Hasse Froberg (The Flower Kings, Musical Companion): Hard day’s night
It wasn’t the easiest of days for Flower Kings lead singer Hasse Froberg when we met him at the Night Of The Prog progressive festival in Germany, Loreley. Having just played a night gig the day before in Holland, he and his bandmates arrived early at the beautiful Rhine valley, the festival’s venue, to play the difficult (but noble) role of the festival’s openers – at 12 AM!
Nobody in the band looked sleepy during their short and impressive set – it was a typical Hasse mix of epic, melodic and crunchy hard’n’prog which he plays in his solo band, Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion. And it wasn’t the time to relax yet. Right after the concert Hasse went to the festival’s merchandising stalls, where he was selling his own CDs and t-shirts to astonished fans. «Is that you?» – was the most common question. And the next one was, «And where are the rest of The Flower Kings?»
The reunited prog rock legends were to play the next day. But that’s another story. At the end of the first (and longest) day of the festival, Hasse was as strong, smiling and friendly as ever. The most difficult part in arranging an interview with him was probably finding a quiet place to hear each other. Everything else was super-easy.
As journalists, we have already done one big (I mean, really big) interview with him for the InRock magazine (#41/2010), covering a lot of themes about his musical background, early bands, Spellbound and The Flower Kings. Now it’s time to speak about today: Hasse’s own band Musical Companion has recently released the second album «Powerplay», getting rave reviews from almost everywhere. Read it here to know Hasse the singer, the bandleader and the perfect Swedish guy.
You look quite busy now as a musician, you’re traveling with your band, and you’re in The Flower Kings again. How do you feel about this situation? Is it hard for you or is it joyful?
Right now I’m kinda happy about it, because I’m in the middle of it. But before it started I was kind of… worrying, because we were rehearsing with The Flower Kings this week, then the guys in the Musical Companion picked me up and then we went to Holland to do a show, and here I am today and I’m gonna sing with The Flower Kings tomorrow. The thing I was worried about was to get in the right mode for The Flower Kings and get in the right mode for The Musical Companion. I think we have done eight shows since we released «Powerplay» and… you know these songs fairly well by now, so it didn’t take much effort to get into the right vibe, to get into The Musical Companion kind of thing we had going. And hopefully I can change back to the Flower Kings mode tomorrow. I guess so!
What is the difference between those modes?
The way I’m feeling this… to me the whole Musical Companion thing is a little bit looser and maybe not as serious as The Flower Kings. Musical Companion got a more rocking touch maybe than The Flower Kings. I really want to get a drive with both bands, because this is not a situation that I choose from the beginning. When we started to record the Musical Companion album, I didn’t even know that we were gonna start playing together, and it all happened so quickly… But here I am. I think I’m quite happy with this situation as it is, I think I can handle it.
Could you avoid the situation when two albums were being recorded together?
Yeah that was… I guess it was around late February I was actually this close to hit the wall. I couldn’t sleep at night, I had a hard time to focus… and I was not feeling that good actually. And it was the most intensive period for both recording of «Powerplay» and «Banks Of Eden». So when I look back at it now, I am kind of… surprised it turned out that good as it actually is, because I was very stressed, but somehow I managed to make it. And both albums have so far got good reviews and are selling. The Flower Kings’ album is selling better than ever, so I think it’s very good for both bands.
So you were surprised with The Flower Kings reunion?
Yeah! I think it was September last year… Roine had a meeting in Frankfurt with a record label – to sort things out, [to see] if we were gonna do another album, on the work circumstances and so on. I knew about that, and then I heard nothing. By then I’d decided: alright, I had already booked the studio before that and everything… And all of a sudden Roine gave me a call, I think it was in the middle of November, he wanted to meet in a couple of weeks. And we started to record «Powerplay» оn November 3. So we were a couple of weeks into the recording. We had a meeting, everything felt really-really good. So we decided to have another go, and I didn’t think that it would happen so fast, you know. I thought, maybe later in the spring, or in the summer recording… I didn’t expect to start recording in January. It was a shock actually for both Tomas and me, because he was helping me engineering the album.
Why was Roine in such a hurry?
As far as I understand, he wanted everything to be done by the book. To record an album in time for the tour, that means two or three months prior to the tour, and have a couple of months after the mixing for the promo copies go out and to do interviews and so on, to get the best effect. He is very-very organized and committed to the job, and I think that’s why the result is so good — because of the way he did it. He travelled to London, Paris, Frankfurt just for promotion by himself. He meets all the big magazines as well. Of course that helps.
I really must ask you about the future of Musical Companion, what will happen to the band in such a situation, when TFK have so many concerts in autumn in Europe?
