Tag: Producer

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Happy New Year!

Playing live at Stardust Video and Coffee in Orlando, FL

Happy New Year!

This has been a great year with lots of stuff happening. I made 4 EP albums with 4 different producers, the wonderful guys in my backing band. And all of you chipped in and funded the releases so that we were able to finish the project. 4 ass-kicking metal bands did 4 ass-kicking cover albums of my EPs and one of them actually released a video too (or rather will release in a few days so I’m cheating by telling you now) Badmouth made a video of their cover of my song “To watch the bridges burn”, check it out here!

Throughout the year I have worked hard to get an artist visa to the US, and thanks again to my wonderful fans who helped out with house concert contracts and letters of recommendation I finally got my visa and packed my things and went to Florida in November. In December my big “Drivin’ & Dreaming tour” took off and I’ve now been all around Florida playing in different venues. One unexpected thing that I experienced is that I had at least a few loyal fans show up for every gig. I didn’t know there’s be so many of you!

Throughout the tour we’ve had the RV break down and fixed, nothing major yet thank God. We’ve been invited to have dinner with Greg and Michelle of The Refinery, Tampa, for southern shrimps and grits at Sian and Otis’ in St Petes and to stay the night in a really cool A frame cottage with Doris in Melrose to mention a few of all the lovely people we’ve encountered along the way.

It’s now time to say good bye to Florida and head up to South Carolina and Georgia for January. Many new experiences are to come, many new shows to be played. We’re heading into new states and a new year. In January my new album “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” will be released and I hope you will continue to support my tour as I go through America in my old RV – Drivin’ and Dreaming.

Happy New 2012

/Sofia

 

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E – Update #6

Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson

I’m so happy to announce that we met our goal in the pledge and thanks to all of you who pledged we will be able to release the last part of L.O.V.E next week. If you haven’t pledged you can still pre-order the physical CD, T-shirts and other goods up till November 1st. After that the EP will only be available as a digital download.

For this update I thought we’d grill the producer a little bit, so I tied him to his amplifier and made him answer all these questions…

Marcus Högquist recording some guitar
Marcus Högquist recording some guitar

Marcus Högquist, you are the producer of “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” and you are also the guitarist in Sofia’s band since many years, how do you think this recording was different than the others you’ve made with Sofia?
More guitars 🙂 The previous recordings I´ve done with Sofia have all been different from each other. For example, the first one we recorded almost completely live with just two microphones. All of us sitting in the same room and playing together. And for that one we used mostly acoustic instruments. For the following records we have been doing more and more overdubs, recorded separetly and used more electronic sounds. This time I’ve tried to capture the essence of Sofia’s songs and let them guide me toward where I was going. Maybe in some cases I’ve put them in a slightly new context, soundwise.

What’s your favorite song on the EP and why?
I like them all. But if I have to pick just one I’d say If  I had a man. I’m really pleased with how it came out.

If you would describe this EP as the love child of two bands/artists, which would that be?
John McEnroe and Mats Wilander 😉

If you would have had an unlimited budget, is there anything you would have done differently?
I think I would have recorded the songs live with the band in a big fancy studio somewhere in the countryside. We would stay there for a few days and be totally focused on making the best record ever. For relaxation between the sessions some of us would play some tennis, Christian would go fishing in the lake just outside the studio and Sofia would probably get a nice massage.

How come you chose “Lower Case Letters” as your re-make song?
Actually the new rhythm feel of that song came out of a mistake during a rehearsal that Sofia and I where doing for a promotion tour a few years ago. So for the following tour we decided to stick with that new rhythm arrangement and we did on our last US tour with the band as well. Then, when I was asked to pick an old song for this recording I just thougt it would be nice to record it that way.

Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson
Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson

What was your biggest challenge as a producer?
Because I recorded a lot of the stuff myself, I’d say being the the producer and the musician at the same time.

Exactly how many guitar tracks can we expect on “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” ? 😉
Billions!!!

What’s your best words of wisdom when producing an album?
Keep an open mind. It might be good to have a plan for how you want the songs to sound. But be open for new ideas during the process and let them inspire you.

Thanks Marcus! We look forward to hearing your awesome creation!

“E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is being released November 1st.

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E – Update #5

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

We’re down to the final week before “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is about to released, which means that this is you last chance to pre-order a CD, T-shirt or any of the other items on the pledge site.

All the items are hand made by me and are exclusive to this EP, meaning they will only be available for pre-order and can’t be purchased after the release. All the CDs have hand made covers and are signed as well. The posters are signed and numbered.

You’ve heard some previews of the songs and I hope you like them. Today I’m posting a little video blog from when we’re mixing the song Lower Case Letters. As you know my producers have each chosen one of my previously released songs to make a re-make of and Marcus chose Lower Case  Letters from the album Jonestown.

As usual you’ll get to hear a preview of the finished song at the end of the video.

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Badmouth to release “T”

T - Part Three of H.A.T.E
T - Part Three of H.A.T.E
T - Part Three of H.A.T.E

I’m so happy to announce that “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E” will be recorded by Swedish hard rockers Badmouth. Badmouth released their latest album Heavy Metal Parking lot to much praise in September 2011. H.A.T.E is the mirror project to my L.O.V.E project, where 4 rock bands make their own versions of the songs from L.O.V.E. “T – Part Three of H.A.T.E” is the rock version of “V – Part Three of L.O.V.E” which you can find here!

Working with producer Chips Keisbye (The Hellacopters), Badmouth have spent the last few years raking up some a great track record. The quintet has been featured in top Swedish Rock magazine, Red Hot Rock, top British rock magazine Classic Rock and had their material covered by Bruce Dickinson on his 6Music Rock Show among others.

The band did a handful of European tours in 2009, opening for Kingdom Come, LA Guns and Pretty Boy Floyd and played shows with Sator, Zodiac Mindwarp and The Poodles among others.

Right now they’re backing up Gilby Clarke from Gun’s & Roses on his Sweden tour and I’m so looking forward to hear their versions of my songs.

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New pledge for “E”

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E
E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

I can’t believe we’re down to the last EP in the L.O.V.E saga. In just over a month “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” will be released and today we’re starting up the pledge for the final EP. Last but not least my guitarist Marcus Högquist is making his debut as a producer. Marcus has played in my band since 2004 and know all there is to know about my music. He’s the most talented guitarist I ever met and I’m sure he’ll be just as talented when it comes to producing.

Another great piece of news is that I have written a duet for the EP. It’s called “7 miles wide“ and Swedish artist Pontus Borg will be singing the song with me on the EP. You might have heard Pontus sing in the Langely commercial which is running on Swedish TV right now. You can have a listen to his awesome song “Free” here!

And if that wasn’t enough you’ll get my demo version of the song for free when you pledge.

We have some great stuff to choose from this time.

  • Hand crafted CDs
  • T-Shirts
  • Posters
  • Signed Lyric Sheets

And if you missed out on any of the previous EPs you can also get a full download of all the previous EP’s in the L.O.V.E saga.

E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is released November 1st!
Pre-order it here!

Thanks so much for helping me out with this project. I couldn’t have done it without you.

 

 

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