STRUTTER (Holland) 2002
By Chris Lambert

TOKEN

In Sweden there are so many talented new AOR bands around these days, I sometimes forget how many there actually are out there, because you have T'BELL, DOUBLE DEUCE, SAHARA, BLIND ALLEY, RADIOACTIVE, and loads more, and now we are spoiled with yet another sensational pure AOR band. This band is called TOKEN and they are about to release their fantastic debut CD on MTM MUSIC in a few weeks from now. So, I just had to interview these guys, and here's what they had to say...

Please introduce us your band, when did you form TOKEN and did any of you play in bands before TOKEN?

We formed the band in Stockholm 1990. Just as things started to hot up for us, we decided to split due to other duties. After this we floated between other bands, solo projects and also well-deserved sabbaticals from the music scene. Niclas came up with the superb idea of reuniting Token.This was in late 2000.

So some of you played in the bands SCUDIERO, DAMNED NATION, RADIOACTIVE and a few others, what happened to those bands, did they split up or is this TOKEN a side-project?

Token is for sure a band, definitely not a side-project. Mikael and H.B played together in Scudiero at the album “Walking Through Mirrors”. At the moment, Scudiero is having a break. Regarding Damned Nation, Mikael joined them in some live performances in Sweden and England at their Grand Design tour. Radioactive is wrong, Johan started to record a Swedish pop-rock album with Tommy Denander (the man behind Radioactive). Since Token caught most of the time, the project is put on ice.

Can you tell us all about your debut CD? Stories behind the songs perhaps?

We wanted to make a good AOR record, kind of a "the best of the eighties" *lol* so we found inspiration from the best songs we remembered from that time of period. When we wrote the songs, we tried to keep it simple. Our ambition was to create interesting arrangements with strong melodies, instead of focus on the individual performances.

The music on the CD is indeed pure 80s AOR, what are your influences?

Basically we are all brought up with hard rock in general. I guess the influences vary a lot, for example Yngwie, Bon Jovi, Pretty Maids, Accept and Glenn Hughes. Since Johan hasn't been listening to a full-length album since 1989, we chained him in the producer chair...

How did you get in touch with MTM MUSIC?

We locked ourselves into Johan’s bedroom studio with only caffeine for sustenance and then simply sent them some demos.

What are the plans for the next coming months?

First of all – our release of Tomorrowland, 22 April! Together with MTM we are busy working with marketing of the album. That takes most of our time right now. We have also started writing songs for the follow-up album. Johan, Niclas and Mikael are to be in Swedish Television for having written a song for a big TV-Show called "Baren".

Any touring plans?

We would love to come out to play! Unfortunately there are very few places for live performances here in Stockholm. Hopefully we get good feedback so we can come out for some gigs outside Sweden.

Finally, do you have anything to add to our readers?

We hope that your readers will find our album well worth listening to. We are really exited for the great response and reviews we’ve got so far. We want to take this chance to say hello to all new friends and hard rocking people out there. Let’s join us in Tomorrowland! Release 22 April. Welcome to http://www.tokendirect.com

© Strutter