We Dance

This is Niklas performing his own song, to which I made the lyrics. The instruments were recorded earlier, one solo guitar (the mad Joe Perry-like thing in the last part of the song), lead vocals and harmonies were recorded during the same night we did Folsom Prison Blues. Everything is again more or less one take. Niklas sung the lyrics and made the melody almost simultaneously when he was first reading the lyrics from a piece of paper. Awesome!

The lyrics are not very personal, it's more like ”words that have rocknroll in them” . I first got the track without any text, just a name which was ”YouRock” at that time. I built a story around that statement, with a simple idea that the singer is singing this to a girl, telling that he dont care about any other girls, because you are all I need. Hey, rock lyrics dont have to be original, they just need to sound good and deliver the eternal message of love, sex and lust.

In the first verse, we have the California Girls (thanks Beach Boys) Texas Women (My apologies to ZZ Top) Sleepless in Seattle (a movie reference there) and East side Ho's (I watched ”Borat the Movie” a few weeks ago again).

After I had received the demo track, Niklas had added an idea of a line ”We Dance” to the chorus. So we combined the original name and the new chorus to be ”We dance -and baby you rock”. Sounds good.

In the second verse the original story is already lost. The first verse did the job it was meant to. Now It's time for the singer to tell the girl how he really wants this evening to end. It starts with a reference to a joke I heard a day before from Juuso; he called sideburns with a nickname ”reisiharjat” (thighbrushes) which I found amusing. ”Flaming” Sideburns is of course a reference to a Finnish band with the same name. ”Burn, burn baby burn” is a direct rip-off from ”Disco Inferno” ( a great song by the way) and the rest is a combination of traditional rock n roll cliches in the spirits of the Beatles, Slade and AC/DC.

When recording the vocals we realized that the bridge after the second verse needed some words. We took the best sounding lines from the verses and placed them over the bridge: California girls and East side Ho's get a chance to burn one more time.

It took about five minutes to write the lyrics, and 15 to write this ”autopsy”. And it takes 3 minutes to listen to it :). That's rock n roll!

Folsom Prison Blues

My all time favourite. The opener of the live set. The best Johnny Cash song ever. A real bad ass song.

This time, I did not only have a producer, but the whole thing was done in a real studio in Kulloo, Finland with Niklas, who also plays some additional guitars and the second solo on the track. This track also features my brand new 1995 Fender Telecaster, which I bought the same day this song was recorded.

It always starts with a beat. For a second we thought about doing it with real drums, but decided to use computer instead. I laid a demo track over the beat and then played an acoustic rhythm guitar (with my own Peavey), bass, (a semi-acoustic Framus from the 60's, Niklas has a wall filled with vintage guitars and basses in his studio. It's like being in a candy store) and an electric guitar (intro and rhythm through the song, played with my Telecaster through a really nice looking and great sounding Mansner amp, built by Niklas's brother.). Lead vocals took two takes, plus the first verse was re-done once.

Then the finishing touch; Niklas played in the banjo-like sologuitar, including the 2nd guitar solo. I played the first solo, and sung the harmonies. Singing the harmonies was funny, Niklas had the autotune machine on without telling me, and I was just wondering in my mind how easy it was to hit the notes :). There you go. I'ts all a big lie :)

15 minutes of editing, and the track was done! Again, I just can't tell how much I appreciated this session. To work with someone who knows his way around in the studio, is a gifted musician with great ears and has great spirits gives you an enormous boost when recording the songs you love. Thank you again, Niklas!

Shake, Rattle And Roll

It all happened one glorious night in Tuusula, Finland;

Shake Rattle & Roll is one of the Elvis songs that I admire the most. I actually discovered this song just about a year or two ago. I only had the (lame) Bill Haley version in mind, but it was when I first heard the Elvis version when I realized how mean a song can be. This is BAD!

It has been a regular guest in the street music sessions since last summer. In the beginning I was playing it way too slow (sorry Robban, you was right about the tempo), but this recorded version has the right, almost insane uptempo that this song requires.

My version of Shake Rattle and Roll was recorded by the lake Tuusula, in a sauna with an acoustic guitar, one microphone and a Mac. The whole recording session was produced by Tumppi who made the magic happen. This is also the very first time when I have had the priviledge of having a real producer to assist me through a song. It was a great experience to have someone to push the buttons and keep the session going with a great, positive, finlandssvensk attitude. Not to mention the post production. This sounds almost like a real record!

It took about two hours to complete the track. Almost everything that is on the track is recorded from the first take. First, There was a beat, created by Tumppi. No real instruments, it all came from... the computer? Anyway, the humming of a slap bass, and the booming drums sound warm, real and good.

Then, I played a demo with acoustic guitar and vocals. Followed by an acoustic guitar that is heard in the background. This was not played through the whole song, but just one verse which was then copied over the track. Then the vocals. I think I had two takes on it. It took some time to get the beginning right, but finally we made it. I recall it was actually recorded separately over the rhythm track because I just could not get it in time. Lack of professionalism I guess :).

