ON THE ROCKS (Germany) 2002
By Marco Spaeth

FREDRIK BERGH (Street Talk)

STREET TALK - Fredrik Bergh - Successfully Restorated

How do you feel now that the new album is done? Totally exhausted due to the hard work or pleased and proud of the result?

Fredrik Bergh: “I was pretty exhausted right after we finished the recordings, but after a few days everything was cool... HA HA! It was a pretty intense recording as always… Regarding the finished result, I’m very pleased with the new album and personally I think it’s easily the best Street Talk release yet!”

How much time of work have you put into the new album for songwriting, recording, etc?

“I guess I slowly started to write material for the album during the second half of 2000 and I wrote material on and off until we hit the studio in February 2002… So you can say the songwriting/pre-production process was pretty long… And when we finally hit the studio the album took around eight weeks to record.”

What is the meaning behind the album title "Restoration"?

“The title is a symbol of the evolution that’s been going on within Street Talk during the last two years. And it symbolises the restoration of Street Talk You know, new label, a couple of new members involved in Street Talk and so on.”

Where did you record the new songs?

“95 % of the new album was recorded and mixed at the Sound-creation studios, Bollnäs, Sweden with myself as the producer. And then I recorded some parts of the new album in my homestudio called Hill Studios, also in Bollnäs, Sweden. Hugo’s vocals were recorded at the Multi-sound studios in New York City where I worked during 2001, and Kimmo, Erkka and Tuomo from Urban Tale does some harmony vocals on one song and those parts were recorded at the Arabia studios, Helsinki, Finland… Tommy Denander also guest appears with some clean "spacy" guitar parts on two songs that he recorded at his studio The Hit Men, Stockholm, Sweden… And last but not least the totally amazing vocalist Frank Adahl (Marie Fredriksson, Randy Crawford, Mikael Rickfors, Titiyo etc.) is doing all the backing vocals on the ballad "My Heart Beats For You" which I wrote with Hugo. Frank is the voice of "Simba" the Lion king here in the Swedish version of the Walt Disney movie "The lion king" … Frank recorded his vocals at Dale Studio, Bonassund, Sweden.”

"Restoration" features the talents of Hugo Valenti. Why did you choose him as singer for the new record and how did you get in contact with him?

“I first got in touch with Hugo when I was living in New York City during seven months in 2001. It started with that I gave Hugo a copy of the 2nd Street Talk cd "Transition" and after listening to the album Hugo became a big fan of Street Talk, which I thought was very cool since I’ve been a big fan of Hugo since I heard him ten years ago in Open Skyz/Valentine! We hung out when I was in the states and with a mutual respect for each other we decided to work together on the forthcoming third Street Talk album. Hugo is really exited about participating on the new Street Talk album and he’s pleased with the way the album turned out…I think we will work together more in the future both with Street Talk and other projects as well.”

Why is Hugo singing on 2 songs only?

“From the beginning Hugo was supposed to sing on a couple of more songs on the album, but as he’s a very busy guy with his own company, family and his own music and the Journey tribute thing we decided that two songs would be the realistic thing to do as he was over in New York and the rest of us were in Sweden recording! But I’m very happy that we could write some stuff together and that he’s singing on two very cool songs on the album!”

Did Göran Edman and Hugo decide which songs they want to sing on or did you make this decision for them?

“Well, it was a pretty natural progression. For starters I sent out the first five or six songs I had written to Göran so he could start to work on lyrics for those songs…And shortly after that I wrote the ballad "My heart beats for you" together with Hugo. And when I had written "Why is my heart feeling lonely tonight" together with Erkka and Kimmo from Urban Tale I felt that that Journey-ish song would be great for Hugo to sing! So Göran sang on "his" eight songs and Hugo sang on those two "chosen" tracks…It was as simple as that!”

Did you play with the idea to record a duet with Göran and Hugo? I think "Tables Turning" would have been a perfect song for a duet...

“No, I never thought about a duet between Göran and Hugo…But it would have been cool to try a, you know Perry/Rolie like duett on a couple of tunes…. Yeah, Tables Turning would have been a cool song….maybe next time!”

I think the new album - in particular the first couple of songs - moves in a little rockier direction than its predecessors. Was it a natural development or did you plan this before starting with "Restoration"?

