THE
OFFICIAL HOMEPAGE
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Discography
220 Volt's comments continues |
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220 VOLT - April 1983 As you might understand we were very excited when we were on our way on the train to Stockholm to record our first album. Our first single had proved that we did something right. I don´t think we thought too much about our style, we just wanted to play rock n´ roll like our heroes in the BIG bands. So we were finally on our way. We had rehearsed like crazy but we were still learning some of the new songs. Thomas Witt, our producer for the first 3 albums, had been in Östersund for a few days to help out with rehearsals. We got a simple place to stay ( in fact it was Factory´s rehearsal room, the band I later joined), a few not too comfortable IKEA beds and we were alright. We didn´t spend much time there anyway. As we didn´t have a lot of time to record, most of the time was spent in the studio. I remember being quite nervous the first day. Lots of new people to meet. We got to work right away, putting all the things in order and we started recording backing tracks. We all played together in the same room, so all backing tracks are actually live takes. We added some extra guitars here and there, but that´s basically it. Then we ran in to some problems with the vocal part. Christer Åsell couldn´t get it quite right. Panic !! We eventually decided on calling our old friend Jocke Lundholm. He thought we were kidding, but finally got the message, we need some help. Jocke got himself on a flight down to Stockholm and managed to learn and sing all the songs in a few days. Pretty Amazing if you ask me !!! Peter Hermansson and myself gave it a shot on the vocals aswell, and tapes do exist I´m afraid !!!!!!!!!!! ( I don´t need to tell you how that sounded ) I suspect I will be seriously blackmailed one day. Anyway, a lot happened as I´m sure you understand. But we managed to get the album done including mix, in 10 days !!!! We were between 16 and 19 years old ( some of us weren´t even allowed to sign the recording contract because we were minors ) and it was a huge step for all of us . We became better songwriters and musicians later on, but at the end of the day the first album is still something I will always remember and something I will always be very proud of. Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| POWER
GAMES - November 1983 First of all, what a great title, I´ve always loved the title of this album. Our living standards had improved a bit for this one. The record company rented a house for us to live in whilst recording. They also provided us with some videogames and stuff so everything was o.k. We had been writing songs for a few months with Jocke now and things started to improve. At least we thought so. We didn´t play more than maybe 20 shows in between album no 1 and "Powergames". Mostly cause we needed time to write new stuff. So we´re in Stockholm again. This time we had about 3 weeks worth of studio time. We decided to record a little bit different than album no 1. We played the backing tracks together, but we ended up putting on a lot more guitar on this one. The arrangements of the songs were a bit more complex and needed more work. We had played a few of the new songs live and as usual you never seem to catch that energy in the studio. So you try to compensate with more overdubs. We had recorded a demo with 11 songs. We were not sure what to put on the album or if the stuff was good enough…even though I think we knew we had a couple of good songs. We ended up recording 12 songs for this one. We recorded everything we´d written plus a cover-version of a song that was never released in the first place, and it didn´t turn out very good for us either. As far as I remember everything worked pretty good this time. The recording style we chose was time consuming though and we ran out of time as usual. The first version of the album had some awful keyboards on them. ( Played by Marie Fredriksson´s "Roxette" husband ) None of us were there when they were recorded. We actually got the record company to withdraw the first issue and have the keyboards re-done. The album had 8 tracks on it and the cassette version had 10 tracks. ( "City Lights" and "Screaming For A Riot" were added ). This was due to the fact that in America cassettes were still selling more than vinyl. People used to listen to music in their cars. It always sounded very strange to me, but there was a record company involved. I have some good memories about this album aswell since the band was getting somewhere, faster than we could imagine. The whole scenery in the house where we lived comes to mind. Imagine 5 guys trying to get their clothes clean for example….need I say more !!!! Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| MIND
OVER MUSCLE - Sept 1984 - Jan 1985 By now we had been on the road for quite a while with Peter Olander as the new guitarist. He joined shortly after "Powergames" was recorded. This meant that we didn´t exactly work on new songs. We tried out a few ideas, but most of all when we weren´t on the road we needed to get some rest. We played a lot of shows in 1984 and simply didn´t have the time to write. I know that we recorded a 3 or 4 songs through the soundboard on a soundcheck sometime in June or something in 1984. I think "Powergames", and I mean the song, was one of them. I´m trying to locate the tape and I will let you know. Later on we had a break for 2 weeks from the road. We recorded a demo with 3 or 4 songs, possibly the same songs as before. We then went on the road again for a couple of weeks. When we got back, the tapes had been ruined by some smartass at another studio. So we were frustrated to say the least. The record company wanted another album soon since the first two had sold more than expected. So more studio time was booked and we didn´t have