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First
off I want to congratulate you on your new album "Mindrevolutions",
a good follow up to “Keyholder” and the 3rd overall
since you brought Kaipa back to life – who came up with the idea
to bring Kaipa back?
Hans - In 2000 I decided to record an
album. At that moment I didn’t know any details for the
recording process, I just came to this decision. I asked Roine
Stolt and Morgan Ågren to play on the album, and Roine introduced
me to Jonas Reingold. I played some songs for Per Nordin who made
the artwork for the album cover. He thought the music sounded like
Kaipa and advised me to use the old name again. I talked to Roine
about it; he said o.k. and suddenly Kaipa were brought to life
again.
How
has the return of Kaipa been received in
Sweden
?
Hans - Our old fans
and young people who like progressive rock are celebrating our
comeback, but people in general don’t know anything about us
because this type of music is never played on the Swedish radio
and most newspapers ignores it completely. The main market for our
music is outside
Sweden
, a completely inverted situation comparing when we worked in the
70’s.
You
are often described as progressive rock, not far from The Flower
Kings (obvious) – but how would you describe your music to an
alien from another galaxy?
Hans - Well as I
don’t know if this alien knows what music is and can understand
the feelings hiding inside of it, I suppose it’s just a waste of
time to try to describe it. But otherwise I should say it’s like
a long journey where you pass through a lot of different
landscapes filled with impressions, joy, beauty and pain.
If
the music of Kaipa was an emotion, which one would it be?
Hans - It can never
be one single emotion. I think you can find seeds of most emotions
inside the music.
I
really like the “Last Free Indian”, both musically and
lyrically, but which song is your favorite on the album?
Hans - Of course I
like all the songs on the album, otherwise I shouldn’t have
recorded them. The song “Mindrevolutions” is going in many
different and unexpected directions while a song like “Shadows Of
Time” maybe is more predictable. They are just different
parts of the landscapes I mentioned earlier and I like them all.
How
has “Mindrevolutions” been received by the media?
Hans
- So far the reactions have been very positive.
Will
you take your new album out on the road?
Hans - Kaipa is so far strictly a
recording project, so there are no plans.
I
really like the artwork – who has done it and is there a deeper
idea behind the concept?
Hans - The artwork for both “Keyholder” and
“Mindrevolutions” are made by Jan Ternald. He’s a fantastic,
surrealistic and very imaginative artist. I really like his
artwork and I think there’s a link between the music and the
artwork. There are lots of small details you can discover both in
the music and in the artwork. In the 70’s Jan was also a
musician playing in the Swedish bands “Älgarnas Trädgård”
and “Fläsket Brinner”.
The
“R2-D2”-characters on the back cover – do they refer to
something?
Hans
- That’s
up to your own imagination.
You
have produced the album yourselves – isn’t it sometimes hard
to keep the distance necessary to remain objective to the songs?
Hans
- Yes it
is, but I think it’s important to remember the initial feelings
for the song I had the moment I wrote it. After working with a
song for months even the most strange and complex parts are
flowing very smooth. As a matter of fact half of the songs are
produced together with Roine Stolt and sometimes it’s important
to have four ears instead of two.
Any
chance you might make an album all-time top 5?
Hans
- I
don’t think so. This could possibly have happened in the 70’s.
Today we have access to a lot of radio and TV channels and
internet, but it seems the market rules even more today, mostly
it’s a question of money not music.
Any
famous last words?
Hans
- I want
you to remember that we’re all together the key to the hidden
tomorrow and we are many, we’re proud, we’re as one.
Take
care and thanks for your support.
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