Gigs we remember

Clarion hotel Gillet - Uppsala
Nice gigs in a hotel in Uppsala. This autumn we did a few Friday-gigs at Clarion hotel Gillet´s bar, After Work and evening concerts.

People gather after work, stay on, have a nice time and perhaps dance a bit.

Good stage, nice audience, good food and good vibes. We will come back.

 

Motala jazz och bluesklubb - Motala
It was a rather nice trip on country roads with me and Anders (piano) and Andreas (organ) in the latter´s van. Bass and drums drove from Stockholm in a separate car.

The gig itself took place in a restaurant with a nice lakeside view. The band was, as always, a five piece machine without mercy and the audience was content. A very skillful sound technician helped us. We were accomodated in a cottage by the lake, very nice.

As usual Andreas had his laptop with him and thus we had music in the kitchen. A few beers were opened and we chattered away about this and that until we got sleepy and hit the sack.

 

Europafest festival - Bucharest
Early May. From Swedish winter to Rumanian spring. At least I was totally unprepared for +30C. I arrived in black t-shirt, black jeans and black boots. Hot. Drummer Ola, bless him, lend me a white t-shirt. We were very well taken care of and the food was good. Chicken mostly.

In every bar we came by there were Carlsberg taps. They have really done a huge job in Rumania. The hotel bar, where we stayed, had 24 hours open. You survived and didn´t lose any weight. First night, the day we arrived, everyone was so tired that the thought of going to bed was scary and thus we anchored ourselves in the bar trying to get sleepy, drunken legs and spinning heads, totally alert until morning.

Anyway the festival gigs were very well arranged and the band sounded good, as always. They equipped me with a 4x12 and Marshall-top which troubled me a bit so I managed to get a Fender Twin for the last gigs. What a relief. All in all a very interesting trip abroad. Andreas (organ) was, like he was in Vienna, a very good guide with his apps and maps, teaching us "hello", "goodbye", "thanks" and so on.
Thomas

 

Vienna Blues Spring
This event went off in a place named "Reigen". When we arrived the spring was in the air and you
walked the street in t-shirt. Reigen put up a generous stage with a generous grand piano and a very good backline. The sound-technician, Andreas, was excellent. All was well except the organ. Was it a Vox or a Farfisa? I can´t recall the brand. What I can recall is the sound of it. Impossible! So we managed to rent a "Nord" from a store and the evening turned out very nicely.
Thomas

 

Cordoba Blues Festival
A beautiful city that goes back to Roman times. An astonishing mosque with a Christian church
plunged down in it. Fascinating.

We played on a big square surrounded by four-story 19th century apartment buildings with people on the balconies having their supper. These were the people who didn´t have to pay for the music and got it whether they wanted or not. Down on the ground 4-5000 blues loving citizens. Standing or sitting at tables drinking coffe and beers. Nice.
Thomas

 

 

Live-recording, December 2011
Recording is nervous, tedious and troublesome in studio (I think). At least I feel like a complete new-beginner on the instrument, whenever there´s a microphone scrutinizing what you´re doing. Bearing that in mind the solution would be live-recording in order to feel more relaxed. And so we went for it. In time for the event I caught a "Frozen Shoulder", which effectively disabled my right arm with great pain, a common Swedish "cold", a severe nose-bleed due to the many painkillers I had to consume for the shoulder. And then the recording-equipment let us down. Half of the tunes were never recorded. So there will be no live-CD until next year but 3 or 4 new videos for YouTube.
Thomas

Urkult
An ethnic music festival. We entered the festival in our rented van, cruising amongst pine trees and festival-participants in various outfits. It was almost impossible to get through to the stage until a band from India, pipers and drums tok the lead and "piped" us there.
Thomas

Sundsvall
In the fall of 2009, I think. A one way communicating man positioned him before me as close he could get, round 70 cm`s, and started laying down the truth about virtually everything. He had a terrific flow. He probably talked while breathing in as well as out.

I found it increasingly harder to concentrate on playing and singing and urged him to move away a bit. He did, over to the piano where he could get real close. Forsberg sits while he plays and couldn´t get away. Truth was flowing and I saw Forsberg´s face turn more and more granite-like, both in substance and color. The piano playing however, grew better and better.
Thomas

Ola Ragnar joined the band in 2009
Ola began with the band as first stand in for Kjell Gustavsson. In time Kjell became more and more busy with his own career and Ola was the natural choice for the band. It´s hard to find a drummer who´s timing corresponds perfectly with your own, I´m lucky to have found two.
Thomas