id. That really made our day. I mean Roine just turned 50!!! The other guys ordered sodas to the food, except for the O’Doule (alcohol free beer) brothers Tomas and Jonas. When it was time for me to order, as I wanted a beer, she asked me for an id as well. I could’nt help but ask the lady “How are you suppose to look? for you not to ask for an id? Where do you draw the line? If I would come here in a wheel chair, grey hair, no teeth, hardly any voice. Would you still ask me for an id, if I wanted a beer? The lady looked at me and smiled, she did’nt say a word. However, me and Roine felt like kings for the rest of the day!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/561492009-11-13T01:59:09+01:002009-11-13T01:59:09+01:00"L" (November 12, 2009)His entrance at Vimus (HFMC and TFK rehearsal studio), was quite spectacular actually. The first time we met was a wednesday afternoon, we auditioned this man and he had a monsterous hangover! Who is this guy? Jesus, with a hangover like that on a wednesday, that means he must have party'd like an animal on a tuesday! If you show up like that, in front of 4 guys you never seen before, either you have a mighty good self esteem, you're an idiot, or you have a problem? Back then Jaime did'nt drink at all, Tomas was a sober alcoholic, Roine was very modest when it comes to alcohol. I did'nt mind to have a drink or two but I chose my occasions. Anyway, the impact this man had on me and I guess the rest of the lads was HUGE! Even though the shape he was in, he nailed all the songs we did during that audition. Not only that, he did it with both "style" and "precision". The songs we did were: Retropolis, In the eyes of the world, The sounds of violence and There is more to this world. Do I need to say, that he got the job and he's sticked with us ever since.<br><br>
Ok. I guess most of you already know by now? I'm talking about the TFK, Karmakanic and God knows what else these days: Bass player Jonas Reingold! Jonas has over the years become a very good friend of mine and let me tell you he's a funny fellow! Jonas is a fighter and everything he does, is a competition. Playing cards, a walk in the park, eating (drinking back then) playing bass, I mean everything is a competition. What comes along with this attitude, is a great motivation in everything he does and he's just as ambitious as well. With these assets, I bet all of you thinks he's a pain in the ass? but he's not! He's actually quite laid back, kind and very funny. It did'nt take long before Jaime (originally from Chile) started to call Jonas, El' Jontassen (with a Spanish sounding S that is). I don't know but he had nicknames on all of us. In this case, I guess he must have been inspired by his native language? 3 weeks later, or I would say a tour later, El' Jontassen became "L" plain and simple, just like that. Nowadays "L" is a sober alcoholic just as Tomas but when he joined the band, he drank like it was a (you know what) a competition. Wallets dissappeared, sometimes he lost them, sometimes he got robbed. Passports dissappeared as well and that's even worse, if you're a travelling band. At one time he talked about the sound of a ride cymbal (Bollenbach), like if he was manic, from I guess 1 o clock until 5 o clock in the morning. Jonas is also very frank about his opinions. If he thinks you've done a lousy gig, he'll let you know for sure. To be honest, in the beginning I got quite angry on him. Especially if I was satisfied myself with my contribution. Just to make the picture clear. It did'nt matter how hard he was on us, he was always 10 times harder on himself. Before I'll leave you with a pretty little story from "L's" heydays. Today he has a wife, 2 beautiful kids, a career in music that is nothing but a success. He's had nr.1 hit singles with Swedish glam/hard rock act "The Poodles" (as a songwriter). He has also both recorded and produced some pretty successful albums within the Progrock scene and last but not least. Nowadays he's also the head and the executive producer for the new record label "Reingold Records", check it out! www.reingoldrecords.com<br><br>
After an outdoor gig in Mantova (Italy) and a great 3 meal course afterwards, we started the drive towards Barcelona. Roine told us the drive was 800 km:s, which is bad enough, in reality I think it was around 1200 km:s. However, we drived non stop for the whole night, the whole day and arrived in Barcelona in the late afternoon. At the hotel, I passed out on the bed for a couple of hours, since I did most of the driving. After a shower and a breakfast? I headed off to the venue for the soundcheck. In the dressingroom "L" and Robert Engstrand (keys. at the time) were in "good" spirits. They'd already tried some of the catering (some of the stuff you drink that is) and "L" had also tried out some of the citys "Rock`n´Roll" cigarettes (as we say in Sweden)! Despite the travelling, the gig as I remembered it, was great and afterwards I had me a Whisky that went straight into my head. After that I decided to take it easy. I can't say that about the other 2 gents, they did a proper invention of the catering and ended the Whisky bottle and opened the Vodka as well. It was at this point I needed Jonas help, but he could'nt do it, as he did'nt remember a thing from the evening. I can tell you this. The venue had by now, turned into a "nightclub" and "L" and Robert were there, having the time of their lives. The rest of us were in the backstage area, eating, chatting and relaxing with the promotor, the crew of the place and some "hangarounds". When I got out of the venue, I could see Jonas asleep on a little hill of grass just outside the entrance, with an empty glass in his hand, for all to see, night club guests and fans. In the end, "L" the fighter was defeated.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558812009-11-08T23:42:53+01:002021-02-08T09:05:31+01:00Riders of the Night (October 30, 2009)Everything's packed (hopefully) and the driver from the bus company gives us a call and he's telling us that he just hit Uppsala and he needs some directions. It's once again time to hit the road. We've been rehearsing at Vimus (rehearsal studio) for 5 or 6 days + maybe 2 days of production rehearsals with a PA system, all of Petrus sound effects + extra speakers in the back of the hall, moving Martin lights, and the projections and the screens. In the beginning it was another story though. I would say up until "Rainmaker", Jaime Mike and me helped each other to drive the van with a trailer behind it for endeless miles between the gigs. When you tour like that, the working days becomes very long. First you drive, then you build the stage, soundcheck, play the gig, meet the fans, pack the stuff, fill the trailer and then you spend about an hour to find the hotel, sleep for 3-5 hours and then it starts all over again. If you do this for 3 weeks, you become a Zombie (a happy one). The life on the nightrider, is a whole different scene. So far we've used 3 different companies in Europe. Starlight from Sweden, great beds but expensive, Kultour from Germany, great drivers (Lutz) but not that cozy and on the last couple of tours we've used Red Car from Germany, very "reasonable" prized, new and fresh coaches. We've also used a couple of different ones in The States but as I'm gonna give you a story from Europe later on, I don't think I need to talk anymore about buses.<br><br>
Touring with a nightrider means you pretty quick create your own world in there, with your own routines. As you probably understand, it's not much you can do. You can watch the landscape, read a book, put on some coffe, watch a movie, listen to music and of course sleep. Most of the time you hang out and talk with the friends on board. Very often you have a couple of new guys in the crew, to get familiar with. The whole point travelling like this, is that after the gig while you're relaxing with a beer and maybe a movie or some music (very often music DVD:s) the bus starts rolling. After a while you go to bed and by the time you wake up, the bus is already parked outside the venue. That leaves you with a couple of hours to actually see the city you're gonna play in, which never happened with the van, as we were driving all day. The greatest thing with it though, is that you can bring almost as much as you like. If I wanna bring 4 guitars, I bring 4 guitars etc. I have to say I love to tour like this. If it's one thing that bothers me, it might be the sound some people make at night (snoring). During the years I've learned to love Tomas "deep" and "steady" (holding the beat) kind of snoring, it actually puts myself to sleep. I've also lived through HELL! when we did a week in Sweden together with Flying Food Circus. These 4 gentlemen were able to make sounds, that I did'nt think was possible, If you try to forget that week, I have only good things to say about travelling like this.<br><br>
I'm gonna leave you for now with a little story about a stop we did somewhere in the middle of Poland some years ago. Our driver had done his time behind the wheel, we did'nt have a gig that night, so we stopped at this small city to kill some time and to eat. We went for lunch at the citys "Grand Hotel?" When we got into the dining room, it looked like they were waiting for some celebrities. After a while, 20 guys, 25 years old, 175cm. 90kg. Brown hair 1 cm. And they all had brown eyes and the same clothes. Am I finally reaching "The gates of delirium"? No, It was the Moldavian Rugby team who stayed at the hotel. In my opinion the food we had together with the rugby guys was kind of tasteless, so we went strolling to find another place for coffe and maybe desert. All of a sudden a Volvo S80 with a swedish registration plate, stood parked outside a restaurant. We went in and were very well taken care of by a polish man and his wife, who'd lived in Sweden and just moved back. We left the place with a table booked for the evening. When we got back, the gentleman was "diplomatically" speaking "very happy". It did'nt take long before he showed us photo's with him and the swedish king Carl Gustav and queen Silvia. He had been working for them, he also showed us pics when he was preparing food for the Noble Prize dinner at the Grand Hotell Stockholm. The evening went by and we had a splendid time, with nice food and wine. Somehow it did'nt matter how happy we were, our polish friend became happier for everytime he went into the kitchen. The more glad he looked, the moore miserable his wife looked. At the end of the evening he could hardly stand on his feet, but he made us a night we'll never forget. I don't like to make fun out of people but his swedish accent was hillarious. Actually Tomas is pretty good to copy him. Anyway, try to visualize the picture: A well dressed man 55 years old, VERY drunk, rubbing his hands against each other saying: MIIIIKKKEET TREEEVLIIT MIIINA HIIIRRAAR!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558802009-11-08T23:42:12+01:002020-11-13T06:01:51+01:00Chatting with D.G. (October 20, 2009)In 2001 lots of people kept asking me if I was out of the band (TFK). Not that I know of, was my honest answer. The reason for this was, the fact that the extremely talented Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation joined the band for a couple of records and tours. At that time, I knew Roine wanted one more good vocalist in the band, but I thought that was just an idea he had. When that idea became reality I was mighty surprized and I was "mega" surprized when I heard it was Daniel. Before that we've actually met twice, once in Portugal and also one time in The States. I have to say my impression of Daniel and Pain of Salvation after these times, was that they were 5 angry guys with lots of integrity, you could hardly say hello without feeling awkward. Today it's another story. Last time I met the band, was at "The night of the Prog" festival in Loreley 2008. We had dinner together, played some music and had a blast.<br><br>
