from: Italian Benzoworld Magazine 2008, Presentér Magazine JAPAN 2006, Monster Magazine Norway 2005, . Nucleus Magazine Argentina Nov.2004, . Terra Incognita Mag. Canada March 2004, Monster Magazine Norway 2001, Subterránea Magazine Spain 2000, Lunar Waves Magazine Dec. 1999, Metemusica Brazil December 1997, Arlequins Italy 1996, - Big Bang France 1995

Interview by Italian Progfanzine Benzoworld 2008

1. Hi Pär welcome to Benzoworld and thank you for this interview! It’s always a great pleasure to listen a new release from you, but now for the first time, you’ve released a dvd: How did the idea of a DVD come about?

Pär:
Well the idea came from Metal Mind really as they invited us to do it. They were a very professional crew and the DVD has turned out extremly well and sold out even before it´s release!

2. Dvd is dedicated to the memory of Magdalena Berg: her tragic, incredible death, still makes me very sad. I really loved her wonderful voice and her memory will live on in your music forever. Would you tell us anything about her, anything linked to your memories?

Pär:
It´s very difficult as you can understand since it is still to near in time and the feelings of loss and sadness are so strong. Magdalena left the band in february 2007 due to her instable condition.
However only days before we departed to record the DVD we heard from a friend that Magdalena had been seen looking well in the city of Enköping and then suddenly three weeks after our Poland DVD concert I got a mail with the devastating news...

We miss her a lot and it was so much more music I would have liked to do together with her. It was a great tragedy for us all.

3. On stage you appear with a three members formation, almost as a new ELP: is this just a temporary situation or will you keep up in the future?

Pär:
We are now looking for a new singer as the new material has both vocals and lyrics written.

4. I think that vocals parts have been always important for your music: did you release your first dvd fully instrumental because you were without singer or is it a particular choice?

Pär:
Yes Magdalena had left the band in spring 2007 due to her illness getting worse and we have not yet found a new singer so it´s a temporary situation.

5. If you’re searching a new vocalist, is there any news about that?

Pär:
We are thinking of several but we needed to get DVD out first before moving on to find a singer but anyone who is seriouslu intressted can call us.

6. How did you choose the location for the concert?

Pär:
Metal Mind choosed it.

7. In your music there’s a fantastic mix between the grandeur of classical music and the power, the energy of prog rock: which are, according to you, the main points of contact between classical music and prog rock? And which classical authors do you consider closer to prog?

Pär:
Well to name a few Bach, Beethoven, Mussorgsky & Wagner. Anyone with an independent mind to follow his visions without regards of what the people around him might think or what might be the trendy thing to do or other such nonsence.

8. Some bands like Therion have tried to create an approach between classical music and metal writing music for orchestra: what do you think about these results?

Pär:
I have not heard this band. But I will certainly check them out.

9. Do you think that it will be possible that in the future Pär Lindh Project will write and play more methodically and not only occasionally with an orchestra?

Pär:
Yes I think it and hope it could happend that way.

10. There’s been a particular moment, in Pär Lindh Project history, in early years of 2000, with some difficulties in line up, so after many years the other boys leave the band: some people say for reasons of illness but can you tell us exactly what’s happened?

Pär:
Well we had had a very long tour in the USA summer 1999. It lasted four week and we travelled many tousand miles across most of that country from one end to the other. Two of the band members fell sick during that tour it was really very hard. Some people like this kind of experience of beeing on the road weeks on end and other just can´t handle it.
Also due to missmanagement from our then manager we lost a lot of money on top of it all.
I think that is why our guitarist and bass player left the band soon thereafter.

11. If I’m not wrong “Suite in progress” is an anticipation of the new album: when is the previewed release? And can you tell us what we might anticipate?

Pär:
Yes it´s going to be on the upcoming album which is going to be released as soon as we have a new singer. Probably early 2009. it´s going to be a profundly new sound from the band with more care about the soundproduction. Earlier albums except Gothic Impressions were sometimes recorded in stressful circumstances.

12. You’ve also did a duo album with Kopecky: what can you tell about it and what about your other side projects? Will you do a new album with Björn Johansson, for example?

