Sad, sad, sad…

Hey folks, young and old!
I went and saw a great show with Nick Lowe and band in Stockholm this last weekend. Thanks Nick! If there is any chance I could grow old that gracefully I don’t fear!

It made me think again of that long forgotten genre “pubrock”.

Last year we confused a lot of journalists over muffled crossatlantic phonelines by saying that with “Gimme Some” we wanted to play “pubrock” and therefore focused on playing small clubs and sometimes even pubs to get really intimate and close to our roots, eachother and the audience.
Most writers thought we said “pop-rock”, whatever that is;).
Others thought we said “punkrock”, again wrong, but with a point.
I’m kind of faschinated by how a misch-masch of acts into roots-rock’n'roll, rockabilly, country/folkrock, energetic and raw R&B and basic soul and oldschool guitarpop somehow paved the way for punk by going against the 70′s trends of progrock, heavy-metal and glam etc (bigger shows, more complicated set-ups and equipment, flashy sounds and songs in general) and going for something simpler, smaller sized and DIY-based!
When you hear some of the acts it’s hard to see the link between the pub and the punk.

But Dr. Feelgood did loan money to start up Stiff Records
and named Nick Lowe produced The Damneds early stuff, maybe the best “punk” ever. And old pub-rockers like Joe Strummer and Elvis Costello got a new chance through the “new wave”.
Even though punkers didn’t officially want anything to do with “pub-rock”.
As always in music; everything is somehow related!
Let’s celebrate “pub-rock”!!
Learn more here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_rock_(UK)
And see the links of related genres; “Garage rock”, “Mod revival”, “New Wave music”, “Power pop”; all tags you also could label “Gimme Some” with I suppose.

Check out this amazing clip of Wilco Johnson from Dr.Feelgood talking about his unique guitar-style, very influential on everyone from Paul Weller during The Jam to The Hives.

And heres Nick Lowe with Rockpile back in the day rock out a bit faster than he did saturday;

Enjoy!
peter

So it might not come as a surprise that I’m a Dylan-fan. That’s why I didn’t hesitate in paying my tribute when American Songwriter asked.

Apart from answering the Q&A I did a simple cover of one of my favourite Dylansongs; “Dear Landlord”; check it out.

PETER DEAR LANDLORD – Small

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/02/peter-moren-from-peter-bjorn-and-john-on-bob-dylan/

Of  ‘course they cut down my answers quite a bit, which I don’t mind at all since I (like Bob) tend to be a bit wordy. But I’m a bit bummed that when they asked of my favourite records and/or songs they cut it down so that my actualt favourites never got mentioned. So here comes the rest of that answer;

“If I (gun to head) had had pick just 3 albums I’d say “Blood On The Tracks”, “John Wesley Harding” and “Blonde on Blonde”. Especially “Blonde On Blonde”. It’s something about the sound and arrangements on that record, not just the songs. It’s just perfect in every sense; warmer and more melancholic than “Highway 61″, richer and more pop than the starker stuff coming after, more grown up and worldweary than the early folkstuff and with a surrealist magical shine on top. I kind of get he followed it up with a bikeaccident. And a suedejacket have never looked better than on the cover. It was a peak.

Three thumbs up from Mrs Madonna, thank you!

Check out this hour-long BBC-programme “Viva Sweden”, hosted by the brittish comedian Danny Robins visting Stockholm and talking about and with swedes about the swedish music-scene. Pretty entertaining! He chats to Lykke Li, Entombed, First Aid Kit etc. And to Peter! Who picks some music!

Enjoy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bf2rb