AORWEBSITE 2002
By Nicky Baldrian

FREDRIK BERGH - STREET TALK
 

Fredrik Bergh was born in the small town of BOLLNÄS on February 13th 1972. The town is located in the middle of Sweden and Frederik still lives their to this day. 
Fredrik started performing the violin at the tender age of nine, and after taking private violin lessons for about a year he switched over to the trumpet at the age of ten.. " to be honest" says Fredrik, "I wasn't too thrilled about playing those instruments....but I did it anyway, but when I turned into a teenager in 1985 I got hooked on rock music and picked up the guitar...and at that time I also slowly started to write my own material for the first time...."
He took lessons for a while on all those instruments "I also played in different orchestras" recalls Fredrik "but I did more or less teach myself how to play the guitar and later on I also started to play the keyboards"
Fredrik's first recordings go way back to the golden year of rock 1987, a triumphant year with many fine releases from Def Leppard's mega selling "Hysteria" to classic albums from Tommy Shaw, Autograph, Stan Bush, Dokken and of course the mutli million self titled Whitesnake album.
Fredrik's first bands were called Damage and Forceline which played AOR, then he joined a group called Rising which featured members of TAD MOROSE.
In 1992  he formed a band called "SHAPE". Shape recorded a bunch of demos which at the time was nominated best demo of the month in Kerrang magazine who awarded Shape 4 KKKK's.
Shape eventually went on to record one track with Alien guitar player Tony Borg for an Indy Swedish compilation back in 1994, and between 1995 and the release of "Collaboration" Fredrik recorded numerous demos including a cover of "Separate Ways" originally performed by our beloved Journey. 
In 1994, Fredrik began laying down the foundations for the debut Street Talk CD "Collaboration" which would finally surface in 1997. Concentrating on songwriting, he bought in ex Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Goran Edman to handle the vocals along side singer Daniel Jonsson.
"Collaboration" was released on the now defunct USG records and received healthy support from the melodic rock press which then led to the production of a second Street Talk CD called "Transition" which was released via Point Music in Germany, and once again featured Goran Edman.

"It was really simple to appraoch Goran" explains Fredrik "I just gave him a phone call asking him if he would be interested in doing the vocals on a couple of songs on the debut album....and after hearing a couple of demo songs Göran accepted the offer to participate on the album....I'm happy to have been working together with the guy for three albums now....he's a great guy!"

The word about the "Transition" material spread like wild fire and Street Talk soon became firm favourites with the European AOR fans with some press calling the album an "AOR fans wet dream"
The exposure of this albums success bought them to the attention of top Swedish label MTM, who have just issued the bands brand new album called "Restoration". The album continues where "Transition" left off, only this is even more classy and glorious. One interesting point about "Restoration" is Fredrik's collaboration with the legendary singer Hugo (yes he of Valentine and Open Skyz).
Hugo sings on two tracks, namely the soothing Steve Perry tinted harmonies of "My Heart Beats For You" and the upbeat hooky AOR goldness of "Why Is My Heart Feeling Lonely Tonight", two lush songs which all Journey fans will love to bits.

"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 sent 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 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 hope we can work together more in the future both with Street Talk and other projects as well.
Also both Hugo and Goran are involved in the writing of the new material. Göran and I have co-written six songs together and I think those tracks are very strong. And together with Hugo I wrote the beautiful ballad "My heart beats for you".

And that's not the only guests on the new Street Talk album, Swedish guitarist Tommy Denander (Prisoner/Toto/Radioactive) appears on the two tracks with Hugo, making these two songs something in the realm of a supergroup idea, and it works magically.
And with guests from Kimmo Blom and Erkka Korhonen of the much loved Finnish AOR sensations Urban Tale, Street Talk have once again released a highly professional quality album and one which is gloriously topped with superb musicians and songs.

I wanted this album to blow away the previous two and I think I achieved that, big melodies and harmonies combined with great musical performances....I'm very pleased with the way this album turned out....I really hope the melodic rock fans will dig this album.
On "Restoration" I wrote 100% of the music and I let others take care of the lyrics....I did this to make the album different compared to "Collaboration" and "Transition" where I had written 90% of all the music and the lyrics... I wanted to bring in some outside influences this time around and I am very happy with the result! Here's the track by track thing Göran and I did for the Japanese booklet of "Restoration" and Göran tells the story of the lyrics of his songs..... :

1 GIVE ME A REASON
Göran: The art of trust contrary blindfolded love a thin line between heaven and hell when paranoia enters a relationship between two people.
Fredrik: One of the last songs recorded for the new album. Until this point of the recording I felt that we didn't have the ultimate opening track written for the album and it did bother me a little bit....but as soon as I have written the music to this "rocker" and when I heard Görans vocals and lyrics I knew we had the opening track....I had been listening to a lot of old Thin Lizzy and John Sykes during a period when I wrote the music for this track....A great way to open the new album!