Pär:
The new duo album with Bill ¨The Black Doors¨ will be released in the fall 2008. It is an very different album. I have never heard anything like it before. Can´t really tell you where it came from...
Bill and wrote and recorded it as we were waiting for PLP to get going again. I´m meeting Björn again this summer and we´ll see if there is going to some plans for the future. Nothing is planned at this stage.

13. I know in December you’ll be in Italy: is it a Par Lindh Project date or else?

Pär: It´s a solo concert with just me playing church organ in a church in Roma. Not PLP however we hope to come and tour Italy very soon as I love that country.

14. What do you think about European progressive scene today?

Pär:
There is a lot of things happening and I´m hoping that there will be emergin a great new band soon that will really blow us all away! Something like a new Genesis, YES or ELP.

15. You know in Italy there’s a great prog tradition: today still we have some prog bands, but we cannot say that the situation is comparable with Seventies years. Maybe that in the early Nineties you had a similar situation in Sweden: what solutions did you take for revival of prog then and what would you recommend today?

Pär:
Well we need to get the media away from beeing so corrupted and just beeing a part of the musicbusiness propaganda machine to sell crappy music to the masses.
We need to get people to revolt agains this destructive comercial machine.
We need to get media to write and promote good and talented artists instead of promoting the boring products of the musicindustry!

16. Thank you very much for this interview. I leave to you the conclusions if you want to say hello to your Italian fans.

Pär:
I have played Italy on three occations in the eighties as classical pianist and organist. PLP were invited many times the past ten years or so but alas iy has never clicked for us to come over and play thus far.
PLP would really love to play Italy as I´m sure both we and our fans would appreciate such a happy occation. PLP sold masses of CDs to Italy in the nineties so I´m sure there is people there still waiting for us to come over.
So see you soon guys!

17. Thank you!

Pär: You´re most welcome!

NEW JAPANESE ARTICLE & INTERVIEW !


From Japanese Présenter Magazine.

Présenter Magazine:

PM. Please give us an overview of your schedule in 2006 in terms of
concerts, joint-work with other artists, and other activities.

Pär. After having moved the Crimsonic Label Studios also PLPs rehersal rooms
to a new location which have taken most of the winter to do we now look
forward to an exciting year of recordings and liveconcerts. For 2006 the Pär Lindh
Project (PLP) is invited to play in Poland and headlining a festival in
Norway. On the classical side I have concerts in Sweden and Serbia booked as
pianist and Harpsichordist.
Recordingwise the release of the new PLP album is a first priority. A duo
album with great American bass player William Kopecky is also planned.

PM. What was the reason you started your music career in the areas of
progressive rock and symphonic rock instead of regular rock and pop?

Pär. Simplistic commercial pop or rock music I just find to boring to be involved in or
even listen to. Progressive rock is so much more interesting and rewarding.
Its the modern music for intelligent people.

PM. Your CDs were sometimes put on the shelf for heavy metal music
because only the dedicated fans of progressive rock can fully
understand the word, “symphonic.” This applies not only to your works
but also to any progressive rock music. What is your opinion on this
issue, and why do you think this is happening?

Pär. There are just so many genres of popular music today so not to confuse
record buyers to much the people in the record stores is probably just
trying to simplify matters I suppose.

PM. Sweden has been the capital of symphonic rock in the world since Bo
Hansson and has produced many symphonic rock artists. How do you
interpret this phenomenon in Sweden? What does Sweden mean to
progressive artists?
It seems like there are wide and intricate networks among artists. Do
you think there are any competing factions within progressive rock?

Pär. When we started the Swedish Art Rock Society 1991 of which I was the
first chairman we helped create a new wawe of progressive music in Sweden
which then spread around the world. This wawe of music became much greater
than we hoped for in our ¨Wildest Dreams¨ when we started it all. In the
beginning we all tried to help each other instead of competing. This sense
has sadly withered away to some extent I´m afraid.

PM. A great majority of your music can be characterized by the medieval
music tone and mixed chorus, and is rich with both classic and
progressive elements, which gives listeners a sense of fullness. Do
you focus mostly on gothic and baroque approaches for your music?

Pär. I´m an classical European composer and musician at heart and I think
this shows in my music.
The American blues/rock from which most pop and rock music today come
from doesn´t interest me very much.
I also love medieval gothic mystic which is very evident especially in
the album Gothic Impressions.