the material. This meant that we had to write and record at once. Another challenge....We usually decided on an arrangement and recorded the drums with some supporting guitar. We then added everything else on top. I think Mike had other commitments from time to time and he came in, memorized the songs and recorded the bass on a couple of tracks at the time. Since we weren´t used to working this way, it took way too much time. After 3 months in the studio you can´t really tell anymore. Your brain is already on vacation... We eventually got about 20 songs together and finished most of them. I don´t think all tracks were properly mixed though. I always think of this as "the pizza album". We went to Angelo´s Pizza everyday I think, and that was what got us through this recording !!! Lots of sleep and nutricious food, NOT !!! I don´t think we were ever really comfortable with the production and the sound on this one, but I still like some songs very much. Especially considering the circumstances under which the album was made Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| YOUNG
AND WILD - 1987 "Young And Wild" is sort of a compilation album with some new material, some re-mixes of old songs and some single b-sides that were put on. The idea was to have an album out as we were about to do military service. As it turned out, the album didn´t come out until we finished our duties. We did record some demos for "Young And Wild" and "High Heels" in CBS´s ( now Sony ) small demo studio. Right before leaving for the AC/DC tour in Feb 1986 we recorded another version of "Young And Wild" as sort of a tryout for a new producer. He was a guy called Paul Inder, an up and coming producer and actually the son of Lemmy in Motörhead. We were trying to change our sound a bit after "Mind Over Muscle". These tapes were never used though. "High Heels" was our new single for the AC/DC tour and there is some footage from a soundcheck on that tour where we rehearse "Young And Wild" on a soundcheck aswell. I think we were going to try it out live, even though it wasn´t out yet. After that tour we wrote some more music, worked on a documentary about the band and we also tried to get the album together. So we were pretty busy. We recorded new versions of "Young And Wild" and "Lorraine" at Polar Studios. These songs were decided to be released as singles from the album, but they weren´t released until late March 1987. With this album we had a pretty big hit with "Lorraine" and as soon as the tour started we noticed a change of audience. They were much bigger crowds and lots more girls !! We also got the opportunity to be seen more on television which makes a world of difference. All in all this album took us another step forward. Even though it was not an entirely new product people seemed to like it. It also served as sort of a best of album which was good for our new fans. My main memory about making this was that we feared that we would be forgotten by the fans as we would disappear into the woods for military service. But when we came back, the singles worked out on radio, the tour was great and we were back on track !!! And stronger than before. Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| EYE
TO EYE - 1988 In the fall of 1987 we met a new producer once again, Richard T. Bear. He was once the keyboardplayer for Crosby Stills & Nash. I´m not sure how he ended up in Sweden but I think he made some work for our record company. He did a re-mix of "Heavy Christmas", the original version and also a long 12" 5 minute version. This was released in a big LP-sleeve late in 1987. We liked his work very much and decided to try him out for the next album. We recorded 2 backing tracks ( "Eye To Eye" and "I´m On Fire" ) with him and his engineer at Stockholm Recording Studios. Me, Jocke and Peter O went to Munich, Germany (Arco Studios) to finish the overdubbing and vocals. After the recordings were finished they wanted to know if they were gonna get the job or not. We said that "we´re not deciding that until you come up with some mixes". They weren´t gonna put in any more work on it if they weren´t getting the job. Even though they were paid for it. Status Quo. We dropped the idea of working any further with them. I don´t think the songs were mixed properly and these recordings are nowhere near the one´s on the real "Eye To Eye" album anyway. We had some demos sent to our American A&R guy Bob Feineigle at Epic. He sort of shopped it around to some producers and to our delight Max Norman was interested. Things were settled quite quickly and another round of demos was recorded. These were intended to be shipped to Max straight away. He seemed to like these songs aswell so we were soon on our way to New York to begin work on "Eye To Eye". We were going to record at Long View Farm outside of Boston at first, where Max used to work a lot. Aerosmith had just recorded "Permanent Vacation" there and the latest Rainbow album "Stranger In Us All" was also recorded there. But something happened and we ended up at Media Sound on Manhattan instead. We already knew Max was gonna be great for us as everything he´d done with others sounded extremely good. We thought we´d found the guy that could finally make us sound important. And we were right I think !!!! He also proved to be truly nice and funny, a good friend, but also a demanding guy in the studio. Perfect !!!! We rehearsed for 10-12 hours a day for 2 weeks to get everything right before we went into the studio. This was tiresome but exciting at the same time. Exciting enough to write 2 new songs during rehearsals that made it to the album. "Dog Eat Dog" and "On The Other Side". We spent quite some time in N.Y and of course it was the most important period and album for the band. Lots of fun things happened of course. One small anecdote: Max got more and more upset with the assisting engineer. He was always eating chinese take-out food when our