20/09/2009Things are moving a bit slow for us a the moment but we are getting there for sure. There will be a new release with UTS in the spring of 2010, details will be coming shortly. Meanwhile I am busy working with songs on another project with Charlotte; we write the songs together and she sings lead with me singing harmony to her vocals for a change...the style is more country/americana/singer-songwriterpop or whatchamacallit - it's always hard to label music. Anyway - although there has been some time with little new stuff going on on the UTS-front there are quite a few great people keeping the UTS-candle burning out there in the world. I'm thinking ofcourse of our management-team in Jamaica consisting of Howard Hendriks and Alkebulan but also, just to name one, of our good friend Mauricio Sergio in who heads up our fanclub in Brazil. He is expecting his first child any day now and still I am in contact with him about the development of the band via e-mail. These are the kinds of people who truly are our heroes. 02/08/2009Just posted a couple of pics of Petter recording drums for a new song called "Letting Go". As ususal (these days) most of the stuff gets recorded in my and Charlotte's home. So take a look at how things are done in the glorious life in showbusiness...ha ha! Not so glamorous, huh? You'd be surprised if you knew how our albums have been recorded over the years. To think that we've gotten such great feedback about the production and the sound-quality is amazing. Most of "Who is the Enemy?", for instance, was recorded in an old bomb-shelter converted into a studio. 4 concrete walls. Not the ideal acoustic surrounding to be working in I can tell you. But the truly great thing is that it is at all possible to record a great sounding album without having to come up with tons of money to rent a big studio - all it takes is a lot of hard work, plenty of know-how and a portion of luck. Another great thing is the internet - a lot of the songs get recorded at other locations - whether it be at Sven's or Mikael's house or in Kingston or in the US or wherever. 21/06/2009Last Saturday, June 13, me and Charlotte threw a big party here at our home in Ingarö. The reason for the party was partly to celebrate that the house now is somewhat finished; but mostly it was to renew our wedding vows. We got married 5 years ago and have faced numerous trials and tribulations in those years (we've actually been living together for 7 years) and lately we've found each other again. So we decided to have a ceremony to celebrate. About 70 people showed up on what turned out to be the coldest and rainiest June-day Sweden has seen for the last 50 years...luckily enough we had a huge tent erected in the back-yard. My very good friend Andreas Dahlbäck was kind enough to take time off from his tour with Swedish superstar Ulf Lundell to preside over the ceremony. All guests were told to dress in white; me and Charlotte were dressed in bright red to mark the occasion. Me, Charlotte, Linda and her boyfriend Jocke Dominique started things up by singing "Down in the river to pray" a capella, followed by me, Charlotte, Simon and Elin (my stepkids who are now 20 and 18 years old) singing our version of "Angel from Montgomery" by Bonnie Raitt. Then Andreas made a speech followed by me and Charlotte reading our own marriage vows to each other. Sprirts were high; there was smiles, laugther and tears all around. Then me and Charlotte played with our coverband "Mats Garage" with bass player Mats Nilsson (in whose garage we practice; hence the name) and drummer Kjell Bjernhage. We did songs by Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Alicia Keys, JJ Cale and many more. Later in the evening Urban Tribe did a long set including songs like"One Fine Day", "No Solution", a scorching version of "Nothingness", a couple of Bamma's original songs + many more. In spite of the rain and cold - which weren't felt at all in the tent where it was dry and warm - the evening was a great success with partying going on til and beyond the break of dawn. There are pictures of the event posted in the "New Pics"-section of this site; check it out! 07/06/2009Things are picking up again for us...after a time of rest we've done a couple of shows that have really rekindled the fire. For instance we played Engelen, which is a small, legendary music pub in the Old Town in Stockholm in March featuring a smaller setting of the band; only 9 people...would you believe it? Petter played drums instead of percussion and Christian (who is a drummer) doubled as both backing vocals and percussion. Sadly, no horns...they are always sorely missed when they are not there. Anyway, we hadn't played for a few months but the show was simply great - I would rank it as a top 3 gig for the band. Then in May we played the annual Bob Marley Memorial concert in Skärblacka, Sweden - home of the in Sweden legendary reggae band Kalle Baah, to whom we owe so much as they are the ones responsible for our albums being officially released here in Sweden by signing us to their label. Janne Karlsson, drummer of Kalle Baah, performed with us along with substitute bassplayer Lasse Frick. A few thousand people turned up for the outdoor festival and the show went great. I think that we today are sooooo much better live than we were a few years back.
Anyway - the work on the documentary of our trip to Jamaica is under way, slowly but surely. Other good things are happening...me and Charlotte are renewing our marriagevows at a big party in our new house next weekend - the party is in our backyard and Urban Tribe will be performing along with some other bands that feature Charlotte and me. Wish you all could be there...or maybe you'll get to see it eventually since Jokum Sommer, the TV-pruducer I'm working on the documentary with, is coming over to film the whole thing. 29/03/2009Well I got to say 2009 is shaping up very nicely indeed! The last year I have sort of taken a sabbatical from working in the studio; I guess it's not that strange after 15 years of continuous work. Just writing and producing 3 albums in about 4 years took its toll I can tell you. When I quit working full-time as a musician and producer last year I was totally fed up with the grind in the studio - now I have to quote Chiefinspector Clousseau and say "it's all coming back to me now". Good thing! Me and Charlotte are playing and singing here in the studio, which is now located at home, instead of vegetating in front of the TV. Great! No new UTS songs as of yet, though - right now we are working on our own versions of songs by Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow featuring leadvocals by Charlotte. I am constantly amazed at her fantastic voice - she really is a star! She's been my star for about 7 years now but I think the time is right to spread her voice to more and more people. But don't worry - UTS is alive and kicking and more and more shows are added to the calendar. 24/01/2009Just a short note from me saying welcome to Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America - wish you could have come sooner. Like 8 years ago... Anyway, for me as a die hard UTS fan it certainly raises the questione: how will we ever be able to play "Bump Dem" live again? And will future generations understand the song?
30/12/2008Christmas has been cool, calm and relaxing...plenty of good food and drink and nice family time - just as it should be. Our new, extended house is just about finished and Charlotte, Elin and Rasmus managed to decorate what I must say is one of the more spectacular Christmas trees I have ever seen. And now New Year's is at the door which always is a time of contemplation for me; a time to summarize the year that has passed and readjust my mind for the challanges of the coming year. 2009 could turn out to be a great year for UTS, I think. The work on the documentary of our Jamaican tour will begin in earnest i January and after long discussions back and forth I have now finalized a deal with Howard Hendriks and Ra-umi Alkebulan in Jamaica. So hopefully very soon I will be able to announce it officially that they will be taking over our management. Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best because I have nothing but the greatest faith in the fact that these guys can make great things happen for us. Will keep you posted! Finally - all the best to all of you from the Urban Tribe Stockholm camp and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all! 30/11/2008I realize with shame that I have been neglecting my blog for far too long.
Things have been frantically busy with work, the house and other energy
consuming things so it was a great relief to finally get some much needed time off when we went to Thailand on November 7. We spent 2 glorious weeks at our home away from home in Kamala Beach and loved every second of it. I did happen to catch a bit of Montezuma's Revenge though so about 4 days of my trip was spent more or less in bed with a stomach in turmoil. Anyway - now, finally, things are starting to happen for UTS again. We did a show at an event for IBM here in Stockholm last week which was great - it actually featured both Frank and Sven on stage both playing keyboards which was fantastic. The interesting thing is that it was the first time they ever met. That's the way it is with UTS, we tend to do things all backwards. Stay tuned because I think good things are in the works. 28/09/2008Life right now is extremely busy and wrought with uncertainty and problems. Me and Charlotte are having our house extended and the final price-tag of the ordeal just went up considerably, leaving me with the riddle of how to come up with a quite staggering amount of money that we didn't foresee. The house, though, is going to be absolutely great. At the same time I am getting out of my studio in downtown Stockholm; I have already set up shop here at home, even though the new part of the house isn't ready yet. Life in turmoil - boxes and stuff everywhere. At the same time I am repainting the whole house. Plus working from 06.30 in the AM to 4 PM. On top of that fall offers its own variety of duties; the patios need to be oiled, the boat must be taken out of the water - I guess you know what I mean. The recent financial crisis in the world has also left its mark on our personal economy; the intrest on our house loand have gone up in a disconcerting way. So UTS has not been a priority lately, which is frustrating. I am so far behind in so many ways I doubt if I'll ever catch up. But good things are in the works - the new single is sounding awesome! Soon come. 18/09/2008Me, Charlotte and my stepson Simon went to the Globe arena here in Stockholm last night to see Coldplay. You might be going "what's a rootsguy like Adam doing messin around with Coldplay?". My answer is I think they're great! My musical taste has never known any boundries and I listen to all kinds of music. As a matter of fact me and Charlotte are going to see Emmylou Harris on Monday. And we got married to a looped version of the intro to the Coldplay-song "In my Place". Right after we got together we went to Thailand together where we bought the Coldplay-album "Parachutes". It became our theme-music for the trip.
So Colplay have a very special place in my world. And yes, the show was absolutely awesome. I think that my diverse taste in music have a lot to do with the way Urban Tribe sound. If I had limited myself to only listening to reggae we wouldn't sound the way we do. If that makes us better or worse I will leave up to you guys to decide. To me there are only two kinds of music; good music and bad music. |
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