“Yes, It was my plan to write more uptempo material for this album, absolutely!”

I know you have been in the USA a couple of months ago. What did you do there and did your time in the USA have any influence on the new album?

“Yes, that’s right, I lived in New York City during seven months in 2001. I worked at a recording studio there called the Multi-sound group. I worked as an assistant engineer at the studio and I also did some session work as well during my time in New York. Yes, I think my time there influenced me a lot when it comes to my music. It’s a very inspiring city to be in if you’re a musician or an artist…I made lots of new good friends there as well and I hung out with a lot of cool musicians!”

For the new album you had a little help from some well-known friends: URBAN TALE, Tommy Denander, Jim Jidhed... and Peter Broman from AMAZE ME. How was it working with them and how did these cooperations develop?

“Well Marco, I can tell you that they were all cool to work with! I can tell you the separate stories of each song when I worked with Urban Tale, Denander/Jidhed/Delin and Peter Broman from Amaze Me….
"In The Arms Of Love" - During the writing and recording of the new album I wanted to try out how it was to write with some outside writers. I had known Tommy for some time and I asked him if he and Jim Jidhed (amazing Swedish vocal god) wanted to write some lyrics/melodies to my music that I had written/arranged for "In the arms of love" already. So I sent them my finished music and they later on sent me some rough vocal melodies they had worked on…I liked some of the melodies they had written, but I changed a lot of the melodies myself until I was pleased with them…So you can say that they got the vocal parts of the song started, and I finished the work….And of course Ricky Delin wrote the lyrics to that song as well… This was a tough song to write with all the different people involved…But I think it turned out pretty good after all…
"Dancer In The Rain" - I originally wrote this song together with Peter Broman, the brain behind the Swedish band Amaze Me. The song was called "Till the end of time" originally, but then Göran stepped in and re-structured the lyrics and the melodies and I think Göran turned a great song into a real masterpiece with his adjustments…
"Forever By Your Side" and "Why Is My Heart Feeling Lonely Tonight" - The first time I heard of the band Urban Tale was sometime in 2001…After reading a lot of great reviews of their debut album I got curious and had to check out their album. And after listening to it I really dug their material…So in 2002 during the writing of "Restoration" I felt that I wanted to write some of the new songs with some outside writers as I had written about 90% of all the material on the previous Street Talk albums. So I simply got in touch with Erkka (UT Guitarplayer) and asked if he and Kimmo (UT Singer) was interested in writing some material with me…and they were exited about it from day one. I had the music written and arranged for these two tracks already and I asked them if they wanted to contribute with lyrics…and I think they came up with some really cool stuff!”

I love the songs "Give Me A Reason", "Hare And Hounds" and "Tables Turning". Is there any song on the new album that you are especially proud of?

“I would say you have good taste Marco…ha ha ha! Well….my fave tracks from the album would be: “Hare and Hounds”,“Tables Turning”, “Dancer In The Rain” and “Why Is My Heart Feeling Lonely Tonight”… But I’m pleased with more or less the entire CD… Easily the best one we’ve done if you ask me…”

"Collaboration" was out on USG, "Transition" was released by AOR Heaven and "Restoration" comes out on MTM. Seems you are a restless guy when it comes to contracts with record companies!?

“Ha Ha Ha! Well…firstly USG went out of business so that’s why I didn’t continue with them…. And for the "Transition" album I only signed a one album deal with Point Music with no further options, so you really can’t say I left that label…my deal was only for "Transition"… Regarding MTM I’ve had only heard good things about the label during the years…so I got in touch with them and we decided to work together with this album…They are very pleased with the new album and they say it’s one of the best MTM releases in the history of the label. MTM and SPV distribution have "Restoration" as a high priority release…so I hope it will do well in Europe!”

What about playing live with STREET TALK? Any plans?

“We haven’t been playing live for a long long time and we have no concrete plans for a tour at this moment…but I hope we can go out on tour in support of "Restoration"… Or at least I hope we will be able to play at some melodicrock festivals or something… Any offers?”

What about your website? Seems the last update is a looooooooooooooong time ago!?

“I know, I know… I’m very sorry about that and we’re working on a new updated version of the site as we speak…it will be online very soon!!! I hope all our fans will enjoy the new website!”

(C) ON THE ROCK.DE