The Good Mornings, the Swedish band leaded by Dan Bornemark and Helena Josefsson, have had some gigs this year after releasing their first album in late 2000.
They played in the Stockholm Live Day 2001, on 13th May. The band included:
Video by Mauricio Picasso
They played in the Stockholm Live Day 2001, on 13th May. The band included:
- Helena Josefsson: lead vocals
- Dan Bornemark - keyboards, vocals, music
- Jens Ståhlstierna - gitarr, vocals
- Rasmus Kihlberg - drums
- Mauricio Picasso - bass
Other former members of "The Good Mornings" include:
LJdM- Figge von Wachenfeldt - keyboards, vocals
- Bosse Håkansson - percussion
- Björn Gustavsson - bass
4 comments:
Some people talk about The Good Mornings in this Swedish forum: http://vstforum.clubcubase.net/viewtopic.php?t=727&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start
These are the answers of Helena Josefsson (HJ) and Mauricio Picasso (MP) in an interview to Le Journal des Mouches (Q) last February 2010. I never published the answers in an article because I keep on waiting for the answers from other members, Dan Bornemark and Jens Ståhlstierna for months. This could be considered the lost interview with "The Good Mornings". Enjoy it!
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*** Q1 - "The Good Mornings" was a Swedish band a few years ago. Who were the members and how and when did it start as a band?
***HJ1: I have a very bad memory and I hope some of the other guys are better. I met Dan the first time when I was competing with my band Snooze at "Musik Direkt" , I think I was around 20. After the show he came up to me and then we started collaborating! I met Jens through Dan, and we have kept working since. Mauricio is my oldest friend of the three, whom I met at "Violeta Para", my very first rehearsal place. On drums we had both my good friend Per Blomgren (Sandy Mouche) and jazz legend Rasmus Kihlberg.
***MP1 - You should ask one of the initial members about the beginnings of the band. Dan Bornemark knows the details. It was Helena Josefsson who talked to me about the band, threw out the previous bassist and chose me as bass-player in April 2000. I am Uruguayan, from Paysandu, son of political exiled that ended in Sweden. I met Helena in Lund, where we both were living, and had previously attempted to initiate several projects together before without success. After several years, I contacted her to make commercial productions with Swedish producers and then she offered me start playing with his band, The Good Mornings .
***Q2 - How would you define the style and music of "The Good Mornings"? What influences from other artists did you take? Who composed the songs?
***MP2: The themes were composed by Helena Josefsson and Dan Bornemark, I think Jens Ståhlstierna composed some songs too. I'm pretty ignorant about bands and so on. For me everything in 4 / 4 is rock!
***HJ2: It is hard to describe the music- it was many styles in fusion- like:a bit of power ballad and symphony rock and acoustic guitar-based pop and a little folkmusic somehow! It was me, Dan and Jens who composed!
***Q3 - How was "The Good Mornings"’s live sound? Did you have many gigs in Sweden?
***MP3 - We sounded good live since we were all -more or less- professional musicians with great stage experience. Helena was the youngest of the group with her twenty-something and then I with almost 30 and the rest in their 40s. On facebook you can see a live recording of a concert in Stockholm in May 2000, just a couple of weeks after I started playing with them
***HJ3: There was not many live gigs. Most of them were just Dan and me. I remember one especially, at a restaurant in Mölle. Outside. It was summer. Mmmmm!
***Q4 – Did “The Good Mornings” record any songs in the studio?
***MP4: They recorded something before I came and then we recorded four songs together.
***HJ4: Yes we recorded a lot. That´s mainly what we did. Maybe we could spread them somehow so you can hear! Dan has it all in his computer I think! Dan Bornemark has a studio in his house, so I used to go there by bus and we worked for 24 hours at the time, and he and his wife cooked so great food, and I got to be with them and their dogs. It was really nice! And I tasted Haloumi cheese for the first time. I remember sleeping in their guest-room, it was cold and nice and the sheets were always so crisp somehow. Dan could work really late, ´til three at night but my eyeballs start rolling in my head at midnight. I would sit/lie there in the sofa trying to stay awake while he had most his energy then. (Actually it is the same when I work with Per:o) I remember that we had a lot of fun and it was the first time my voice could be heard really well in a production.
***Q5 - How long did the project "The Good Mornings" last? How and when did it finish?
***MP5: I have no idea of dates but all finishes around 2001. Helena started a new band, Sandy Mouche, together with Per Blomgren, the latest drummer in The Good Mornings. Unfortunately our band, The Good Mornings, did not work, as we were in different stages of life. Personally I was planing a family with my wife and tired of performing live for many years. The other musicians are the best ones in Sweden, tremendous and well-known musicians but maybe they were pretty tired of rushing around. Helena Josefsson’s project was younger, the rest of us didn’t fit in the pictures.
***Q6 - Do you still have contact with the members of the band? What did you do after "The Good Mornings"?
***MP6: We do not keep in touch, I met them through Helena Josefsson and we got along with each other. Now some of us are friends on Facebook and that’s all, but since 2002 I have got three children ... so there is not much time to meet anyone. Nowadays I make a living as a musician, but not playing. I decided to study something else and ended up studying Economics for the music market. And now I am working as Head of Music in a night school (Medborgarskolan in Lund).
***HJ6: Dan is very good at producing among other things. Jens makes music for commercials and I have sung on plenty of them, among other TV-shop! :o) Mauricio is a very funny guy and I haven´t met him for a long time, but I think about him and his family much, and smile. Mauricio has taught me very useful things, and told me stories of when he grew up in Uruguay. Among others, why he is a lipstick-fobic. :o)
***Q7 - In particular, what do you think about Helena Josefsson projects after "The Good Mornings"?
***MP7: Obviously, "The Good Mornings" was the best band ever (laughs). Helena was looking for her personal sound and has developed it in her following projects. But it's hard when you have to take into account a backing band. Sandy Mouche includes her husband, Martin, and Per Blomgren, who are people very close to her, but I do not know if it helps or works against you, it depends. Helena is a very good musician! She has always bright ideas. I had some gigs with Helena, Martin and Per playing covers of other bands and she did fantastic interpretations. I have great memories playing with her.
***Q8 - How do you remember working with Helena Josefsson? What was she like?
***MP8: Dan and she often came with all recorded on the computer and we played what was there. As there was no space to improvisation (thank god). I do not look for artistic recognition. The “architects” of the band were Helena, Dan and Jens ... I was like a good bricklayer! Helena is a person with great dignity and warmth.
***Q9 - Do you remember any anecdotes of your time with "The Good Mornings"?
***MP9: “The Good Mornings” was not a “discrased” band (I have played with that kind of bands). Usually the bad stories in the bands happen when mad members believe they are the "myth of the rock!. “The Good Mornings” was a lovely gentle group, not self-centered.
***Q10 – Releasing the second album of Helena Josefsson with a record label is giving her a lot of trouble. What do you think about the world of music nowadays? Is it more difficult now to make a living as a musician?
***MP10: Make a living as a musician can be done in several ways. Helena Josefsson sings so good and her voice has such a personal character that she can work as backing vocalist, accompanying Per Gessle for example. Nonetheless, Helena as a solo artist is a product that needs an specific audience willing to buy your product. Getting your own audience is really complicated. Helena is known in Sweden as a singer thanks to Per Gessle. It seems her music does not fit the Swedish market, since nobody wants to distribute it in Sweden. Maybe in France they have a more diverse music market, but it is not easy to be successful anywhere. This is the reality of all the artists.
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