Artist description Four good guys with a mission...to spread good vibrations...

Music Style Pop

Musical Influences Prefab Sprout, Burt Bacharach, St: Etienne, Beach Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Steely Dan, New Order, Electronic, Propaganda, Bo Kaspers Orkester, Big Money

Similar Artists Prefab Sprout, Burt Bacharach, St: Etienne, Beach Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Steely Dan, New Order, Electronic, Propaganda, Bo Kaspers Orkester, Big Money

Artist History The Mistermats project is a direct result of a series of musical experimentations between a bunch of enthusiastic friends, who were lucky to own a studio called Bluespeaker, situated in Barkarby outside Stockholm, Sweden. Able to hammer out their imaginations on keyboards, samplers, actually anything available in the room, it was only a matter of time before an album worth of highly melodic and nicely arranged music would come to fruition. It all started when keyboardists Stefan Andersson and Jonas Nordin helped each other finish a couple of ”feels”. They had written some music together in the past, but this time, they seemed much more focused in their efforts, as if to say: ”We’re making an album, here. ‘You want to come along?” Acompanied by their friend Mats Åhlin, the most acomplished lyricist on the team, Andersson and Nordin intensified the activities through out the fall of 1992. Their common effection for keyboard based music with strong melodies, such as Prefab Sprout, New Order and Petshop Boys, inspired them to write an impressive set of songs. The lyrics were all together in Swedish, a conscious move in order to promote Åhlins often poetic creations, virtually impossible to translate successfully into English or any other language. The members also wanted to avoid the slightly negative tag ”another young, Swedish band going international”. After all, this was the time when groups like Roxette and Ace Of Base had enormous success abroad, resulting in many Swedish artists abandoning their native tungue to write and sing in the more profitable English language.When the first few songs were written, the members decided to add vocals. Nobody wanted to become the lead vocalist. The initial idea was to divide the songs between many singers, treating the contributors as guest musicians rather than permanent band members. Klas Qvist, a singer and guitarist who’d become friends with Andersson, Nordin and Åhlin during his own sessions at Bluespeaker Studios, was asked to come over and put vocals to some tracks, which by then were nearly completed. He liked the music so much that he eventually became the bands most frequent vocalist and guitar player. For the next two years, Mr Mats became the main priority at Bluespeaker, with Andersson, Nordin and Åhlin contributing over a dozen songs and Qvist adding vocals to a majority of the tracks. Other playmates passing through were Klas’ wife Marika and their friend Kicki Malm on vocals and a slew of old Swedish actors, comedians and authours appearing as rappers on one of the album’s oddest tracks ”Stockholm November 1912”. Though all of the rappers failed to turn up at the studio for very obvious reasons (the contributions were recorded up to 80 years before the techno beat was added), there had to be some sampling involved.In the spring of 1995, twelve songs were completed and stringed together into a well-produced album. There was only one problem. The Swedish record companies showed absolutely no interest in signing a group that wasn’t hiphop, dance, rock or pop, but maybe all of the above. The A&R men shook their heads, saying that the music didn’t have enough attitude and commercial safety. Another reason why BARKARBY FÄLT (the bands only album so far, equally the name of the property on which the studio was located) was not given a chance, was the groups uneasiness with playing live. This seems to be even more important than anything else, when a record company decides who’s hot and who’s not.Uneasy with the cold response from the companies and a little bit dried out on inspiration after the hard work, Mistermats (named after the groups lyricist) was put on the backburner shortly after the completion of BARKARBY FÄLT. The members say that a new album is not entirely out of the question, though the name of the band may be changed. Currently, Åhlin has withdrawn from musical activities, while Andersson, Nordin and Qvist are still working on individual and duo projects. Until they resurface, have a close listen to one of Sweden’s most well-recorded and substantial albums in history and, at the same time, wonder why every record company looked the other way when a piece of history was being presented before their very eyes! - Jens Fredlund

Group Members Stefan Andersson - Composer, Arranger, Keyboards, Vocals ; Jonas Nordin - Composer, Arranger, Keyboards, Backing vocals ; Klas Qvist, Arranger, Vocals, Guitars ; Mats Åhlin, Arranger, Lyrics ; Marika Qvist - Backing Vocals ; Kicki Malm - Backing Vocals

Albums Barkarby Fält

Location Stockholm - Sweden

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