Adrian Recordings years: 2002–2005 (Split up)

Björns vänner is up there among the legends of Swedish pop music sung in Swedish. I can only think of two artists that come near the feelings and emotions that Björns vänner give rise to; Bob Hund and Jakob Hellman. Björns vänner are indeed heroes in their own created universe. It’s the band on Adrian Recordings that has the most fanatic fan base, and even though the band is no more, the crowd still grows. Yes, it is true, Björns vänner gave up after two albums, two EP’s and two singles, the reason was that singer and main songwriter Richard Schicke moved to London. We know what he is doing there; question is if he knows it.

Prior to this text I asked Richard to write something about how he experienced the Björns vänner era. Richard is indeed a truly interesting person. I’m not saying this to glorify him, because he is not always worth glorifying, and that, I’m not saying to make him look worse than he is. Richard Schicke just is the way he is, more than anyone I know. It was when he met Pelle Holmgren and the two of them joined forces and somehow found nourish in each other, that Björns vänner came to start. This was in 2001. Original members of the band were also David Fridlund and Conny Fridh, both also in David & the Citizens and Markus Slivka most known for his time in Thirdimension. During the years of their existence some musicians came and went but the core was always those people.

One word also about Björn. He was also a big part of it all. He was their friend and organizer and their motivation; without him, no band. Below this English text, you can read Björn’s own words about the band, in Swedish.

Here is Björns vänner in the words of Richard Schicke:

Magnus asked me to write something about Björns vänner, and I said that I would do it the following weekend. That was about a month ago. I find it hard to write something general about the band or the music that we made, so I have decided to just listen to the all the songs that we recorded and write a comment about each. I’m happy that I’m not Bob Dylan.
For many reasons.

But first, some info:

Björns vänner was a band that existed between 2002 and the beginning of 2004 (with a small reunion tour and album release in the spring of 2005).

For most of this time the band members were:
Conny Fridh: Bass, backing vocals
David Fridlund: Drums
Pelle Holmgren: Guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
Me (Richard Schicke): Acoustic guitar, lead vocals
Markus Slivka: Keyboards, tambourine

For a short while there was a temporary line-up, called ”Norra grängesbergsgatans vänner” consisting of me, Pelle, Slivka and:
John Bjerkert: Drums, backing vocals
Nisse Lidman: Saxophone
Karin Sjöholm: Flute, backing vocals, piano

We had occasional help from:
Andreas Sjögren: Saxophone
Edith Söderström: Backing vocals
Marcus Cato: Bass, backing vocals (live 2004)
Magnus Bjerkert: Trumpet (live)
Sara Culler: Backing vocals (live)

The songs were written by either Pelle or me, mostly me, actually, but there was usually a large amount of collaboration involved. Apart from a few songs on “får ett eget liv”, they were arranged by Björns vänner during rehearsals.

Björn Ericsson was responsible for getting us together, and was constantly involved in everything that we did, arranging gigs, recording them, promoting the band, clapping his hands and shouting ”Så jävla bra!” a lot.
Oh, and borrowing money from his father so that we could make ”Kvar på film”.

Ok, here we go:

Release: Kvar på film:
batti thought that we were making a demo.

1. Stoppa porren
A song about a love affair tainted by the influence of porn. Perceived by some people as being very political and probably the reason why we were called a ”progg”-band. Jan Stenbeck died just before it was released, which was a bit weird. But I don’t think his family heard it anyway. The last lines are inspired by the Billy Bragg song ”Sexuality”, I realised a few months ago. I wish the lines ”När ska du ta ditt ansvar, Jan” weren’t in there, they’re a bit stupid. The rest of it is really good, though.

2. Kvar på film
One of my favourite songs to sing live. It’s got a lot of words and a nice simple melody. The lyrics are about someone who sings (?) to his girlfriend that she doesn’t know a good thing when she sees it and why can’t she appreciate what she has instead of wanting to be a film star or something. It could have been called ”Gräv där du står”, too.

3. Åkrar och himmel
The lyrics for this song were originally in English, but I changed them when Pelle and I decided to start writing in Swedish instead. I wrote the melody using the words from a Daniel Clowes comic. ”Why I hate Christians”, I think it was called. The line ”Hey, Jesus! Come here and blow me” became the girlfriend saying ”…just hoping I’ll blow you!” which became ”Ska jag suga av dig nu?”.The melody itself demanded a long, sentimental song with a story, I thought, so that’s why it is. I really like this song, the lyrics are good, and it just goes on and on.

