LOVER UNDER COVERLOVER UNDER COVER
BY NICKY BALDRIAN
Another Swedish band to listen
out for is Gothenburg's Lover Under Cover. Main man Mikael
Carllsson has a history that goes as far back as 1986.
"I joined a band called Gallery here in Gothenburg /
Sweden." says Mikael, "That was the first time I met
Daniel (Boscovic). He was the lead singer in Gallery and we found
each other right from the beginning. We had a pretty good
reputation in the Gothenburg area from a battle of the band
contest called (Rock SM)."
"Rock SM" was the contest that gave birth to Europe
back in 1982.
"I actually played in the contest in 82 to in a band called
"Rain"." Mikael remembers fondly "In 1988 I
quit to play the bass guitar in Gallery because my son was born
and I wanted to spend the time with him"
Mikael still kept in touch with Daniel and the guys began
recording in Mikael's home studio.
"The first song we ever recorded is called "If We Only
Try" and is a low tempo power ballad. After listening to
that song a couple of times we said that " shit !! this is
just to slow !!! So we made a new version of the same song, took
away the piano and change the guitar riff. With some new lyrics
it ended up in the song "Here I Am". So if you listen
to the chords in the two songs you will recognize it at once. He
he !!! The name Lover Under Cover comes from a song title from
Daniel, and the first time I heard it I said, Hey !Thats a great
name for the band. And so be it !!!!We were just doing studio
recordings till the beginning of 1992 when we decided to try the
material in a new battle of the band contest. So we asked some
musicians from other bands that we know if they wanted to join us
for the contest. We won the first two heats and ended up on 3:rd
place in the grande finale. Unfortunately this was in a time when
no one really was interested in AOR in Sweden".
The band then continued to write and record "In early 1997
Daniel decided to leave the band for a period to try out with
another band called Apple Chapel. They actually got a record
contract with a German company but I'm sad to say that it ended
up in nothing. So I continued with my own studio recordings.I did
a new try in another battle of the bands contest in 1997 with a
new lineup without Daniel. At that point I couldn't find any new
lead singer so I decided to do the lead myself. The contest ended
up as the last time with the same result. The music market in
Sweden was more into Euro techno acts like E-type, Pandora and
Ace of Base. Because no one was into AOR/Hardrock I contacted the
guitarist we used from the first contest and we put together a
cover band and we must have done hundreds of cover gigs in the
Gothenburg area by now"
Michael then discovered the world of the internet "At the
end of 1999 I discovered Mp3.com on the net for the first time
and ended up on a web page called "MP3.com" So I said
to myself "Why Not ???" so I uploaded a song just to
see what happened. After 3 days I got a mail from a Gabor here at
"Strutterzine" who wanted to do a review of some more
songs, so I sent over a demo. That demo ended up in a 8/10 rating
on the site. I was really surprised of the high score. After then
some other web magazines from Sweden, Belgium and Italy also
wanted a copy of the CD and they have all give the cd really high
ratings. I have talked to Daniel about what is happening and he
is really exited about this. Just like myself. Maybe this can be
our big chance"
Agreed. for those who haven't discovered Lover Under Cover and
love aor/hard rock with big chorus lines, then I stongly urge you
to check them out.
Mikael is inspired by a whole list of bands "Well there is a
lot of great bands out there, but I prefer bands from late 70:s
and the 80:s. I just love bands like Thin Lizzy, Journey, and the
Norwegian band TNT. But also bands like Queensryche and Dream
Theatre. The first Phenomena album is a masterpiece and Glenn
Huges has the greatest voice of them all. Another powerful lead
singer is Sebastian Bach in Skid Row.Things that inspire me to
write new songs could be very different. It can be a headline in
the newspaper. A phrase in a movie or a story from a book. I read
a lot and can sometimes get inspired from that. Or perhaps just a
catchy guitar riff or a chord from a synth. Different things
everytime".
"I try to write songs with strong melodies and a catchy
chorus. A song without a melody inside it is a very bad song in
my opinion. If you cant play the song on a acoustic guitar then
something is really wrong. I don´t remember the last time I
wrote a song based on my own experiences. I really like to make
up stories and see what it ends up in or perhaps tell someone
else's story. For example the song "No place like home"
is about a friend of mine who played bass guitar in the southern
rock band "Blackfoot". I met him at a hotel on a rock
festival in Karlshamn / Sweden.back in 1996. We started to talk
in the bar after the gig and didn't´t stop until the hotel
guards threw us out at 4 in the morning. But he wasn't´t
satisfied about his situation in the band and told me that he was
thinking about to take a ordinary job instead and settle down. I
havn´t talked to him for a while but the last time he was
working as a truck driver based in Dallas / Texas. So that song
is dedicated to Tim. The song "My best friend" came up
after a documentary on Swedish tv about gun control in the US.
Here in Sweden we have very
restrictive laws about weapons but in the US it is very common to
be armed. Sometimes even small kids at the age of 9-10. That is
so sick I tell you. And parts of the American people are shouting
about everyone's right to carry a gun to "defend"
themselves as they say. Look how far that has taken them. So the
lyrics in that song is my way to say that Hell !! there is
something really wrong here. WAKE UP YOU GUYS !!! Do we need
another massacre by a sick person whose walking into a school and
starts to shoot on everything that moves ?? But there is also
some traditional Boy meets girl-fall in love- kind of songs to.
Ha ha ! About my guitar playing I must say that I´m really not a
good guitar player because the bass guitar is my main instrument.
And the guitar playing I do is based on what I have thought
myself. Im totally self learned. Maybe that has made my guitar
playing a little special because I sometimes I just don´t know
how to do a thing and then I make up something that I can handle.
Perhaps a unconventional way to do things but it works for me.
And I don´t have anyone around me that tells me how to play or
do things either so I guess I'm rather pleased about that
anyway.I know that I'm never gonna be a new Steve Vai."
"A musician who tells you that he is pleased with just
practicing or playing with his friends sometimes is a BIG LIAR
!!. I mean everybody has been standing in front of the mirror
when they were kids and playing guitar on a tennis racket and
singing to their favorite bands. When I was 16 I was convinced
that I'm gonna be a rocknroll star or a professional football
player, but when you grow up you get a more realistic view of
things and thinks perhaps that ," wow we got a gig on the
pub downtown"instead of keep on dreaming about a packed
Madison square garden. Of course I have my dreams about heading
the top list and go for a world tour but it´s not the end of the
world if that don´t come true anymore. At this point I'm just
exited about the attention I've got so far on internet and in
some magazines. I mean this thing started with one song on the
net in February. That is just 4 months ago, so I'm still waiting
for what's to come.Thrilling !!!"
"Lover Under Cover is basically a studio project. We have
only done 4 gigs with Lover Under Cover and that was in those
battle of the band contests I told you about. But I must say that
I really liked the final in the contest 1992. I´ll think it was
about 800 - 1000 people in that crowd and man they where
screaming the roof off..In those days I'd get my gig experience
from cover gigs and thats a steady ground to lean on."
LOVER UNDER COVER MK 2 IS:-
Mikael Carlsson: Lead Vox, Bass Guitar
Hans Virlind: Drums
Kaj Hermansson: Lead Guitar
Christer Johansson: Lead Guitar
Daniel Widén: Keyboards
To contact this excellent band email Mikale at: Carllson@post.netlink.se or http://www.mp3.com