Blackwinged:
Why don't you start out by telling me about the bands history and how everyone
joined the band.
Hans Rosen: Let's start with our web address http://www.hagen.nu/ in which a lot of info including music can be found. Ok, some words from our latest release flyer: It all started back in 1996 when bass player Hans Rosén asked his brother Anders Rosén to play his fiddle through a cheap guitar effect box. It was a funny and funky experience and they decided to pick out some folk tunes and make hard rock of them. One of their first decisions was that they didn't want to just put rock accompaniment to folk tunes, they wanted to achieve a wedding between the styles. Shortly after, Per Nilsson joined the two brothers. Per is one of Sweden's most promising guitar players with a modern approach to rock. Next man to join was keyboard player Hans Lundin who played Hammond, mellotron, synthesizers and also sang in the Swedish legendary symphonic group Kaipa. Fifth man to get onboard was singer Michael Ohlsson whose singing and writing is definitely of his own hard rock brew. A voice which has to be heard. Finally, the highly talented drummer Patrik Jansson joined and made the group complete. A drummer with a great heart for the music and a fantastic technique.
Blackwinged: The music of Hagen is an excellent mix
of Swedish folk music and Classic heavy metal and hardrock. How did
you come up with the idea to play in this style?
Hans: My brother Anders and I have been active in music for a long time but never co-operated before. One evening outside Anders house we got the idea to try to make something together. Since Anders is a folk musician and I'm mainly from heavier rock the way to go was obvious. Mixing folk and rock is not new, but we wanted to go our own way doing something never heard before. We also wanted to mix the styles better than others had achieved before. At last we wanted it to be done by an all electrified band.
Per Nilsson: Corridors of Time is the result of six musicians effort to blend their musical styles together. We all have different musical backgrounds, Anders is playing folk and jazz exclusively, Patrik is playing both rock and jazz, Hans Lundin is a progrocker... My own favourite genres are metal and (modern) jazz. Hans Rosén has even played reggae! The music of Hagen is mostly a blend of folk and rock, but there is a whole spectrum of influences that has affected our music.
Blackwinged: What exactly does Hagen mean?
Hans: Hagen is a part of the small village Yttermalung in the Swedish county Dalarna from where Anders and I origins. If you have a good map of Sweden you can see the village in the middle west quite near to Norway. Hagen can in this certain case also be translated into English as: "Grazing Land" or "Fields". A more general translation could be: "Enclosed Pasture" or "Wooded Pasture".
Blackwinged: I noticed you have no tour dates on your homepage. Has or does the band play live? Or is Hagen mostly just a studio project?
Hans: We have been going through some difficult times, but that's another story. I guess the reason for not touring (yet) is that all members of Hagen have done this so much in earlier bands, that's my feel. This time I would like to see a more organized way of doing it. I would like a more simple way of doing it, beeing able to concentrate on the music and to feel good.
Per: So far, Hagen has been a studio project. We didn´t even really rehearse for Corridors of Time. Touring would be great, if we got the time to do it. Patrik´s frequently touring with his other band Maryslim, Hans Lundin has got Kaipa plus he´s running his own business, and we all have our everyday-lives to attend to. If we did a tour on our own, we would have to perform only at small clubs which doesn´t pay very good. We would probably end up losing money. But maybe, if we got to tour supporting a bigger band, it would be possible. Let´s see what the future holds for us.
Blackwinged: What have the reactions been with 'Corridors of Time' so far.
Hans: Impressive. But we can also see that our music can be hard to get a grip on, even for Swedish media. Internationally, the word "Celtic" is often used...but we're not playing Celtic music. We're using Scandinavian roots. Guess "Celtic" is used when you're not familiar with the real origin. "Weird" is another word.
Per: The reviews have been like: "Oh my god! This is the best progressive shit this year! 10 out of 10!!!" or "This CD sucks". Are these guys really serious?" Which I think is great.
Blackwinged: In the past have you been apart of any other bands? If so what were they like? I'm also very curious about Hans Lundin's old band 'Kaipa.'