4. Anna Vennergren
A pretty straight love song. Apparently, there really is a girl called Anna Vennergren, but I just chose a name that sounded very ordinary, because I wanted the song to be REAL, yeah! A lot of people thought it was, and I have to admit that I’ve never actually felt this way. And honestly, it would be a bit annoying if someone took months to answer when you asked them how they were.

5. För Mias skull
Also shitloads of word that just go on and on. A lot of my songs don’t leave to much space for the band. I think everyone does a good job of getting heard. The lyrics are about not being able to talk properly to a person you are in love with.

Release: Tappat halva hjärnan

1. I min lägenhet
A good, well-written song about lost love. This is Pelle’s song. He got me listening to “The Band”. This is probably one of the first ones that he played me, still in English (In my Flat), and one of the first songs Björns vänner played together. And the first one we recorded (for our demo), maybe, and the first one on this album.

2. Lätt och ledig
Sometimes referred to as ”Little Lady”. The chords and melody are really simple (not that they’re usually very tricky!) but the band made it into the atmospheric, slightly haunting thing that it is. Without Slivka’s piano hook and Conny’s bass, eh, hook it’s just a bunch of minor chords and lyrics about people who get lost in the woods. Carl and Christian also helped a lot. And Pelle and David. And Karin, who you can hardly hear. The words are really simple and to the point in the beginning but half-way through they become a bit blurry, and I wouldn’t want to be cross-examined about their meaning. It picks up in the end though.

3. Alexander Lukas
Sounds a bit like a Motown-song, and the lyrics were inspired by Smokey Robinson’s way of writing love song after love song, but always with at thematic twist. The twist in this one is that the guy has bad luck. Hmmm… Actually, we had the song for a while, but we were playing it like a medium-tempo pop song, and it started to sound ”dansband”. So someone, I think David, just said: fuck it! and started playing it like this, and it was a lot better for it. Then David came up with the horn-thing. It’s his song, really. Conny didn’t get to sing on ”I min lägenhet” but he got his revenge here.

4. Visa mig
Another one of Pelle’s songs, translated from English. I like it! I like the backing vocals, Edith’s singing, Carls cymbal after the bridge, the lyrics are nice. Slivka says the solo is the best thing he did with Björns vänner. I wouldn’t want the other things to get jealous, but I like it too.

5. Vad ska jag med ett foto på dig?
A simple rock song about sadly masturbating instead of communicating, with a pretty strange chorus. When the verse starts after the first chorus is probably my favourite part of any Björns vänner song. Again, a lot of little hooky things from Slivka and Pelle.

6. Tappat halva hjärnan
Well, the ending is fun to play. Lyrically, it is another thematic love (lost) song, this time with memory as the theme.

7. Isoleringskväll
Like ”Lätt och ledig”, this song was really shaped by everyone in the band. It’s about intimacy and fear of it - the Robbie Williams disease. Some of the lyrics are good and some are quite sketchy. I changed them just a few hours before recording, and I was very happy and proud at the time…

8. Flyttlass
Pelle’s song. Doesn’t have an English version. Fewer tricks and quick ideas would have made it better, but I like the song, the groove, the organ, the backing vocals, the percussion, the lyrics, the tunnelbanegitarr, the way I sing. What don’t I like? The harmonica and the reverb.

9. Flicka, vad är det du vill mig?
We recorded this song for the album, but we ended up using the demo. I don’t know what the lyrics are about, so I usually say that it’s about confusion.

10. Lämna mina spår
Pelle’s song. Has English version. Another bunch of good playing and crap singing. Some people have told me that they like it, but I think they must be idiots. I am, of course, being self cantered. I like the sound and feel and the song itself very much. Pelle wanted to put more things on it but I helped persuade him not to. ”The simplicity is really beautiful. It’s like when you finish a painting, and you look at it and you just want to add some colours or lines, but that’s when you should stop yourself and realise that it’s perfect.”, I told him. I was wrong. It was late. Pelle changed the lyrics about a million times. This is the best version, but I still think that ”Throw my tricks away” was even better.

