Steve in a nutshell...

I was born on October 12 with musical genes from my father, who played trombone in a jazz band. I started out on trumpet before I switched to drums. I never met my dad though, he passed away before I knew he was my dad! Confusing? You bet, but enough of that, First step was buying a 2^nd hand Pearl kit for 450 Swedish kronor ($600) and to practice at home in our apartment. Naturally the neighbors went ballistic and I had to sell the kit. I started taking drum lessons a few years after that. Should have taken a few years more worth of lessons!

At the age of 15, I joined a fusion rock band at school, but was subsequently sacked for not being good enough. This was at the time of punk rock, when you could actually go on stage without the ability to play like Yes and Genesis, so I joined The Pain In My Ass with my friends Staffan (Spiv Åland) and Håkan (Hocky) in the fall of 1976. The name was shortened to The Pain and we released one 7” and on EP. We became one of the most talked about Swedish punk bands of the day, and we supported The Police in 1978. We changed guitarist to Janne Oldaeus, a very fast and competent player who soon left to form Rost. Still active as a professional musician today. Next guitar slinger in line was Janne Anderson who plays on the 7”. We left The pain and formed JAPOP mid 1979 who released 7 singles and 3 LPs. Toured Sweden for five years and made no money (you should have toured with backline only and in a smaller van like Strindbergs AND made money – Jan). The press loved us but we didn’t sell many records…. JAPOP finally split in 1984 when the project became a one-man show with us as backup musicians.

Life changed radically and I sold my Sonor kit, got married and had kids (never heard that one before – ed.) and spent five years drooling over drum kits in shop windows. Finally I bought half a drumkit (yes that’s right) from a friend who kept the other half for himself. You’ve guessed he was a heavy metal drummer. The kit was a white Sonor. Started playing with Tom, Thomas, Lasse & Björn in The Real McCoy where the music was some kind of “hard-pop” heavily influence by the American west coast scene. Released one 12” single of original songs which isn’t half bad!

After that I was drafted by old friend from the punk days, Janne Borgh to join Scratch, with whom I still play today. Scratch is strictly a recording project and have released one album on a couple of singles so far Jan had already started.Plastic Soul (Repeatles) with Pete and Arnie and I was asked to join. So I sold my white Sonor kit and a car to get my first Ludwig kit, just like Ringo’s. Made in 1964. Many, many gigs and world tours later, The Repeatles’ setlist have expanded to other bands than the Beatles and even into the 70s and 80s, so my Ringo kit had served it’s purpose. I traded it for a 1968 OrangeMod Ludwig kit. Supercool! For all the miles, records, T-shirts and years, this is the band I’ve been in the longest. This is down to our love for each other and that we know each other so well. Combined with a steady development with new covers and some original songs, it never gets boring! The rest of the story is right here on the homepage!

Love You Guys!

 Steve (Stefan)