During the tour of "Unfold the future", some people tried to point out, that we were not friends and that Daniel was gonna take my place in the band. I don't know where people get ideas like this from? To start with, the chance of Daniel quitting PoS for TFK back then, did'nt exist, since PoS was more or less his band. Well, the reason for all this was just as simple as this. Roine wanted to develop the vocal side of the band and he wanted a guy that could sing harmonies on top of me, in case we needed that. Since my vocal range is quite high, there were'nt that many options and Daniel was perfect for the job, with his skills on both guitar and keyboards and to tell you the truth, we got along very well and my memories from those tours ("Unfold the Future" and "Adam and Eve") are great.<br><br>
The night before our first day off, during the "UTF" tour, I actually spent in the front of the bus, while the rest were asleep, chatting with D.G. Until then, he was a tensed, always on the guard, candy, pancakes and French Fries eating vegetarian, who slept all day. On that very morning, I guess between 3 o clock to 7-8 o clock (something), we parted on a Bowmore single malt (with a quite smokey touch) and some beers. I remember he said to me, he did'nt like whisky but it did'nt look that way to me. Anyway, It was during those hours I got to know Daniel a little bit better and that changed my view on him totally. We were talking about the schooldays, love, girlfriends, tour memories, music, life in general and all of a sudden my image of Daniel was gone. I don't know if it was my bad influence on him (the whisky), probably not? To me, the new Daniel, that emerged that morning, was/is a happy, generous and very nice lad. I would say the total opposite to most of the music of PoS, that is a little bit more dark and aggressive. The thing with Daniel that stands out the most, is definitely his level of energy, or sometimes no level of energy. It's like he has an on/off button hidden on him. When he's awake, he gives 110% in every second, every moment of the day. When he's asleep, he's dead for 12-14 hours. That's the Daniel I got to know. I was thinking I was gonna end this little blog with Daniel becoming Dwayne?! but that's another story.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558792009-11-08T23:41:19+01:002021-06-20T05:31:21+02:00Studio Report No. 11 (October 14, 2009)Lately I've been spending some time at Petrus studio, laying down some vocals. I've done lead on a couple of the songs and I've also done some background vocals. Kjell has been very busy in his studio, since he had to rerecord some of the stuff because of a computer breakdown, or if it was the program he's working in, I'm not sure? However I did get some of the missing files because he was able to cheat the computer, he managed to get in through the backdoor so to speak. Of the 6 songs he's been working on this far, he managed to fool the computer almost 4 times, which means we have bounced in (is that the word?)at least some of Kjelle's work to the computer in the studio. At last it starts to sound like HFMC!<br><br>
Tomorrow I'll be back in the studio with more keys. from Kjell (I need that to sing). I will also bring along some of the stuff Anton's been working with. Solos, fills and overdubs, when all that is "blended" in to the rest of the music, I think (hope) we've come quite a bit with this recording. One thing that I think is gonna be very interresting, is the fact that Anton has recorded his guitar through a Line-box. That means, we're gonna "re-amp" the son of a bitch later on at a killer volume, in a big room to get the full sound. Actually, you have the freedom to chose whatever sound you think suits the part of the song you're working at. This is nothing new, I've heard Jimmy Page did it in the seventies already but I've never tried it, hopefully it'll be a whole lotta fun!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558782009-11-08T23:40:37+01:002020-10-20T09:32:20+02:00TFK gets snuffed by the Yakuza! (October 7, 2009)I've been to Japan once and o'boy what a trip. The adventure started at Arlanda airport, at 05.45 in the morning. We were supposed to take the first Air France flight in the morning to Paris and then change flight and go from Paris to Tokyo. To check in was nothing out of the ordinary, in fact the (Air France) lady behind the desk looked like she was up for the task, to count all the devices, divide it into two pieces/head and then see the weight of it all. After some counting, the lady turned her face against us and said with no expression in her face at all: "You have some overweight, to be precise you have overweight for 6 000 euro (maybe 8 800 dollars)". Then she continued, still with a blank face: "Do you wanna pay cash or by card!" just like we were buying some coffe or icecream! In a way we had ourselves to blame. Across the Atlantic, either to USA or South America, back then you could have 2 pieces with 30 kg:s each, so we took for granted it was the same when you flew in the other direction as well. We were wrong, we were very wrong! We were allowed to have 20 kg:s/person and Air France had a "drive" at the moment, to try to reduce overweight. However, after a WILD discussion at 06.00 in the morning, we decided to regroup at "The Cosmic Lodge" (Roines studio) and catch a later flight, even though we would miss a day in Tokyo. Back at the lodge, we scaled down the equipment BIG TIME! As I remember it, Tomas "rack" and cables alone (without the modules, effects, etc) were if you change the weight into money, approximately 1 200 euro (maybe 1 800 dollars). After the second trip by cab to Arlanda and back at the check in, we got a positive answer. After all the work we laid down to minimalize our musical equipment, we now had overweight for "only" 300 euro (maybe 440 dollars). Off we went, with a promise from Atsushi Sofuni, George Takahashi and the rest of the great crew in Japan, that everything would be solved. After all this mess, we arrived at Narita airport safe and sound but delayed 10-12 hours.<br><br>
I have to confess, it's been a while and it was so much impressions to take in, so my memory from this escapade might not be 100%. Of all the countries I've visit, Japan is by far the most different. The people, the food, the technology, the toilets, the karaoke bars, the hotelrooms, whatever you fancy to talk about, is different and I don't mean that in a negative way, quite the contrary actually but still different. The only thing I remember as being not so good, has nothing to do with Japan. On top of this "overweight mess", Roine was ill with fever and a bad throat, which ended up, that we were'nt as well prepared as we should have been. With the flight and the jetlag, Roines cold got even worse, but hey! If you fly half around the globe, to cancel a show is not even an option, we did our 3 shows. I'm sad to say, in my opinion they were definitely not among the top ones. I felt we were a little bit "lame", but in the end I think we did alright.<br><br>
I guess the thing that surprised me the most, was that hardly anyone could speak english, so we had an interpretator with us all the time. I remember one time though, I went out on my own, to buy a cup of coffe just around the corner from the hotel (I think it was Starbucks actually). After 5 minutes I gave up, I tried to explain with my mouth, my fingers and in the end my whole body, what kind of coffe I wanted but she just looked at me and laughed in a shy way and said "no english"? I left empty handed. Anyway, the interpretator stayed with us 24/7. When we had dinners, dinners with the record label, sightseeings, karaokebar visits, Japanese garden visits, autograph signing sessions, let me tell you, that lady did'nt have one minute to spare during our stay in Japan. Even though the impressions was overwhwelming, I remember some stuff from our stay there. First of all, the karaoke bars have small cabins where you can sit 4-6 persons. One night we went to one of those and I was convinced (almost forced) to sing. In the booth's around us, you could hear Japaneese voices singing Japaneese songs at a modest volume. Tomas chose "Black Dog" (Led Zep.) and off I went. After a short while, the people from the other cabins, started to look into our booth with a curious face. I guess they were thinking, what the hell was that? I'm gonna leave The Flower Kings adventures in Japan with Jaimes (former TFK drummer) "classic" phrase, from our flight home from Osaka. After almost 1 week of Sushi he stated: "Sushi must be something Robinson Crusoe invented in pure desperation!?"<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558772009-11-08T23:39:43+01:002022-05-30T08:51:43+02:00I'm pregnant, yes it's true. (October 1, 2009)Yes you better believe me, since a couple of weeks I've been carrying these small babies inside of me. How they got there in the first place? I have'nt got a clue! All of a sudden they're right there. The only thing you need to do is to deliver them, give them love, respect, caring and some guidance before they grow up. About 3 or 4 weeks ago I had twins and delivered them without any major problems, quite easy and quick actually. About a week ago, it was time for my latest little "cutie" to be born. The deliverance of that one has'nt been as easy as the first two, (the labour pains was a little bit more aggressive). The main problem, is that I can't come up with a name for her. The body, the brain and the soul is just as beautiful as the other two, but I just can't find the right words to kickstart the writing of the lyrics, so I can be able to peace it all together.<br><br>
Music is a mystery! I have'nt been writing anything for a good long time and all of a sudden you got three songs in your head. All you need is pen and paper, play the guitar and write it down. I wish someone could explain to me, what's actually going on? First there's nothing for seven months and then you got three songs written with hardly any effort at all. Maybe I should thank Uppsala Statsteater, for stopping the recording. I was actually trying to see, if I could improve some of the lyrics before the vocal sessions. I ended up with 3 new songs instead.<br><br>
Sorry about that, I just thought that I should tell you all this, while it was still fresh<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558762009-11-08T23:38:58+01:002022-02-06T13:52:04+01:00Drinking with Sir Chris! (September 22, 2009)After a drive that almost feels like you're on your way to eternity, all of a sudden a couple of houses shows up. A short while after that you're at Mikes place, somewhere in beautiful Massachusettes. Once again we're invited to someone's personal home, which always is a pleasant change from the "Nightrider" or the hotel. As soon as we enter Mikes garden, a big entourage of people shows up and makes you feel at home almost instantly. One of the guys beeing Al (one of the hardest working men in show biz!) He shows up from out of nowhere, starting to hump equipment, lift bass cabinets onto the stage, helping out Tomas with his 1000 cables, or start to place the wedges in the best possible position, everything with a smile on his face. Touring with a "Nightrider , means you gotta rely on the venues to have showers and so on. Last time we played Arlington, I had'nt been able to take a shower for a couple of days, the soundcheck was as usual running overtime (in fact more so than ever), we had'nt had dinner yet and the theatre did'nt have a shower. As soon as we were ready, I said to the guys, I need to get back to the hotel (20 minutes away, some 70 minutes pre showtime)!! It feels like I've been out on a djungle expedition for 2 weeks and I refuse to go on stage like this!! The following thing happened. Al drove me back and forth to the hotel, we had a great meal in panic ( we knew what we'd miss, we'd been there before and it's a really good restaurant). Al did this just because he wanted to help me out. Thank you man!<br><br>