Yes, we have got one more gig with The Musical Companion booked right now, I had an offer today. And I had some talk with promoters in England, maybe something next year. But nothing is settled. Absolutely nothing to write about. For now I would say after the last Musical Companion show The Flower Kings will have my full focus for the autumn. And then as far as I know after doing Europe we’ll go to the USA, Canada, South America, Japan and maybe Korea. It’s gonna be a really big long tour. And after that if I can come up with the new songs, there will be a new Musical Companion album and a tour. So we’ll be back. It’s too good to throw away.
As a bandleader, do you have to do all that things – to plan tours, to sell merchandise?..
I do too much by myself. As it is right now, I do have an economy too, I don’t have to pay people to do the things. And I wanna get these things going. To me, I don’t really mind, for instance, today to sell merchandise and so on. It was beautiful weather, I have the best spot in the whole area to watch the bands and listen to the music, so I have nothing to complain about. But I’ve said to myself: next time around, if or when there is a new album and a tour, I’m not gonna book again because it’s not a good situation to be both the leader of the band, the manager, the booking agency and everything… that’s too much. I really have to look around for people who can take care of that.
Anyway I can’t imagine the situation when some Russian rock star sells his merchandise by himself…
The Swedish guys, I think, are quite modest people. We don’t get starstruck that much… to me it’s not a big deal. I saw some people today… (laughs) «Is that you?! I can’t believe it!» For some people it’s strange. But being a Swede it’s not that strange really. There is a word we have in Sweden… I can’t describe it… but we are very much… we don’t have a problem to be… oh, forget about it. It’s hard to describe. It’s a very Swedish word, I can’t translate it!
Please say this word in Swedish, and we’ll find it…
Lagom («Just enough», «well-measured»). L-a-g-o-m. There is actually no such word in other countries. Ok, what can I say about it…. It’s like to be in the middle of the road, in the middle of everything. Most of the Swedes wanna be in the middle of everything, they don’t wanna be the guys that shout, yell, scream and argue. And they don’t wanna be the ones who are quieter. They wanna go the easy way, so to speak.
Ok. Let’s speak about your second album. When a musician does a solo project he often puts all his ideas into the first one, and after that he has to make the follow up in a short time. Didn’t you have that kind of problems?
It’s hard to answer that. I don’t know if I was lucky…. I’ve written some songs for the Flower Kings, I guess three… but when we took the break I had some ideas in my head, and I said: I’m gonna try to write, to make proper songs with these ideas I have… Once a friend of mine came by and heard them, and that’s actually when I realized this is a good material. In fact «Godsong» was supposed to be on «Futurepast» (the first album of Hasse Froberg and The Musical Companion), but I was not happy with the verses I had back then, so I rewrote it and it ended up on «Powerplay». And both «Waves» and «Venus CA» were written in the summer just after the recording of the «Futurepast», but before it was released. So I had quite some time to write the rest. I think I was in a kind of flow. I’m not like Roine who writes every day, if he’s not on tour.
He is like Tchaikovsky, the great Russian composer…
Yeah-yeah-yeah! From 8 in the morning to, I guess, 8 in the evening, he sits in the studio writing… I’m not like that at all. I write on inspiration. If I’m lucky I’ll have another album pretty soon, if I’m not lucky it will take some time. But there will definitely be a new album.
What are the sources of inspiration for your songs?
If you’re talking about the songs I’ve just mentioned, «Waves» and «California», they were written when I was on vacation in California. (Laughs.).
Yes, I’ve seen the photos on Facebook! (Laughs.)
I actually wrote those songs because it was a super nice evening, the family was back at the hotel, the Thomssons were back at the hotel, and I walked down on the Venice beach. It was a lovely sunset, and everything felt unbelievably good. And all of a sudden I had this riff coming up… I didn’t bring a guitar, so I just came back to the hotel and tried to memorize, wrote down the chords. And I wrote the first verse and then I finished it off when I was back home. The same kind of thing was with «Waves». The rest of the songs are about personal things and some of the songs are about the state of world today and so on.
It seems that your approach on the second album is harder and more dynamic, even the tempos are faster… were you going to get some kind of prog metal sound?
I don’t think we sound like prog metal, that we would be like a prog metal band. But I think I’ve been playing in rock bands all enough my whole life. That’s a big part of me. And I think a lot of that comes out on «Powerplay». I don’t know if I really intended in the beginning to make it like that, it’s more or less happened, it was not a plan I had — that «Powerplay» is gonna be a little bit heavier than «Futurepast», it was I guess a coincidence. It just happened.
Could it be because the band had just been playing more and getting more in synch with each other?
