Hasse Fröberg, well known as a singer of Swedish progressive rock legends The Flower Kings and a leader of his own band Hasse Fröberg and Musical Companion (HFMC), which plays progressive with a strong rock “core”, was a guest of our magazine in years of 2010 and 2012. The Flower Kings and HFMC released great albums in 2019 (see our reviews: HFMC «Parallel Life» and The Flower Kings «Waiting For Miracles» ). This summer, a lot of new music was composed and even recorded in both camps.

The new TFK double album “Islands” is already completed and will be released on October 30th, and the very same day HFMC is going to start the recording of their next album, fifth in a row. So it is time to ask Hasse about his recent works with both bands, about fresh HFMC video on a song “All Those Faces”, and, of course, about musician’s life in the days of pandemic. That’s where the conversation started…

Hi Hasse, hope you, your family and friends are well in these tough times. What is the situation in Sweden with pandemic right now? You didn’t have strict quarantine in Sweden as we know, but what about concerts, public events etc?
Hi Elena, all is good here. When it comes to Sweden and the pandemic it looks like the world thinks that it’s been business as usual. However that’s far from the truth. Concerts, theatres, sport events, everything has been closed down, or for instance things like football games without an audience. Right now you’re allowed to play in front of 50 persons, no matter if you’re in a band or if you’re an ice hockey player. Right now it’s looking pretty good over here but I just heard on the radio earlier today, that the numbers are increasing in certain spots in the country again and that is not a good sign of course. However, it’s nothing like southern Europe or Croatia (which I heard them talk about on the same radio news broadcast).

The Flower Kings have already recorded the new album called “Islands”. As Roine Stolt said it will be an unusual album – can you reveal some secrets about it? Will it be avant-guard, retro, progressive, pop, heavy?
I would say all that you just mentioned except for heavy. The album is very multifaceted but very much prog at the same time. It’s like it doesn’t matter if we’re playing a “fusion sounding” instrumental piece or a “Beatles sounding” pop song, it sounds The Flower Kings, it sounds Progressive Rock. To me this album has a lot of heart and soul and some fantastic songs. I’m not sure what Roine is referring to but the album feels special to me too. The way I look at it, is that it must be because of the special circumstances the album was recorded under. I mean we didn’t even see each other and the album was recorded in four different countries because of that we’re so spread out. I’m sure all of this had an impact on all of us and in the end the music.

The Flower Kings have already published two songs from the upcoming album, and here is one of them — «Broken»:

Was the difference in recording essential for you compared to “Waiting for Miracles”, when you all got together in the studio?
Hahaha… guess I more or less just answered the question, but yes it was different. The huge amount of mails between us must be a new “world record”. During the most hectic period of the recording I was very happy I wasn’t in Roines shoes, who had to deal with them all. One of us wanted this and the other wanted that etc… it was a never ending stream of mails but in the end I believe that’s part of why the product came out so good. Because of the pandemic there were no distractions, which meant that all of our creativity and ambitions ended up on the album and I think Roine took care of it in the best possible way.

BACK TO THE ROOTS

The new music of HFMC also has been almost ready, as I know, and you are going to record it in October. How will the recent events be reflected in the new songs? Will there be songs about the virus and self-isolation?
To start with, I guess half of the material was written before the pandemic but even the more recent ones are not about the situation we’re in at the moment. In other words there’re no Covid-19 related songs among the material we’re about to record.

What direction does HFMC move this time musically? Will there be some new 22-minute prog epics or maybe it will be a set of mighty heavy songs?
There’ll be no 22 minute songs on our next album. On the other hand we have 4 songs around the 10 minute mark and 5 shorter songs (4-7 minutes) that most likely will end up on our next record. The balance of the music on our new opus will pretty much follow our earlier releases. One difference is that our more Prog sounding songs are way more Prog this time. As a matter of fact I see this new album as HFMC “going back to their roots”. With that I mean we’re not afraid to show our sources of inspiration. However, we’re not going for a retro sounding album as I still want a somewhat modern sound.