A wild guess is that it was Mikes wife, who composed the wonderful Italian influenced buffet we had, but you never know? Anyway, this tour we brought with us: Bob Snyder (tour manager from Pittsburgh, USA), Petrus Königsson (sound engineer from Uppsala, Sweden), Bull (Bus driver from Nashville? USA), Brian Dorbuck (Merchandise from Pulaski USA) and last but not least Chris Curran (Lights from Crewe, England). Usually me and the british gentleman Chris Curran, every once in a while goes for a whisky night in the back of the bus, if the timing is right. Very often together with Chris favourite Highland Park, actually a quite smooth single malt. Anyway, I guess we'd been on the road for almost 2 weeks, with no practising on the subject at all. The tour had been as dry as Sahara on a hot afternoon until that evening, when back at the party all of a sudden a Blended Scotch stood on the table. Chris and me looked at each other like 2 newlyweds, to say that love was in the air would be an understatement. A couple of hours later, after some red wine to the food, many many beers and a whole lotta whisky, we headed back to the bus. I hope me and Chris did'nt embarrass ourselves too much. One funny little thing I remember from that evening, is that except for Bob and Bull, everyone in the bus was referred to as: "them Swedes". Can you imagine the frustration poor Chris must have felt. I remember to this day (quite extra ordinary if you think of all the whisky) the words that came out of Chris's mouth and I understand him. For F..K's SAKE, I don't sound like you and I certainly does'nt look like you. How the H..L can they think I'm a Swede. A man in his best years from "Good Olde England", a country that has colonized and influenced almost the entire world. Sometimes life is not fair.<br><br>
A big thank you, have to go Mike and his wife (sorry, I can't come up with the name) and the rest of you guys for a splendid evening. Actually, I think Chris needed help to get on board the bus and to find the right bed. I tried to watch "The Man Show" on the TV together with Bob and I guess Roine, but I gave up after a couple of minutes as I saw 3 TV screens, when there should have been 1, went back to my bunk and fell asleep in a second.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558752009-11-08T23:37:58+01:002021-11-15T08:07:05+01:00HF at the Lodge (September 5, 2009)If you ask me, Roine and I have always had an open and positive relationship. It does'nt matter if it's TFK related stuff, such as recording or touring or just a private phone call. That does'nt mean we agree on everything all the time. Very often that concerns things that has no right or wrong. To start with, Roine belongs to another generation than I do. Musically, his roots and influences are mainly from the 60:ies, Beatles, Hendrix, Procol Harum etc. while mine are from the 70:ies, Thin Lizzy, Zeppelin, Queen etc. I don't think I need to explain that we have Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd amongst others in common. If we happen to disagree on something, we solve it pretty smooth. If our opinions are too different, he has the last word and I'm fine with that, since it's his baby. Most of the time though, we have the same thoughts and ideas, what's best for the music.<br><br>
The Cosmic Lodge (Roine's studio) is placed in the middle of the house (an old factory building), with no windows and almost no ventilation at all. On the same floor, on the other side of the wall we have Uppsala Dans Akademi. That's a school where people learn ballett, Jazz dance, Hip Hop or whatever. When the students know their moves and the dance is "laser tight", it sounds like the North Korean troops are on the march, it's a miracle you don't hear it on the record. If you listen to my channel alone you can hear it pretty good. Lucky for us, it does'nt happen that often. Just above the ceiling, you have all the pipes of the house. As soon as somebody flushes or pours some water it sounds like a waterfall (it's a big house, you hear them all the time). Despite all this, I really like the place. I's a cozy and relaxed atmosphere and Roine himself has a pretty cool approach to the job.<br><br>
For being a perfectionist, a rumour that has followed the chief of the "Kings" since time began, I once again have to say he has a very laid back approach. Sometimes I wish he was harder on me. Sometimes he just falls in love with a phrase, a certain expression or just a word. Those times it does'nt matter if it's totally out of key, or if I think the timing is bad. Earlier he always managed to convince me to keep those takes, but now I know better. Of course every now and then "magic" can occure, but after a while you seem to forget the "magic" and left is just a "sour" note. Now I'm gonna be far to honest with you for my own good. I actually have a hard time to listen to "Unfold the future", the most sold TFK album to date because of my singing. After that I learned my lesson and did'nt finish the job until I was fairly satisfied with my contribution. On the other hand, I'm vocally pleased with albums like "The Sum Of No Evil", Adam and Eve, "Stardust we are" and "Paradox Hotel". If there's one song I'm more pleased with than others. I have to mention the first part of "City of Angels" ("Rainmaker"). That one was a treat to record. Even though the rythm is odd (as usual) I happened to find the flow and the timing almost instantly. The key was pleasant to sing in, I did'nt use a lot of power or technique. I just opened my mouth and sang, almost just with my natural speaking voice and it sounds fine just like that. Sometimes your lucky.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558742009-11-08T23:37:01+01:002009-11-08T23:37:01+01:00Studio Report No. 10 (August 28, 2009)Another week has come to an end, I'm sitting here with a glass of Jameson trying to find out what the hell happened. First of all, Kjell is up and running in his studio and he's really on to something, Thomsson has fixed the bass on a couple of songs and me and Petrus has "cleaned up" the songs (get rid of stuff you don't need, like guiding vocals etc). I have been torturing Anton for hours and hours with him playing 6 and 12-string acoustic guitar. He will contribute with this on "The Ultimate Thrill" and the end section of "Piece of the Sky". On the last one of these 2, we actually used 4 different ac.guitars that had very different sounds from each other. Last but not least, this time around we did NOT forget the mandolin! Oh boy! At the end of the session in the middle of the night, in my ears it was like God put a mandolin in Anton's hands and God played it through his fingers, or maybe I was just too tired. No seriously, he did an awesome job as usual. We used the mandolin on "Song for July" and also a little bit on "Fallen Empire". The only thing I can say about it all: "Anton really nailed that little bastard"!!!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558732009-11-08T23:36:21+01:002021-05-04T06:36:24+02:00Welcome to the Grand Melia Hotel, Caraccas! (August 25, 2009)Yesterday I decided to do some private investigation, I invited myself over to mr. Bodin's house on the countryside for a cup of coffe and some chatting. Tomas also played me the "mastered" version of his soon to be released "You are". I can only say, congratulations what an album you've done together with Krappemike, Kimpa and Mackan, even I play a super tiny, small, little part in it, doing some background vocals and some "wailing" and Tomas actually asked me to sing the TFK phrase "There is more to this world" in one of the songs and I'm a well mannered boy, so I did what he told me to do. By the way, the result of my work as a detective turned out a success, now I've got what I need to complete this blogg, with some behind the scenes stuff directly from the source, mr. Don Tomasso himself.<br><br>
Every hotel is just another hotel, you don't remember any of them. That's just as true as the priest will say amen in the church, except for some, that really stands out. The ones you remember have to have specific qualities such as: "small and cozy", "fresh", "disqusting" or "grandiose and luxurious". One of the worst hotel's I've stayed at was located in Straalsund, former Eastern Germany. The room was like a "classroom" where all 5 of us slept, "super stiff" beds, no paintings on the wall, no flowers, no curtains, no nothing. I think I was the only one to dare take a shower in the morning. What that room looked like, was way beyond what you even can imagine in one of you worst nightmares. The room was freezing cold itself and the water was'nt any better, it was hardly any lights in there and the smell was terrible, but at least you woke up properly. As the iceing of the cake, I can also inform you that the breakfast was a joke. All this is quite remarkable, since almost every hotel I've stayed at in Germany, has been "top class". Another "interresting" hotel, was a one in London. Me and Mike (former TFK bass player now with Eggs and dogs) shared the room. I've never seen a smaller double room. When you opened the door, it was 2 beds with 7-8 centimeters between them, no place to put the guitars or the suitcases. The bathroom was so small, they squeezed in the shower behind the toilet, so to get there you had to climb over toilet, poor cleaning lady! No wonder she skipped our room. After the gig when we got back to the hotel to get some sleep. On my way into the bed I could see, even though I can't proove it, clear evidence of a couple making love in my bed, if you know what i mean. In a situation like this, what do you do? It's in the middle of the night, no reception, you're dead tired and you're pretty drunk. Yes you're right, after some praying you jump into bed, sleep like a baby and hopefully wake up with a smile.<br><br>
For some reason a small hotel in Luleå (Sweden), has been stucked in my mind since 1990 (I was on the road with Highway Stars). It was an elder pair, who managed to get 4 double rooms out of the top floor of their house. My guess, is that they were retired with grown up kids and used their former rooms as a hotel. In the morning you had breakfast in their kitchen, while she was baking fresh bread to us and she even served us a homemade raspberry marmelade. Another hotel I actually learned to love (I guess I must have stayed there about 10- 12 times between 93 and 95 with Solid Blue) was Hotell Kneippen in Norrköping (Sweden). The hotel looks like Fawlty Towers and the manager of the hotel back then, even looked like a blond and not so stressed version of Basil. It had a sauna, so if we were ready in time we always had a pre-show sauna and a couple of beers. Actually a great way to get a loose feeling before the show.<br><br>
I've actually managed to catch some 5 star hotel's as well. One of them beeing the one above the theatre in central Quebec, even though we played there twice, I can't come up with the name? The room me and Marcus (TFK drummer at that time) stayed at, had a very expensive look and design with a jacuzzi in the middle of the room integrated in the floor. If you needed to take a leak in the middle of the night, it could end up with you swimming as well! Tribeca hotel on Manhattan was'nt bad either, but the killer one has to be:<br><br>