Release: Alexander Lukas EP
”Alexander Lukas” from ”Tappat halva hjärnan” and four other songs recorded with Norra grängesbergsgatans vänner.

2. Ser jag ut att må bra?
A cover of ”Tracks of my Tears”. I translated the lyrics for fun, because they are so simple and brilliant in the original, and Pelle thought that we should use it, so we did.

3. En fiende bland oss
Norra grängesbergsgatans vänner came to be because Pelle and me, I think, were offered a gig where we could do whatever we wanted, and Conny and David were busy with the Citizens. We had some songs lying around and some friends who were willing to rehearse a lot during a short period to play one gig. It worked really well. We ended up recording the seven songs with Joel in our rehearsal space and some of the songs are my favourite ones. This one for instance. It’s another song about fear of intimacy. The flute is out of tune (like me), but it adds to the shaky feel of the song and goes well with the lyrics.

4. Mörkröda tomater
Pelle’s song. Originally in English. We’d had it for ages and we always thought it was a good song, but we could never make it work. One day we sat down and just sorted the song out, changed little bits of lyrics and added little touches that made a big difference. Then the band just grabbed it and kicked the shit out of it.

5. Jag önskar att du och jag hade ett annat slags förhållande
One of the few songs that turned out just like I’d imagined it, apart from the ending, which I couldn’t have imagined in a million years. About pretending to be just a friend and having to comfort the person you are in love with when they’re having problems with the people that they are in love with.

Release: får ett eget liv

1. När jag får ett eget liv
We recorded the skeleton of this song with Joel before I left for London. Pelle finished it and sent it to me. I got a real kick out of hearing it and started to consider him a genius. I think the lyrics to this one are the ones that I like the best.

4. Leva som en munk#2
Another Norra grängesbergsgatans vänner-song. For some reason it deals with a medieval monk and his problems with the needs of the flesh.

5. Lilla dagen
For a while we played this song with the band, but we dropped it mysteriously. Pelle and I both liked the song, so we ended up recording it in his kitchen just before I left the country. It doesn’t really need anything more. Two friends of mine who are now married and have a child, thought that the secret thing that the protagonist of the song does in the morning had something to do with sex. When, for once, you write a song with no filth in it!

7. En sån här tid, en sån här plats
When I was younger (20) I had romantic visions of a girl jumping into a river and getting swept away, and at the same time being released, coming alive. This song is about the guy who was left behind.

9. Lätt och ledig (demo)
We recorded this together with versions of ”Eden som jag svor” och ”Visa mig”. ”Eden” is on the ”Vad ska jag med ett foto på dig?” single. Björn and I made a work of art by putting a cherry and a piece of paper in a glass and then put the glass in the microwave. The cherry exploded and purple liquid sprayed onto the paper and got burned. It ended up looking like a black/violet night-time shoreline. I wanted it to be the cover for these songs, but we never released them together, so I was spared from fighting that battle.

13. Snart kommer floden
The last song recorded with Conny and David, and one of the best. The lyrics are about breaking down. It kind of sounds that way. This is good.

16. Eden som jag svor
A song which for a long time was only played at drunken late night parties. Nisse recorded his solo and when it was time for Pelle to do the guitar part for the solo he echoed Nisses melody, but played it before him, so it was like Nisse echoed him, which I thought was very clever. The lyrics are about the reality that you (I?) just actually forget important stuff, and that stupid little accidents control your life.

17. Den enda lögn du har kvar
This is my favourite Björns vänner song. It was inspired by my grandmother having a new boyfriend for a while, who then passed away. I started wondering about how love would be when there really is no future. So the song has one person who thinks it’s a good thing, singing to her husband, who thinks it sucks. Pelle, me and Conny recorded it live on Conny’s portable thingy. And very well too.

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2000
Höst – flyttade från Sthlm- degade

2001
Vinter – var i Norge
Vår – jobbade på BO01, började Alexanderskola – flyttade till Valle
Höst – jobbade som korvgubbe.

