An early Act
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Act 1, scene 1 : Once upon a time back in '94 three persons
together in a small room somewhere in Fairyland...
Engaged in a discussion about symphonic rock music, friends and musicians Ola
Andersson (guitar), Tomas Erlandsson (drums) and Jens Appelgren (vocals)
decided to put a band together.
Having worked with Jerry Sahlin before and well aware of his writing skills,
Appelgren suggested they ask if he would like to join the band on keyboards.
Tomas and Ola needed no persuasion once they had heard SOME of his previous
work., and so Fairyland were born.
The band started rehearsing although they were still without a bass player, and
so a friend of theirs, Simon Niklasson, had to be brought in to fill the gap at
their first show. Quickly Fairyland established a sound of their own,
characterised by Sahlin's dynamic writing and Appelgren's lyrics, which proved
a winning concept, entertaining a growing number of dedicated fans.
Although the band did well, Appelgren decided to quit in 1995. He felt the urge
to dedicate more time to writing songs of his own and later formed the band
Morgondag.
Act 1, scene 2 : Another year in Fairyland, when Herman a
singer suddenly appears..
1995 proved an exciting and eventful year in the band's career. Fairylaynd, now
looking for both a bass player and a singer continued rehearsing and writing
songs. They were offered THE CHANCE to record a demo and badly needed to fill
the vacant spots. Luckily, they made Herman Saming's acquaintance and decided
to offer him a trial. There were no regrets as Herman made a big impression on
everyone with his majestic, yet crystal clear voice, soon to be featured on the
scheduled demo recordings.
Act 1, scene 3 : A bass, a bass, my drumkit for a bass
Only a couple of weeks later Ola's talented childhood friend Peter Asp
completed the line-up, having decided to sell his drum kit and pick up the bass
guitar instead.
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Act 2, scene 1: Act of Vision..while driving his car Jerry
suddenly..
..had a revelation and the name A.C.T appeared in his mind. At least that's how
the story goes…The band decided to adopt the name to mark the start of a new
era and celebrate the completion of the line-up.
Act 2, scene 2: To Reach for the Stars
In April the same year A.C.T entered the competition "Musik Direkt" for the
first time and made it to the local finals. The celebration continued of course
when they learned that two of their songs, recorded live during the contest,
were to be included on a compilation cd.Towards the end of the year another
demo was recorded live in the old fire-station in Svedala, close to Malmö.
However, the treasure was not elaborated on any further but ended up in a
drawer somewhere, covered by layers of thick dust…
Act 2, scene 3: License to Sell
A.C.T. gathered to record demo number 3. This time with a view to make a top
notch recording and have it professionally duplicated. 200 cassette copies were
made and they sold quickly to verify the growing interest in the band's music.
Act 2, scene 3: The rock 'n' roll swindle
For the second consecutive year A.C.T entered the "Musik Direkt" contest, and
this time made it all the way to the finals in Stockholm. Firm favourites with
both the audience and press, they did still not manage to win the contest in
the end as the jury thought otherwise. The controversial decision was met by
bold, SCATHING headlines in the papers the following day proclaiming who the
true winners really were!
Later this year the band opened for the Swedish guitar virtuoso, Yngwie
Malmsteen at KB in Malmö.
This is only the beginning of a Story in Progress, to read more you
must proceed to the ACTWorld at : http://www.actworld.nu/actworld.asp
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Discography |
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1999 Today's Report |
The band released their first album 'Today's Report' in October 1999.
TrackList:
01. Abandoned World[04.04]
02. The Wandering [05.37]
03. Waltz With Mother Nature [06.38]
04. Why Bother[04.52]
05. Today's Report[04.44]
06. Welcome [05.50]
07. Cat Eyes[04.26]
08. The Chase[05.14]
09. Personalities - The Long One[12.23]
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- In general what do you think about the album?
'I think it´s a good debut-album with lots of surprises. Some of the
songs survived all the way from 1995 so it´s like a history book of who we were
when we just met.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
' I like “Cateyes” because it was the last song I wrote for
the album and it was a leap forward in the A.C.T style. “The Long one”
came out great. It was a real experiment. I worked on the different parts the
whole summer of 1998 and it was really cool to put the parts together in the
studio.'
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions?
'We recorded the album in the cellar of an old slaughterhouse so it was a
pretty interesting atmosphere hehe.. Everything was so new to us with all these
Gizmos and stuff..We tried all of them..'
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2001 Imaginary
Friends
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A.C.T.s second album, 'Imaginary Friends', was
released 26th of March 2001.
TrackList:
01. Take It Easy [04.27]
02. Hippest Flop[04.49]
03. A Supposed Tour[04.41]
04. Biggest Mistake[07.50]
05. Imaginary Friends[05.51]
06. She/Male[04.47]
07. Relationships[26.16]
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- and what about your second album , 'Imaginary Friends' ?
'There are some really great songs on it but I´m not very happy with the sound
of the album. Too much Guitar and distortion in the mix. We mixed it like that
to please the record company. They wanted the heavy-A.C.T-style for the second
album. Too bad because it was composed as a pop-opera album rather than
HeavyMetal album.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
' "Hippest Flop". because it was so poppy, "Imaginary friends"
another leap forward in the style.'
- Any anecdotes /special memories from the recording sessions?