PM. It seems to us that you have spent a lot of time on producing and
recording your music. How much time do you spend in total in producing
works including scores?

Pär. Endless hours...

PM. Music with a female vocalist generally makes it easier for general
listeners to listen to. Besides the quality of voice, how do you
select female vocalists? How do you negotiate and arrange pay for these
session members? This is a question in line with our theme of
introducing what goes on behind the scenes of music production.

Pär. Magdalenas (PLP singer) voice is just stunning so after having heard her
voice I knew I didn´t have to look any further. I always negotiate with
all my musicians before every recording session and concert tour so the
money issue is never a problem.

PM. PRESENTER has flavors of a support magazine for artists since it
conveys the hardship of artists to listeners and gives know-how for
new artists in building a successful career. Please tell us the hardest
thing you went through as an artist and the best thing that happened
to you as an artist.

Pär. The hardest thing was that I refused to sell my soul to commersialism in
the eighties when progressive (read honest) music was banned from the stages, TV
and radiowawes of the world. This stopped my musical carrere for over a
decade.
But it also meant that I kept my integrity as an honset musician which I
have gotten much credit for later on. So my advise to new artists is:
Stay true to your artistic visions!

PM. European progressive rock music is easier to purchase in Japan than
in Europe. However, even in Japan, CDs are limited to specialty-music
stores, and even CDs by major progressive rock artists sometimes can
be hard to get hold on in HMV or Amazon.com. What do you think would help
us improve this situation?

Pär. I think your work with PRESENTER is the best answer to that. Help spread
the word on good music. People can´t by what they don´t know about.

PM. What is your opinion on selling music for download online?

Pär. I´m not sure as I am a bit oldfashion here. I like to have the original
record in my hand with booklet and everything. But in princip I have no
objections as long as the artist gets paid.

PM. Dreamsongs from Middle Earth/ Par Lindh & Bjorn Johansson is based
on The Lord of the Rings. What inspired you to produce this work?
Please tell us more about this music.

Pär. Well we both began as teenagers to write music for this even before we
ever met up. This music was then put away in drawers for many years but the
music so strong we felt we just had to complete an album with it. You
mentioned Bo Hansson earlier. Yes he was an inspiration as well.

PM. The sacredness of your music sometimes gives listeners a feeling
of horror of falling into the darkness of medieval times. Did you intend
to create this effect?

Pär. Yes! I´m afraid I just love that feeling of mystic medieval darkness.

PM. Music with horror, fanciful, and science-fiction elements seem to
have many things in common in terms of sound. Do you have any plans of
incorporating any of these elements in your future work?

Pär. Yes.

PM. The field of horror music is quite limited with only few artists
in the world. In Japan, there are only three or four groups that produce
horror music. In a sense, this type of field with little competition
should attract more attention of artists. What do you think?

Pär. I think it is attracting a lot of Heavy Metal bands today. Unfortunately
most of it turns out to be on the ridiculous side.

PM. What does “horror” mean to you?

Pär. A scaring sense of uncertainty and dark unreality bordering on insanity...there you go...

PM. Is there any music that gives you a feeling of horror in Europe or the U.S.?

Pär. Of course there are many examples but for me the best examples are from
classical romantic music. Just check out Night on Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky and
why not the PLP version on Gothic Impressions.

PM. Thank you Mr. Lindh!

Pär. You´re most welcome!
Hopethis means that PLP can finally come over and play for Japanese fans
and music audiences.

Norwegian Monster Magazine speaks with Pär Lindh

(excerpt published by kind permission from Monster Magazine)

PÄR LINDH ¨A whole life in the service of Progressive Rock¨

One of the most important Scandinavian personalities of Progressive Rock now lives in the university town Uppsala in SWEDEN.
His name is Pär Lindh. His musical endevaours over the years is enough to motivate the erection of statues and monuments even over the border and far into Norway.
1978 he was a founding member of early Swedish hard rock act called Antenna Baroque as a drummer and in 1979 he founded the artrock trio Vincebus Eruptum as bandleader and keyboardist. Despite successful gigs around Sweden the timing couldn´t have been worse as this was the year all defences of good music colapsed compleately having been undermined by streamlined commercialism and bad musicianship under the name of punk.