Hans Lundin: Kaipa was the leading Scandinavian progressive rock band, and recorded five LP's during the years 1974 - 1982. The first song on the Hagen album, "A summer air" is a new elaborated version of an old Kaipa song originally recorded on the album "Solo" 1978. The first three Kaipa albums, including "Solo", have been re-released on CD by the French record company "Musea". After a break for almost 20 years I decided to reform Kaipa together with original guitar player Roine Stolt, who today is a famous artist with his bands The Flower Kings and Transatlantic, and record a new album. In 2001 we invited some of the best musicians in the progressive and fusion genre to be part of this reunion. Morgan Ågren (Zappa, Mats & Morgan) drums, Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings) bass and Patrik Lundström (Ritual) vocal. I had written 11 new songs for this record called "Notes from the past". The music is like a bridge between the old Kaipa music (with a lot of influences from the Swedish folk music, rock and classical music) and my musical identity of today. This album was released in Mars 2002 on the German record company Inside Out Music. More information of Kaipa, reviews, sound samples and the history of the band you can find on our homepage http://www.kaipa.info/.
Hans Rosen: On our website you can find some free downloads of the band "New Clear Daze" in which Michael and I was a part of. The samples are taken from the album "Selling Diamonds on the Edge of Time".
1st band: "New Project": Kind of a punk - ska band.
2nd band: "Balooba Band": Reggae a la Africa. Kemo Sawo was the singer. I'm still working with him.
3rd band: "Zircus": AOR, met Michael there.
4th band: "Haze": Hard pure and loud rock'n'roll. I was the bass player and vocalist there. I wrote the songs too. Didn't like the AOR way "Zircus" turned. This was going on at the same time as "Zircus". We did some songs mixing folk and our kind of rock.
5th band: "New Clear Daze": Progressive hard rock. Listen at our website. Michael on vocal.
6th band: "Slide Area": A blues band playing about 50% covers. Going on at the same time as "New Clear Daze".
7th band: "Hagen": Well, you know about this one.
8th band: "Wille Toors Gongel": Wille Toors is 80 years old and one of Sweden's greatest folk fiddlers and showmen. I'm playing the bass and keyboards, often as a duo. Today, "Hagen" and "Wille Toors Gongel" are active. We've also recorded some songs by Michael in Swedish recently. You can find some free downloads of these at the website.
Per: I've played death metal with "Adversary", trash metal with "Legia", jazz with different bands... I'm currently writing for two projects, the symphonic black metal project "Event Horizon", and a yet-to-be-named project in the vein of bands like "Symphony X" and "Dream Theater" that will be featuring LG Persson from "The Storyteller" on vocals.
Blackwinged: How often does the band rehearse?
Hans: At the moment about 3-4 times a week.
Blackwinged: What do you think about the music business and mp3´s on internet?
Per: I love the fact that I can download any song I like to my computer without paying for it. I think that the internet is going to revolutionize the music business. Large record-companies won't be able to sell records anymore. Other ways to make money on music must be found.
Hans: Lower the CD prices a lot. Underground distribution directly from the artist to the buyer could be a way. Today, there are too many people who want to be millionaires on the route to the listener. The nice sleeves of the vinyl age are also a matter in this I think. Too little effort is given to the CD covers. The paper work included has to be great and maybe also exclusive. The mp3's and Internet give small bands a chance to get exposed. The music business is a big piece of shit.
Blackwinged: What is the band up to at the moment and what are your plans for the near future?
Hans: At the moment we're working on our next album. We will do our own and English versions of the GREAT Russian artist Vladimir Vysotsky's music. The lyrics are translated by George Tokarev, a former Soviet Union citizen now living in Israel. He contacted us about the musical side spring this year. Later we met him and worked quite hard with the material. This will be really something to look forward too. Michael has a challenge here.
Blackwinged: This will about do it Hans. I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. The final words are yours.
Hans: Well, I have to thank you too for taking time for us. On our website http://www.hagen.nu/ you can get the latest info about what's happening.