Yeah, of course! Before we recorded the first album we didn’t know what to expect in a live situation. Then we did the tour and noticed what the audience liked most… Once again, I didn’t think of it, but maybe I kind of thought of these songs in the live situation more that I did on «Futurepast». The right songs would work well in the live situation.
By the way, «Venice CA» when I first heard it, I thought it was some Spellbound outtake.
Ha-ha-ha!
It sounds like that time, that style, something like glam rock maybe…
Yeah, kind of 80’s.
But it wasn’t intentionally done in the 80’s style?
It was kind of worrying. The same thing as with «Song For July» on the «Futurepast». Is it too light? Will it work with my kind of audience? What will the guys like these think about song like «Song For July»? About «Venice»? During the tour, we played both of them live, in fact last night we skipped «Song for July», and the audience before the encore shouted for it, so we played it for the encore. And it was a prog audience.
It will be an ideal song for this festival situation…
Yea, it would. It would.
Ok. I wanna ask such a thing… All of your songs sound very emotional. Isn’t it difficult for you to strip your soul in music?
The music I prefer myself, the music I like is the music I can feel with my heart. If I’m gonna release music I want it to sound as it is going from the heart. It is like that, it’s gotta be honest. I wanna make music that I feel is honest to me, and I guess in that sense I might strip my soul in it, I don’t know.
And what do you feel when you enter the stage? Only joy, inspiration or maybe sometimes you don’t want to go there but you need to?
I don’t think it has ever happened. Except for once, when I was at school. (Laughs.) I was supposed to play the acoustic guitar in front of 800 kids and parents. I almost threw up. I was so nervous that I could die… Apart from that, that’s what I love. That’s why I do the albums – to be there, to play. And as for today… it’s only joy and passion. I think it’s a pleasure! It’s a great pleasure to hit the stage and play the music.
What is song «My River To Cross» about? What is the river that you crossed? Is it about your personal river?
I think in fact it’s not about me. It’s about the guys or the girls out there who’ve got lots of things to tell, but for some reason don’t have the courage or the self-esteem to go out there and do so. That’s what is really about. The idea comes from a friend of mine who is actually a terrific bass player, but for some reason… he could play in my band, he could play… maybe not in The Flower Kings, but he could play with most of the bands out there, but he doesn’t have the courage to do so. It’s about those kinds of people, really.
But why is he not playing in the band?
Eh… Don’t ask me. I think it’s a pity because he’s terrific. And I don’t think he’s alone, I mean, that’s one of such guys. It could be about anything, it could be about asking a girlfriend for a date, or whatever. Some guys don’t have the will, they don’t dare to do things, but they have a potential to do almost anything! So this is about those guys. If it makes any sense.
So every man or every girl should cross their own river…
Yes, because everyone has something to say, everyone has a talent… There are so many guys out there, and maybe for some reason they are not seen or heard, but they have an obvious talent… And so on.
So I hope this song will push people to do something.
Yeah! That’s what I hope.
By the way, about bassists… Maybe it will be better to ask Thomsson himself, but I’ll ask you. As I know he has not played for many years…
He played occasionally in different cover bands, they play another bands music. He hasn’t been in serious bands since Spellbound.
So with MC he started to play seriously again?
Yeah. We’ve been friends since we were seven years old. We speak to each other at least five times a week; he is the closest friend I have. For me it’s a blast having him boarding the band not only because of his bass playing. He is such a great character to have in the band, because he is funny, he always has a joke and always makes the guys smile. If we’re having a tough day, he makes it easier there…. It’s good.
Give my best regards to Anton Lindsjo (the guitarist of HFMC), whose playing became more mature and more individual…
I think he also has more of his own personality, it shows through. It was less of him on «Futurepast» because I had the specific ideas about certain things. And when we recorded «Powerplay» I knew his skills, I knew what he was capable of. It is total freedom for both him and Kjell when it comes to solos and everything. From now on I will involve them a lot more in the process of recording and arranging the songs.
In the booklet you are marked as the only author of music and arrangements. Does it mean that you write all the solos, all the parts and so on?
Not the solos. The guys have the freedom to do whatever they want. I said, «This is your spot, you have the freedom to express yourself». When it comes to fills and licks between phrases in songs I’m there to see if it fits and so on. Actually Kjell has written the piano and the mellotron part in «Final Hour», but apart from that I guess I have written just about everything.
