CLASSIC ROCK NEWS GROUP 2003
By Chris Lambert

JIM JIDHED

Ever since I heard that fabulous debut album from Alien, I have been a fan of Jim Jidhed. The man seemed to have been disappeared from the globe, but thanks to workaholic Tommy Denander he's now back on track with a solo album, that shows all his qualities. Together with Jim, I traced his whole musical career so far.

 I know Tony Borg asked you to join Alien in 1986, but what have you been doing (musically) before that?

    I started to play in bands when I was 11 and I did so during my teen years. I worked as a youth councilor and that also included a lot of music. I did this until I started to work professionally around 85-86. Actually I started to play live in 1984 and even wrote a musical right before I joined Alien which was actually in 1987 and not in 1986.

 How did Tony convince you to join Alien?

    Tony asked me and I told him I would join them for a demo, but I never promised how long I would stay in the group. That demo got us the record contract with Virgin.

 Alien's debut album - which saw the light of day in 1988 - is generally considered as the band's best. It's now 15 years oldand as far as I'm concerned it stood the test of time. How do you look back at it yourself?

    When I look back at it now, I don't really think that much about it, to be honest. It was a fun thing to have done, especially playing so much around Sweden like we did for a big audience. Other than that, I really don't think much about it.

 1988 was a hectic period in your life. The album and the single "Only One Woman" were very successful, you married Marie and your son Robin was born. Just prior to touring the US (and Japan) you decided to leave the band. That must have been a difficult decision?

    Yes it was, I felt everything was spinning faster and faster, I was losing grips of myself and the things around me. There had been a meeting about the US and Japanese release with longer tours away from home and I didn't want to do that.

 How did the other band members respond to your withdrawal?

    Of course they were sad and disappointed, cause we were close friends and had a lot of fun together, but I had to make that choice.

 In 1990 your first solo album "Jim" was released by Virgin. How important was Ole Evenrude's input?

    It was really big and he was really passionate about this music. He brought a lot of energy to it and was very important for that album.

 I liked the "Jim" album a lot and to be honest I was a little disappointed that its follow-up was in Swedish. Was that because of your participation to the qualifying competition for the Eurovision Song Festival contest?

    The reason for the Swedish album? It just happened, we had been in Denmark working on a soul album and for some reason the label decided to bring the project back to Sweden. I don't know if it was due to budgets or what? Then the question if I wanted to sing in the Eurovision thing came up and since that turned out really good, it was an obvious choice to do the album in Swedish, but when I look back, I think the whole thing was a little stressed, especially with the lyrics.

 What was the title of this Swedish album and what kind of material did it contain?

    It was just called "Jim Jidhed" and had typical pop music of the time.

 I believe one track of that album became a big Swedish hit, didn't it?

    That's true, the song "Kommer Du Ihåg Mig" that I competed with in the Eurovision contest was a big hit and it's still getting played often on the radio over here.

 In spite of the success, you lost your deal with Virgin. How come?

    Like I remember it, in the spring I was in the Eurovision contest and had the hit and in the fall I lost the contract. Virgin was bought by EMI and in the restructuring of the company I was deleted, so to speak.

 In the mid 90's you signed a new record deal, but it didn't work out. What went wrong?

    We just had different views on what it should sound like, so I closed the project.

 Throughout the years you kept in touch with Tony Borg and at some moment the two of you even started a new project, called Westcoast. Can you tell us something more about it? Why haven't we seen any output of this project (so far)?

    It was a project that Tony started that was based on typical American westcoast music. We were out playing live with it for 2-3 years which was a lot of fun cause the songs are so great. And the reason nothing more happened, was because we got busy with so many other things. We never had any real plans to record an album with it.

 In 1997 you entered the Swedish qualifying competition for the Eurovision Song Festival for the second time, but this time it was less successful. Why did you enter again? Were you hoping for a new commercial success?

    Not really, of course you always hope for it in a competition like this, but I had no plan to sing it myself, I just wrote the song and had a different kind of voice in mind, but couldn't find the right singer for it, so I had to do it myself.

 To survive the last decade or so, you played in cover bands. Can you name some of these bands? What kind of material did you play?

    I haven't played in so many different cover bands during the 90's, we had one band that started back in the 80's with a few good friends, but I did guest spots with many other bands over the years, but not as a member.

 Two years ago you started a music school of your own in Gothenburg. What kind of work are you doing there?

    It's mostly been to teach guitar and singing, it's going forward and I have now hired a guitar teacher so I can focus more on the vocal teaching myself. I plan to include keyboard courses soon as well, so we'll see how it goes.

 Tommy Denander asked you to guest on his first Radioactive album. Did you know him at the time?

    Not at that time, we got to know each other over many phone calls during that period and I agreed to sing one song on his album plus a song for Sayit's album that he was producing as well.

 Which brings us to your brand-new solo album "Full Circle". If we have to point out one person as the instigator for this album, it has to be Tommy Denander. How did he get the ball rolling again?

    After I had guested on his album, he was asked by a few labels if he thought that I would be interested in doing an album again, but at the time I wasn't. It wasn't until January last year when I played some old song to Tommy and he was very excited about the material, he said that we had to make an album of these songs and that's how it all started.

 And how did you get the deal with Magnum Söderkvist's Atenzia label?

    Two or three days after Tommy and I decided to start working on these songs, Magnus called him to see if he had any cool projects going that would be of interest for his new label Atenzia, and Tommy told him about me which sounded perfect for them and we quickly agreed on a deal.

 Not all of the 13 songs on "Full Circle" are new. Can you tell us what songs are the old ones and how you have selected them?

    The old ones are "Someday", "Wish You Were Here", "Playing With My Heart" and "Now We Cry". I think those are all the old ones from the early 90's. "Someday" and "Playing With My Heart" were actually on my Swedish album, but I always intended to do them in English like this. Like I told you, the Swedish album was done really quick and I was never really happy with the versions. This time I wanted to do them right.

 "Lost Angels" was presented to you by Magnus and it's one penned by Steve Perry & Clif Magness. Did you try to sing it like Steve Perry? (What I mean is that your voice is very similar to his).

    I've heard this a lot over the years. We have simular points in our voices and I decided to stay very true to Steve's demo that we got, I never tried to make it different or more of my own style. In the 80's I had a period where I was very influenced by him and thought it could be fun to do this very close to how he did it and of course since our voices are simular, it sounds even closer on this.

 Another special song is the title track "Full Circle". What's it all about?

    The song is written in good spirit, with a little humour. I was thinking one night about the fact that "I was back in the game again" and just wrote a song about this whole situation.

 The last song on the album is written for your wife "Marie". Is she happy with this "present"?

    Yes, she is!

 A lot of famous musicians are guesting on the album, but not all the ones that you and Tommy Denander had wished for, were available. Who couldn't join and why?

    There were some cool guests like Bobby Kimball and Jason Scheff, but time wasn't on our side as they were on tours etc. I met Bobby in Gothenburg and we talked about it, but then he got busy. There were a few more, but you have to ask Tommy who they were and what happened, they're friends of him.

 There wouldn't have been an album if Tommy Denander wouldn't have been involved. How grateful are you?

    That's very true, at this point in my life I wouldn't have done this album if it hadn't been for Tommy's energy, warmth, joy and musicality, so of course I'm very grateful for this.

 Is this the beginning of a new chapter in your life (solo career)?

    Right now, I really don't know...