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Historical Anecdotes and Tales
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It all
started back in the spring 1990 when Nicklas Berg, Jan
Erik Liljeström and Peter Nordins started to
rehearse King Crimson-songs under the moniker King Edward.
A year later Anna Sofi Dahlberg joined and the band's
name was changed to Anekdoten.
In december 1991 the band recorded their first demo, including
the songs Karelia, The Old Man & The Sea, Thoughts In
Absence, Darkness Descends and Sad Rain.
In december the following year(1992) a second demo was done, including
the songs: Where Solitude Remains, The Flow, Longing
and Wheel.
The band recorded their first album "Vemod" in March-April 1993 and
the album was released in September that same year.
In 1994 the band was touring in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland,
Italy, USA and Canada and in early 1995 the band contributed a liveversion of
the King Crimson song Cirkus on a compilation CD ('This Is An
Orange'), which included songs by Scandinavian prog-acts.
Their second album, 'Nucleus', was recorded during July - November 95'
and released in december the same year.
96', touring in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the
band had a liveversion of 'Book Of Hours' on the "3rd Cyclops Sampler" CD.
Live versions of Nucleus, The Flow and Karelia
and the previous unreleased A Way Of Life was released in September
1997 in Japan as a mini-CD.
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In October 1997 they played three shows in Japan which was recorded and
released(2-CD) in February 1998 by the Japanese label Arcangelo
as 'Official Bootleg - Live in Japan'.
They also perfomed a tour in Canada and USA in July 1998.
In October 1998 Nicklas Berg and Peter Nordins
teams up with Stefan Dimle and Reine Fiske from
Landberk and releases an album mainly consisting of soundtrack themes from
horror-movies. They called themselves Morte Macabre and the
title of the CD is 'Symphonic Holocaust', released as a double-LP in April
1999.
In August - September 1999 the band was back in the studio to record
their third studio album "From Within", released in October and followed by
gigs in Italy, Germany, France and Belgium.
The first Anekdoten South American-tour was in December 1999 with gigs in
Argentina and Brazil.
Anekdoten appeared at the NEARfest in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania USA in june 2000 and during the first half of 2003 they recorded
'Gravity', Anekdoten's fourth studio album, at Studio Atlantis, Toytown
and Sisu Sound.
In late summer 2003 the band shot a video for 'The War Is Over' in the
archipelago of Stockholm with Tord Lindman as the producer.
You can view/download the video at Anekdoten's
homepage.
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| Discography |
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| 1993 Vemod
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The band recorded their first album 'Vemod' in March-April 1993 and it
was released in September that same year.
TrackList:
01. Karelia [07:20]
02. The Old Man and The Sea [07:50]
03. Where Solitude Remains [07:20]
04. Thoughts in Absence [04:10]
05. The Flow [06:58]
06. Longing [04:50]
07. Wheel [07:50]
08. Sad Rain [10:14]
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- Nicklas,
what do you think about your debut album, 'Vemod' ?
'I don´t listen to it often. I think the production is strange and our
playing isn´t that good. I really like some of the songs though.
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'The Old Man and the Sea. I think the verse and vocal lines are
beautiful.'
- Any anecdotes ;=) /special memories from the recording sessions?
'We recorded and mixed the song in ten days, so it was very hectic. Quite
traumatic actually.'
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| 1995 Nucleus
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Their second album, 'Nucleus', was recorded during
July - November 95' and released in december the same year.
TrackList:
01. Nucleus [05:08]
02. Harvest [06:50]
03. Book of Hours [09:58]
04. Raft [00:58]
05. Rubankh [03:07]
06. Here [07:23]
07. This Far from the Sky [08:47]
08. In Freedom [06:27]
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- and what about your second album, 'Nucleus' ?
'The playing is better but I think it is a little bit over the top today. The
ruffest album so far.
It has some great atmospheres on it.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'Nucleus. Like Black Sabbath jamming with Univers
Zero'
- Any anecdotes/special memories from the recording sessions?