So you don’t say to the keyboardist or the bassist: you play these notes, and you play those notes…
In fact on «Futurepast» I told them exactly what to play. (Laughs.) But on «Powerplay» they had more freedom. Because with «Futurepast» we didn’t have much time when we recorded. We hired the studio for three days to do backing tracks. We really needed to be effective. Ola and Tomas [Thomsson] hadn’t been in the studio for ages, I really had to help them out. This is the way to do it: just play those notes, and it’ll turn up fine. This time they played with a lot more confidence and hopefully next time around I can involve them more in the whole process. Because the gigs we’ve done together made the band sound tighter and better I think.
You’ve recorded the album live in studio, yes?
Pretty much so.
Why did you choose this way of recording?
I prefer it to do it like that, because something happens when you play, you know. When the five of us are there and when we start to play… I wanna to be like in a live situation, because that’s when we are feeling at home. In the early days with The Flower Kings we recorded [another way]. When I got to the studio sometimes it was only Roine’s guitar and fake drums and the synth bass, and everything we did was sending files to each other and putting on bass and so on. But I prefer to do it like this. I think I was brought up that way. It’s a challenge and it’s a risk at the same time because it would never end up perfect, because we are human beings. And today when you do so much in the studio where you can work… I guess you know what is like to record today, when you sit at home with your computers and so on… I prefer the old kind of way.
But even though you played it live, there is a huge amount of interesting details in the sound, bright ideas, some subtle things and so on… How did you manage to do that?
I think I’m not the one to take [the praise], you should praise Tomas [Bodin] for that, because when he came to the production side he helped me a lot. I like to play live, I like to write songs, I like to record, but when it comes to the bit when you’re actually sitting there and finding the right sound of the bass drum or the snare or everything… I think that’s so boring! (Laughs.) But he likes that, and the same goes with Roine, Jonas, they love those kinds of things. He helped me with that, and he has such a huge arsenal of sounds.
And why did you decide to call Tomas Bodin?
I think actually Tomas called me. (Laughs.) We were already working on the «Climate project» together and he knew that I was gonna record, ‘cos I was looking for studios… And Tomas said: hey, hey! We can do it! He gave me good deal, and I trust him, we played together for so many times, we are good friends. So that was an obvious choice to make.
What project have you mentioned?
It’s called «Crime Of The Century». The thing is… if I’m gonna mention that… It’s not mine or Tomas’. I was asked by a guy in Sweden [Pär Holmgren] who is like a TV celebrity, he was doing the weather on the biggest Swedish channel for 20 years. He is now finished and he writes books and travels around the world speaking about what’s going on with the climates.
For some reason he heard «Futurepast» and he loved the music and he wanted to write a musical on this subject with us on it. At first I said: NO! And he said: you can write the lyrics, I hear your music will suit perfect. At the end of the day I called Tomas and the three of us had a meeting. And we started to work on it, and then all of a sudden The Flower Kings came up, and now it’s put on ice for a while. But as soon as we can we will start to deal with that again.
Ok, it will be interesting if some day it happen. The last question that maybe is a little bit rude — from album to album of TFK and now MC your voice turns to be more and more hoarse. Some kind of roughness in your voice is increasing. Is it something that you do intentionally or does it just happen with time?
I think right now it’s a matter of too little sleep… Of course I’m getting older… I think I still can reach the high notes, but it sounds rougher, that’s for sure. But if you look back, in Spellbound I sounded pretty much like this and even worse (laughs). I really haven’t a good explanation what’s going on, I wish I could, but you are right. I’m more strained today. But now I’ve been singing for… this is my… one-two-three-four-five-six… seventh day in a row. And tonight I slept for two hours so it’s kind of a natural reason.
And now we torture you with questions in the cold air, sorry…
Not a problem! (Laughs.)
So we just want to say please take care of your voice… We need it!
I’ll try to! The thing is… I was so happy because Felix, the new drummer of The Flower Kings, had to go to Germany two days ago, this Thursday, and I said to myself: yeah, I might get a day off to rest my voice, because I knew it was gonna be hell of a show last night, two hours of sleeping and traveling, and I start to sing at twelve in the middle of the day, you know… And Roine decided: ok, no drummer, we gonna do vocal exercises all day. (Laughs.) We will work on harmony vocals all day, and I was: oh, no! (Everybody laughs). I guess from 10.30 to 4.30 – just vocals! But I mean after this I will take good care of myself before the tour starts, that’s for sure.
But I want to say that you sang beautifully – on HFMC albums, on the new Flower Kings’ album. In your solo song, «A Love of Gold», it’s a very beautiful vocal. I like it very much.
Thank you! It was super-nice to see you both and hope to see you both tomorrow! Have a nice stay at Loreley!
Elena Savitskaya, Vladimir Impaler
InRock music magazine (Russia)
Russian version — http://inrock.ru/interviews/hasse_froberg_2012