2 HARE AND HOUNDS
Goran: If you are trying to be everybody's friend everyone will become your enemy. Hypocrisy runs deep in the soil of our society. To close our eyes and pretend not to see is also a form of hypocrisy.
Fredrik: Very melodic song with a lot of catchy hooks....Brilliant lyrics and vocal performance from Göran as usual. The Street Talk guitarist Sven Larsson really shines on this track as well....brilliant lead guitar work....One of the first songs written for the album.....I really dig this song and it's one of my top five fave tracks on the album....

3 LANGUAGE OF LOVE
Göran: Religious fanaticism is a problem to the world and the Federal Nations. The victims are the civilians that are held as hostages in their own country forced to defend it or escape unable to return.
Fredrik: Uptempo hardrocker with a very cool spaced out "Pink floyd-ish" vocalstick in the middle of the song....I worked a lot on the keyboardsounds and arrangements during the recording of this track, and I think there are some cool retro-sounding keyboards in this song....I feel this is a very strong track with brilliant melodies! The Vocal harmonies in the chorus reminds me a little bit of the band Queen....

4 TABLES TURNING
Göran: I guess its about breaking up. Escape. The past will always catch up so always be on the move. No rest for the wicked.
Fredrik: As usual I wrote the music for this song and Göran wrote the lyrics. When Göran first sang this song to me in the studio it really gave me chills up my spine....the hairs stood up on my arms!....It is such a beautiful song and the lyrics are really moving. Sven is doing a very cool solo in the song as well....I can hear strong influences from the band "The Eagles" in the way he plays the amazing guitarsolo..... One of my absolute fave tracks on "Restoration".

5 DANCER IN THE RAIN
Göran: If you can bare the pain it´s always a good start. Face the enemy. Have faith. Nothing can hurt you anymore.
Fredrik: I originally wrote this song together with Swedish songwriter 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....The verses and the pre-chorus are very atmospheric and almost mystical....but then all of a sudden the song develops into this ultra catchy chorus! That's pretty cool turn in the song I think.....One of my favourite tracks on the album.....

6 A PLACE IN THE SUN
Göran: Life is just too short. No time for sorrow. Still gravitation keeps pulling us down whenever we try to fly.
Fredrik: Uptempo hard rock tune with a lot of energy in the musical performances....I can hear some Beatles/Oasis influences in the way Göran sings during the choruses....One of the first songs recorded for the album....Brilliant guitar playing by ace player Sven Larsson! 

7 MY HEART BEATS FOR YOU
Fredrik: This is the first track I wrote together with the New York based singer Hugo (ex. Valentine, Open Skyz). I wrote the music and Hugo wrote the lyrics to this beautiful ballad. I first got in touch with Hugo when I was living in New York City during 7 months in 2001. It started with that I sent 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 10 years ago in Open Skyz/Valentine! So with a mutual respect for each other we decided to work together on the forthcoming third Street Talk album and Hugo is really exited about the album.....This song was recorded at four different studios.... 95% of the music were recorded at the Sound-creation studios, Bollnas, Sweden and Hugo's vocals were recorded at the Multi-sound studios, New York City (the studio i worked at during 7 months 2001). Also appearing on the song is Tommy Denander (Radioactive). He's a friend of mine and I thought it would be cool if he wanted to guest on this song....so he plays some cool tasty clean guitar parts during the song and his guitars are recorded at his studio "the hit men" in Stockholm, Sweden....Also guesting on the song is the totally amazing vocalist Frank Adahl (Marie Fredriksson, Randy Crawford, Mikael Rickfors, Titiyo etc....etc....) He is doing all the backing vocals on this track and I am deeply impressed by his vocal performances! He was the voice of "Simba" the Lion king here in the Swedish version of the Walt Disney movie "The lion king" .....so he's one of the absolute top vocalists in Sweden.... Frank recorded his vocals at Dale Studio, Bonassund, Sweden.....This is a very beautiful love ballad which i like a lot and I think you can hear why Hugo is often compared to Steve Perry (Journey) when you listen to his soaring vocal performances in this song....

8 FOREVER BY YOUR SIDE
Fredrik: 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 myself. So I simply got in touch with Erkka (UT Guitarplayer) and asked him 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 this track already and I asked them if they wanted to contribute with lyrics for this song....and I think they came up with some really cool stuff! Goran also put his special "touch" to the song and I really like the way how this pumping Journey influenced track turned out! A cool track!

