Silver in 1973 (Stefan, Janne, Ziggy & Henke)
 

Formed glamrock band Silver in 1973. Very Iggy-Dolls-Bowie influenced. Singer called Ziggy, ha! Silver actually kept going as far as 1976 in different incarnations, until the drummer, Henke, brought Trolle Rhodin jr (of Cirkus Brazil Jack fame) to a rehearsal. He was looking for a backing band to cut an album with. This project became a fantastic 60s coverband called The Buddyboys , who cut one album and taught me how to sing in harmony with two other singers. Played a tremendous amount of gigs between 76-79, and went on National TV in 1977*.  Absolute highlight was supporting The Kinks at Olympen, Lund 11 October 1978!!! Briefly became The Shake in mid -79 before disbanding. I wanted to write songs and play them with the band but they wouldn't let me. Either the songs were crap, or the guys couldn't understand my vision. Incidentally, Mats (guitar. vocals) became a member of my next band, which was based on my songs.

During the 70's I went to as many gigs as possible, starting with Paul McCartney & Wings in '72 and rounding off with the Clash and Thin Lizzy in 1980, just before I moved to Stockholm. I must have seen just about every important rock band to come through south Sweden or Denmark. Below, left is some photo proof, snapped at Olympen, Lund and Bröndbyhallen, Copenhagen:

... most of the time hanging around Olympen, Pireus or Dad's Dancehall
Or in Copenhagen at Falconerteatret or Bröndbyhallen. Looking like this
until 1977 when PUNK hit me like a ton of bricks...

pic 1.2 by me and 3-6 by Mats (friend, forgot last name)
click to make 'em bigger. Clockwise from top left:
Jimmy Lea, Marc Bolan, Mick Ronson, Freddie Mercury, Ian Hunter & Freddie Mercury

The Buddyboys, Sverige Radio, Malmö 23 November 1977
  Teenage me far right,  with my trusty 4001. Note all-Fender backline...

Rock'n'roll has always been a big part of my life and still is. That's why I felt I had to put these pictures in my bio section. Seeing these bands and playing with my own bands made me realise the importance of looking good and dressing up for the show. For good or bad, my passion for clothes, hairstyles and fashion, not neccessarily in that order, has stayed with me all my life. And in my defence, I would rather look silly than not look at all. But the most important rule is this: whatever you do or wear has to be honest, and for yourself, not for anyone else. Rule doesn't apply to funerals and working in the City of London!

* I've been on TV a number of times in different countries and I have always performed live! Never mimed! Me & Joe Strummer!!!

Spent a lot of time in Brighton, UK during the mid-to-late 70s. Studied briefly at Brighton university... which may or may not be a fabrication. I apparently took some kind of degree there in '74 beginning with the letter G (GCE, ed.). Always been one for words not numbers.

Started The Moderns, a pop/punk band with heavy Mod influences, playing original material penned mostly by me. We toured the UK in support of Echo & The Bunnymen and Screwdriver
(!?!). We played both Eric's in Liverpool (today Cavern Pub) and London's Hope & Anchor. One gig in Blackpool was in front of 300 skinheads. We survived in spite of being a mod band. Discussed recording an album with Nick Lowe producing, but turned it down in favour of EMI records in Sweden. The band moved to Stockholm and signed to EMI. A couple of 7" and one LP released (1981). A cultband in Germany these days! The good thing about the Moderns was that we were mates from school and we did this just for fun. Having said that, I was deadly seroius about what we were doing. Problem was that not all of us were acomplished musicians at the time which drove me to push the band towards an inevitable break up. A compilation CD was released in Japan in 2003. Available on 1977 records. Still waiting for an invitation to come and play.

 
The Moderns on 7". 1979... . 
 
 

The Moderns in Malmö 1979 (Janne, Mats, Tony & Pär)
 

...and 1980 respectively

Janne and Ric in Landskrona 1979

Ad from NME, June 1980... proof!!!