As Pär by 1980 saw no immediate future for popular music he decided to quit and move to France to study the Harpsichord and church organ having already completed his training as concertpianist in Sweden.
Eight years later he returned to Sweden and noticing that a change of climate in popular music had occured he decided to give another shot at the progressive genre and here really starts the new progressive wave of the Nineties first in Scandinavia only to continue to spread to other countries as well.

Monster Magazine met Pär in the Crimsonic Label Studio and the interview was carried out surrounded by Mellotrons, Grandpianos, Hammond organs, percussions instruments and synths.

It was a determined Lindh who returned back to Sweden in 1989 only to dust off his B3 Hammond and starting the search for a band along with which he could share his visions. He found the already excisting band Manticore and started to build his first recording studio. He then along with the members of the band Manticore founded The Swedish Art Rock Society in 1991 and became the societys first chairman.

The first thing the association did was to arrange perhaps the first Progressive rock festival ever and - incredible enough - attracting the attention of such names as Landberg, Änglagård and Anekdoten.
Three years later ¨Gothic Impressions¨ was released under the name Pär Lindh Project (PLP), and with this release the distinguished keyboardist had found a compleately new career.
From 1994 and onwards Pär Lindh continued giving concerts as classical artist but the progressive music was again closest to his heart now giving numerous concerts tours with PLP in North and South America as well as in Europe.
Until this day PLP has released three incredible fullength studio albums, two livealbums and one mini CD.

So after having been more or less out of sight for some three years we recieved the news that PLP had been reunited and getting ready for new musical challanges. So the trip to Uppsala seemed absolutely necessary especially since we had been promised an exclusive first listening of the upcoming new PLP material.

A friendly Pär Lindh greets me at the trainstation and we are off to the gentlemans oasis of sounds for a progressive soaré.
Readers who have followed Monster Magazine over the years will know that we elected ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ as The Progressive record of the year in 2001. But after the release early 2002 of ¨Live in Iceland¨ it seemed that everything came to a halt.

What happened?

Well on New-Year´s Eve 2000 my band which had been going since 1995 cracked up as both the bass & guitar players resigned from the band to persue more rock/pop oriented kind of careers. The three of us remaining which were Nisse Bielfeld on drums and Magdalena Berg on vocals decided to continue PLP with concert apperances like Nearfest 2000 where we were very well appreciated by the audience.
In the autum 2001 the album ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ was released which initally hit the charts in Japan but then sales dropped drastically. Nisse got engaged with an entertainment company working overtime and finding very little time for PLP and in the midst of all this Magdalena fell seriously ill and since she is the voice of PLP and a good friend it was never a question of finding an replacement singer. So the band was just put on hold.
Instead I found other things to do like touring as a guestartist with other bands like the Kopecky Brothers in The US and Mexico in 2002 as well as working as producer and recording engineer besides also starting to prepare my return to the classical stages.
Playing with Kopecky was great fun as we did tour with a set of 50% PLP and 50% Kopecky material . I also met up with Dream Theater in Chicago and got a VIP pass to see their show as well as joining them for a dinner the day after.

In 2003 PLP were invited to co-Headline Baja Prog with FOCUS and the idea was that Magdalena now getting better would come along to sing with us. Unfortunately at the very end Magdalena just couldn´t do it and we went as an instrumental trio to play Baja Prog and an additional University gig in Mexico.

During 2004 things improved as I reorganized my company and Magdalena was declared free of her illness. This encouraged us to take the decision to reform/reunite PLP once again. So Fredrik, Magdalena and I started to look for a new drummer and after having tried several drummers who were not quite up for the job we found Henrik Svensson with whom we are now working together with.

How is the new album coming along?

We have some songs ready and among them a 20 minutes long suite. Recordings have begun but the main bulk of the recording work will begin this fall. New preliminary release date is sometime in February 2006.

The classical world of today seems to me to be a very rigid one afraid of new ideas. What are your thoughts on this?

Absolutely. I´d like to go as far as to say that classical music is in serious trouble these days not having been able to renew itself. The atonal excursions which have plagued most of the last century have proven to be nothing more than a dead end and to be really honest hardly anything worthwhile have been written in the genre since Sibelius.

You had a career going as classical musician during the eighties with concerts both in America and Europe. What made you return to progressive rock again around 1989?

