Happydeadmen were a Swedish indie pop band formed in 1988. Pioneers of a jangly pop aesthetic with lots of melody that would influence many upcoming bands in the following decade and beyond. Upon listening to this band, one will naturally hear The Smiths influence in both vocal inflection and guitar sound. But there are also some of the leanings of Sarah Records artists and visiting familiar territory as various bands on The Sound of Leamington Spa recordings. Happydeadmen featured the songwriting talents of singer Jan Hedin and guitarist Magnus Karlsson with Roger Kjellgren on bass and Thomas Kristoffersson on drums. These Swedes left us with 4 studio albums, 5 singles and EP’s and a compilation album. Magnus has agreed reflect back on the band’s history.
Magnus, thank you for taking time out to answer a few questions.
Where were you born?
I was born in a small town in the south of Sweden called Vetlanda in the ‘60s.
Was your childhood a fairly happy one?
It was undramatic. No frictions. We moved around until we ended up in Stockholm. Things were tougher there, but no way near problematic.
Do you remember hearing music being played in the house when you were young?
It was mostly radio. My dad started buying records when I was 9 or 10. I remember him playing ELO, Eagles and The Doors. I found The Beatles by myself and then came punk.
Were either of your parents musicians?
No. My mother used to sing in the ‘60s. Not professionally.
What music and artists did you like as a teen?
In my early teens I was into older stuff like The Beatles, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Zeppelin (only 10 year old stuff at the time) and later around 17 I went on to more contemporary artists like Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, Simple Minds, Japan…and of course in 1983/84 I heard The Smiths.
Can you recall one of the first concerts you attended?
I was 9 or 10 and some relatives took me to a free concert with the German kraut band Amon Düül II. It was so loud I was ill for three days.
What was the music scene like in Sweden during this time?
ABBA versus prog basically.
When did you learn to play guitar? Did you take lessons or self-taught?
I took some lessons and learned the basics, then I dropped out and developed my own skills.
Were the Happydeadmen your first band?
No, but three of us got together early on through different bands in school.
Talk about how the band formed.
Happydeadmen was formed in the spring of 1988 when a fourth guy joined the three of us who actually could sing, Jan Hedin. From there everything went fast.
Who came up with the name of the band?
We brainstormed by reading album & song titles to each other. Someone went through Echo & The Bunnymen’s Crocodiles and reached the track “Happy Death Men”. Since we still had one foot in goth rock it had to be the band name. This was before we met the singer. Then we changed it to Happydeadmen as one word. That name was a curse later on since it wasn’t associated with the type of pop music we played. On the other hand it reflected us as persons.
What musical influences did each member bring to the band?
We decided to be a guitar based pop band. My favourite guitar player was Johnny Marr. Janne sounded like Lloyd Cole. I listened to bands like The Go-Betweens, House of Love, McCarthy and even more secret indie bands. We shared a love for The Byrds.
Can you recall any of your early live shows?
Actually, the first show we did was at the 1988 Hultsfred festival. As I said before, as soon as Janne the singer came along things went fast. We didn’t even bother to record a proper demo. We just taped ourselves rehearsing and sent it to the festival. They agreed to let us play. Other acts were Joe Strummer, Hunters & Collectors, Big Country, Nitzer Ebb, typical late ‘80s festival crowd pleasers. We played on a smaller a stage but it turned out that everyone who was someone in the Swedish alternative music scene was there so we had a kick start. Lotsa people attending that gig either started bands themselves or became fanzine writers. It was the birth of Swedish indie, August 9 1988.
Your first single, 1988’s “Silent Sigh City”, has to be my favorite Happydeadmen track. Talk about how the song came together.
It was during the summer of 1988. I had a porta studio. I simply played along with a song that Janne the singer had recorded. It turned out pretty good. The problem was that Roger the bass player was travelling around Europe and shouldn’t return until the day before the Hultsfred festival and we really wanted to play “Silent Sigh City”. Roger simply had to learn the new song from the tape the day before. A month later we recorded and released it DIY.
Magnus, I have to say here I really like the sound you got on your guitar on most of the band’s songs.
Thanks, it’s been my trademark sound since 1988. It’s basically compressor and delay.
B-side of the single, a tale of a jilted lover contemplating ending it all in a “Spectacular Way”, is also a nice track.
