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About Music and Me
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About "Sonic Dreams..."
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About "Hymns..."
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Music has always been my way of expression.
As a boy I listened to my father and my sisters pianoplaying and the melodies and harmonies stuck in my mind and gave me strong feelings and often colours and pictures inside my head. My father ( PappaLeif ) taught me the basics of music theory and playing and my mum also encouraged me all the way through my childhood. |
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My first instrument was the recorder, followed by piano and the violin (!). Those were the instruments my father played and he taught me a lot.
I still use piano and recorder, but violin is a wellkept secret. The only time I use it is when I need to be alone - when I start playing people always leave the room immediately... My first electronic instrument was, when playing with LEGO, I messed around with the voltage of the LEGO motor to get it to play different notes. |
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I got my first guitar at 13 and bought my first synthesizer (a Korg Polysix, expensive!) at 18.
Soon I realised that the meaning of money was to spend it on records and music equipment.
Well, I also spent quite a lot on a nice big Fika now and then...
My influences from early age was a lot of classical music, I grew up with the piano pieces my father played, and I especially liked the swedish 19th - 20th century composers like Hilding Rosenberg and Wilhelm Petersson-Berger. Later on I discovered Grieg, Nielsen, Lars-Erik Larsson, Dag Wiren and more, and til this day I still like that music very much.
Soon I realised that the meaning of money was to spend it on records and music equipment.
Well, I also spent quite a lot on a nice big Fika now and then...
My influences from early age was a lot of classical music, I grew up with the piano pieces my father played, and I especially liked the swedish 19th - 20th century composers like Hilding Rosenberg and Wilhelm Petersson-Berger. Later on I discovered Grieg, Nielsen, Lars-Erik Larsson, Dag Wiren and more, and til this day I still like that music very much.
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As I grew older I started listening to pop music, and early favourites were ABBA and ELO. I was always into harmonies rather than melodies, and songs like
"Secret messages" (ELO) and "Knowing me knowing you" (ABBA) had that feeling that I really liked. Later in my teens I discovered Progressive rock and I became a big fan of Genesis, Yes, Camel and Marillion to name a few. Much of this music had a strong connection with traditional english and nordic folk music, and since I´ve always been a lover of nature and walking in the woods, this element really appealed to me. |
Abba - always great songs. Elo "Out of the blue" fantastic keyboard and vocodersounds. And the best record ever - Genesis "Selling England by the pound".
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To complete the list of influences, I have in the last 15 years become quite interested in contemporary dance and club oriented music. But it´s got to have nice chords and atmosphere! There´s lots of this kind of music in the "Deep House", "Ambient" and "Downtempo" genres.
So what does all this tell you about my music?
Well, to make it simple, according to my influences, it should sound like "Modern Natureromantic
Synthbased Chilloutmusic with Neoclassical and Progressive influences". But, as I said, that is a simplification.
To know what it sounds like, you´ve got to hear it.
So what does all this tell you about my music?
Well, to make it simple, according to my influences, it should sound like "Modern Natureromantic
Synthbased Chilloutmusic with Neoclassical and Progressive influences". But, as I said, that is a simplification.
To know what it sounds like, you´ve got to hear it.
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The process of composing music started early for me,
the first piece of music I wrote was called "Sommarsång" and it was a short (and very strange) piano piece by 7 year old Rune. In my teens I played in different bands, and started writing songs with the first serious band I was in, SOS (Song Of Songs). This band consisted of me and my brother Kjell and friends from our church in Södertälje. We wrote quite a lot of material and played in a lot of places but didn´t really come that far musically, even though it was a great time with lots of laughs. |
Notice the detailed dynamic instructions...
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SOS featuring Rune with incredibly long and curly hair in a greeeen jacket sharing the mike with Eric Carlsson who was better than me at everything except haircurling. Also on the picture is Lars Netz and Mika Nauska. Note the homemade bass-amp in the background!
I used a Roland Jazz chorus amp - why did I ever sell it??
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My next band was made up by my friends from the High
School of Music in Stockholm. We were all christians and named our band after a place in a biblical story "Sykars Brunn". Playing with Sykars Brunn was a real challenge for me. My friends were all much better musicians than me, and the music was groove-oriented pop, something I didn´t have much experience in. So I started thinking about timing and listen to more groovy music and that has had a big impact on what my music sounds like today. |
Brothers in Arms - Staffan, Hasse, Johan and me.