Grand Melia Hotel, Caraccas. The reception was as big as a soccer field and looked extremely luxurious. The doubleroom me and Roine stayed at, had a livingroom, one bedroom each, with a bathroom of our own with jacucci of course and details of gold. Outside each bedroom, we even had like a little extra room for reading, working, contemplating or whatever. Even though I know that probably 80% of the population in Venezuela are poor and we were not allowed to walk at certain streets becauze of the terrible crime scene they have, probably as a result of the amount of poor people. If I can manage not to think of that, close my eyes and focus on our visit there alone. I can only say, it's a beautiful country and I loved everything about our stay there. The gig was great and well organized with a full house at a nice theatre. The record store at the shopping mall where we signed autograph's, was packed and the people recognized you as soon as you stepped out of the van. I guess I must have signed a couple of hundred CD:s that day. And now to the result of my private investigation. Tomas had to change his US dollars to escudos. He went down to the reception, he was there alone with this young boy behind the desk. He gave him the money and asked him if he could change it to their currency. He looked at Tomas and off he went. after some 30-40 meters he stopped at the elevator and waved at Tomas. Tomas thought, he was gonna show him the way to a bank or something. Both of them went in to the elevator and went 2 floors down. When they opened the door, it was dirty laundry everywhere and the young boy started to undo the buttons on his costume and his shirt. Tomas paniced and took the elevator straight back to his floor again. Is'nt it always interresting with "language difficulties"?<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558722009-11-08T23:35:28+01:002022-04-08T03:47:08+02:00Studio Report No. 9 (August 21, 2009)Today I woke up with mixed feelings. Now I've actually done all my guitar parts for the album. It's been quite a job. I've never played so much on an album before, acoustic guitars, electric rythmguitars, lot's of harmony playing (my parts) and some slide. I've used 5 guitars and 3 amps in order to try to get it right. Hopefully I've achieved what I was supposed to do. The studio session yesterday did'nt turn out a success though. The idea was to record mandolin and 12-string acoustic guitar with Anton, but somehow we forgot to bring the "little fellow" which makes the job a bit tougher. After that we focused on the 12-string only. Halfway through the song "The Ultimate Thrill" the external drive started to show, it was'nt one of his best days. A couple of minutes later, he turned really miserable and refused to load up the songs and then the device itself started to give away a little noice. After I guess 2 hours, we gave up with practically nothing done. Maybe days like these are good, I don't know? At least they put your feet right back on the ground again, in case you need it. Now I'm gonna have me a nice weekend, I'm actually gonna see Coldplay tomorrow. One thing I'll definitely do, is to pray for better luck, for the upcoming sessions next week.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558712009-11-08T23:34:40+01:002009-11-08T23:34:40+01:00Life's Great at Super 8! (August 18, 2009)In the spring of 2002, it was time for TFK to do a tour in the States again. This time around we played with the very humble guys in California Guitar Trio. Among the gigs from that tour, I remember "The Troubadour", cause it's a legendary club and because Doane Perry (drummer for Jethro Tull for many many years), came in to our dressing room after the show and stated, that TFK was a great band! Another venue that's really stucked in my mind since then, is "The Great American Music Hall" In San Fransisco. What's stucked to me even more, is the hotel we stayed at, at our visit in Frisco.<br><br>
San Fransisco was actually the first stop during this tour. We arrived the day before the show, which meant we had 2 nights at this very "fashionable" hotel. This was the first time all of us was in "the windy city", so we were touristing all day long with the help of Mr. Mark Viduka (where are you now?) and his friends. In the evening we went out for a dinner, so we litterally did'nt spend much time at the hotel at all, the first day. During breakfast the first morning, I could'nt help but notice 4 or 5 ladies that looked young but at the same time very old. I did'nt spend anymore time thinking about that, as we went to the venue for the soundcheck and a little walk around the town again and later on the gig of course. The morning after, the ladies were back at the breakfast table again and all of a sudden I realized, THEY WORK HERE!<br><br>
Approximately 1 hour later when we checked out of the hotel, we witnessed something that could've been taken from a movie, or I would say more like a scene taken from Baretta, Columbus, Kojak or Starsky and Hutch from the seventies, if you know what I mean? One of the ladies clients was very upset, because they were cleaning the room and there were no more rooms available, at least not during his lunch. He had settled the time and already paid and he was pissed off. The receptionist, or should I say the pimp, did'nt look like the guy you wanna mess around with and he did'nt take any shit. So at the same time as we were trying to check out, we witnessed this wild discussion between theese two, while the lady was looking at her watch with a blank face. I have no idea, how this little incident ended? All I could do was to sing along with the TV commercial I just saw at my room, while I was brushing my teeth 15 minutes earlier: "Life's great at Super8"...............?!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558692009-11-08T23:33:15+01:002009-11-08T23:33:15+01:00The Flower Kings/Gay Clubs?? (August 9, 2009)Everytime we're on the road, as soon as I see the white cliffs of Dover and I've had my traditional "Full english breakfast"! At 4 o clock in the morning, it feels like I've just opened the door to my own house. Don't ask me why? I really don't have any connections to England what so ever. One of the reasons I guess, is the fact that in my early twenties, me and a couple of friends, went to England several times to buy records(vinyl, they were a lot cheaper than in Sweden back then), clothes and of course watch gigs and so on. Back in 85, I stayed in London for 3 weeks to record with Spellbound and 10 years later, I did a 10-date pub tour with Solid Blue, everywhere we went, we went down a "little storm" and we had the time of our lives! So with that in mind and the countless times we've been there with TFK, yes, it's probably my second home.<br><br>
When we're heading for London or England, we've very often played Paris before and we're always in a terrible hurry to catch the ferry. Let me tell you, it feels like you're sent of to prison, to leave Paris in the middle of the night, when everybody seems to wake up, only to catch a stinking boat but then again, we're heading for "Good Olde England". If there's any musicians out there who's reading this, who's played Astoria in central London (now Mean Fiddler) you will now exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know what it is? The dressing room is like a wardrobe, the venue is all black, the stairs down to the stage is stinking of piss! But it's something there. It might be love, I don't know? Anyway, Mean Fiddler has a strict curfew and I mean STRICT CURFEW! At 11 o clock you have to be out of the building, cause that's when the gay club starts. Talking about gay clubs, last time we played in Paris (The sum of no evil tour, 2007), they had a gay disco going on at the same time as our show but at another floor. We did'nt notice it that much until me and Tomas, just my voice his piano, were supposed to do "Stardust we are". At the very same second I guess the dj. at the gay disco cranked up the volume even louder, so in the end what you heard was a little bit of me and Tomas and a lot of bass drum, high hat, in a "hysteric" techno groove. I really had a hard time to sing without laughing.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558682009-11-08T23:32:33+01:002021-05-18T07:25:50+02:00One night in Paris! (July 30, 2009)Even though we've done gigs later, the latest tour we did was in November 2007. Once again we had a new drummer, Pat Mastellotto. Pat is very different from all the other TFK drummers, so he brought a whole new flavour to the band. It took a while to musically get to know each other, but in the end I think we actually sounded great. Once again, don't blame the "drum intermezzo" on me, I have nothing to do with that. For you who does'nt know, Pat's been up there in Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, NHL or whatever you like to call it, in the music business. He've had worldwide nr.1 hit singles with Mr.Mr, The Rembrandts and know he plays with King Crimson amongst others. I can guarantee, that all human beeings who's older than 10 years old today, has heard him play, at least if you live in the "western world". That's because you can hear him everytime you watch the "sitcom" Friends. Even though he's been there and done that, he was very easy to get along with. That tour, "The tour of no evil", started off with the most evil thing I can think of right now. After 45 minutes on the road we ran into a Moose (oh yes, the famous moose incident!) For you who has'nt heard about that, I can inform you. TFK left Uppsala at 3 o clock in the morning, to do the premiere gig at Rockefeller in Oslo (Norway). Just outside Enköping we hit a Moose. The result of that was BIG wholes in the front window and the german busdriver Ollie who said the now legendary but expressive phrase: TOUR KAPUTT! MEINE HERREN, TOUR KAPUTT!!! I don't wanna go through this all over again but I can tell you this. With a new drummer, a new sound engineer Paul Devillers (who's been working with Yes, Bette Middler amongst others) and a totally new road crew. The smashed window resulted in 2 vans for the band and the crew, a lorry for the equipment and an arrival at Rockefeller almost at gig time. With all this in mind, it's not strange that the Oslo gig imho was probably the worst TFK gig ever. All in all, I think I slept for approximately 2 hours out of maybe 50 for the first 2 gigs, as I was one of the drivers as well. Enough of the complaining, after 4 gigs we were in the "Zone" again and the last 12 gigs were just fine.<br><br>
