| INTERVIEW
WITH KAIPA (italian version) by Giancarlo Bolther Three albums in four years, a very important goal and in my opinion you are getting better, would you like to do a statement of your come back till today? When I decided to record the album that in the end should be released on the market as KAIPA: Notes from the past, I had no ideas of what the future should bring. Now we have recorded two more albums with the same line-up and it feels like this is like my all time favourite band and that’s great. Mindrevolutions hit the market after two years since Keyholder, what was happened during this time? I’ve been working with new songs for Mindrevolutions and the other musicians have been working with their original bands and of course we have recorded the new album together. How do you go with the compositive process for Mindrevolutions? Did the other guys of the band were more involved in the compositive process this time? This time I wanted to focus more on writing strong melodies, both vocal and instrumental. I wanted the songs to be more homogenous and I tried to avoid having all this parts just dropping by ones and never return later in the song. This didn’t mean any drastic changes. I think all the songs on the album have my significant stamp and I only relied on my ability as a composer and musician when I wrote the songs. In the summer of 2004 I started to work with Roine. Together we picked out what we considered to be the best songs of a total of 22 new songs I had written. Roine also wrote new lyrics to two of the songs and rewrote some parts in my lyrics. Roine has a large part in the arrangements of some of the songs while others are performed more on my basic ideas. In the recording process all involved musicians are contributing with a lot of ideas and use their own musical language, which I think is very important. I think this is proved more for each album we’re doing with this line-up as we‘ve got to know each other much better. Can you tell me more about the genesis of the long track “Mindrevolutions”, please? After writing all the potential new songs for the new album I thought there was something missing. So I started to write an instrumental piece of music with lots of adventurous parts and unexpected twists and turns where the musicians could have the possibility to really show their enormous talents. For three days I worked in my studio forming a 25-minute long instrumental song including both strictly arranged but also with room for improvisation. I think these three days were the most productive days of my life. My basic idea was to make an album with the shorter songs and then use this long song on a bonus CD showing another side of the band. Unfortunately Roine Stolt wasn’t so enthusiastic about my idea, so later I shortened this song and incorporated two tracks that were already written. One of these songs had the title Mindrevolutions, and so I continued to use this title for this new song and in the end even for the whole album. As you told me, for you is very important always to try new ideas, which are the most important new ideas present into Mindrevolutions? Working with an album like this means handling thousands of decisions before I can hold the final album in my hand. It’s impossible to point out some specific parts. Some ideas came up already during the songwriting and others came up during the recordings, it’s a long process with a lot of surprises along the way. The title itself seems to be a huge invitation to change our way of thinking... “Mindrevolutions” contains a lot of different subjects, but the basic meaning is that if we want to change the world and make it a better place we must be prepared to start this operation as a mind revolution inside ourselves. Kaipa, since their start, were focused to merge swedish folk music with classic prog rock, in the new album which are the most folkish parts? I think the folk music inspired parts are present in the music more or less almost all the time today. In the 70’s they were maybe more like separate parts or songs. The opening melody to the song Mindrevolution is one example and the same melody returns later in the end part of the song. The cover art it’s very nice, does it is linked to the songs or did you choose it only because you liked it? It’s not linked to the songs, but it’s linked to the artwork to “Keyholder”. Of course I like it and I’m a big fan of Jan Ternald who has made both of these artworks. I’ve read that you are going to celebrate your 30 years with a special collectors box set, can you give to us some anticipations, please? The box will include 5 CD’s. Except the three original albums remastered, there will be one CD with early demo recordings from the summer of 1974 including several never released songs and longer original versions of some of the songs on our first album and one CD with live recordings. The line up is the same since Notes From the Past, so we can say that you became a real band? Yes this is a band today, but we only come together to record the albums. For the other musicians this is a side project. Can you tell me more about Aleena and how did you get in touch? Patrik brought his old friend Aleena with him, when I wanted a female singer for the song “A road in my mind” on the NFTP album. From the first time I heard her singing I really liked it. And on the next album she participated more and on Mindrevolutions she is definitely in the middle of the stage. I really like the mix of different voices the way we do it now. I know that she made some solo albums, what kind of music she did as soloist? Aleena is not only a singer; she is also a songwriter, writing for other artists. Her first solo album “Aleena’s café” has just been released in Sweden. You can listen to sound clips on www.aleena.se I know that you like vintage instruments, in your opinion why they sounds better than the new ones? I’m always searching for a connection between the sound and my inner feelings. That’s what gives me the inspiration to play. Probably most of the new sounds simply don’t establish this connection. In my opinion in the years is changed a lot also the idea of making a band, what can you tell me about and the new Kaipa were made with this old spirit? The roots and the spirit of Kaipa remains. They’re only leading in new directions and are looking forward. In our first interview (done after Notes From the Past) you’ve told me that you believe to have a mission, that you have to spread through your music an artistic message, but you don’t told me exactly which was your message, can you tell me more about, please? I wrote this on the Kaipa homepage in 2002 and I still think it’s valid: “My life is filled with signs. They enter my consciousness from a musical universe somewhere inside of me. This universe is filled with an enormous power built on all the positive experiences I've captured through the years, and it guides me in my decisions of what's right and what's not. I think I act as a bridge between my inner universe and the unknown receiver in the outside world. I transform moods and feelings from inside my mind into music and words, to establish a connection with the audience and to transfer these feelings into the consciousness of the listener. I've grown in awareness that this is some kind of mission, and that I am a messenger. My mission brings joy into my life, and if I can bring joy into other peoples lives, and get their feedback, it's like an enormous circle of energy built on creative capacity.” The most succesful band from your country were the Abba, i’ve got some flashback from my childhood about this band, but i believe that today a lot of people in my country doesen’t know their importance, would you like to tell us your feelings about them and which are their most important albums? Benny Andersson & Björn Ulveaus in ABBA have written many fantastic songs. Simple but genius, I like many of them very much. A good introduction is “ABBA Gold” a best of album. If i’m right, you didn’t play live to support Keyholder, it will be different this time? Are you planning a tour, maybe it would be great as support band for the Flower Kings? The 2000 line-up of Kaipa has never played live. We’ve considered this to be strictly a recording project. For all the other musicians this is a side project as they all have they’re regular bands and careers A salute to your italian fans? When I’ve done promotion for the new album I have noticed that Italy is the most represented country of all. So I want to send this greeting to all the Kaipa fans in Italy and thank you for your support of our band. Take care, HANS. GB Interviews: 2002 Review (in italian): Notes From the Past; Keyholder; Mindrevolutions; The Decca Years; Angling Feelings; In the Wake of Evolution; Vittjar; Sattyg Related Artists: Flower Kings; Ritual |