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Playing in a church somewhere. In the 90:s there where still an active christian musicscene. Lots of innocent churches were severely damaged by my disastrous guitar solos.
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Our first proper recording. In the basement of my parents house. Working long nights to achieve a rather unsuperb result... But we had a good time!
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On tour in southern Sweden. This is from our gig in Helsingborg. Most of the audience survived.
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We still play together now and then, but we all have kids
now and things ain´t what they used to be when lots of
weekends were spent in an old blue bus travelling around
sweden playing in a lot of places.
Talking and laughing during the long trips in the bus made
us grow up together, and now 15 years later we are godfathers to each other´s children.
We are all very responsible and mature now...
now and things ain´t what they used to be when lots of
weekends were spent in an old blue bus travelling around
sweden playing in a lot of places.
Talking and laughing during the long trips in the bus made
us grow up together, and now 15 years later we are godfathers to each other´s children.
We are all very responsible and mature now...
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So, starting to earn some money from my music, I also started buying some more equipment and gradually built up my own studio. With Sykars I made lots of pop music but now I also started making music myself, more progressive and mostly instrumental, to satisfy that part of my taste.
Apart from playing our own material in Sykars we also started working for London-based production company "West End International" who hired us as a rockband when they made big arena shows like "Jesus Christ Superstar", "We will rock you - the music of Queen" and "ABBA - a symphonic celebration". This made me really develop as a musician, and gave me the opportunity to play all the big arenas in Scandinavia and also some gigs in London, Spain and other countries. Lots of fun - but also very much "work" as a musician rather than being creative with my own music. 
Playing Queen somewhwere. My fellow guitarist Göran Larsson - a great guitar player and a good friend.
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Happy with my own monitor, my own guitarstand and someone else setting up all my gear... Playing Jesus Christ Superstar at the Globe Arena in Stockholm.
On an airport somewere. I am checking my secret moneypouch...
Same procedure in every country... Tired Staffan and Rune on our way into a Winebar...
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During these years of touring and playing with orchestras I also wrote and recorded some music in my studio, but it was a very slow process, one song in about three months or so, but as time passed I built a collection of songs that I felt I wanted other people to hear. In 1998, the same year that my first kid (Andrea) was born, I finally released my first CD "Sonic Dreams and Sondscapes".
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The CD consists of instrumental music, synth-based, with a focus on atmosphere, sounds and chords rather than melodies. My progressive influences are obvious, with the same themes appearing in different places, and seven pieces knit together in a suite. Listen to the songs here or download the CD here.
After this my life was transformed by the apperance of three small but lovely creatures - Andrea, Olivia and Joakim. Music was not the center of life anymore. I did occasional gigs with my friends in Sykars and some studio jobs producing other people´s music. |
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Then, round 2005 or so, I felt that it was time to change focus. I had 3 small kids whom I wanted to spend time with, and I had a studio that mostly stood dark, lonely and unused. I decided to spend more of what time was left beside my family duties to creating my own music - which is what I really most want to do.
I have spent a lot of time in the church ever since I was a child, and my christian belief is a big part of me, so one day I got the idea to make my own versions of some of the hymns I have learned to love.
I took some equipment and spent a few nights behind the grand piano in our church here in Södertälje, just improvising around some hymns and recording everything.
Then I went into the studio and picked the good bits and started to Runify them (= put on som nice pads, maybe a soft groove, flutes and pipes, maybe some acoustic guitar and pour some nice coffee on top...).
The result is "Hymns for a New World", released in 2010.
I took some equipment and spent a few nights behind the grand piano in our church here in Södertälje, just improvising around some hymns and recording everything.
Then I went into the studio and picked the good bits and started to Runify them (= put on som nice pads, maybe a soft groove, flutes and pipes, maybe some acoustic guitar and pour some nice coffee on top...).
The result is "Hymns for a New World", released in 2010.
And now. 2015, what happens in my musical life? Well, a new CD of my own material is coming, I have got about 10 songs finished which I am quite happy with. Not so soft this time, more pop, like some of the tracks on "Sonic Dreams...".
I have also finished the mastering of the oooooold Sykars tracks, you will soon be able to hear them, here or in other places.
I have also finished the mastering of the oooooold Sykars tracks, you will soon be able to hear them, here or in other places.
So stay tuned and check out my new music. Go to the news section of this site to get the latest updates on what I´m doing, or buy a CD to hear some of my earlier sonic dreams...