|
Hi,
first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album
“V”. The album has been out some time now, how has it been
received by the fans?
Fredrik - Thank you! The album has been very well received
from melodic rock fans. Lots of people say that this is the best Street
Talk album ever and I agree! I’m very pleased with this
one!
The
album has received good reviews in the media, did that surprise
you and how does it make you feel?
Fredrik
- No, it did not surprise me as I feel that the album is very
strong! The songs, production, performances…I think we did a
good job on all different parts this time around! Of course it
made me feel good!
Fans
and the media label you melodic rock, do you feel that label is
fitting or how would you describe your music to an outsider?
Fredrik - I agree that Street Talk is all about melodic rock!
But I would not like to be looked upon as a nostalgia act that is
stuck in the 80s…I only try to write good quality songs and
don’t care too much what people call it!
If
your music was an emotion, which one would it be?
Fredrik - Difficult
to answer….I think our music contains lot of different
emotions…So I’m afraid I can not say just one emotion…
To
new fans could you please fill us in on the story behind Street
Talk?
Fredrik - Street Talk
was formed in late 1994. The band was
formed out of the ashes of the hard rock band SHAPE that I had
formed in 1990. The music style was a mixture of seventies
influenced hard rock (Deep Purple, Free, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy.)
and AOR/Melodic hard rock.
At the end of 1994 I decided to start Street Talk
and I took my
old band mates from SHAPE - Jon Persson on Drums and Guitarist
Tomas Olsson with me.
In late 1995 I and Street Talk
got together with guitar player
Andreas Lidberg who joined the band and me and Andreas worked very
close together as a team.
In February 1996 Street Talk
recorded their second demo tape and
at this time I, who up to this date had handled the lead vocals in
Street Talk
felt that I wanted to concentrate on songwriting/keyboardplaying
and producing only!
So with this album recording in mind Street Talk
got in contact
with my old friend vocalist Kristian Andren (Memento Mori, Tad
Morose, Fifth Reason) and asked him to participate as one of the
singers on the forthcoming Street Talk
debut album and Kristian
accepted the offer directly as he was deeply impressed with the
demo material he heard.
The further plans were to have a couple of other vocalists to do
the lead vocals on the album, and during the summer of 1996 I got
in touch with legendary Swedish vocalist Göran Edman (Madison, John Norum, Yngwie Malmsteen, Glory, Brazen Abbot and Kharma).
As the third and last vocalist for the album local vocalist Daniel
Johnsson was picked. When the final recording sessions for the
album started in January 1997 several other guest musicians was
brought in to participate. Like Bass player Micael Berner and
Drummer Christian Johansson who did a great job during the
sessions of Collaboration.
The Collaboration album was released in October 1997 in Europe by
German label USG Records/East West and the album came out in
November 1997 in
Japan
through AVEX/Bareknuckle. The album received rave reviews from
media all around the world and showed up in top ten lists in many
of the important rock magazines all over the world like Burrn!,
Hard roxx, Heavy oder was and Rock report!
In 1998 Drummer Jon Persson decided to leave Street Talk
and
Guitarist Tomas Olsson who haven’t been so much involved in Street Talk
during the last years also moved away. At this moment
in time I was in discussions with guitarist Andreas Lidberg asking
him whether or not he was willing to go on to do a second Street Talk
album - but Lidberg felt like he didn’t have the time and
energy that it takes to get involved in another time consuming
process that it is to create an album.
So I spent the entire year of 1998 writing and demoing new songs
with a second Street Talk
album in mind - and in early 1999 when I
had written almost the entire new album I started to think about
musicians that could be suitable for the Street Talk
music.
And the first musician that I thought about was guitarist Sven
Larsson. So I asked him to get together with me in 1999. I felt
immediately that Sven was everything I dreamed of in a guitar
player and absolutely the right man for Street Talk.
Also, in early 1999 shortly after the time when Sven and I had got
together I gave vocalist Göran Edman (who at the time was in the
studio recording with his other band KHARMA) a call asking him if
he would be interested in being part of this new beginning for Street Talk
and if he would be interested in singing on every song
on the new album - and Göran accepted the offer to participate on
the entire new forthcoming second Street Talk
album.
So in January 2000 - after almost two years of preparations and
pre-productions for the album the studio recordings started for
the second Street Talk album with me, Edman, Larsson, Berner and
Johansson. The album was recorded during January/February 2000 at
the Soundcreation Studios,
Sweden with me producing. Since then Street Talk recorded the following
albums : Restoration (2002), Destination (2004) and V (2005).
The
album cover quite simple – who came up with the idea? And how
important do you feel a good album cover is these days?
Fredrik - I really like the new cover. It was created by Carl
Andre Backston who also did covers for bands like TNT in the past.
A cover is very important I guess. Something to create an interest
at the first look in the record store :-)
The
sound on the album is very good, where did you record it and who
has produced and mixed it?
Fredrik - Thanks! The album was produced by myself and
recorded in four different studios. The album was mixed by Per
Ryberg with assistance from me at the studio Sound Creation which
is a top notch studio here in Sweden.
Do
you have any touring plans for 2006?
Fredrik - I wish. But no plans as we speak…
Let’s
speculate – you have been granted a free slot on a tour of your
own choice – who would be your ideal touring partners?
Fredrik - Journey
:-)
The
internet is a very important source for many music fans - how do
you use the internet and how important is it for you and other
bands, and what’s your opinion of Napster, file-sharing and so
on?
Fredrik - I
think the internet is both a good thing and also a bad thing
because people tend to download the music instead of buying the CD’s…But
it’s also an incredible thing because of all the information you
can get on almost everything!
Name
an album, person or event that has had a huge influence on your
life … and why?
Fredrik - My parents because they are responsible for my
existence…It’s hard to find a bigger influence in my life than
that :-)
If
you want to kick back at home and relax, do you put on music, turn
on the TV, read a book or…?
Fredrik - I
probably watch a good movie!
I
thank you very much for participating in this interview and
sharing this information and your thoughts with us - these last
lines are entirely for you. Any final words you would like to
round off with?
Fredrik - Thanks
yourself for your interest and for your support! I also want to
send a big hello from myself and Street Talk to the fans out there
as well! Without you all we wouldn’t do this!!! Thanks!
Interviewed
by Kenn
Jensen
|