The recording of Tro, Hopp & Fruktan was done in the summer of
1981 in EMI Studios in Skärmarbrink, Stockholm. We had spent
the better part of a year looking for new musicians and being unable
to record due to our contract with Mandarine Records, which we
wanted to break in order to sign with EMI. They wouldn't let us and in
hindsight they were probably right. We did a few disasterous gigs
as a three piece, and we realised we needed a new drummer
and a second guitarist. We enlisted Mikael Wirén on drums (great)
and Claudio Scubla on guitar (strange) and recorded the album.
First takes were sung in english and sounded good. One example is "Suburban Life" which was meant to be the first single. EMI somehow convinced us to sing in swedish, and I figured it was worth a try. However, not in the middle of recording songs that were written in english! I couldn't adopt to swedish that quickly, and some of the lyrics suffer from this, as does my diction. Anyhow, the album came out, sounded weak, or so we thought, and nobody bought it. Today, however, it sounds pretty cool, brimming with ideas and harmony vocals. Sad end to a glorious story though!

The Moderns vinyl album "Tro, Hopp & Fruktan" EMI Sweden 1981,
Japanese CD compilation on 1977 Records

Glam days of 1984 with Attack and "old brothers reunite" for Peace & Love 2009


Press picture of Strindbergs in 1984

2006 CD compilation

After hooking up with Neon Leon (yes THE Neon Leon, two singles released) and various former punks and rockers, I formed Strindbergs, seminal punk/pop trio with Johan Johansson in late 1981. Toured relentlessly and released 3 albums and 1 CD. We achieved so much together and all is well documented on Johan's homepage.

All in all we must have played over 300 gigs and toured across Sweden, Denmark and parts of Finland. Because we sang in swedish there was never a market outside Scandinavia. Below are the covers of our recorded output. The smaller image is our last compilation CD released in 2006.

 Disbanded in March 1985 without really knowing why.  However, we are still good friends, and play together now and then! Notable reunion gigs: Ultrahuset 1995, Studion 1993-94, Peace & Love 2009

 

Kulturhuset, Stockholm 5 augusti, 2009 - Johan, Magic, Janne & Robban
 

In Stockholm 1984 by Eva-Maria Svensson

Strindbergs live in Malmö early 1985

We played a lot and one hobby that started at this time was
collecting guitars and basses. Everywhere we went we went
out looking for instruments. We even let the word out that we
were looking for certain instruments which is how I, in Gothenburg,
found the Gibson Thunderbird to the left (at the Ritz in 1984).
Unfortunately I sold it (indirectly) to
the bass player from the Damned, Paul Gray and invested
the money in a BC Rich 8-string bass, which I havent got anymore!

See Strindbergs on MySpace

Played briefly with Django's Coming for about a year and released one maxi-single. This band was formed right after Strindbergs' demise, and consisted of Janne & Pär from Strindbergs together with Lou from Capital Rockers and Robban from The Protectors. When out all Gung-Ho on the back of Strindbergs success but it was too soon and I quickly lost interest, and I missed the creative partnerships from my former bands. Should have teken a break, but instead formed and joined several bands with no real success during the late 80s and early 90s. Among them were Bongo Fury, House Of Dolls, Änglar & Demoner, Love Junkies (with Pete whom I met in 1992), and Captain Bomb.

Our only recording! 12", 3 track EP - 1987

Django's Coming in 1985, causing gridlock, and on stage in Malmö on our only tour.

Most of the bands I played with or formed between Strindbergs
and Scratch were a bit like fumbling in the dark and never slowing
down and taking the time to find out what I really wantd to do and what my
musical indentity really was. I had a few offers from other bands and solo
artists but I alway turned them down. probably unwise, beacuse it would
have meant that I could have focussed on other people's music instead.

I also play bass in Scratch, a rock'n'roll combo led by guitarist Peder Brink of Brinks Musik fame. Several singles and 1 CD album released so far.

This band is still active and has recorded a follow-up long player which includes drumming from Steve Kling! Peder and I met in 1995 when he tracked me down because he was a fan of my bass playing, and wanted me to play on his next album. This turned into my most successful music collaboration since Johan in 1982!

This band will start to rehearse for future gigs in late 2009. as well as recording new songs.

Check out the homepage on Http://www.scratchtrax.com 

In the Repeatles I play guitar, piano (very little these days), harmonica and sing. We play 150 songs from the Beatles vast repertoire, as well as songs by other great acts from the 60s and 70s. I always insist on adding The Who songs to the setlists, and a dream is to do one more album of great pop songs!!! I am still writing, and consider songwriting my main hobby. Still looking for that elusive hit...