Yes, it was my way of dealing with a failed relationship a year earlier, but Janne had to sing it. Self pity make great songs.
In 1990 the band released the first album, Eleven Pop Songs. What do you remember from the recording sessions?
We flew down to the south of Sweden and recorded the first half of the album in October 1989. It was supposed to be a mini-LP, a format that we felt was the best way to put out our music on. A guy/fan paid for the recordings and then he got second thoughts and wanted us to record more material so it became a full LP. We returned to the same studio in February 1990 and finished the album. If you listen to it side 1 has a different sound than side 2. It’s the ‘80s and ‘90s on two sides. In between the sessions the Berlin wall came down.
Was the band pleased with the way the album turned out?
Not really. It was delayed and we lost interest in it and thought we could do a lot better. The guy who originally had paid for the recordings failed to strike a deal with a major company as he had promised. We knew he would fail since it wasn’t really mainstream stuff. It would have been better if he had released it on his indie label as fast as possible and maybe the mini-LP idea would have suited better. The tapes were shelved by spring of 1990. We continued making new songs, played some gigs and I became a father in June. It must have been around that time Ola from Ceilidh records phoned me and said that he had bought the master tapes and was ready to release the album. It took 6 months and then it was ready. We wanted to release our new stuff and instead we had to promote our “old” recordings. It took many years before I could listen to 11 Popsongs with a good feeling. We never thought it would stay on. 33 years later it’s still with us and I can live with that. I even like the sound of it. Some of the tracks are killers and would easily fit in with my own greatest hits album. It needed time and new generations.
“Ralph de Bricassart” from 1992 is about the priest from The Thorn Birds. This one should have been a hit! What happened?
The curse. We always suffered from bad timing and zero promotion. For some reason it just didn’t happen. There was a penalty and the keeper had left the pitch. It was just kicking the ball in to an open goal, but we hit the post. We had some airtime with Ralph, but it should have been a single. We even had two full pages in Sweden’s biggest newspaper in 1993 prior to the release of Game, Set, Match.
Your first 2 albums were independently released. 1997’s Bullfights Every Sunday was released on a major label, Polydor.
True, but we were already almost on a big label in Sweden. Universal paid for our recordings in 1996 of what became the third album. We could even include strings and a pedal steel player. In 1995 we went to Japan. They had a crush on Swedish pop and Edoya Records released our two first albums with Japanese translated lyrics and very nice art work. Happydeadmen played like 12 gigs and did TV shows. Things were going very well, but I think we lost our indie audience when the new album was released by Polydor. The album failed miserably and wasn’t even released anywhere else until 1998 by a Swedish indie label and with the title After the Siesta.
“A Lovesong” was a hit in Japan. I can definitely hear the Big Star influence on this one. It sounds like it could be a Teenage Fanclub track.
It was a single in Japan. It had some airtime. Our label mates The Cardigans were Priority 1 by that time. The big breakthrough never came, but we were lucky to have been flown over to Japan and treated like stars before all this. The backlash was hard on us.
When did the band call it a day? What were the reasons?
In 2002 for no other reason than growing apart and were fed up, bad luck (in our opinion) and the feeling that we had no future. By that I mean that the Swedish indie music scene was so strong in the early 2000 so you had to reinvent yourself to be a part of that. We had our peak in 1988-1993. We were still a great band in 2002, but people didn’t care. Since then the tide has turned. Today I guess we could do gigs for kids who weren’t even born in the ‘90s.
Magnus, what have you been up to since Happydeadmen? Are you still involved in music?
I formed a trio in 2004 called The Charade. We signed up with a label in New England, Skipping Stone, and released three albums in three years. Those were actually more “successful” than any of the Happydeadmen albums. It’s basically my guitar sound, programming and female voice. After that I had a long distance band with a guy from Australia and a real veteran bass player from the Chicago area – The Britannicas. We released two albums between 2010 and 2014. Since 2015 I’ve been involved with Small Imperfections. We rehearse every week. I think we’re pretty good. A power trio with light guitars.
Talk about family and your interests outside of music.
I work with music. My daughter goes to music high school. My wife is an opera singer. There are no interests outside of music.
Thank you for your time Magnus and best wishes to you.
Tending The Pale Bloom 