'We added distortion to everything.'
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1998 Official
Bootleg - Live In Japan
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'Official Bootleg - Live in Japan' was recorded in
October 1997 when Anekdoten played three shows in Japan.
It was released as a 2-CD in February 1998 by the Japanese label Arcangelo.
TrackList:
01. Karelia [08:04]
02. The Old Man and The Sea [08:02]
03. Harvest [05:42]
04. Slow Fire [07:51]
05. Thoughts in Absence [03:38]
06. Road to Nowhere [04:56]
07. Book of Hours [10:04]
08. The Flow [09:14]
09. Groundbound [07:30]
10. Where Solitude Remains [07:58]
11. Wheel [08:58]
12. Tabatah [09:39]
13. Nucleus [06:10]
14. Rubankh - Parts 1 & 2 [12:48]
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- Feelings
about your live album 'Official Bootleg - Live In Japan'?
'It´s ok. Anyway it´s a real live album. No overdubs.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'Tabatah. We decided not to record a studio version of this one
because we could never redo such a energetic version.'
- Any anecdotes/special memories from the shows?
'Recorded during two wonderful nights in Tokyo. Great sound and I even had
a personal guitar roadie. On top of that the stage was airconditioned so you
didn't sweat.'
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| 1999 From
Within |
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In August - September 1999 the band was back in the
studio to record their third studio album "From Within", released in October
99.
TrackList:
01. From Within [07:25]
02. Kiss of Life [04:40]
03. Groundbound [05:24]
04. Hole [11:08]
05. Slow Fire [07:26]
06. Firefly [04:49]
07. The Sun Absolute [06:39]
08. For Someone [03:30]
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- and what about your third studio album , 'From Within' ?
'Great songs and a very warm sounding album.
I wish we had put more energy on the arrangements though.'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'Groundbound. I like the dark melodylines.
Great vocals by Jan Erik, great drums by Peter
& great keys by A-S.'
...and great guitar by Niclas, Hazelnutz comment.
- Any anecdotes/special memories from the shows?
'We used the same piano as ABBA used on for example Dancing
Queen.'
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| 2003 Gravity
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During the first half of 2003 they recorded 'Gravity', Anekdoten's fourth
studio album, released.
in June 2003. Mixed by Simon Nordberg and Janne Hansson.
TrackList:
01. Monolith [06:07]
02. Ricochet [05:44]
03. The War Is Over [04:42]
04. What Should But Did Not Die [06:43]
05. SW4 [06:04]
06. Gravity [08:19]
07. The Games We Play [03:24]
08. Seljak [05:16]
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- and what do you think about your latest album, 'Gravity' ?
'Our best album so far. The production is rich and some of the the songs are by
far our best so far'
- Favourite Song(and why)?
'Gravity. As close as I can come in doing the music I want to.
- Any anecdotes/special memories from the shows?
'It was great to hear Simon Nordberg bringing the songs to
another dimension in the mix.'
I agree, the best album by Anekdoten, buy It!! ..comment
by Hazelnutz
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| Anekdoten
Live : 27/04/2004 Mondo ,Stockholm, Sweden
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| Anekdoten
Links
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| Anekdoten
Official Site
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Nicklas
Barker interview January 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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'I've been playing music since I was
thirteen. I wanted to learn to play guitar at school but the guitar teacher
told me that my hands were to small and that I didn't have a chance to be a
guitarist.
He suggested trumpet.
I was crushed by this and put my music ambitions on the shelf for a year or so.
Then I borrowed my fathers guitar and started my first band.'
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| Who has been your main
influences?
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' Early influences were punk &
NWOBHM.
Later I was turned into Beatles, Black Sabbath,
Pink Floyd ...
The bands who influenced the music I play now is Robert Wyatt,
Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Can &
Kraftwerk.'
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| List five(or more) albums
of the bands/artists that you like the most and why!
