ROCK TIME magazine 2001
By Jee Jacquet

Hi Tommy,

- Hello Jee!

1. Can you tell us about your 1st steps in the music before to become a professional ?

- Sure, i started to play guitar in 1973 when i was 5 years old.
For me it was never a matter of having to practice...i just couldn't put the damn thing away:-)
I played with local groups from when i was about 8 and started doing small sessions for friends when i was about 11 or 12!
I always had this dream of becoming a session player but i also wanted to be a rock star like all other kids who where playing music.
I had a very mixed taste in music when i grew up cause i was a huge fan of Kiss and Van Halen but also loved Steely Dan, Santana and Toto.
When i was 14 i joined a Swedish hard rock band called ATC and soon after we got signed to Polygram/Vertigo and recorded our first (and only) album.
The album sold pretty good and i got a reputation in the media as "the kid who could play like Van Halen AND Lukather!", it helped me to start doing sessions and this young age.
After that i spent many years doing sessions in Sweden until i moved to Los Angeles in 1987.
I lived there for 3 years working on films and albums, it was a wonderful time.
I moved back in 1990 and has been working here since then.

2. What are your influences ? The musicians you admire ?

- My first heros were Carlos Santana and Ace Frehley...until a day in 1978 when a friend of mine played me the first albums by Toto and Van Halen!!!
My heart stopped and i actually quit playing guitar for about 3 weeks.
But then i though "what if i practice 10 to 12 hours a day for 10 years, then i should be good ebough to atleast get the chance to record 1 album...it took 4!
I also started playing keyboards very early and has always been a huge fan of grooves, a good groove is a good song to me!, so my influences vary.
For guitar i guess "my" sound is a mix of Van Halen, Lukater, Steve Stevens, Michael Landau and Larry Carlton...through all styles in the air and the mess you find on the floor is me:-)))
But my biggest hero and inspiration has always been Jeff Porcaro (bless his soul), i can't find words to describe how proud i am to have gotten to know him and work with him...but it's so unfair that he passed away too soon.

3. You play several intruments. Guitar was the 1st one you started to learn ? And then ?

- Guitar was first and then piano and synth's, bass was always easy because it's close to guitar.
Eventhough i prefer real drums we often have to use programmed ones due to budget reason and so on so i've gotten pretty good at the programming part.
I also like to create synth sounds from scratch.

4. You got a phenomenal guitar technic. I guess you worked a lot to develop your guitar playing ?

- Thank you...well it takes 3 things to get it - practice, practice and of course practice!!!...talnt doesn't hurt either:-)
There's no way to get there by cheating and unfortunately 99% of the guitarists in the world have no clue what to practice.
They think what made Eddie Van Halen such an incredible lead guitarist is his speed but it's built around rhythm, it's his use of odd rhythms that makes his solos so unique, same with Lukather, he took the bebop grooves of Larry Carlton and played them with a heavier sound and a meaner attitude.
When Yngwie and the following mob of speed freaks came along in the mid 80's it totally ruined the art of playing guitar i think and that's when i decided to stop competing with them and focaus more on writing and producing good albums.
There was just no point to take the guitar any further than what they did cause you can't play more notes faster, they made people tired of hearing guitars.
I've always loved guitarists like Michael Landau cause he can say 10 times more with 1 note than most of these flashy players do, don't get me wrong cause i love to play with flash and speed too...just not all the time.
You gotta learn how to fit your style into music, that's what doing sessions is all about, you gotta play with the music and quickly come up with something that ads to the song but don't steal to much of it, you really learn to listen.

5. When did you start your session-musician career and who are the 1st artists or bands you've worked for ?

- I wouldn't call those first things i played on for friends real sessions cause they were on 4 track demos at home so my first real session was in early 1983 when the owner of the studio we recorded the ATC album in asked me to play on a single he produced for a girl called Yvonne, but before the day for that job came i ended up doing 2 sessions in another studio....can't remember their names though:-)...does this mean i'm getting old?

6. Among all of those artists, who are the ones you enjoyed the most to work with ?

- It's hard to pick among more than 1000 sessions but i have to say working with Jeff Porcaro and the Toto guys in 1991 beats all.
I actually pinched my arm when they were not looking...i just had to do it!

7. You've worked with some of the best american musicians. How did a swedish guy like you get the opportunity to play with them ?

- A question i sometimes ask myself:-)
When i moved to LA i quickly became friends with many of them and i don't mean this in a snobby way but i was a very talented young player and these stars spot that in a second.
One of the things that keep the big guys around for a long time is not only that they perform well but they are also very good at spotting what or who is moving in the upward direction so they make sure to stay close cause othervise the phone will stop ringing.
It's not always easy to stay "hungry" after 100's and 100's of sessions and it's hard to keep up with trends and such.
Doing sessions is not far from the fashoin business....we're just not as beautiful.-))

8. You played for 2 years in a cover band : HORNY STRINGS with Marcel Jacob and Thomas Wickström. When was it and do you remember the songs you were covering ?