2002
Sommar/vår – Björns dag, spelade in ”Kvar på film”

2003
Vinter – bodde hos Valle, Gjorde spelningar och press
Vår – flyttade till Kärleksgatan
Sommar – spelade in ”Tappat halva hjärnan”
Höst – släppte ”Tappat halva hjärnan” och turnerade

2004
Vinter – Alexande Lukas + spelningar med Cato och Bjerkert

2005
April – sista spelningar + får ett eget liv, England

Björn berättar om Björns vänner:

Jag gick i gymnasiet i Lund med Pelle Holmgen 91-94. Han spelade under den tiden i en tidig version av Loosegoats men hoppade av precis innan de spelade in sin första EP.

När jag flyttade till Malmö ’96 lärde jag känna Richard Schicke som i slutet av ’97 började spela med några kompisar i ett band de kallade Volksradio. I Volksradio ingick Mikael Karlsson (Homeland samt tidigare trummor i David & the Citizens) Volksradio spelade in demon "Soft Guys Flip". Richard skrev låtarna, då med engelska texter. Jag fixade ett par spelningar till dem på Möllevångstorget i Malmö ’98, och de spelade i Landskrona en härlig sommareftermiddag, nere vid stranden. Bandet upplöstes då medlemmarna började flytta på sig, bland annat flyttade Richard till Stockholm.

År 2000 bodde också Pelle där och när jag var på besök spelade han upp ett par låtar som han hade börjat pilla med, skitbra låtar tyckte jag. Han var nöjd med skrivandet men tyckte inte att hans röst höll för att framföra dem och vi började prata om vem som kunde vara intresserad av att sjunga. Jag kom att tänka på Richard, ringde upp honom och vi gick ut och tog ett par öl tillsammans vi tre. Richard hade också skrivit en del nya låtar och var intresserad av att spela dem med någon. Pelle och Richard träffades därefter lite då och då för att skriva och spela tillsammans. Ganska snart kom de fram till att det kändes kymigt att prata med varandra på svenska och sedan sjunga på engelska och därför började de istället skriva på svenska.

Våren 2001 flyttade båda ner till Malmö, och jag fick tag i en demokassett som de hade spelat in, med bara 2 akustiska gitarrer och sång. Jag är en otålig människa så jag började tjata om att starta band och spela live, och sammanförde dem med Conny Fridh som jag lärde känna runt ’94-’95 i Lund, som i sin tur drog med David Fridlund eftersom de båda spelade i David & the Citizens och David var sugen på att spela trummor.

I juli det året hade bandet repat i ett par månader och jag tyckte att de var redo att spela live. Jag bestämde mig för att ordna en spelning till dem. Det hade säkert gått att få en spelning på något ställe i stan med tanke på David & the Citizens framgång, men istället valde jag att arrangera en liten musikfestival i Folkets Park i Malmö, där jag bjöd in andra lokala band som jag gillade då. Pelle och jag skojade fram att festivalen skulle heta Björns dag, med efterfesten Björns natt. Och bandet heter då? Såklart Björns vänner. Detta tog jag som en överenskommelse och satte igång med marknadsföring, bland annat tryckte jag upp linnen till bandmedlemmarna med Björns vänner - Richard, Björns vänner - Pelle och så vidare. Det visade sig senare att bandnamnet inte var förankrat hos övriga medlemmar men lite för sent. Det var alltså mest ett skämt hur de fick sitt namn. Men va fan gör det?

Efter det rullade det på med spelningar och Markus Slivka anslöt genom Pelles försorg.

Sommaren 2002 spelade de in ”Kvar på film” i Gula Studion i Malmö. Släpptes i december på Adrian Recordings. Titellåten spelades flitigt på P3 och videon visades en del på ZTV.

Under vinter och våren gjorde Björns vänner spelningar runt om i landet, dels på egen hand och dels tillsammans med Laakso och David & the Citizens. Till vår stora glädje möttes vi oftast av uppmärksamt leende människor. Live försöker de snarare skapa kontakt med publiken än att göra en bra show. Richard säger att han kan vara nervös inför att stå på scen och har försökt tackla blygseln, inte genom att gå in i musiken, utan genom att rikta sig till folket framför scenen.

I våras och under sommaren spelade de in albumet ”Tappat halva hjärnan”, återigen på Adrian Recordings. Den här gången valde vi att samarbeta med Christian Kjellvander och Carl Granberg och inspelningarna gjordes i en liten studio på skånska landsbygden.

Resten är historia.