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' Can - Tago
Mago ( Beatiful static ecstasy)
Pink Floyd - Pipers at the gates of dawn ( The
ultimate pop/psych album)
Black Sabbath - Masters of reality ( As heavy as it
can be. Great songs)
John Coltrane - Sun Ship ( Total spaced out freeblow
ecstasy)
Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian (Wonderful hypnotic
psych. Perfect morning music)
Peter Brötzmann - Nipples ( The ultimate free jazz
album. Total frenezy)
Robert Wyatt - Shleep ( He´s the king of beautiful
naiv melodies. My hero!!)'
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| 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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' I think all these periods have great
bands, but for rock music I would say the 60's because it was then rock music
and experimental music found eachother.'
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dream band(living or dead ;), who would they be, vocal/bass/drums/keyboard/lead
guitar/rythm guitar/producer?
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'Robert Wyatt :
Vocals
Hugh Hopper : Bass
Rashied Ali : Drums
Richard Sinclair : Keyboards
Robert Fripp : Lead guitar
David Gilmore : Rythm guitar
Brian Eno : Producer'
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| What kind of equipment/gear
are you using on the road and in the studio?
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'Guitars : Gibson SG,
'61-reissue, Gibson Les Paul Standard
Amp : Hi-Watt modified by Marcus Resch, Fender Twin Reverb
Cabinet : Marshall JCM 900, Lead-1960
Effects : Fuzzface, Line 6 DL4 Delay modeler,Electro Harmonix
Soul Preacher, Octavia, Wah, Univibe and volume pedal custom made by Marcus
Resch
Strings : Ernie Ball, Regular Slinky, 0.11, 0.13, 0.17, 0.26,
0.36, 0.46
Picks: Clayton, 1,26 mm
Mellotron M 400 Rhodes'
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| You have composed many
songs, which of them are your favourites?
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'The War is Over,
Richochet,
Nucleus,
Groundbound,
Gravity,
The Sun Absolute,
The Od Man & the Sea'
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| What
are you doing in your spare time outside of music?
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'Spending time with my wife and
daughter..'
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| If you
dont have been in the music business what have you been doing then?
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'Writer or painter maybe...:-)'
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| What are you currently up
to?
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'Writing new
songs and rehearsing for the upcoming tours in spring.'
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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 Excem
and we were a pretty energetic punk quartet with really bad lyrics.
We started in 1983 and existed for three weeks'
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| Sort
of music? ...Influences?
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'Punkrock! We influnced by Ebba
Grön, Dag Vag & Dead Kennedys.'
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| Anekdoten:
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| The Beginning of Anekdoten,
how did you get together??
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'Me, Jan Erik &
Peter started off as a King Crimson cover band.
Anna Sofi saw the first and only concert we did and approached us
afterwards and asked if she could join.
We accepted her offer and changed our name to Anekdoten and
started to write our own material'
What´s the story behind 'The Songwriters' Guild' ?
'There was this guy Fred Thomset who runned a Peter
Hammill/ Van Der Graaf Generator fanzine in England who wanted to
release a cassett with bands influenced by VDGG.
We sent him our first demo and he liked it so we contributed with the demo
version off Karelia. '
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| The Concerts with
Anekdoten:
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- First Concert, where/when?
'Apromus in Solna 1992'
- Which songs do/did you like performing live most and why?
'Hole and Gravity. Both becomes tremendously heavy live.'
- Any anecdotes ;) /speciell memories from your Concerts?
'On our first european tour we played a gig in Bern in Switzerland at a very
strange place by the Central Station.
There were alot of heroinists and dogs outside the venue.
Only three people were in the audience namely the booker, his friend, & our
merchman. The gig was great fun and we played for 2 1/2 hours.
During the set a bum came up totally unaware of the, music collecting our empty
bottles.'
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| Many Thanks to Nicklas
Barker for spending time on this interview AND
sharing it with us!
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