Towards the end of the eighties Baroque music was out of fashion so it became more difficult to get engagements playing this music. Also I felt stifled in the enviroment as it was more about who knew who and to much of intrigues going on in the buissness.
Also I will tell you a charming story. Around 1987 or so I wen´t to a party in Paris with some fellow Baroque musicians and we ended up in the appartment of this young Latin American harpsichord student. Scanning through his record collection I found to my surprice a big chunk of progressive rock like ELP, King Crimson, YES, Genesis etc. all from the golden years of the early seventies. This made a big impact on me to make sure that I´d listen back to these records again once I got home to my recordcollection back in Sweden.
It´s not surprising that PLP later on had one of our greatest successes in Latin America as well as having our first album Gothic Impressions beeing voted as one of the 10 all time best Progalbums over there.

So you returned to Uppsala to start the Swedish Art Rock Society. How was Roine Stolt involved in all this? I mean him living in the same city and all.

We made contact with Roine around 1991 but he didn´t see a future in Progressive then and was in fact rather depressed about it and said things like ¨whats the use it will never happend anyway¨. So we continued without him to work for progfestivals etc.
I certainly was very surprised when he announced that he was recording a progalbum again and ¨The Flower King¨ came out. These were exciting days for Swedish progressive with Änglagård, Landberg, Anekdoten and PLP releasing their debutalbums almost simultaneously. Everywhere in the world we went to play people said ¨Swedish Prog is the Best ! ¨ That is no more but it sure was great days for all of us.

I know that ¨Gothic Impressions¨ is the globaly most famous album but nevertheless every PLP studio CD has in my opinion been an improvement in many ways.

Well ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ has very good material which works even better than the Gohtic stuff live. Nevertheless I think the timing was perfect for Gothic Impressions and it also has a sort of timeless quality which is difficult to really put your finger on.

Yes you can hear how well the ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ material works live on ¨Live in Iceland¨ . On that CD you also use a bit of ragtime which I think more progbands should get into as ELP seems to have finally said their last word in music.

I´m happy you say that as I´m incorporating some ragtime into the upcoming album. I love ragtime and love the way ELP used this musicform with great style and in healthy (meaning short) doses.

Besides PLP you have an ongoing cooperation with Swedish guitarist/composer Björn Johansson. Together you have made two albums of which the latest ¨Dreamsongs from Middle Earth¨ is in my opinion much better that it´s predecessor ¨Bilbo¨.

¨Dreamsongs¨ is a more profound record than was ¨Bilbo¨ also it was much better produced. At the same time I think Bilbo has great material and lots of charm about it. Dreamsongs was an album we just had to do. People demanded a follower up to Bilbo and we just had to get it out of our systems really since the material goes way back into our lifes. Now we are definitely done with Tolkien musicwise.

Could it also be so that the heavenly beautiful hymn from ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ was composed a long time ago?

It is not as old as some of the Dreamsong stuff but I would guess it was composed in 1989 or so. The Adagio was composed in the eighties as well. You might not know this but I composed a Baroque Concerto in 1981 which have neither been published or performed as yet. I have the idea to record it someday but it costs a fortune I´m afraid. I asked Keith (Emerson) if he was thinking of using an orchestra again and the answer was: ¨Oh yes sure, if somebody else is paying for it!¨

This didn´t deter you from using both choir and orchestra on the ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨ CD!

Well it did cost some money but I had some luck in that I could use those ensembles and return this favour by beeing the recording engineer for their own recordings as well. But it meant a lot of extra work and commitment so the next PLP album will be purely a group effort.

At this point we end our conversation for a while to take a listen to the new PLP material. And judging from what I heard the band will have no problem topping their masterpiece ¨Veni Vidi Vici¨. The really great thing is that it sounds so much PLP and nothing else but PLP. Especially these days when everything tends to sound like something else all the time. Lindh seems very pleased by my enthusiasm for the new material.

It is really inspiring to have you here Geir as I know how much you enjoyed our last album and you seems equally thrilled of this material as well.

Keith Emerson & Pär Lindh	Lee Jackson in Northhampton (photo Pär Lindh)

You have made no secret about your influences from Mr. Emerson but still there is not a trace of any copying going on at all...
Talking about Keith: Is it true that you were about to replace Keith Emerson in a reforming of the group The Nice?