sessions began around 10.00 am everyday. He told him on an number of occasions to stop eating at the sessions. It didn´t happen. After a few days he was degraded to Coffee-Boy. He was only called upon when we wanted to have coffee and was then told to "get the hell out of the studio". We were truly amused of course. A couple of days passed and he realized his mistake and there were no more eating on the sessions…. Typical Max Norman morning greating: "Good morning Mats, you bilingual son of a bitch" and a big smile…great !! Kind of gets you in the mood for working, we had a great time recording this album. It turned out every bit as good as we´d hoped and more. Initially the album was very well received but we ran into record company and management problems which just got worse and worse. So in hindsight I must say that the album didn´t get the chance it deserved. Especially in America where some important radiostations played it a lot. We even topped some of the playlists, but of course we couldn´t follow up on it. Overall, the experience of recording this album was something else. We had a great, great time and I still think about it from time to time. Always with a smile on my face…… Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| LETHAL
ILLUSION - 1989 - 1992 This album was produced by us guys in the band, with me handling most of the engineering. I´ve always been interested in the recording side of things. Mostly I think because a lot of the times when we recorded I was unhappy with the sounds we were getting. All engineers always tell you that it will sound great later. All of them have been wrong…. !!!!! ( Except for Max Norman ) This could also mean that the band didn´t sound better than what was put on tape, but of course that thought isn´t as pleasant. Hmmmm…… Anyway, pretty soon after we came back from the "Eye To Eye" recordings, new ideas were floating around. I think we recorded the first demos right after finishing the "Monsters Of Rock" tour in Aug/Sept 1988. The new album "Eye To Eye" wasn´t even out yet. It was released in November I think. "Lethal Illusion" was recorded during a long period of time. The usual procedure was to write and make 4-track demos of 5-6 songs at the time. Then we played a few shows and on occasions tried out some new songs. Then it was off to the studio, usually for about a week at the time. I think most of the songs on the album were recorded in 1990-1992. We recorded lots of stuff, so I´m not totally sure. The Japanese record company demanded 2 bonustracks, so we had to dig deeper into the bag of songs. I remember us having lots of fun from time to time. We had a sampler and sampled several different "bodynoises" and stuff like that. These noises used to appear suddenly in some of the songs to everyone´s amusement. Hey, we could do whatever we felt like, WE were producing this one. At the time, we were trying to leave our record company and we had no idea if these songs were ever gonna be released. And they damned near weren´t. I always wanted to get a final ( ??? who knows ) album out for several reasons. I thought some of these songs were too good to be left in a drawer somewhere. We had worked very hard under somewhat strange conditions, with the record company not exactly supporting us. I thought the people that liked our music should be able to hear the last recordings of the band. Another reason was that our very first single "Prisoner Of War" was heavily bootlegged at the time and I actually saw another one the other day, thanks to the webmaster of this website. The idea was to release the first and final recordings of 220 Volt on the same album. "First And Final" was also a title that was considered. But "Lethal Illusion" seemed to be the best one in the end somehow. In retrospect, I think that the album has some strong songs were we showed that we could still evolve and break new ground. I think of "Lethal Illusion", " The Great Esacpe" and "Disappointed" for example. The album does suffer a bit on the production side though and that´s really a time issue. When the album finally was getting a release in 1997, we spent a few days in the studio just touching up bits and pieces. However the record company wouldn´t allow us the small amount of extra time we would have needed for mix. That aside, it´s an album that sort of sums up our career. The first and final (??) recordings of 220 Volt. In that sense I think the album has a value of it´s own. Back to Album Facts Back to discography |
| VOLUME
1 - 2002 The times have definitely changed. When we got together again we came to work in a completely different way than we have done before. Thanks to computers and the internet. Ideas were recorded and sent to the other members via internet. They listened, made their changes or rejected or whatever and sent it back. It's amazing what the others can do with your ideas, when they have the ability to sit down by themselves and work with it from their own point of view….and sometimes it's not. It's really an exciting way of working, you never know what it's gonna sound like when it comes back to you. When we finally agreed of the result, we recorded the song again from scratch with the DinoSauron mobile studio. This time without any "machines". It's kind of strange, the first time we got together all five at the same time (first rehearsal March 02), we had already recorded five songs. One of them, "Don't come my way", made it to the album without any changes or remix. This way of working is not only fun but it has also made it a lot easier for us since we're not living in the same parts of Sweden nowadays. Since
we were about to celebrate the 20th anniversay of the first single,
we wanted to do this record in a similar way. All backgrounds were
made in a rehearsal room in Stockholm. The vocals was taped in a
basement of an old school in Östersund. We kept it simple. |
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