After lots of travelling and lots of shows, we had one night off in Paris. We parked the bus in a very cool, HUGE underground parking lot for chartered buses, in the middle of Paris, where you even could wash and clean the coaches. On our night off Jonas and me and the american very good friend (crew member on the tour) Brian Dorbuck went to a Jazz club. (I have to say, I felt so sorry for Brian. He had never been in Europe before and he managed to come here in November, when everything is grey and brown. I mean October can be beautiful, but 10 times out of 10, November stinks.) Anyway, Jonas knew the drummer of the band (Jeff), he phoned him up and asked if we could be guests? Jeff said we were welcome, but guests was out of the question! Jonas was a little disturbed about that, but off we went. As soon as we entered the venue, we immediately understood why we could'nt be guests. It had the size of a "normal" livingroom, small round tables with 3 chairs each (maximum capacity 45 persons?) When we got in, it was one table left, front row in the middle. The audience were most black girls between 25-40 years old. We sat down, had something to drink and then the band started to play. It was almost an all black band (roots from Senegal i guess?) and they sounded fabolous, a cross between Jazz, African music, Santana and Sting with a top notch sound in that little room. I could really see the dissapointment in the leadsingers eyes though. In a room full of black and beautiful ladies, 10 cm. in front of his genitals, he had 3 middle aged white guys. In fact when the band positioned themselves on the stage, you could only establish the fact, that we were actually sitting in the middle of it.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558672009-11-08T23:30:55+01:002021-04-19T11:25:33+02:00Brazilian Samba! (July 19, 2009)Next stop on our first visit to South America was Brazil. I think our arrival at the airport was 9 o clock in the evening and when we got out of the plane, you could'nt even believe how hot and humid it was. The first impression of Rio De Janeiro is on the way, while you're driving towards the famous, beautiful and almost legendary centre of Rio, you pass some not so glamourus favelas along the way. I guess they have stuff they consider more important than time over there. It was probably around 11 o clock in the evening and it looked like all the kids in the neighbourhood played soccer on those sand fields and they looked perfectly happy with that. In Sweden, the kids at their age would have been asleep hours ago. Even though the first gig we did was in Macae, a cozy little city along the Atlantic ocean, we spent 24 hours in Rio together with the promotor Leonardo and his gang. As a result of the freetime, the very cool surroundings and the mix of people we had in the orchestra back then, we headed out for some wild partying! For you out there who has read Michael Stolt's confessions "The dirt- The Progg dirt", I can state right here , right now, that the evening I will tell you about does NOT top the now legendary "Help" incident that Mike wrote about a couple of weeks ago. How could it? The combination: drugs, the police, prostitutes and TFK is kinda hard to beat. I don't know if I should be happy or sad, probably happy, I did'nt join the lads that night. I can almost read the headlines of the swedish news papers: "Swedish rockband arrested in Rio because of drugs". Today I'm gonna do everything in the right order, so I'll get back to my night out with the guys later.<br><br>
When we got to Macae, I started thinking. How the hell did we end up here? Does anyone know who we are? Later in the evening (a friday night I think), the place was packed with a dressed up audience, who really appreciated our music and musicianship. Among the 400 people in the audience, I guess approximately 30-50 persons were fans, the rest were just curious. It's probably not everyday a swedish band plays in their town. After the show it felt like we really won over some new fans and we managed to make a nice evening for everyone. After 8 hours in a steaming hot Toyota Hiace bus, we were back in Rio and immediately started the compulsory soundcheck, which ended up a catastrophy. I like to hope that we in the end, managed to get a sound that at least reminded a little bit of TFK. In my mind, the show in the evening did'nt felt any better, so let's get on with the partying.<br><br>
Boys night in Rio!? After a monster sleep at the hotel, we had a combined breakfast/lunch/dinner at a restaurant in Copacabana. After that, me Michael and Robert left Roine and Jaime with the Brazilian team to explore Rio De Janeiro on our own. In Rio they have some "like" just a whole in the wall, kind of pubs. It actually feels like you're standing in the middle of the street with your Capirinha and there's people and cars everywhere. We did a couple of those to enjoy the street life of Rio, before we ended the evening at a night club, which I think was in Ipanema. It was'nt like the typical tourist place, I guess it was almost only locals, or people from the neighbourhood who was there. As soon as we entered the place, the girls looked at us and smiled. Unfortunately the lads in the club did'nt look at us with a smile. They probably thought , what are these gringos doing here? After a couple of refreshing Gin and Tonics, I said to Mike, I have to go and take a leak, will you guard me outside the restroom? Said and done. I went in, it was me and maybe 5 more guys in there. After maybe a minute, one of the toilets was vacant. I remember when I shut the door, I thought Jesus what a thin door and on the inside it was a big mirror (don't ask me why?) Anyway after the job was done, I gently pushed the door, but the mirror cracked with an awful sound. One second after that, running into the gentlemens room, I could see Michael, looking just like Mike Tyson who's ready for the final knockout hit. God! What a great bodyguard he would be!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558702009-11-08T23:30:00+01:002023-12-10T17:58:28+01:00Studio Report No. 8 (August 14, 2009)To tell you the truth, I almost freaked out! Since week 21, I've spent 2 days in the studio with my acoustic guitars. Petrus (the sound engineer) has been on tour with Uppsala Stadsteater and then on vacation. It's the same story with Anton and Kjell, they've been touring, gigging and been on holiday. Yesterday we kickstarted the recording again. I did some guitar overdubbs, some "twin lead" harmony guitar (my parts) and changed some of the "clean" guitars. Don't ask me from which planet mr. Lindsjö comes from, he's a monster in the studio. I guess his mother's womb must have been like Abbey Road or Record Plant or something, everything is just so natural to him. Kjell is still working with sounds and when I asked him, how's it going? "Today I will create history"! was his modest answer, so I guess he's just doing fine. There's still plenty and I really mean lot's and lot's of work to do, but now we're at least back in business again, which means I can sleep at night. We will continue to record during the weekend and after that, I really think we're back on track again.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558662009-11-08T23:30:00+01:002023-12-10T19:52:58+01:00Pampas de Argentina! (July 9, 2009)In the year 1998 we went to South America to do shows for the first time. We played 2 gigs in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and we also held concerts in Rio de Janeiro and Macae (Brazil). The line-up back then was Roine, me, Jaime and Michael Stolt (Roine's younger brother on bass, which now is deeply involved in Tomas Bodin's upcoming album "You are") we also had a stand in for Tomas Bodin who could'nt do that tour, his name is Robert Engstrand a really funny fellow and a true "party animal". Nowadays he lives in Helsingfors (Finland) where he has lot's and lot's of gigs, one of the gigs beeing Finlands domestic top pop act. Don't ask me their name, but I think it might be "Dingo something"? They attend thousands of people all over the country when they play. Rumour says that everytime Robert has a gig with these guys, he always throws in the keyboard intro of "There is more to this world" here and there just for the fun of it. Anyway, back then we travelled without a road crew, we did'nt even have a sound engineer. It was just the 5 of us.<br><br>
The first time my feet touched the ground in South America was in Buenos Aires. The first and remaining impression of that city was that it's huge. All of a sudden it starts, then you can drive for hours and it never stops. The promotor Andrés Valle (who by the way did the drawings for the art work for "Paradox hotel") and his crew, did an outstanding job while we were there. The venue, the show and the audience were great, but the highlight for me was the Argentinian Steakhouse Andrés took us too. For starters we had meat or sausage (no potatoes, no rice , no vegetables, no sauce). The Main course was of course meat (no potatoes, no rice no vegetables, no sauce), red wine to drink of course. The desert, I can't remember that one but I remember we had a very good time.<br><br>
TFK has'nt excactly made themselves a name because of the partying, but with Michael and Robert in the band, we did a serious job in that matter. As a matter of fact I think Michael party'd all the 21 days we were away from home and probably the same goes for Robert as well, even I joined in occasionally. There's actually some stories i remember from those days. First of all, if Michael is in the room you see him, I guess he's 195 cm tall, he always wears a black leather jacket and dark sunglasses and on top of that, he had really big black hair back then. The first day in Buenos Aires he bought a new pair of sunglasses and after that me and Michael went to a Burger King in the middle of the city. I was sitting downstairs in a very big and crowded room, when Michael does his dramatic entré. With the burger, the soda and the fries on a plate, he all of a sudden fell, in the middle of the stairs. It actually looked like it was taken from an old "slapstick movie". It was Coke, fries and burger all over the place. After this total "fiasco" in front of 100 hungry argentinians, Michael raised himself up, cleaned himself a little, bowed in front of the stunned audience and said: Hope you enjoyed the show!" Afterwards I asked him, what the hell was going on? He said, these glasses are strange. Later on, outside on the street I tried them on myself. I could'nt even walk down from the sidewalk without falling. Those glasses totally screwed up the judgement of distance.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558642009-11-08T23:28:41+01:002022-03-20T04:01:58+01:00Studio Report No. 7 (June 25, 2009)2 days of acoustic guitars. Jesus what a session! I did'nt realize how much of that, it actually was/is in the music. At the same time I'm really glad it is that way, because all of the songs are written on an acoustic. So therefore it feels natural, to have it quite prominent in the recorded music as well. This time around we recorded at Petrus studio at home. We tried some different places in his house but we ended up in the kitchen. When it comes to sound, Petrus is more accurate than me, which I'm very grateful for. Even if it takes longer, in the end it's always worth it. We tried different microphones, we moved the furniture around, we changed the position were I sat, we even took a mattress out from one of the beds and moved it round the kitchen in order to find the "sweet spot" for the sound. I have also tuned the guitars different for some of the songs, I have also used different "string sizes" (is that the word?) on one of my acoustics, which makes it sound a bit like a cross between a 12- string and a mandolin, at least if you play it right in front of the saddle. Hey, just some corny details in case you wanted to know.<br><br>
Otherwise I can tell you, that we're gonna continue the recording. Mr. Anton and Kjell are up next.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558632009-11-08T23:28:04+01:002021-08-27T11:18:37+02:00But its you thats him!What were we thinking? Were we just a little bit crazy? Or were we total idiots? I'm talking about "Unfold the future", the tour (TFK, 2002). We played for 2 hours and 40 minutes + a 10 minute intermission and encores. The cornerstones of the concert was "The truth will set you free" - 30 mins. "Stardust we are" - 30 mins. "Garden of dreams" - 1 HOUR! That means approximately 3 songs in 2 hours and 10 minutes. The rest of the songs changed from gig to gig, even if we concentrated on songs from the latest release. Just as I said, what were we thinking? I know it must have been overkill for some of the guys in the audience, but as I remember it, the vast majority of the crowd seemed to love every minute of it. I still get chills down my spine, as I recall the feeling when you got to the end section of "Garden of dreams". After playing parts with lot's of chords (some of them disharmonic), tempo and rythm changes, all in all a whole lotta information going on, you all of a sudden hit an E sharp, the tempo slows down and the music just gets more powerful and beautiful for every bar we play. On top of that, when it comes to my singing, I really have to give 100%. Live, I sang the lead part which Roine did on the record, one octave higher than him because he played lead guitar at the same time. Anyway, if you just did a killer or even just a decent version of that little tune and the crowd started to roar, I promise you, you felt like you just won Super Bowl or Champions League!<br><br>