9 IN THE ARMS OF LOVE
Fredrik: This was one of the songs written at a late time during the writing sessions when I wanted to try 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 this track already. So I sent them my finished music and they later on sent me some vocal melodies they had worked on....I liked some of the melodies they had written, but I changed some 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 when all the vocal melodies were finished for the song I sent a rough demo with myself singing the melodies to lyricwriter Ricky Delin. He originally wrote a lyric for the song and it was then called "Rainbows End", but I didn't like some of the lyric parts in the song, so with his permission I changed some parts in the lyric and I also re-named the song to: "In the arms of love". This was a tough song to write with all the different people involved....But I think it turned out great after all, and as usual Goran added his magic touch to the song.....

10 WHY IS MY HEART FEELING LONELY TONIGHT
Fredrik: This is the second song I wrote together with Erkka and Kimmo from Urban Tale. I had the music/arrangement written for this track, and they came in and wrote some cool lyrics to my music....When I first heard the demo of this song that Kimmo Blom sung on I directly felt that this was a song that would suit Hugo perfectly. And after sending Hugo this song, he told me he really dug this cool atmospheric track a lot and he wanted to record it for the new album. Hugo's vocals were recorded at the Multi-sound studios in New York City, and Kimmo, Erkka and Tuomo from Urban Tale does some harmony vocal parts during the song as well, and those parts were recorded at the Arabia studios, Helsinki, Finland....Tommy Denander also guest appears with some clean "spacy" guitar parts that he recorded at his studio The Hit Men, Stockholm, Sweden....This song have really grown on me and it have become one of my fave tracks on the album....very cool song :-)

When asked what he enjoys listening to and his top 5 albums of all time Fredrik responds:

Well....I listen to a lot of different musical styles so I can get influences from all kinds of different elements for my writing, but I can name the following artists who have meant a lot to me during the years: Journey, The Eagles, Prince, Chaka Khan, Marc Jordan, Rick Springfield, John Waite, Phil Lynott and many many more. It's very difficult to pick just five fave albums as there are so many amazing albums out there....I just have picked the following artists and albums that have meant a lot for me as a musican and a songwriter....it's actually more than five albums....hope it's o.k.
Journey "Raised on radio". This album have everything, great production, great songs and amazing instrumentation and musical/vocal performances....I absolutely love this masterpiece.
Eagles "Hotel California". Amazing band, amazing album....Don Henley and the boys in top form and world class songs....
Prince "The hits 1 & 2". Prince studio albums can be both heaven and hell J so I had to pick his greatest hits CD's from 1993....This guy is a genius....
Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" and "Tango in the night". Buckingham is a genious as well....Tango in the night is the school example on how to arrange music....incredible band with a very unique chemistry....I used to be secretly in love with Stevie Nicks ha ha ha....
Rick Springfield "Living in Oz", "Tao", "Rock of life". I had to pick all three albums as I can not choose one of these three albums....but I had to have Rick on my list....Brilliant songs, arrangements and performances.... "

Why did you leave Point Music and how did you hook up with MTM and what sort of deal do you have with the lable?

I only signed a one album deal with Point Music with no further options, so you really can't say I left the label....Our 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 in September....so I hope it will do well in Europe."

Do you have plans afoot for the next CD?

It's really too early to focus on the next album at the moment I guess....But I have started to work on some new stuff, and I hope there will come out some great stuff from the music I have started to work on....But don't expect a new Street Talk album within the near future....I would also love to write for/together with other artists as well within the aor genre, so that's something I would love to do in the future at the same time as I do Street Talk albums...."

Do Street Talk still play live?

We haven't been playing live for a 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 has been your biggest musical achievement / success so far?

The three Street Talk albums "Collaboration, "Transition" and "Restoration"! And the opportunity to work together with all the great singers, players and writers I've worked with on these three albums...."

Do you have further musical ambitions?

I really would like to write and play with and for other artists in the future...."

Whom would you most like to guest on a Street Talk album?

Ha! Ha! that's a tricky question....Well....I already have my dream team now on the "Restoration" cd....But of course if Steve Perry and Don Henley knocked on the door I probably would let them in and let them sing a few songs on the fourth Street Talk album....ha ha ha...."

"Restoration" should now be out as you read this, Fredrik has one again nailed it, songs like 'Dancer In The Rain' are filled with total class, the song writing is professional and the songs just flow with pure passion together with a top notch productions, "Restoration" is an album for AOR fans everywhere. OWN IT!!!