- We had this fantastic cover band from 1990 to 1993 and we played songs like Walking In The Shadow Of the Blues, Still Of The Night and Crying In the Rain by Whitesnake, Lots of Kiss, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Rainbow and Dio.
We often read reviews saying that we did these songs better than the originals!!!
It was a lot of fun.

9. Can you tell us how did you meet Ricky Delin and how has been formed PRISONER ?

- I met my brother in crime:-) in England back in 1983 and we become best friends right away.
i spent a lot of time with him in the 80's untill i moved to LA then we lost touch for almost 6 years.
In 1996 he called me and asked if i wanted to play on a track he and Oliver D'Avest were doing for a cool compilation album called Westcoast Radio Hits ROCK, that also featured Fee Waybill, Jay Graydon and many others.
I did a fantastic song called "Confidential" for them and we just decided it was time to start working together.
Pretty soon after we did both the SAYIT and Prisoner albums eventhough they both came out much later.
Prisoner started as an idea i got one day cause back then in 1997 a lot of Swedish hard rock bands were making albums for the Japanese market and most of these albums were quite bad i thought but still they were making some nice money so...
We wrote the whole album in less than 14 days and then recorded it with programmed drums and two other singers.
We felt we had a good album so it was worth paying for a real drummer so we got my friend Johan Koleberg from Lions Share who did a great job.
But then the vocals just didn't feel right so we simply hired Geir and Piere to do it and the band was complete.
We were called BLIND then but when we got signed to Z records he got some negative feedback about the name, they thought it sounded a bit grungy!
Ricky then reminded me of PRISONER, a name we had for a project we were working on with Fergie Frederiksen, that project never happend.

10. Did you formed the band just to prove that you were able to have your own band and that you're not just a session musician ?

- Not really but it's a legit question.
I started out playing in bands and doing sessions on the side but as i got more work with the sessions and also often found that it's too hard to find good people to work with in a band i took the funnier road with sessions.

11. Does PRISONER is your priority among all of the multi-projects you got ? Can we expect a 2nd album ?

- It's definently one of two cause the Rainmaker project that will be released on october 2nd through Z records as well has grown into something VERY cool.
It's me, Geir and Tony Franklin on bass and it's a kick ass hard rock album.
But Prisoner is a "home" that i love and we're working on the follow up right now and i can promise a MUCH better album this time cause for the first album we did it almost like a joke to cash in on the market in Japan - eventhough we got rejected in Japan and signed in England:-))) - and this time we have a budget and a serious plan....this new album will be very good.

12. Why 2 singers in the band ? If there's a tour, which one will come with you ?

- Both me and Ricky love bands like Toto with more than one voice and Piere and Geir are such different singers with Piere being a high pitch singer close to Steve Perry and Geir is maybe closer to David Coverdale.

13. Who's singing on "Blind", "Starry eyes" and "Don't wanna waste…" ?

- That's Geir singing.

14. We like very much "Starry eyes", "Don't wanna waste…", the fantastic instrumental "Millenium". If there's a 2nd PRISONER album, can we expect songs like these ones ?

- Thanks, well the new album will not be much different in style, in fact it'll be a little more towards the melodic side of the first album but without losing the attitude.

15. Do you have some touring plans ? What mean being on stage for you ?

- The only sad thing for me and the band is that i've been pretty ill for a long time and can't tour yet but we are booked to play in Manchester England on the 6th of May next year and my plan is to be there...ready to rock again!
I love playing live and i've done more than 2000 gigs in my life, i've been on big tours all over the world but it's also very tireing to travel that much.
The reason why i love making albums is that they will be around longer than me...the more good albums i make the bigger will make heritage be when i'm gone....and i just feel at home in the studio after all this years.

16. We'd like to know more about your 2 intrumental solo albums on which the musicians of TOTO are playing with you.

- I've actually done 5 solo albums plus one duett album with Bruce Gaitsch call Counterparts.
My first album is LESS IS MORE and it was released in 1995.
It features Jeff, Mike & Steve Porcaro plus David paich on one track i wrote with Jeff and Mike.
The song is called "5492" in memory of Jeff 1954-1992 and is ten minutes long, it was amazing to record it in one first take.
This album is very soft, romantic or sad depending on your mood and there's another version on it only released in Asia in 1997 with 3 other tracks.
My second album is SKELETON also released in 1995.
This is like a soundtrack without a movie!, i wrote this horror story in Stephen King style (but far from as good!) for the booklet and the songs follow the story like a soundtrack.
It's a rockier and pretty progresive album.
In 1997 i released LIMITED ACCESS with a couple of songs from LESS IS MORE and SKELETON plus a bunch of new ones.
It's made in a limited edition of 500 numbered and signed copies.
The same year i released GUITAR CZAR in Romania!...a special edition album with songs from all the first 3.
I have songs recorded for 2 new solo albums and i will release a new one early next year through Angelynn records in USA.
And in 1999 my album with Bruce Gaitsch was released, it also features Bill Champlin on vocals.
Bruce is actually here in the middle of september to visit again and we will have our new CD out next year as well.