Back in those days we had Zoltan on drums, which by far is the most technically skilled drummer I've ever played with. He was funny though, during soundchecks when he improvised and just played for fun. He was the absolute best drummer I've heard. A couple of hours later at showtime, beeing a "jazz cat" who likes to play in the moment, maybe the long and heavily arranged and structured songs we did that tour, was'nt the ideal situation for him. Don't get me wrong here, he did an excellent job. I just wished you heard the soundchecks.<br><br>
In December 2006, we did a short tour (Norway, Sweden, England, Germany) after the European and American tour of "Paradox Hotel. One of the stops was Nyköping, a pretty little city 100 km:s south of Stockholm. After a great gig at the town theatre, me, Marcus (the drummer at that time), Jonas and Tomas went out to a night club (me and Thomsson actually played there before), for some beers (soda's in Jonas and Tomas case). The place was packed with "Friday happy" Swedes. All of a sudden a very glad and very loaded lad showed up right in front of my nose and pointed his finger at me and said with a loud and distinctive voice: "DET ÄR JU DU SOM E' HAN!! "BUT IT'S YOU THAT'S HIM! For him it was impossible to put the guys in his favourite band in his local night club.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558622009-11-08T23:27:21+01:002022-05-21T11:10:56+02:00Apeheads? I always feel sympathy when a guy is serious and does his best. It might be a coincidence, but since we started to play together in HFMC, the guys have been buying basses, cymbals, guitars and effect pedals like there was no economic depreesion at all. Actually, I think these guys alone would have stopped the ongoing financial crisis. What is good with all this, is the fact that it actually makes a difference. All the new instruments and gadgets makes a better sound and a better sound gives your self confidence a boost and if you're confident in what you're doing, you play and sound better. Talking about self confidence. I have to thank all of you out there, for showing such an interrest in a band that has'nt even released a record yet. THANK YOU! In fact when the guys contributed with their own words in the "studio reports", I asked them to tone down the "positivism" a little. All of them replied with: Do you want me to lie? Am I not allowed to write the way I feel? Who am I to tell these guys what to do? I'm just afraid that the expectations for the forthcoming album, which already are sky high, will be impossible to meet.<br><br>
Now back to the shopping. In this orgie of buying new musical gadgets, Ola all of a sudden showed up with 2 brand new "Apeheads" or should I say "Monkeysculls"? Anyway in Sweden we call them "Apskallar". I almost wet my pants as soon as I saw these buggers. I immediately could hear Ola playing this "Glock, glock" sound, just like Neal Peart during Rush's (heydays) in the late seventies. Actually you can see these fellows in the photo of Ola's drumkit from the studio. If I'm not totally colour blind, which everyone tells me , it's the green and orange little bastards above the high-hat.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558612009-11-08T23:26:51+01:002009-11-08T23:26:51+01:00Studio Report No. 6 (May 25, 2009)I came back to my house late sunday evening, that means I've been home for 3 days now. How do I feel? What are my impressions of the studio session? First of all I must admit I was quite nervous before the recording. I mean you never know, even though the lads in the band are quite experienced, as soon as you got your headphones on and the record button is pushed, it's very easy to get stiff. You don't dare to play the stuff you've been doing when you've been rehearsing, you lose the power and it sounds lame. I have'nt heard the recording yet but I think we managed to avoid all that, maybe with a little help of our late night sessions with the "Scapa" and the "Smulgubbe"and all the other great stuff that makes your mouth a happy fellow. You get a more loose approach and I don't know if I dare say it (beeing 45 and all), a more grown up sound, when it comes to tempo's and feelings. As you can see on the pics, the studio room was huge and I deliberately chose to have the amps in the same room as the drums, just get the "live feeling" I've been looking for. I don't want the separated and clinical sound most of the bands have today. I want a spontaneous and organic sound and as matter of fact, I think and I hope we achieved that.<br><br>
What will happen next? Well me and Petrus (the sound engineer) will have a meeting next week to put up an exact plan, but for the moment I can tell you this. We will do overdubs during the summer whenever we can. People have holidays and so on including myself. We will still try to keep this loose approach both to the singing and the soloing etc. I will leave you for now, with a little story from the hotel which I sadly missed. I was showering.<br><br>
Both Ola and Petrus woke up to a very strange and whining sound going on in the pipes of the hotel. As I just said, I was taking a shower, so first they thought it was me. They described the sound as similar to the Niagara falls. The sound started and continued for a couple of minutes, then it stopped and started again. For a moment Ola and Petrus thought that someone was urinating but when it started for the 5th time, just like in the Austin Powers movie "Goldmember", they said to themselves, it MUST be Hasse showering. When the sound started for the 7th time it was no doubt about it. No human beeing can be responsible for this. Just after that, they could hear the characteristic sound of a toilet flushing. It was Thomsson taking a leak, after one of our late night sessions at the hotel. Talk about having a killer prostata.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558602009-11-08T23:26:03+01:002022-05-11T15:25:45+02:00Studio Report No. 5 (May 24, 2009)I'm sorry we're in a hurry, we have to finish everything today. The keyword for these 5 days have been "First we prog, then we blog, then we grog! (swedish for vodka and soda, in this case "Smulgubbe", it actually tastes terrific. Ask Kjell, next time you see him. The highlight during the recording for me personally, was when Thomsson all of a sudden started to moonwalk when we recorded "It's only my blood". Now I'm gonna leave you with the one and only Kjellvete:<br><br><br><br>
Blisters on my fingers after an exhausting hammond session. Seven hours of organ-orgies (!). But it was worth it! I..m quite satisfied with my organ today ;)<br>
I just wanna thank Bo Thomas, Jean Luc Anton, Lill-kissen, König and Hazy Fro for a fabulous weekend. You guys are the best!!! I..m so grateful to be a part of this fantastic band. Magic!!<br><br>
All the best<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558592009-11-08T23:25:27+01:002021-01-11T10:17:42+01:00Studio Report No. 4 (May 23, 2009)Good evening good morning or whatever. We just got back to the hotel again and personally I feel at least a little bit more alert today. I think what got to me yesterday was the fact that no sleep, 1000 practical things to take care of before the recording and the fact that this is it, now it "HAS" to happen, all of sudden got to me. The songs we worked on today was "Ultimate thrill", "It's only my blood" and "Above". The hardest one to record during this short session, was definitely "It's only my blood". That one was actually the first song I wrote, initially made for TFK back in 2006. This actually means that Ola's hard work is over for now and he's done a BLOODY good job! Thomsson has now officialy proposed to him, only God knows what's going on in that room when they close the door at night. Now I can only say, that I'm very proud to present an extremely talented guitarplayer, "Jean Luc" Anton:<br><br>
Well, what can I say... I'm mighty honored to be a part of this musical fellowship! I remember that morning when I woke up a late winters morning, or rather a winters day, getting a call from some stranger asking me to play some guitar for a project he had coming up. It was Hasse. I had no idea how who he was, how he got my number or what he expected from me. But what he presented sounded very intruiging and I accepted the offer. Boy am I happy I did! We had the first rehearsal a few weeks later in the tiny little summer house you've probably already know about. After some research on Hasses career and realising who he was, I obviously was a nervous wreck stepping into the rehearsal studio. Ola and Kjelle was already good friends of mine but Thomas and Hasse was people I only had heard of. It didn't take long before I was totally relaxed together with the band. What a crew! These guys are some of the funniest, down to earth guys I've ever come across. And Hasse really made everyone comfortable with his humble presence. I was amazed when I realised this guy have all his music in his head. Every little detail! Extraordinary! Well, from that first moment this has been a fantastic journey and now we're here, laying down the tracks and I must say, it's coming out absolutely great! One of the biggest reasons for that being Petrus and his enginering skills. This guy has an amazing gift! I could never dream that this thing was gonna sound this good!<br><br>
Today we've finished the drum tracks for all the songs and damn, have Ola outdone himself. There are some crazy grooves on this record but my absoulute favourite is Olas tom tom walkabouts! Damn thats some sexy drumwork! You we'll understand when you hear the record. His roto runs is absolutely crazy. Love it! I also want to thank Ola for presenting me to Hasse. Not only because this got me a chance to play Hasses music but also because this got me to play with Ola again. Thanks bud!<br><br>
We also have initiated the leslie miking for Kjelles organ work tomorrow. This was the first time I heard the legendary leslie cabinet in real life. God, that thing sounds huge and organic! Having Kjelle being the one doing the keyboard work wasn't doing things worse. Kjelle is one of those cats I saw as a young kid and was always blown away by his extreme musicianship and groove. It was crazy getting to play with him for the first time a couple of years ago. Now he's part of this band and I couldn't think of anyone better to handle the keys.<br><br>
Last but not least; Thomas Thomson! This guy has made this week even better than it already was. The amount of laughs this guy is responsible is unheard of. His mere presence is lighting up everybodys mood and raising everybodys energy level. Beeing in the studio 13 hours in a row can make anyone tired and sometimes a bit grumpy but having Thomas around cures all that. The fact that he's a fantastic bass player is not to be forgotten. This guy has some serious punch and push in his touch. Trrrrevligt!<br><br>
Last but not least I want to thank Hasse for being an extremely nice ad humble person, an absolutely amazing musician and for putting his trust in a young, unknown guy like me.<br><br>