'It was the last album with our former drummer Thomas Erlandsson and we could
feel it in the air that this would probably be his last. This time we recorded
the album on “the ground”, first floor in the slaughter house, hehe.. Not so
scary atmosphere this time hehe'
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2003 Last Epic |
'Last Epic'was released in
February 2003
TrackList:
01. Intro (Instr.) [00.48]
02. Wailings From A Building [04.21]
03. Mr. Landlord [04.41]
04. Torn By A Phrase [05.36]
05. Ted's Ballad [03.46]
06. Dance Of Mr. Gumble (Instr.) [02.10]
07. Wake Up [04.28]
08. Manipulator [06.13]
09. A Loaded Situation (Instr.) [03.20]
10. The Observer [03.07]
11. The Cause [03.27]
12. The Effect [04.39]
13. Summary [05.04]
14. Outro [01.15]
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- and what do you think about your, uptodate, latest album 'Last Epic'?
'This is a great album, My favourite so far I think. We have sharpened the song
structures on this one and moved a lot forward in the arrangements.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'I think I like all of them actually.'
- Any anecdotes/special memories from the shows?
'We worked individually this time. I was by myself in one part of the studio,
working at the computer and Ola and Peter in the other part working with their
things. Me and Herman had more time with the vocals this time because of this'
- Any new 'ongoing' recordings with A.C.T.?
'Sure.. we´ll be heading in to the studio as soon as we have rehearsed
the new stuff.'
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A.C.T. Live
2003 'The Progress Club' at Mondo, Sweden |
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A.C.T. Links
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A.C.T. Official
Site
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Jerry
Sahlin interview March 2004
by Claes Hassel
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General
Questions:
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How did you get into the
music business?
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'Well..I´ve always been working with music, ever since I was a kid.
Always playing and composing music.
The first time I got involved with the industri was when we got the first deal
with MTM on the first album.'
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Who has been your main
influences?
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'ELO and Jeff
Lynne has always been my main influence I think but My big brother
also, He is nine years older than me and has always been composing as well . I
have always loved his stuff, ever since I was really young.' |
List five albums of the
bands/artists that you like the most and why!
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'1.Out of the Blue(ELO)
will always be my number one album. It got it all, Incredible melodies,arrang
ements,sound and only great songs.
2.Silent Knight(SAGA), because of the originality of
the sounds and the songstructures.
3.Sheet Music(10cc)..Lovely album with really smart
arrangements , humour and four great singers
4.The Day the Earth Caught Fire(Cityboy).. All of the
above + three great singers
5.Moonraker(Big Money).. A Swedish duo who did only
two but lovely albums' |
What time was/is the most
interesting for the rock music, in your opinion and why - 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or
00s?
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'As you can see from the previous
question I prefer the music from the 70´s and early 80´s but I still think that
the music of today is probably the most INTERESTING but it has become rare with
100% great albums, only a few great songs here and there. '
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Your
dream band(living or dead ;), who would they be, vocal/bass/drums/keyboard/lead
guitar/rythm guitar/producer?
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'Hmmm..let´s see ..haha..
Vocals: Jeff Lynne,Bobby Kimball,Tommy Funderburk and Roy
Ward
Bass: Paul Mccartney
Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Keyboard: Rich Tandy and Manfredd Mann
Lead and Rythm Guitar: Mike Slamer
Producer: Michael B Tretow'
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What kind of equipment/gear
are you using on the road and in the studio?
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'Roland xp-30, Korg Ms-2000 and Alesis
QS6 but I use some other Gizmos aswell in the studio'
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The
songs that you have composed which of them are your favourites?
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'It´s always the one´s I´m working on
at the moment.'
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What
are you doing in your spare time outside of music?
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'I just relaxes
and watch movies and spend time with my near and dear ones.'
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If you
dont have been in the music business what have you been doing then?
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'Working with something similar I
think..maybe working as a Painter or been involved with the movie business.'
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What are you currently up
to?
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'I´m working on
the new songs for the upcoming album'
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Artist/album
related questions:
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The Beginning
Your first band, name and when did it begun??
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'My first band was called "Catpeople"
with me as a composer and guitarist, I was 10 years old.
Second band “Images”, playing Saga/Asia-covers
and some own compositions
Third band “Push”, with my Brother as the composer, playing
Cityboy-style of music. I was still playing in “Push”
when we started Fairyland and A.C.T' |
Fairlyland |
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- When and how did you joined the band?
We joined forces in 1994. It was a guy called Jens Appelgren(former
drummer in “Images”) who phoned me up and asked me if I was
interested in forming a Prog-band.
He had met these guys (Ola and Thomas) at his
school and he said that they were really good musicians so I said –why not?
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A.C.T.:
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The
Beginning of A.C.T. |
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- Why did the band change the name from Fairlyland to A.C.T.?
'Mainly because Jens Appelgren came up with the name
“Fairyland” and when we fired Jens in 1995
,we thought it was fair to change the concept and the name and start fresh with
a new name of a new band.'
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The Concerts with
A.C.T.:
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- First Concert, where/when?
'We participated in the biggest music-contest in Sweden and played our first
concert in Malmö/Sweden with Herman as the lead singer in that
contest.'
- Best concert, where/when/why?
'Oh..it´s hard to just pick one..there has been so many great gigs..'
- Which songs do/did you like performing live most and why?
'I have always liked to play the new songs just to see the response from the
crowd, hearing them for the very first time.'
- Any anecdotes/speciell memories from your Concerts? 'There is
many..but I remember when we were touring with Saga last year
in Germany(don´t remember the name of the city).
Herman fell of stage!! Flat down on his stomach in front of
5000 people..
It was hysterical to see Herman just disappearing in front of me, haha'
Thank you, Cheers and TACK ;)
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Many Thanks to Jerry Sahlinfor
spending time on this interview AND sharing it with us!
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