Happy 2011!

Well, shame on me. Not a single post in almost two months! Well, guess that means I’ve been pretty busy doing other things than blogging, so I guess that’s really a good thing, no? 🙂

In any case, after the digital release of The Genuine Fakes‘ debut album, I’ve had a little X-mas break and spent some time with family and friends and recharged my batteries in preparation for whatever this new year holds in store. I went down to France over new years and did some cooking with my pal Daniel (who’s also a fellow band-mate in Hong Faux and Dexter Jones’ Circus Orchestra). When I got back I went straight into the studio to work on finishing bonus tracks for the Japanese and US versions of “The Striped Album”. And not only that – the Japanese label wanted more colorful cover art so I had to provide them with that too. What I ended up doing was a variation of the original artwork, only instead of black and grey I used the respective colors of each band member in the stripes and it really pops now! I kind of like the idea of it looking different. The booklet also includes lyrics now, and four songs have been added to the track list. Check it out:

It’s going to be out on February 2 in Japan, but you can pre-order it now through Thistime Records.

In USA it will be put out by Kool Kat Musik along with a purchaser bonus CD containing five bonus tracks (two are shared with the Japanese version, three are different). The release date isn’t set yet, but I’m guessing it will be around the end of February. In Spain, Rock Indiana Records are putting the record out (I’m guessing around the same time as the US release) and they are also going to organize a small tour for the band, so we’re pretty psyched about that. Hopefully we’ll be going down there in April to do three or four shows.

On Jan 17 we had a little release party and played a short gig at Lilla hotellbaren in Stockholm. It was a great night and the place was packed. We even sold a bunch of CDs! 😉 Not bad for a Monday in competition with Grammis-galan (Swedish Grammy Awards). I must say that I’m overwhelmed by the fantastic reviews we’ve gotten from different blogs, newspapers and music magazines around the world. It feels pretty good after having spent three years on the damn thing! Not that I wouldn’t have been happy with the album anyway (we didn’t release it until we thought it sounded just like we wanted it to) but it’s nice that other people “get” what we’re doing and spreading the word about it.

So what’s going on now? Well, The Genuine Fakes are going into the studio again to start working on album #2. The songs are all there, we just need to polish up on the arrangements and start recording. Gotta stay on top of the game! If we manage to finish the tracking before summer it’s probable that we can have it released sometime in late spring 2012. So that’s something to look forward to 😉

Besides all this, the Hong Faux album is starting to take shape. We’ve got three or four more songs to finish writing and record and then it’s done. I’ve got a good feeling about that project, we’ve had great chemistry from the get-go. And if you dig the three song EP we released in November, you will love the rest of the songs we’ve done!

Also, the next Nutmeg album is being mixed as we speak. We’ve got the mastering scheduled for the end of February and the release on April 6. What I’ve heard of the mixes so far sounds absolutely amazing, and I really hope that we’re able to get this album out properly. We have a couple of shows lined up in France in May, although it’s not certain that we can all go then. We’ll see what happens.

Lastly, I wanna give you a heads-up about my good friend Peder Claesson’s solo debut – the commander. I’m releasing it on my own label Pristine Music, and I also helped with the recordings a bit last year as well as contributed some guitar. The first single – “Never Mind the Haters” is available for free now at http://thecommander.se. Within a couple of days you can also find it on iTunes and Spotify. The album will be out later this spring.

Over and out! See you ’round the bend.

Another Month to an End

Fall has come to the land. I’m doing my best not to plunge into autumn depression by submersing myself in work. This month we did a festival gig with The Genuine Fakes, and last week we started rehearsing new songs for the next album. We gotta stay on top of the game in order to be able to release a follow up to the debut within a year of its release. I’m staying in the creative phase, continually writing new songs so hopefully we’ll have a bunch of good ones to choose from. Besides, we had about fifteen unused tracks for the first album so there’s no shortage of material to begin with. However, many of those song are ones that were written when the band was still in the cradle and we didn’t know exactly which direction to take yet, so not all of them feel relevant at this point. The good thing is that we’ve got loads of potential bonus tracks instead! 🙂

In other news, Hong Faux are going into the studio on Monday to record some new material. We’re adding four new ones to the four we’ve already recorded (three of which you can listen to in the player in the right hand column), and we’ve got a lot of song embryos so the album’s coming along nicely. This project has really taken shape now, and we’ve got a litte UK tour planned at the end of November. Check http://hongfaux.com for more information.

Other than that, I’m preparing for the European tour with Dexter Jones’ Circus Orchestra. I can’t wait to hit the road for a whole month. I haven’t done a trip like that since I was off with Friska Viljor two years ago. And I haven’t had the role of “guitar hero” since I played in Happypill!

Today Peder Claesson is coming over to my home studio. His solo album is almost finished and it’s sounding fantastic. I’ve done some lyrical consulting for him and played a few instruments here and there. I hope the album will get a proper release and the attention it deserves.

Time for the morning coffee, kids! Over and out.

Good morning

Today I’m heading off to my old job for some Easter lunch with my old colleagues. It’s going to be nice to see them again. I’m guessing the place is pretty much the same. Feels like I quit ages ago even thought it’s been only two months.

Tonight I continue work with Peder Claesson. His album is really starting to take shape and it’s sounding really good. Tomorrow we’re pulling an all-nighter in the studio with Nutmeg.

Saturday’s a good day for recording

While waiting for the mastering of The Genuine Fakes‘ debut album to get finished, I’m keeping myself busy doing other things. Yesterday was spent at my place with Peder Claesson recording piano tracks for his new album. I had the big old German piece of wood and cast-iron tuned a few weeks ago so I figured I should put it to the test. We had a good time and got a lot done, working from the afternoon through the evening. I also contributed some acoustic guitar to a couple of songs. I guess the instrumentation is pretty much done now, with only the vocals left to do. But first there’s some serious lyric writing to do. Peder’s got some main themes laid out and I’m going to help him fill in the gaps.

Next week will be filled with all kinds of things. Mainly booking gigs and working on solo material for the next recording session. I’m also going to arrange and record some backing vocals for the new Nutmeg album on Thursday.