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In Words: Kaipa



- Hans Lundin - June 2007 - Claudia Ehrhardt -


www.kaipa.info








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Hans Lundin - June 2007 (by email)




Kaipa started in the 1970's and is well-known in the art rock and progressive scene - especially since they came back a few years ago. One member from the past was Roine Stolt who became even more known for his work with The Flower Kings and Transatlantic. Now he left and a new chapter begins. Time to talk to Hans Lundin!


Why did Roine Stolt is no longer part of Kaipa?

When I decided to record Notes From The Past 2000 I asked Roine, if he would like to play guitar on the album. After Notes we recorded two more albums together and I think we both realized after a while that we wanted the music to go in different directions. It was not constructive and finally it became an unpleasant environment for both of us, so we decided to go separate ways. Roine wanted to concentrate on Flower Kings and his solo projects and I was able to invite Per Nilsson to play guitar in Kaipa. I think his playing has really brought some new and fresh air into our music.

How much work was it to put together the bonus CDs with demos, etc for The Decca Years?

During the summer of 2004 I started to investigate the contents of some boxes that contained old tapes from the 70's. Several of these tapes contained mono recordings made with many overdubs and really poor sound quality. But I found one tape containing the very first recording with the original Kaipa line-up recorded during the summer of 1974. This was a two channel stereo recording recorded with the lowest possible speed 9.5 cm/ sec. We were poor musicians and needed to save money, and this was only a demo made for our own purpose to make it possible to listen to what we were doing. When I put on this tape I was surprised, because it contained songs that I didn't recognize immediately. It took me several listens before my memory opened up. Suddenly I was transferred back to our rehearsal room in 1974. I can still remember exactly where in the room I was sitting and the stereo recording is documenting our places in the room perfectly. The music on this recording gave me a feeling that at this moment we had much more in common with Swedish bands like Fläsket Brinner and Kebnekajse than with foreign progressive rock bands. When I played the songs for Ingemar and Tomas one year later, they had exactly the same feeling. We make mistakes, but were filled with fervour and believe totally in what were doing. It's a true documentary of how we sounded at the very first beginning except from the poor sound quality. At this moment we were not afraid of trying anything and so consequently we also really wanted to sing in second harmonies, but we didn't manage to make it all the way as you can hear in some places in the songs. Most of these vocal ideas were reduced when we recorded the first album and I think it's a pity, because sometimes we managed to make it sound the way we intended.
Only two of the songs from this recording were used on our first album, recorded one year later. The arrangements were in some places drastically changed and excluded some parts I think were really interesting. The rest of the songs were gradually exchanged in favour of new compositions during the following year.


Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry - a melodic death metal band - is the new one. How come that he joined Kaipa?

We are old friends and worked together recording the album Hagen: Corridors Of Time in the late 90's. I told him after the release of Notes From The Past in 2002 that I wanted him to be in a stand-by mode as the guitar player in Kaipa. I invited him to be a permanent member of Kaipa during the autumn of 2005. It has been very constructive and pleasant to work with Per. Except for being an extremely talented musician (like all the other members of Kaipa), he is also very open-minded and not afraid of trying anything unexpected.

How much influence has his guitar play on the new songs?

All the songs are written by me, but I think his solos are really great and very melodic, sometimes like a song within the song.

The album title is Angling Feelings. Why? What does it mean for you?

Like on the two previous Kaipa albums the original artwork is made by Jan Ternald. This time I decided to use this special artwork before I started to write the songs for the album. The title track is directly inspired by the artwork.

What inspires you? Musically? Lyrically?

Writing music is like being on a journey where you don't know what's waiting around the corner. Sometimes you take a short trip and sometimes you go for a long ride. On the previous album Mindrevolutions the title track is 26 minutes. I never decide in advance what to do. This time I found a lot of beauty, pleasure and joy and transformed it into music and mostly I tried to avoid the darker sides.

Is there a song on Angling Feelings which has a special meaning for you?

Listen to the lyrics in the song The Glorious Silence Within. With this song I try to describe in words the feeling I reach inside when I write a song. It's fascinating to find all these notes coming from somewhere in a silence within me finally forming a brand new identity. I also think this song is a very good introduction into the Kaipa music as it contains most of the characteristic elements we are using in our music.

Since your comeback the band is a studio project. Any chance that with the new line-up will play some shows? Or will it always be limited to the studio?

Kaipa is strictly a recording project and we have never played live with the 2000 version of Kaipa so far.

And what's next on your schedule?

Some promotion for the new album and then I'll just relax in 'the glorious silence within' and wait for inspiration to write new music.


Thanks to Hans to give a us a little look behind the scenes of Kaipa and I guess it won’t take too long until Mr. Lundin starts writing again.



Claudia Ehrhardt

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