You have already booked a studio at the end of October. Is there a chance the recording process won’t last long like with the previous album “Parallel Life”?
This time we’ll record in a studio called Nevo Studios, which is placed in Sundsvall. We’ll start recording the backing tracks on Friday the 30th of October. Then we will carry on with various overdubs in our different home studios. This time we’re working together with sound engineer/producer Petrus Königsson again, who did “FuturePast” (2010), “HFMC” (2015) and the Live DVD/Album “No Place Like Home” (2017). I must say I’m really looking forward to work with him again. We’ve spoken a lot on the phone and we’re very much on the same wavelength, both when it comes to the music and the actual production of the album.

You are usually a producer/co-producer of HFMC recordings, what is your role in it? Can you see your music from “the other side” as a producer?
Most of the time I have a very clear picture of how I want things to sound and arrangements and so on. It’s just that I’m useless on the technical side of the recording process, that’s why I need a sound engineer. However on this album Petrus will take a more active role but I’ll still be the “conductor” of the music and have the last say on the musical side of things.

When are you planning to release a new album?
I’m not giving you any guarantees (I know better by now hehehe…) but we plan to release it before the summer of 2021.

How the collaboration with a new bassist Sampo Axelsson is going on? Does he put his contribution in the new music as a composer? (Sampo Axelsson is well-known concert and studio musician who worked with Glenn Hughes, Mats Leven, Lion’s Share and many other bands and artists).
Very much so. He has become a vital and prominent part of the sound with his melodic playing. I’m very happy to have him in the band. As a matter of fact we’ve written a song together, that to me feels like a very good song. He has another way of writing than me, which is just great as it gives our sound even more colours to it. I’m sure that Sampo will be a strong force for the band in the future.

Will there be new songs from Ola Strandberg [drums, acoustic guitar, lead and backing vocals] or other band members?
Yep, Ola has written one song entirely by himself and we’ve written one piece of music together. Kjell [Haraldsson; keybords, backing vocals] has written an instrumental piano piece, that will probably serve as an intro to one of the songs (well that makes it 10 songs then). And then of course we have the collaboration between Sampo and me, so yes this is very much a group effort, which I like.

Your music combines complex arrangements and forms with catchy, expressive melodies and riffs. What is more important for you? Do you have a recipe how to write a good song?
To me the melody is always the core, the centre of the music. I mean I come from a hard rock background but even if I write a heavy sounding song like “Friday”, “The Ultimate Thrill” or why not “Something Worth Dying For”, the melody is still in the centre or has the head role. I certainly don’t have a recipe for writing music. I write music I like to hear myself and I never speculate. I’m very honest when I write and I think people can hear and feel that, no matter if they like my/our music or not.

ALL THOSE FACES

HFMC video to “All Those Faces” is really great and funny! You asked fans to send selfies for the video and I’m glad to be a part of it. But were you really so inspired that even sewed a red suit from the “Parallel Life” cover? Or is it just computer graphics?
To tell you the truth I borrowed the suit from HFMC manager Johnny Taxén, who found it in a store somewhere… incredible! There was one problem though, he’s 2 decimeters taller than me so it’s actually way too big but I’d do anything for the sake of art (including making a fool of myself). While we’re at it, I’m glad you like the video. I think it turned out good and funny myself, which was one of the reasons we did it. The other was that we wanted to express our gratitude to the audience, who’s always there supporting us. In fact the reason I wrote the song in the first place, was to honour Prog and Rock fans all over the world for keeping music alive by going to concerts and buying records etc!

Let’s talk about “Parallel Life” more. And let me say firstly that I really love this HFMC album and TFK’s “Waiting for Miracles” a lot. Two peaks in progressive rock category in 2019 for me.
Wow, thank you so much Elena. It always makes me humble when people like what you’re doing. It was very stressful for a while, especially by the end of the HFMC recording but that’s long forgotten now. Now with a little bit of perspective, I can honestly say I like both records very much myself.

You said there was lot of stress during the recording of “Parallel Life”…
It sure was. To me it’s a miracle the album came out as god as it did. I remember that the title track “Parallel Life” was the last song we mixed, which is 22 minutes of music. We started at 7 o clock in the evening the day before the mastering (that was supposed to start at 10 o clock). We worked all night and in fact we were able to postpone the mastering until early afternoon, because we weren’t ready in time. Puuuh… that’s how tight it was. The deadline was of course because of the gigs we had. On top of that, this day was the last chance to master the album before Peter in de Betou at Tailor Maid left for a vacation.

It reminds the situation in 2012, when HFMC’s second album and TFK’s “Banks of Eden” were recording in parallel…
That’s correct. I mean TFK didn’t even exist when we started to record “Powerplay” in early November of 2011. Then all of a sudden I got this phone call from Roine, who asked me if I was ready for another turn and one month later we started to record “Banks of Eden” at Varispeed Studios outside Malmö. When it comes to “Parallel Life” and “Waiting For Miracles” I started tracking vocals for “Waiting For Miracles” at the same time as we were mixing “Parallel Life”, so yes it was hectic period and quite stressful.

You said earlier that on the studio albums you try to reproduce your live sound. But on “Parallel Life” you used lots of sound layers and complex arrangements, so how it gets possible to play it all at the concerts?
Yes we wanted to reproduce as much of the album production as possible when playing live. This means those shows has been a lot more sweaty for Kjell than usual, since he had a lot more to handle this time compared to previous tours. However I think we did good and that goes for all of us. It definitely raises the bar for future gigs.

Concerning a song “Parallel Life” – it’s a 22 minutes epic with several parts into it, seems like HFMC have never released such long songs before. How did you come to the idea of it?
As a matter of fact I had the song written all the way up to part 3 (“You and Life”) but I didn’t know where to go from there. This resulted in a meeting with Ola and Kjelle, where we just let our creative juices flow. It didn’t take long until we more or less had all the pieces together. “You and Life” is written by Ola and the main melody (the theme) is also used in the intro and the outro. Ola also came up with the background music to Antons [Lindsö] guitar solo (“Hand to the Sky”), with a little help from Kjell. He also helped me to get the chords right for the chorus of part 1 (“A Prophet’s Escape”). In other words the title song “Parallel Life” is a true collaboration between the three of us.

And the theme in the beginning of vocal line of “A Prophet’s Escape” – is it yours? It sounds very unusual…
Yes that idea is mine. I really wanted to do something in the Arabic scale because it is as you say not often used in rock and pop. When I came up with the opening phrases and what the song should be about, I immediately felt that this has to be the opener of the album: “Everyone’s a prophet, social media revolution” etc… I mean we have played heavy music before but this is almost Metal!

This song is concerning to social media. And what about you, are you hanging out in the network, reading news and so on?..
I mostly use social media to promote my music but of course I see what’s going on out there and that’s the reason I wrote “Parallel Life” (the lyrics). The thing I don’t understand is how we all of a sudden became so rude? I mean the tone in the language people sometimes use on social media is beyond me, especially when people talk about politics. How did we come to that? I might be wrong but to me it looks like the older you are, the more rude you get. Isn’t that strange? This is what “Parallel Life” is about, not about showing what you had for dinner etc…

Concerning the cover picture, was it totally Ed Unitsky’s idea?
Well this question is actually for Ola. Well we had a fairly good idea what we were looking for. Over time Ed and Ola developed the idea and made it much better I think. One of the last things Ed added to the artwork was the old man and as soon as that was done, I could feel we were on to something really cool. Now that we have the product in our hand, I must say I like the artwork a lot and that includes the cover, the booklet and especially the vinyl version.

For me there’s a very strong feeling of passing time in the songs of “Parallel Life” album. Were you thinking about your personal time in the past?
I hate to disappoint you but no not really. The song “Rain” is about the passing away of my father. “Friday” is just what it sounds like, a tribute to fridays or maybe I should say the weekend. “Never Alone” is a weird way of me trying to describe how happy I am to live where I live and live the life I live.

“Sleeping with the Ghost” – is it about your youth or maybe childhood?
It’s not on a personal level. This is more about people in general looking back to when they were young. It can for instance be a 25 year old young man looking back to when he was a teenager, or a 70 year old lady looking back to when she was in her thirties.

And “All Those Faces”, is it about memories?
It’s about “all those faces” you meet when you’re on tour. This song was the first one I wrote for “Parallel Life” and I just felt I wanted to show some appreciation for the people that come to our concerts and buy our albums. I wanted to write a warm and heartfelt tribute to our audience, no I wanted to write a song for all the Prog and Rock fans all around the world for keeping music alive… that’s what I wanted.