17. In 1996, you've released the RADIOACTIVE project, still with the guys of TOTO but also with Andy Enklund (HOUSE OF SHAKIRA) on vocals. It's hard to find this album. Tell us a little more about the musical style of RADIOACTIVE.

- It's not really correct.
In 1996 a great Swedish journalist, Janne Stark, put together this fantastic book about the Swedish hard rock history called Encyclopedia Of Swedish Hard Rock & Heavy Metal 1970-96.
In the book there was a CD with unreleased songs from Europe, 220 Volt, Electric Boys, Yngwie Malmsteen and others and Janne asked if i had any unreleased songs from ATC or so and i told him that the only thing i have is song with TOTO that i'm not gonna use on my RADIOACTIVE album.
It's the only song so far that's been released under the RADIOACTIVE name and i recently signed this ince in a life time project to MTM and is right now putting it together after 9 years.
A first taste comes in october on the new MTM sampler, i have a song called "On My Own" on it and it feature Fergie Frederiksen on lead vocals!!!
It's not the final mix of the songs but it's ok.
So the RADIOACTIVE album will be out early next year and it features and amazing list of guests like -
Jeff Porcaro, Mike Porcaro; Steve Porcaro, David Paich, David Hungate, Bobby Kimball, Joseph Williams, Fergie Frederiksen , Jason Scheff, Fee Waybill, Michael Thompson, Michael Landau, David Garfield, Vince DiCola, Randy Goodrum, Dann Huff, Bruce Gaitsch, Greg Guidry, Janey Clewer, Richard Marx and more!!!!!!

18. As you know lots of famous musicians, you could have been signed on a major company maybe. You are on Z.Records. Do you think it's better for you to work with a small label than a bigger one ?

- I was signed to SONY with RADIOACTIVE and i hated it!!!
If i was a cute 17 year old singer who wanted to be a rock star sure!...but big company politics are awful and they are the reason why so many people are bitter in this business.
I couldn't be happier than i am right now cause i've got RADIOACTIVE signed to MTM which is perfect, and the SAYIT and TALK OF THE TOWN albums are signed to AOR HEAVEN and they do a good job and i have PRISONER and RAINMAKER signed with Mark Alger and Z records who i believe is the best label in Europe right now.
Just recently they've signed Von Groove, Enuff 's enuff, 21 Guns with Scott Gorham and i know more is coming.
I've found a home with Z records and i wouldn't change for anything.

19. You've produced THE WAYS OF THE WORLD, the new TALK OF THE TOWN on which you play guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and you wrote most of the songs. You seem to be very much involved in this album. May we say that TALK OF THE TOWN is, like PRISONER, your band ? Don't you think people can be lost with all those things you're doing ?

- I was asked to join TALK OF THE TOWN for this album but said no, i understand if people get that impression cause i did more on their new album than i've done on my own albums!!!
I was involved with the group when they started and i wrote many songs for what was meant to be their second album 10 years ago but then the band broke up and i was always sad about never getting to record with them.
So when Antonio called me about doing this new CD i was very happy.
It just happend that i did so much, it wasn't really planned, they liked my work and songs so...
But i'm not a member of the band.

20. How did you come to production ?

- I've been just as interested in the whole recording process so the dreams of owning my own studio was there from an early age.
i never really thought that i would be known as a producer but it's grown quickly in the last 4-5 years and i'm getting more and bigger offers all the time.
I'm not sure if i'll produce that much in the future cause it takes so much time and the preasure is sometimes too big.
I'll do some but be selective, the same goes for all this project albums.
Starting next year i'll do fewer albums where i'm involved in so many areas.

21. PRISONER is one of the best Z.Records bands and you don't even play at the Z Festival. What's the reason of it ? Any chance to see you at the Gods Festival in Wigan, UK, next november ?

- See above:-))

22. In october, the RAINMAKER project will be released. Geir Rönning, who is the PRISONER singer, is also singing on RAINMAKER. May we expect something near the PRISONER style or is it something totally different ?

- It's very different.
It's much heavier but still with melodies so i think all fans of Prisoner will (hopefully) dig it.
I think it's like a mix of Black Sabbath, Toto, Whitesnake and Pink Floyd!!!

23. What are your next projects as a musician, writer or producer ?

- Right now i'm mixing Rainmaker and finishing the new Sayit album, after that it's Radioactive and the new Prisoner album and after that we start writing for several albums planned for next year.
I'm involved with Lion Share's new album plus doing the cover for their new compilation CD.
Among other thing i like to do covers, i did the first Sayit album and the new Talk Of The Town album....it's just a hobby.
I just released a single with a very talented English/Swedish girl called JESSA SLATTER called "Angel" through my own little label.
More or less i'm involved in about 20 albums right now!!!

24. What are the bands or artists you enjoy to listen to at the moment?

- Hard to say cause i have little time to listen to anything else than what i'm working on.
But i stay in touch with what's happening through MTV and other music channels, there's actually a lot of new music coming that i like, it seems that the qualite is coming back after the horrible 90's.
Let's just hope that people bring back westcoast and AOR to the bigger stage again cause it's too good to be ignorded.
Thanks
Tommy

© Jee Jacquet