220V - Fine, Fine Swedish Brew Page 2
by Martin Popoff

The Volume 1 album requires some explanation. "We had a 20th anniversary coming up, so we thought we'd do something about it," offers Mats. "We reunited the early line-up from 1981-1983 and re-recorded the songs from our first limited edition single (ed. which was released in Nov 1982; Volume 1 was released in Nov 2002). We also wrote a few new songs and added some soundboard recordings from Sweden Rock Festival 2002. It summed up to a full album, which we released in a 1000 copies limited edition for the diehard fans. All studio tracks were recorded in a rehearsal room for fun. I like the new songs a lot; 'Don't Come My Way' and 'On Top Of The World' show a new side of the band again, while 'You' resembles something that could have been on Eye To Eye or Lethal Illusion."

Mats offers the following, when asked for a career highlight to date. "I'd say the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary in our hometown of Ostersund, Sweden was beyond expectation regarding the attention it received, since the band has been out of action for ten years. Also playing at Sweden Rock 2002. Other highlights are of course supporting AC/DC for seven shows in Scandinavia and supporting Nazareth for 12 shows in that same territory. Apart from that, headlining our own tours of course and recording in New York with Max Norman."

"I remember meeting Ritchie Blackmore once after a gig with Rainbow," recalls Mats, when asked whether he had met many of his musical heroes over the years. "I think it must've been in 1980. He seemed very gentle and shy, not exactly what you've heard. He signed my newly bought Rainbow scarf and said 'Thanks for coming to the show; I enjoy playing in Sweden' or words to that effect. The guys from Nazareth were really great to us, nice chaps. We never really had a meet and greet with AC/DC, but we heard that they had watched parts of the show we did and really liked it. We met with Brian one night though, when he burst into our dressing room and said 'Hi guys, great show.' Moments later the bass player from AC/DC looked in and said 'Hi guys, sorry to bother you' and dragged the pretty intoxicated Brian Johnson out of there. Most people I've met have been just regular guys and very nice. No bad experiences yet."