Cheers! // Anton<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558652009-11-08T23:25:00+01:002009-11-08T23:25:00+01:00Beer Buffet! (July 7, 2009)If you never been to Denver, let me tell you it looks nothing like Sweden. It's a strange combination of desert and high mountains. On the way from the airport Denver almost looks like (excuse me) it's placed on Mars. I have to say it looks beautiful in a strange way. We've played there twice, and we've been very well taken care of by a bunch of guys, who really do their utmost to make a nice evening for anyone (including the audience). On the first visit, we were invited to Phil's house for a home cooked meal and a "Beer buffet". That lovely tasty buffet included all styles of beers: Ales, Lagers, Belgian style beers, Bitters, other dark beers and more regular American beers. These top notch products were from a local brewery (forgot the name), and if I'm not wrong here, I actually remember that someone told me it had won some prices at an international "Beer festival". After a superb tasting Beef Borgougne and a serious research of the high quality products of the local brewery, Tomas and Jonas took over the show. They did a "very well" sounding concert with Jonas on piano and Tomas on guitar and vocals, in front of a fanatic crowd in Phil's livingroom. After that we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the show the day after.<br><br>
The soundcheck went smooth, nothing I remember actually, but approximately 15-25 seconds into the first song of the set "Church of your heart" all of a sudden a huge and loud sound from HELL! took over the PA-system and the wedges. I remember I thought to myself. You fly all around the world, work for hours and hours to get the sound right, and then some technichal mess can fuck everything up. That awful, terrible sound felt like it went on for ages, but it was probably just 15-20 seconds. Just when I thought this is it, TFK:s first gig in Denver only lasted for 20 seconds it stopped, and after that everything just worked perfect. No one knew what it was, I think it was the ghost in the house. Despite that little incident we had some awesome days in Denver, thanks to the Denver crew: Alan, Phil, Jamie and Steve and all the rest of you guys. Thank you!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558582009-11-08T23:24:48+01:002022-03-29T08:40:58+02:00Studio Report No. 3 (May 22, 2009)Holy mother of Christ, tonight I'm dead! It's been a VERY long but rewarding day. Today we've worked on 3 songs, one of them beeing "Piece of the sky", that's the monster on the record. The other 2 we did was "Everyday" and "Fallen empire". Tonight I feel I don't have anything more to say, I've spent all my energy in the studio today. So now I think it's time for me to present to you; Thomsson:<br><br>
Well....first I have to say this journey with HFMC has been so fantastic "nice" from the very start in october 2008, to have the opportunity to play with 4 very talented and friendly musicians!! Today we recorded my favourite song " Piece of the sky" a fantastic piece of music. From today i..ve got a new favorite drummer " Ola Strandberg" WHAT A GUY, btw he is my roommate. Finally i would like to quote Zappa, we really worked on our studio tan today.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558572009-11-08T23:23:28+01:002022-02-04T08:44:19+01:00Studio Report No. 2 (May 21, 2009)First of all I have to thank Thomssons wife Camilla, for bringing us a beautiful basket full of first class cheeses, red wine, peanuts and other snacks. Thank you for your concern. On the musical front, I can only say finally or at last (actually I can't find a proper word for "äntligen") however today we started to play. Half an hour ago, the last chord of "The world has a heart too" faded out and now we're back at the hotel. Today we recorded the foundation for 3 songs. The first song we recorded was "I would'nt change a thing", the second one was "Song for July" and the third one you already know. I don't wanna raise the expectations more, I will only say that the guys did'nt play bad today and Petrus (the sound engineer) was calm and even had a little smile on his face. I don't know if that means anything but in my world, that feels good. I guess by know you all must be dead tired of my writing, so now it's time for me to present the other guys. The first one is Ola:<br><br><br>
And my impressions of the day is that the recordings has been rather an exciting event.First of all,working with these guys is really fun and it..s a real treat to be making this record together like this.Secondly, having Petrus in the control feels safe and nothing gets by him concerning the sound of my drums and his also a great person to be around..(he actually drives a Ford too - what a guy!)<br>
So, 3 songs are recorded and tomorrow will be yet another fabulous day in the studio.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558552009-11-08T23:20:28+01:002022-04-08T03:42:44+02:00The legend of the tiny little summer house (May 7, 2009)The last house on the north side of Uppsala, it can no longer be seen because of road construction. That house is called Vimus. That's where I played together with TFK for the first time, that's where we in HFMC played our first notes. The house is old and it's got 3 rehearsal studios, all above the ground THANK GOD! Thomsson, a guy I played together with in different bands for over 30 years, says it's the best place he's ever rehearsed in. As you can see in the short video, it's not glamourus at all, but the room is quite big and comfortable, no stairs or shit to carry the equipment and so on. As much as Thomsson loves the place, the former TFK drummer Jaime Salazar hated it. He was the first drummer of that band ( I know we've had lots of them, but don't blame me.) Jaime was and probably is a very nice and polite lad. At the same time he was and probably is one of the most special character's ever to walk the earth. Today he mostly works with musicals and theatre's and that without reading notes. He memorizes everything. Just for fun you could ask Jaime for instance, what he did the 10-th of April 78 and he would answer in a second what he did that day, 20 years later. Jaime is also the only drummer I know of, who hates the sound of drums. He can stand it within the music together with other instruments but the pure sound of hitting a tom or a cymbal, makes him wanna puke. One time Roine asked him if he could do a drum solo, he looked at Roine as if he was from another planet. There's lot's of funny stories about Jaime on soundchecks, both in studio and on stage. With all this in mind, you can imagine what the rehearsal situation was like when I joined TFK. Roine loves to rehearse, he can go on forever, no food, no rest just play. I would say Roines age while rehearsing changes from born 56, to born 86 maybe. Then we have the rest of us, who love to play, but after 3 or 4 hours maybe needs a break. The head is full of information, the ears are tired because of the volume, the body is exhausted because of the singing and the passion you put in and then there was Jaime, Who did'nt wanna be there in the first place. After he played a song once, he had it. "Different people" (4mins.) or "Garden of dreams" (1 hour!) made no difference. It was at this time, we started to call Vimus, Jaime's little summer house. In Sweden, a summer house is loaded with positive things and thoughts. After a long winter, the Swedes, especially those who live in flats in the city centre, travels out to their little summer house and makes it ready for the summer. Just how much those guys long for their little house. That's how much Jaime hated Vimus and the rehearsals.<br><br>
In case you're wondering what we're up to at the moment. We got 3 more rehearsals to go, so it's pretty much the last preparations. If we should shorten the intro? If we should double the chorus? If the keys. should be in the centre or the guitar? The most important thing now though, is to settle the tempo's.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558562009-11-08T23:20:00+01:002023-12-10T17:32:51+01:00Studio Report No. 1 (May 20, 2009)Good evening or good morning or whatever. Me and the guys just got back to the hotel. It's been a long day but the guys level of energy is still something like 5 kids just before opening their christmas presents. Just to calm everyone down a bit, I ordered the guys a little nightcap, a 14 year old single malt called "Scapa". If you drink that together with a good swedish beer, for instance why not a "Smålands" or as tonight an "Arboga", the taste you get in your mouth is like an explosion "of love", or I would say an "oral orgasm". Don't think for a minute we're drinking this to get loaded, we're drinking this to get the right feeling and to get in the right mood. As you see, I'll do anything to avoid HFMC to sound like a speed metal band. No seriously, the guys are in terrific shape and we can't wait for tomorrow to come. Today it's most been technichal issues like putting up all the equipment, soundchecking the drums etc. The big studio room is awesome, if you take a look at the vinyl version of Queen "Jazz", you can get a hint of what I mean and it sounds good too. Now it's just up to us to deliver (Jesus Christ) but I'm still optimistic. Anyway, back to the Whisky and good night or good morning or whatever. Take care. Hasse<br><br><br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558542009-11-08T22:37:23+01:002009-11-08T22:37:23+01:00Week 21! (April 16, 2009)Today is my first day in shorts this season and it's a marvellous feeling. One thing that's even more marvellous, is the feedback I got on my last blog. It seems like everybody has a relation to Queen (73-78). I got some comments and lots of messages, about the love you guys out there have for that band. One thing that worries me though, is that all of you seems to expect a Queen sounding album. In my ears, the material does'nt sound like Queen at all. What I said, was that I was impressed by the way they used their talent. They got 110% out of each member, during those albums. In my opinion, I think they actually composed and played even beyond their capability. The point with me analyzing this, was that no matter what kind of song they recorded, you immediately heard it was Queen. That's the same thing I'm going for with HFMC. A 3 minute pop song or a 15 minute symphonic prog/rock tune, you should hear it's us. With this said, I think this case is closed.<br><br>
Week 21! that's when the recording starts (if Uppsala can supply our rehearsal studio with electricity that is! Otherwise we have to go barbershop?). We got 5 days to lay down drums, bass, rythmguitars/twin lead melodies, Hammond organ, I mean sounds that feels good in a big room. Petrus (our sound engineer) will push the button that says record. I will count to 4 (or 5 or even 7 sometimes) and then we'll play the songs from start to finish. Today this is an almost medieaval way of recording but to me it's the most interresting. It's what happens in that room that very minute, that is the foundation of the song. Of course, there's lots of things that can go wrong but I'm confident. I know you have more control when you play one instrument at a time, I'm not interrested in that. I can handle some rough edges, or if it's not "laser tight". This is quite the opposite way of working, if I compare with my fellow mates in The Flower Kings. I don't think I have the patience they have. They seem to work forever on their projects. Anyway, when we've laid down the basic tracks. We will do the overdubbs, acoustic guitars, keyboards, solos and voices in different studios whenever we have the time.<br><br>