Yes that´s correct. In 1993 I went to the USA to play with Änglagård and I met Will Alexander (ELP´s keyboard tech) and Lee Jackson (bass player of The Nice). I asked Will what does Lee do these days? ¨He sells furniture¨ answered Will.
After the gig I asked Lee what he tought and he said ¨The best bloody concert I´ve heard since Genesis in 1973¨. We decided to meet up in England later on where I made an interview with him. By then he had been talking to Brian Davisson and they suggested we form a keyboard trio in the tradition of Nice or Refugee and I said OH YES!
In May 1995 we were to play at the Gothenburg Art Rock festival and were preliminary booked as ¨The New Nice¨ ...unfortunately the gig fell through. (You can read more about this in the Former Bands section on PLP homepage)
It was great having had the honour playing with them though...

We then rounds off the evening at the lokal pub where Lindh continues to tell stories like how problematic it has become to travel USA after september 11th.

Yeah it got worse and during our trip there 2003 I was sure we had real problems when an agressive custompolice man started giving us a bad time...until he suddenly saw something in our luggage and exclaimed ¨What...do you play progressive rock!?¨
Oh yes Sire we are PLP from Sweden. He then turned 180 degrees and told us how much he loves Scandinavian Progressive music etc. So we parted as very good friends. Fantastic!
Really what are the odds of something like that happening?

Geir Larzen MONSTER MAGAZINE
NORWAY

Nucleus Magazine Pär Lindh Interviewed by Sergio Vilar November 2004.

1. Pär in general terms, how would you summarize your career?

Pär: Generally it has been a parallel career of a classical
musician and that of a progressive rock musician.

2. Does an artistic or aesthetic concept exist in particular that
you want to express through your music?

Well I always strive to write music of lasting value. Hoping
somebody will listen to it long into the future as well.

3. Your love for J.R.R. Tolkien is undeniable. Exactly, what were
you attracted by of this writer?

Oh many things. The way he like no other has created a secondary
world of imagination. Also he has enormous skills of
languages and history. Another thing is that his stories says a
lot about our own time as well I think. Just an enormously important writer in our time and age.
Just to think that he didn´t get the Nobel Price considering the kind of people who get it these days
is just pathetic.

4. Could you tell the history shortly behind each one of the albums
that you published with Björn Johansson, inspired by the work of Tolkien?
Please, let us know for example why you made the Bilbo album based on "The Hobbit" before Dreamsongs?

Björn and I realised that each of us had lots of quality music
laying around since our teenage years that was inspired by Tolkien.
On their own these pieces were never enough to complete a whole
album but putting them together it just worked wonders.
We did Bilbo because I had written two songs to lyrics from
Bilbo and it felt to us at the time that no one to our
knowledge had done an album to Bilbo before. We had a great
time writing and recording that one!

5. How does the idea arise of recapturing these stories, this time
being inspired by "Lord Of The Ring"? Don't you fear that the edition of
"Dreamsongs" is looked upon with certain suspicion as the Tolkien fever rages in our time?

Well we believed in our music and good music always survives
this kind of temporary criticism. A lot of fans wanted us to do a
follower up based on Lord of the Rings and we had some really
good music waiting to be released so we just went along
and did it based on musical rather than commersial
considerations.

6. Musically, the disk is of a great wealth. How long did it take
you to complete the album?

About a year to arrange and record. Mind you we had half the
material written since long before.

7. Can we await another chapter of this saga in the future?

No I don´t think so as there is almost no more material left and
we feel that our contribution to Middle Earth is now
complete. I want to get on writing material for PLP and classical pieces.

8. What type of things does motivate you to sit down to write music?

Many things but mainly it´s just the joy of creating music and
hope that it will be of lasting value and that people will
appreciate what you have written.

9. What do you look for in your music, to capture the feelings
or the perfection of the sound?

Both.

10. If you had to select one of your disks, Which one would it be and for what reason?

Difficult but I think it would be Gothic Impressions or
Dreamsongs as they have material which goes back all my life.

11. Pär, do you believe that rock music makes the same sense that it had in the beginning?

Not at all! I think rock or pop music these days has just
become a BIG JOKE. I think it was Ian Anderson who said
something like ¨popmusic today is just about the musicindustry
swindeling money from young kids¨.
No pop and rock has mostly lost its meaning. Its just one copy of
another copy trying to make a few bucks or live some wannabe dream or something.
When I say this I mean whats on the big labels as there are many interersting
artists on the underground level of music.

12. Can you define progressive rock? To your mind, what is it all about?

Technology has the last 75 years given us a whole new
soundscape and I think progressive rock is the only genre today
which seriously is trying to take music with these new
possibilities of sounds at hand and bring it to a higher artistic level!

13. How would you summarize these last thirty years of progressive
rock? How do you see the evolution of progressive?

I´m very pleased that there has been a lasting and healthy
revival of prog. The problem is that the westen world mass
media is still wounded from the punk, rap, disco etc. lack of
artistic values. They still think in their state of cultural degeneration
that all musicians who are not following the wide commercial
road is just to be negelected as stupid nerds or something.

14. Pär, when you are not busy composing or rehearsing, do you have
time off listening to music? If so what do you usually listen to?

Mainly classical music but also to other prog as well as jazz,
folk and just really trying to see whats happening around me in the
musical world.

15. Thank you, it was really a honor to have this dialogue with you. Do you
want to add something more?

Please send my warmest regards to Argentina and all our fans and
friends over there. PLP just can´t wait to get back and play to you all once again!

Thank you Mr. Lindh

It was my pleasure!

Interview March 2004 Terra Incognita Magazine CANADA

Question.: I presume that «Dreamsongs» is the follower up to Bilbo as it is based on a story by J.R.R. Tolkien. Was it easier this time to have the permission of the Tolkien estate than for the Bilbo release? I remember that for Bilbo You told me that's the negociations were very long and difficult.

Pär: Well we were refused to use some of the lyrics by Tolkien for Bilbo so in the end I wrote the lyrics myself in the style of the great J.R.R.T. The Tolkien estate told us that it was O.K. to release Tolkien inspired music as long as we didn´t use the actual lyrics from the book. This time we didn´t incorporate any lyrics so the material is mostly instrumental and where vocals are present it is without words when sung by the choir or our solo vocalist Magdalena.

Q: When you made «Bilbo» the situation was not the same as it is today with «Lord of The Rings» as an international movie success. Did this change anything for you when you started working on Dreamsongs? When did you start planning this recording? Did you record the album during a long period of time?

Pär: Dreamsongs contains some of the oldest material I´ve ever written. From my early teens really some of it. People have been asking us to do a follower up to BILBO for years. A couple of years before Peter Jacksons first film we sent him BILBO and a letter of interest for helping out with the music for the film and we started to work on an arrangement for an ¨Lord of the Rings¨ album. However the filmmusic contract was probably already done so we were to late anyway I suppose. Lots of other things occupied me and Björn the past years like the Bollenberg project etc. so it was not until last summer that we both started in earnest to complete Dreamsongs.

Q: Is «Dreamsongs» in the vein of Bilbo and did you produce the album yourself?

Pär: BILBO was done cronologically from the story of the Hobbit but Dreamsongs on the other hand was done in a different way of ten dreamssequences of Frodos after his journey was completed. This freed us from having to write program music and we could focus more on the different moods and sentiments of the book instead. I think Dreamsongs is a more serious album than BILBO as the Lord of the Rings is a more serious book than The Hobbit. Yes we produced it ourselves.

Q: Which musicians are You collaborating with on the recording?

Pär: A lot of people as You can see in the booklet but to mention a few, Roine Stolt on bass which should raise an eyebrow or two and Magdalena on vocals for exemple. But really Björn and I have played over 90% of the instruments ourselves.

Q: How did you proceed as far as the writing was concerned?

Pär: The CD is based on three major parts. The opening one written by myself which also was the original idea for the album. The final third of the album was written in cooperation with Björn and the middle part is mostly made up from Björns compositions. However we have arranged and produced the album together.

Q: Are you planning for another album of The Pär Lindh Project? Will the line up of PLP be the same You had for Veni Vidi Vici? Do you think that musically you will take the same direction as that of Veni Vidi Vici?

