Klippan is a small mill town in the northwest part of the Skåne county in the south of Sweden. Way back in time, Klippan was known for their wool production, and later (and to this day) for their paper industry. But they did also leave an indelible mark on Swedish rock history in the late 70s and early 80s when local record label Svenska Pop Fabriken (and their various sublabels) began releasing singles and albums that gained nationwide attention from both media and record buyers. Responsible for the first ever Swedish punk single ”Vårdad klädsel” by Kriminella Gitarrer, they soon added bands like Torsson, Kommissarie Roy, Noise, The Push, and Wilmer X to their roster. Being a very Swedish label, none of the bands (mostly singing in Swedish) are known outside our borders, although Kriminella Gitarrer have indeed earned a belated international reputation as interest in local punk scenes has grown around the world. Most of Svenska Pop Fabriken's output may be called rural rock'n'roll with a strong sense of pop melodicity, but to someone like me who pretty much grew up with in their golden era 1978-1985, their legendary status is carved in stone.
However, Svenska Pop Fabriken's history goes further back in time to the music association Bombadill who took the homegrown music very seriously. Not only did Bombadill function as a local network for the bands, Bombadill also built their own studio. Plenty of recordings were made there from the mid 70s and on. One album and a couple of cassettes of Bombadill recordings were released at the time. Although Klippan is best known for the pop/rock of Svenska Pop Fabriken, a few of those early bands and artists represented a more progressive and experimental style.
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| Tors Hammare: Ska du med på disco |
Tors Hammare went through several line-up
changes, but important members in their fledgling days were Örjan
Mjörnheden (guitars, vocals), Svenn Kruse (guitars, vocals) and
Christian Brandt (percussion, violin). The so called Mk I only ever
released one official track, ”Vägen till Valhall”, on the first
Bombadill cassette. It's a surprisingly heavy, guitar infused, folk tinged instrumental, as was the five-part suite ”Ska du
med på disco”. Among their true confessed heroes were Träd, Gräs Och Stenar and similar bands, plus the latin rock of most prominently
Santana. There's strong psychedelic overtones with wailing wah-wah
leads on the shambolic ”Hästen” as well as on their slightly revamped take on Träd, Gräs Och Stenar's ”Sommarlåten”.
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| Tors Hammare: Demo 1 |
The Santana influence grew stronger when Kruse and Brandt left the band, as proven by a surviving 1980 demo by Tors Hammare Mk II, but the demo also shows they developed a stronger grip of their progressive ambitions as on ”Myrornas flykt” and ”Nattens drottning”.
Meanwhile, Svenn Kruse and Christian Brandt made their own recordings in the Bombadill studio. Judging by those, they were the real avantgarde force of Tors Hammare Mk I. Their joint recording ”Kretsloppet” mixes field recordings, electronics and tiny slices of more organized music – it's almost like a nine minute condensate of Thomas Mera Gartz's ”Luftsånger”. ”Vernissagemusik del 1” (=”music for an exhibition”) is based around an extended organ drone before turning into a summery piece for acoustic guitar and synthesizer. A second part of ”Vernissagemusik” was recorded as Heta Drömmar (=”hot dreams”), which is pretty close to the lyricism of Anna Själv Tredje. The lyrical side also comes to the fore on ”Hjortronguld”, a 27 minute piece with guitar and violin, while their Träd, Gräs Och Stenar admiration is obvious on their very strange cover of ”Sanningens silverflod” with sped-up vocals similar to those on Kebnekajse's debut and Mikael Ramel's first album, a trick also used on Svenn Kruse's solo recording ”Tomtar på loftet”.
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| Christin Brandt & Svenn Kruse: Vernissagemusik 1 |
Other short Kruse tracks further emphasized his infatuation with Swedish folk progg and psychedelia – ”Svens psykedeliska ögonblick” (=”Sven's psychedelic moment”) gives it away already in the title, while ”Säkkijärven polka” (a Finnish tune popular in Sweden at the time) sounds like some lost demo från Kenny Håkansson's ”Springlekar och gånglåtar” album.
When Tors Hammare transformed into Mk 3
in the early 80s, they had lost just about all of their original
underground charm. They got better at playing for sure, but their
watered down takes on ska, funk and fusion simply suggests a band
without a vision. They really could have used Brandt's and Kruse's experimental spirit.
There's also an 'all-star' recording of several Bombadill artists coming together as The Bombadill Chosen Few, "Latino Blasfemia" that mixes latin with Swedish folk.
All these recordings (and more) have thankfully been digitzed for the Bandcamp age. Although a lot of the music is admittedly sloppy, it has a youthful energy and explorative desire. More importantly, it reveals a part of the local Klippan scene that has previously been only fond memories in the minds of those who were there, but only tales and legends to those who weren't. It adds several fascinating pieces to the ever so nebulous jigsaw puzzle called Swedish progg.
Bandcamp links:
Tors Hammare
Vägen till Valhall / Ska du med på disco - Svit i fem delar / Hästen / Sommarlåten / Vinternatt i Klagshamn / Demo 1 full album playlist
Christian Brandt & Svenn Kruse
Vernissagemusik del 1 / Kretsloppet
Heta Drömmar
Vernissagemusik del 2 / Hjortronguld / Sanningens silverflod / Tomtar på loftet
Svenn Kruse
Hymn / Svens psykedeliska ögonblick / Säkkijärven polka / Långt ute
The Bombadill Chosen Few
Latino Blasfemia
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