This has really been a sunny story since day one. It's only one thing that worries me, time for rehearsal. Everyones calender is full. I think we all met once in January and once in March, but as we get closer to the recording, we have to play more often. I have already squeezed in a couple of night time rehearsals, so by the time we're in week 21, we'll be ready. One thing I stopped worrying about, is the risk we're taking with the mix of music that we play. I know it might be too heavy for some, too proggy for some and too soft for some. Frankly, I don't care. The only one I can be true to on this subject is me and the lads in the band and pray that you have ears big enough to take it all in. In the next blog I will talk about the fly on the wall!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558532009-11-08T22:36:43+01:002021-11-08T06:09:24+01:00My vision, our sound! (April 6, 2009)First of all, I want to make one thing clear. I'm first and foremost a musicfan, not a musician. That defenition means I love music, not especially metal, prog, jazz, blues, opera or whatever. I love music, period. (Even though I consider myself a bit of a "rocker"). I know I am my own worst enemy here. Today, when you really need to cathegorize the music extremely hard. The world would be a lot easier for me, if I for instance was a total metalhead. When I look at my favourite records over the years, the ones I can go back to and still find interesting are the records that were diverse in both sound and styles. Other albums I loved 20 years ago because of a cool production or a neat set of songs, I can't listen to today, they feel so out of date or the presentation does'nt say anything at all. A couple of records I can come back to anyday and still think they are fantastic, for instance "Sheer heart attack", "A night at the opera" or " A day at the races" (Queen II is almost there). As you've probably noticed Im focusing on Queen here. The great thing with those guys back then, was that no song sounded like the other, but at the same time they had a Queen "stamp" all over it. Compare "White man" with "Good old fashioned lover boy" (A day at the Races) or "Seaside rendezvous" with "Prophet song" (A night at the opera). It does'nt matter if you like it or not, you've never heard anything like that before or after. Maybe Brian May was'nt the fastest gunslinger in the world and Roger Taylor was definitely not the master of intricate grooves. John Deacon though, was a very melodic bassplayer (check out "A millionaire's waltz"). The iceing of the cake was of course Freddie, the most inventive and curious rockmusician ever to walk the earth. Together it was like these guys were from another planet. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, that during the recording of our album. We will use no other people than ourselves. The fact that the music vary from guitar driven hardrock, through tempo and rythm changing symphonic rock, to pure pop, makes it even more important to play the songs ourselves. Just to leave no room for doubt that it's HFMC you're listening too. Don't think for a second now , that I'm comparing HFMC with Queen. Just prepare yourself for a varying album.<br><br>
I've written all the material on my acoustic guitar. Which means you can't rely on cool sounds, or heavy grooves or whatever. It's actually a very effective way of writing, because everything is built around the melody. Sometimes I get inspired by a nice sounding chord change, next time I got a melody stucked in my head and as soon as I get a couple of words to sing (hopefully a hook), I take off. I think I discover quite immediately if there's any substance in the idea. I write the music pretty fast on pure inspiration. The lyrics are tougher. Sometimes they write themselves, another time, you might have 3 different lyrics and none of them feels good. When it comes down to the arrangement. I got almost everything in my head (remember I told you I was abscent minded). Now we're talking about the real deal. HFMC, the guys in the band who are gonna glue all this together. They are the most important in all this. It does'nt matter what kind of song we're doing. HFMC will put their trademark, their sound in it and hopefully the music will reach out til at least some of you out there<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558522009-11-08T22:36:08+01:002021-01-20T09:25:39+01:00Working man's prog/rock (March 24, 2009)When it comes to music, I'm a hopeless romantic (I guess). 1976 just 12 years old, I saw my first concert. "Atlantic crossing" had just been released and Rod Stewart was on the road. It was a great show. They did lots of The Faces songs, which was the main reason for my visit. The one thing that really blew me away though, was a song in the PA system before they got on. That song was "Jailbreak". I did'nt knew what band it was but after a while I found out that it was Thin Lizzy. About 1 year after Rod's concert, Thin Lizzy played at Gröna Lund (an amusement park in the middle of Stockholm). It was a beautiful and warm night in August. I was standing in the front row, right in front of Phil Lynott. After that I was marked for life. Cleaning lady, doctor, carpenter or a pilot, nothing mattered. I wanted to be a musician. That concert was the beginning of the tour that eventually became their legendary "Live and dangerous" album. Short after this I saw AC/DC (Bon Scott), Queen in their heydays (While they still were a rock band), UFO and Boston among others, while they were at their artistic peak. The winner of the race though was the "Lizzy gig". Enough of this nostalgic nonsense.<br><br>
Do'nt ask me why, but after a while on the road, you get extra sentimental. Let's say you've just done 4 or 5 nights in a row and you're gonna have a day off. You let your guard down a bit, no one is expecting anything sensational of you tomorrow. On these occassions, you might even celebrate with a little party in the back of the bus. When or if you wake up in your bunk the morning after and you've been away from your family for 3 weeks, you have'nt got a clue where you are and it feels like your head is about half the size it should be. Then you're in a perfect mood (miserable enough) to get into that "special sentimental vibe". If you put on your headphones and listen to for instance "Turn of the century"-Yes, "Have you heard"- Pat Metheny or maybe "Sin city"- AC/DC. The emotions and the commitment to the music theese guys have, can really make your eyes wet. During the "Adam&Eve" and "Paradox hotel" tours, we had 2 very nice british members in the crew, Chris and Andy. Andy sadly passed away due to cancer short after that. God bless you. With these lads on the bus, the whisky bottles were empty a little moore often. After one of those nights, I woke up with Jeff Buckley's "Grace" in my ears. I probably put the record on random before I went to sleep. Anyway, Lilac wine" was on and I could'nt stop myself. I started to cry loud and clear (hopefully the rest of the guys were asleep). I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the song and Jeff's passionate deliverance.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558512009-11-08T22:35:21+01:002022-04-08T03:37:52+02:00Male bonding (March 10, 2009)As I told you before, I've had my doubts about starting a new band again. I have already given you the reasons why I did it, but there were just as many reasons who told me not to do it. First of all, the sleep you loose at night, trying to find out new and better arrangements. All the sleep you loose at night worrying if the lyrics are good enough. At daytime you become so absent minded, that you don't hear what people say. For years i've been a member of TFK and it's been a pleasant ride. There you see the other side of the coin, just singing, playing and taking part of the fun stuff. All this, while Roine has been in charge of all the practical things, economics, planning for records and tours, arguing and compromising with people in the business. I've been there myself and I've seen it up close, let me tell you I'm not jealous of him. Even though I know all this, it does'nt scare me. I guess I love music too much for that.<br><br>
For the moment now when we're rehearsing, the most important thing is the goal! The goal is of course the recording. You gotta keep the lads on their toes, but at the same time, you have to create a positive vibe. Not to forget, you have to have a cool approach, because of the limited amount of time for preparation that we have. The guys have been great, it was time for the reward.<br><br>
Yes it was finally time for some male bonding. Paintball was out of the question, snooker, dart or bowling did'nt seem to appeal to us either. We ended up rehearsing on a saturday evening (090207) with some bottles of Whisky, a Vodka and lots of beer. Ola recorded the evening, luckily enough I have'nt heard it yet (I don't think it was the peak of our career but who knows). After that we managed to open up a restaurant, that had closed for the evening, for some food and more beer. The final destination was Katalin, a good "rockclub" in Uppsala. We really had a blast that night, personally I met a lot of former bandmates (Solid Blue, Spellbound and people from different coverbands I've been involved with). It was nice to meet J.J again, it was a while since we last met. The surprise of the evening though has to be Rikard Zander (Solid Blue). He left for Gothenburgh maybe 12 years ago. I've met him a couple of times there when I've been on the road. Sadly, we somehow lost contact over the years, but I guess we talked for hours that evening. About what? MUSIC of course!<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)tag:hfmcband.com,2005:Post/558462009-11-08T22:34:31+01:002022-06-02T03:17:14+02:00What am i doing? (Febraury 27, 2009)Hi folks, yes indeed here we go again. Just as I told you before, I promised myself to never form a band again, but I could'nt keep that promise and now "Hasse Fröberg and the Musical Companion"(HFMC) is a fact. The reasons for this are many. First of all, I've been writing quite frequently later. Since I finished as a trainer/coach for my daughter's soccerteam, all of a sudden I got a lot of sparetime every week. During the TFK tours there's always been lots of people asking me if I will do a record of my own and at the end of last year, I got a letter from a fan who was VERY upset by the fact that I had'nt made an album yet. The turning point though, has to be when a friend of mine came by unannounced. I was sitting with my guitar, we had some coffee and I played him some of the material. His reaction and his feedback later on, really made me understand the potential of the songs.<br><br>
It did'nt take long for me to realize, that to record this album I need a band. It's so not just me, to launch a project with different session musicians. I might be old fashioned but I want a band with a certain sound (for good or for bad). The first intention, was to play with musicians I've never played with before. So I phoned former Spellbound drummer Ola Strandberg, who has been playing a lot with different coverbands lately, if he knew some guys that could be interresting? He immediately said Anton Lindsjö. He's a monster, he can play the songs even before you write them and he got a beautiful tone as well. All I can say, is that he was right. I've had my eyes upon Kjell Haraldsson for a while, because I like his playing a lot. But I thought that he was too occupied with other gigs and project's (MSG, Glenn Hughes, HTP and differerent "schlagerdivas" in Sweden amongst others). I was wrong, Kjelle jumped on board and he's been very enthusiastic since day one. All of a sudden, right out of the blue, I had this feeling that Ola and Thomsson would be perfect for the band. They have a history playing together but I did'nt think they were in for it, once again I was dead wrong and they're both spot on. In fact, recently they both have been very musically active. I think the reason that theese 2 elder gentlemen joined the band is that it gives them the opportunity to play original material again.<br><br>
Okay, so now I got HFMC together. What will happen? Will anything happen? Let me tell you, boy did it happen! We've now been rehearsing since november and in the next blog I will give you information, about male bonding and the psychological aspects of starting a new band.<br>HFMC (Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion)