Interview: Trettioåriga Kriget
Interview Trettioåriga Kriget: Trettioariga Kriget(Thirty Years War) was formed in 1970 in Stockholm. Stefan Fredin interview April 2004.
 
30 Years of War
Trettioariga Kriget(Thirty Years War) was formed in 1970 in Saltsjobaden, a seaside resort southeast of Stockholm. They were at the time all around seventeen and still in high school.
The schools mainhall was in the beginning used as the rehearsalroom.
This first lineup of the band was a sixpiece with two drummers! From the start the band included Stefan on bass and vocals, Dag on drums and Olle on harmonica.
1971 some members of the original band left and Robert joined on vocals and guitar.
1972 Olle quit playing harmonica to concentrate on the lyrics, leaving the band to concist only of Stefan, Dag and Robert. They decided they needed a good guitarplayer and started to audition some guitarists. Through these auditions they found Christer who joined the band in summer 1972.
The band rehearsed intensively for a year and a half and developed a style of their own quite unlike the main trend in Swedish rock during the Seventies.
Early 1974 they got a recorddeal with CBS (now Sony Music). Also at that time they got a new rehearsal room in Saltsjobaden. An old underground disco which they called "Grunden". There they would remain for a long time....An album was recorded that summer and released in august 1974. The album was named only "Trettioariga Kriget".
The musical talent and originality of the group was duly recognized in the reviews.
They also now started to tour extensively in Sweden and also did several live performances on national Swedish radio.
1976The second album "Krigssang" was recorded in the summer of 1975 though it was not released until early 1976 . It is commonly regarded as Trettioariga Krigets "masterpiece". The second side is totally devoted to the long suite "Krigssang 2".
The band continued touring and gigging in -75 and -76 .

 

     

In October -76 they left for an extensive English tour from Croydon in London to Cardiff in Wales to Sunderland near the Scotish border. They went down very well and the English musicmagazine "Melody Maker" chose them as one of the most promising bands for -77, speaking enthusiastically of their "intense gripping songs" and saying that "the power of the music is tremendous"!!! Back home again however they got the boot from swedish CBS, who apparently hadn´t heard any news from abroad.
Trettioariga Kriget then chose to sign for a small Swedish independet label called Mistlur.
The first album on this new label was called "hej pa er".It was recorded in summer 1978in "Grunden", the rehearsal room, with mobile recording facilties. By this time Mats had joined on keyboards and saxophone too.
Thealbum was very well received and was to that date their best selling album. The album was seeing the band moving to a more simple songformat and is seen as the last album in a trilogy starting with the first album.
The band continued to tour extensively during this time around Scandinavia.
In the summer of 1979 the band recorded "Mot alla odds" also at "Grunden". It is largely regarded the bands least successful album though it has its moments, i.e. the title song.
This was the last album with Robert who left in autumn 1979 leaving the vocals to Stefan.
In 1980 the band played the Roskilde festival in Denmark and continued the extensive touring. And they also recorded the album called "Kriget" at "Grunden"
The story then jumps to 1992 when Stefan, Robert and Dag played an accousitc set at a releaseparty for the CD-release of  "Krigssang". And then in 1996 to coincide with the release of their mostly live album "Warmemories", the band decided to do two reunionconcerts in Stockholm.
The album "Glorious war"  with recordings from 1970-1971 was released 2004 and the album, "Elden av ar", recorded by the band during 2003 was released 2004, an album full of good songs and the bands playing is stronger than ever!!



 
Discography
 
1974 Trettioariga Kriget

Recorded at Europa Film Studio,Stockholm may-july 1974

Stefan Fredin-bass guitar
Dag Lundquist-drums
Robert Zima-vocals,guitar
Christer Akerberg-guitars

TrackList:

01. Kaledoniska Oogenesen[05:20]
02. Roster fran minus till plus[07:54]
03. Fjarilsattityder[05:26]
04. Mina lojen[08:09]
05. Ur djupen[03:46]
06. Handlingens skugga[07:39]

- In general what do you think about the first album?
'I think the material is really strong...but the album suffers a little from bad sound and production. But overall i think its a very strong debutalbum!! '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
' Must be “Mina lojen” ...We still play this song live...and it still feels as fresh as then...Also this song gave us the record deal!!'
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions? 
'I remember to this day the great feeling of being in a real studio for the first time to make an album. Such an incredible feeling of joy!! '

1976 Krigssang
Recorded at Polyvox Studio,Stockholm july-august 1975

Stefan Fredin-bass guitar,vocals
Dag Lundquist-drums,violin,vocals
Robert Zima-vocals
Christer Akerberg-guitars

TrackList:
01. Krigssang (War Song)[04:33]
02. Metamorfoser( Metamorphoses)[04:34]
03. Jag och jag och "jag" (I and I and “I”)[03:20]
04. Murar (Walls)[04:19]
05. Krigssang II (War Song II)[17:32]

- What about your second album , 'Krigssang' ?
'I think this album is our “masterpiece”. Everything worked out as we wanted it on that album...the material is strong..the sound is perfect..the production is great..To this day i am really proud of “Krigssang”!! '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'If i have to pick one song it has to be "Krigssang". It has a special atmosphere about it...both musically and lyrically.'
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions? 
'We recorded it in the summer...and often had lunch out in “Djurgarden”.A big park in Stockholm.'

1978 Hej Pa Er
Recorded at Grunden with Mobile Studio,Saltsjobaden june-july 1978

Stefan Fredin- bassguitar,rhytm guitar, bass pedals
Dag Lundquist- drums, violin
Robert Zima- vocals
Christer Akerberg-electric and acoustic guitars
Mats Lindberg -keyboards,saxophone

TrackList:
01. Hej pa er[04:30]
02. Natten som alltid[04:00]
03. Stan tur o retur[04:00]
04. Moln pa marken[03:20]
05. Dagspress[05:35]
06. En kvall hos x[02.10]
07. Ser du mig[04:38]
08. En dag om natten [03:14]
09. Andra sidan[05:30]

- and what do you think about your, third album 'Hej Pa Er'?
'I think its a good album too...We felt that after “Krigssang” we wanted to make an album with shorter, more direct songs. I think the material on this one is very strong too...but in a diffent way than “Krigssang”. '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'Definately "En kvall hos x" ...since this album was released we have always closed our shows with this song...'
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from the recording sessions? 
'This we recorded in our rehearsal room with a mobile recordingstudio. It was also recorded in the summer. And it was a very hot summer!! I rememner the heat in the bus listening back to what we recorded. Also we worked very much during the nights... '



1979 Mot Alla Odds

Recorded at Grunden,Saltsjobaden with Mobile Studio august-september 1979

Stefan Fredin-bass guitar,vocals
Dag Lunduist-drums,backing vocals
Robert Zima- vocals
Christer Akerberg-guitars
Mats Lindberg -keyboards,saxophone

TrackList:
01. Mot alla odds[03:54]
02. Daliga nerver[02:58]
03. Hur star det till[04:27]
04. Dags att fly[02:35]
05. Alla de dar[02:41]
06. Nar vi anda ar har[02:58]
07. Rapport[04:48]
08. At, drick och var glad[03:30]
09. En rak sak[04:07]
10. Rockgift[03:06]

- 'Mot Alla Odds' released 1979, feelings about it?
'This album i have to admit I don’t like so much...It has a few good songs...But generally the material is not up to standard...We should have waited instead of doing this album...The sound and production is very weak too..This album was also recorded in our rehearsal room with the mobile studio... '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'I think the title song “Mot alla odds ” is a good song..Its very well played too with lots of energy!'
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from the recording sessions?
'I remember that only to try to get drumsound right took 3-4 days...I think many things went wrong doing this album. '



1981 Kriget 
Recorded at Grunden,Saltsjobaden with Mobile Studio September-october 1980

Stefan Fredin-bass guitar,vocals
Dag Lundquist-drums,vocals
Christer Akerberg- guitars
Mats Lindberg- keyboards, saxophone

TrackList:
01. Regn (regn,regn)[03:45]
02. Taget[04:50]
03. Moderna tider[01:40]
04. Europa[06:05]
05. En liten man[03:15]
06. Den ratta vagen[01:35]
07. Blues[03:15]
08. Pa jakt efter rock[03:40]
09. 3 strofer[02:50]
10. Som forut[05:00]  
11. Tack och adjo[02:00]

- what do you think about 'Kriget' released 1981?'
'I think that the material, sound and production is a lot better than “Mot all odds”. The big fault though, is that the material points in too many directions... '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'"Som forut", "Europa" and "Blues" are three good songs from this album i think..All three of them have worked out very well live... '
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from the recording sessions?  
'It was a kind of special atmosphere during these recordings because we knew it was gonna be our last album...at least for a long time..smiles.. '



2004 Glorious War(recordings 1970-71) 
Recorded and mixed by Dag Lundquist at Teaterverkstan, Saltsjobaden, Sweden in the winter of 1970-71.

TrackList:
01. Intro[00:35]
02. Amassilations[08:55]
03. Konserten[18:18]
04. Ontro I[01:11]
05. Ontro II[01:03]
06. Thirty Years War[05:19]
07. From your streets Part 1-3[16:55]
08. Outro[01:03]

- what do you think about this, your first 'unreleased album'?'
'I think it has a very special atmosphere...I mean we were only like 17 years old when we recorded it...but some ideas are really good... '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'I think  "Amassilations" because it pointed out the direction which the band later would take...and "Konserten" has really some impressive pianowork from Dag Kronlund!!'
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from the recording sessions? 
'It was recorded right after Christmas 1970...there were a lot of snow falling i remember..And also i remember the joy of creating something we didn´t think we were capable of...smiles '



2004 Elden Av Ar 
Recorded and mixed by Dag Lundquist at Decibel Studios, Stockholm, Sweden during 2003, except Nightflight -77 recorded at Grunden,Saltsjobaden, Sweden 1977

TrackList:
01. Ljuset[08:55]
02. Nightflight[05:40]
03. Lang historia[07:40]
04. Elden av ar[05:10]
05. Mote[04:36]
06. Molnbudet[02:30]
07. Nightflight - 77[06:50]
08. Gnistor[08:00]

- what about your latest effort 'Elden Av Ar'? 
'I am very,very happy about it...I think its up there with our best albums like “Krigssång” '
- Favourite Song(and why)? 
'I like  "Ljuset", "Nightflight",  "Gnistor",     a lot...'
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from the recording sessions? 
'Mainly this great feeling of being back together in the studio creating music again!!! It all really went very smoothly in the studio...I didn+t feel like we had this long break of twenty years...More like a two year break...smiles..  '

 
Rehearsing 1970
 
Stefan,Dag and Christer recording first album 1974
 
Trettioariga Kriget : 01/05/2004 Nalen ,Stockholm, Sweden
 
Kriget Links 
 

Trettioariga Kriget Official Site