It’s kind of a dance beat…
You think so. Well it’s at least very straight forward. It’s funny, I’ve read both in reviews and among fans that they think the song has a melancholy feel to it. To me it’s a happy and uplifting song so there you go. I mean there’s no right or wrong. It’s up to the person that listens to the song to decide how to perceive it.

Self-evident question about HFMC’s bassist Thomsson. Why did he leave the band after such successful shows in Sweden and Estonia in November 2019?
He loves music but over the years he got fed up with the travelling and all the waiting. In fact so much he didn’t think it was fun anymore. He told me this right before our premiere gig on Prog at Sea (a Prog cruise from Oslo to Fredrikshavn and back). I asked him to keep quiet about it until all the shows were done. Like the true professional he is, he didn’t say a word to the guys in the band and he delivered each and every night until the last show was done.

A KIND OF MAGIC

I want to ask you about the song “Pages” from the album “HFMC” (2015). Did you use there some Swedish folk melody?
Hehehe… no it’s “borrowed” from a song for children. I don’t think anyone of us were aware of it until Kjell all of a sudden started to sing the melody with the lyrics to it: “Här kommer herr gurka, dansar vals och mazurka” (if I’m right)? Let me tell you we all started laughing our …ss off when we realized it.

Can you say that Swedish folk music influenced you much?
No not really. My influences come from the Anglo Saxon music from the late sixties and the seventies. I can name bands like Deep Purple, UFO, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Yes and Genesis to name a few.

Some more questions about The Flower Kings. It’s interesting, how do you divide vocal parts with Roine Stolt in TFK?
It’s very often clear who will sing what but every now and then Roine has this idea of me singing a certain part or a song, that I was sure was written for him. Most of the times it comes natural though. Maybe I should add that we don’t have a secret recipe or something like that.

One of the most beautiful songs on the new TFK album is “Sleep with the Enemy”, where you sing very dramatically in the high range, and Roine sings some sad melody in the low range. This contrast is really strong…
I like it too. I remember when I recorded it in the middle of the final mixes of “Parallel Life”, I was dead tired and as I remember it, out of steam and energy but now that I listen to it, it’s that desperation in my voice that gives it that extra “dimension” or maybe I should say “magic touch” to it. Now in retrospect, I think it turned out really cool myself.

That sounds really great. And why didn’t you play any guitar part on this album?
To be frank, there was no time. Honestly there’re many TFK records where I don’t play any guitar at all. On the other hand I contribute a lot live with my guitar playing.

And you’re also playing some drums on stage.
Yeah I play percussion again and it’s soooo much fun! It’s been a while but now that I’m doing it again, it makes me wonder why it’s been so long.

Did you play the drums in your childhood?
Yes I did but first up was the wooden flute, which was compulsory to play for one year when I was a kid. When that was done you could choose which instrument you wanted to play. I ended up playing both drums and guitar and to be honest I was a better drummer. I chose guitar though because it was easier to write songs on a guitar than drums hehehe…

Due to your Facebook blog each summer you spend some time somewhere in the forest, in the hut even without electricity. Do you need it for inspiration? Do you write new songs there?
The place you’re referring to is the place my relatives (on my mothers side) took their cattle and pigs (well all animals I guess) during the summer. That goes as far back as in the mid 1800 century. Right now I use it as recreation. I love being there and yes, I’ve written some songs there over the years.

What is next? Is it possible for HFMC to play online gigs?
We haven’t discussed that since we’re focused on the recording right now. I hope things are back to some kind of normal by next summer when we have some shows confirmed. I also hope we’re able to hook up with another band for a tour sometime next autumn to support our next album (HFMC that is).

Thank you and good luck with all of your plans!

Elena Savitskaya
Photos: Johnny Taxén (outdoor), Calle Lindh (indoor), Elena Savitskaya, Vladimir Milovidov (live)
Cover art of «Parallel Life»: Ed Unitsky
Thanks to Rockwater Production and Progressive Circus
More news on: HFMC Band, InsideOut Music

Russian version of the interview is published in InRock №91 / 2020