Another guitar was recorded, the one that can be heard clearly on the track. That was one take. Tumppi edited the sound later by running it through a virtual amplifier. We did backup vocals to the first verse, from where they were copied all over the track. We did some handclaps, which Tumppi then copied under the guitar solo. Guitar solo was the last thing we played in. Tumppi's Mac was running out of battery, so we only had time for one take. At first I hated this as i t sounded so corny, but after listening to this track, I find it quite amusing, very Elvis-like.

That was the session. All guitars are played with an improvised pickup made from a piece of a credit card. The whole thing was edited by Tumppi the folloving morning. He also added the snare to the track. The cover picture is taken from the window of the sauna, in the middle of night with some magical midnight sun over the lake Tuusula. Creds for photoediting goes to Elina!

Tumppi gave me an edit of the track whithout vocals and solo guitar, IF I ever feel like redoing them... I dunno. Maybe?

note to self

This is what I want to do when I grow up:

Two Days Of Thunder

two cool days of playing rocknroll, back in the old hoods. No pic's this time but it looked about exactly the same as in the older pictures, except that I was wearing a leather jacket in a true rocknroll rebel fashion because it was still a bit cold for outdoors performance.

I dont seem to get bored to play the same old 50 -year old rock songs. As soon as Jan kicks in the intro for Folsom Prison Blues the vibe is there. And even though Jan is constantly complaining that he would rather be playing Highway Star or Jimi Hendrix, I know that deep inside he also loves to play this stuff. At least there is no competition about the solo spots, I stick to the rhythm, Jan may do all the twanging and bending there is to do, which is not little.

We went through the usual about 20 songs (see the set list in earlier post) plus a short run of Lodi (I couldnt remember the words), Bad Moon Rising (now from A) and I Will Stay, which is also my bravure in Karaoke bar Anna K in Helsinki. And a lot of messing around with blues from E, or A. We also played a new instrumental, Hideaway (Bluesbreakers with EC) which made it's way to the set. I love the instrumentals in between then songs, gives me time to catch some breath. The audience seems to like them as well, Jan's dobro has a unique sound and it looks cool, people stop by to stare it and sometimes thay even approach and ask what it is.

Moneywise, I didnt care to count it this time, but we got our usual coffee and muffins in the corner bar (again, see pic from last summer). The audience was as international as ever. Lots of Finns and other foreigners.

Competition was different than before, There was a group of four girls singing Accapella in the next corner, and a dude with Ozzie flag on his guitar, playing ballads. None of the usual guys were there, maybe it's still too early for them?.

Next performance could be round the 1st of May, but you'll never know.

Spring is here -time to hit the streets of Gamla Stan!

There's a rumour going on that we are going to open the season tomorrow, and play live in Gamla Stan. + 13 celsius and some sunshine says the forecast, it's sounds doable.

Here's an idea for songs to play. I need to go through these and re-learn the lyrics and structures as I have'nt really been playing that much lately.

Pipeline (instr) E

Folsom Prison Blues (F)
Memphis Tennessee (E)
All Shook Up (Bb)

I Walk The Line (G)
Green River (H)
That's All Right (Mama) (E)
Shake, Rattle & Roll

Rude Mood (instr) E

Mystery Train (H)
Honky Tonk Women (G)
Cotton Fields (E)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky (C)

One After 909 (E)
Sweet Little Sixteen (C/D)
Travellin Band (A)

I Saw Her Standing There (A)
Tutti Frutti / Keep on Knockin' (A)


Let's see what happens!

The Wedding Singer & co

After a few different approaches we finally ended up playing as an acoustic duo at Mari's & Johan's wedding. Jan played his Statocaster with my Fender Princeton amp, I played my ever so famous Peavey acoustic guitar and sung without amplification. Quite good, but some watts, would have made it a bit easier to get the message through... maybe next time.

We started by playing Skeppsholmen Waltz, a song composed by Jan & me for the occasion as the wedding waltz. The Happy couple manage to dance it all the way through ,and as they looked so fine, we gave them an extra verse and chorus, extending song's length to at least 3:30.

As instructed, we held on to "songs that old people can dance", and played Love Me Tender (With guest vocals from Kåre Tham) and I Will Stay, by the late great Hurriganes. (You may, If you feel like it, check my solo version of this great tearjerker. Then we went on for another five or so songs including Memphis Tennesee, That's Alright, Mama, Folsom Prison Blues, Honky Tonk Women (with help on backup vocals from a guest) and other classics from our repertoire.

Here is Skeppsholmen Waltz, congratulations for "världens bästa brudpar!" May the force be with you.

It is time for the first quizz in my blog: "From which famous song (songs) we took "influences " when we created this masterpiece? Please enter your answer to the comment box before the 31.12.2099.