Pär: We have kept this very quiet for a long time now but there has been a serious illness in the band for almost two years now. I´m glad to say that the person in question is fully recovered again but it will take some time still before we can embark on PLP tours with something like the old lineup. Thats why I have toured with other people lately. The next PLP album I think will be more like Gothic Impressions as far as it beeing more of a solo effort that a group effort. Hopefully it can be out later this year!

Q: Do You think that you will sooner collaborate to another project like Discus Ursi?

Pär: Nothing is scheduled for the time beeing as we have only just finished a very heavy production.

Q: Did You plan some concerts for «Dreamsongs»? Another concerttour for PLP?

Pär: We think that there will be a demand for a Tolkien tour with material from both Dreamsongs and BILBO so Björn and I are planning for it to be ready to go in the fall 2004 or 2005 if we are invited to come and play. We are actually looking for musicians to play live with at this time.

Q: Can you tell me what You have been doing since the release of Live In Iceland.

Pär: Well there has been the illness of one of our members. Also I have been thinking a lot and evaluating my career and where international progressive music is going and whether really I belong there anymore. When we first started 1991 I was very enthusiastic about it all and yes there has been some victories for the genre but at the same time I´m really worried about the lack of true musical quality of much thats beeing put out. Its still a far cry from the seventies prog supergroup quality music. On the other hand I haven´t been idle and lazy but have acctually been touring and completed Dreamsongs which has been the most incredibly demanding album to produce. A 64 channels production and zillions of instruments...

Q: Your last answer concerning the progressive music scene sound closer to my own opinion. Do you think that some musicians have lost the spirit of the prog from the 70,S.

Pär: Yes very much so. I think today there is only people like Steve Hackett which still continues the spirit in an unbroken line since the 70s. He never really did sell out to silly commercial pop music but has kept his integrity intact all along.

Q: I feel that you are a little bit discouraged. During this period did you think about the possibilities to stop making this genre of music?

Pär: Yes the thought has crossed my mind but my love for the incredible freedom this genre gives you makes me stay in there perhaps for the rest of my life. I have a vision though to get involved in classical music in a serious way again. My worry about that is that the classical scene is in a complete mess these days but I´m sure I will find a way sooner or later to get going on that road as well.

Q: Retrospectivly, did you see the influence, the impact of the swedish progressive scene on the international progressive scene?

Pär: Well... I mean we were the first country to really pick up this genre again after the 70s and I arranged to my knowledge the first ever progressive festival in 1991. Also I think the Swedish groups have influenced a lot of other bands in their musical language with the possible exception of the Italian groups which allways have been a little apart.

Q: What is for You the most difficult aspect of the musicbusiness (the progressive scene)

Pär: The lack of support from massmedia and the musicindustry. We are still very much treated as outlaws and outcasts.

Q: I know that you plan to record another progressive album. Did you have some expectations for that one.

Pär: Well I get mail all the time from fans asking when the next PLP album will come out and so on so there sure is a lot of interest out there which inspires me to get a new album out as soon as I possibly can.

Thanks Pär for your collaboration.

Pär: Its been my pleasure.

Norwegian Rockmagazine Monster Magazine 20th august 2001 by journalist Geir Larzen.

1. Monster magazine: Can you tell us a little about what you were doing before 1991?

Pär Lindh: As a teenager I tried to get a progressive keyboard trio going around 1979 but Boy was it the wrong time ! Instead I moved to Paris to study piano, organ and harpsichord at the Conservatory. I also toured the US, Germany, France and Italy as a classical performer.

2. MM: What was "The Swedish Art Rock Society"? Tell us a little about the years 1991- 1994 as this was such an incredibly creative period for the Swedish progressive scene.

PL: I started "The Swedish Art Rock Society" in 1991 because I felt that for the first time since 1979 there were some positive vibes in the musical enviroment again. The autumn 1991 we organized the first progressive festival ever ! 150 people turned up although we didn´t promote it very well and among them groups like Anekdoten, Landberg, Änglagård (they were forming at this very time), Manticore etc. This was really the start of the "Swedish wave" during the nineties...the rest is history.

3. MM: What was the reason to start making progressive music again in 1991 since this musical style had been dead since the seventies?

PL: The first progressive era died between 1978 and 1980. However the love for this great musical epoque 1967 to 1978 was always stong in our hearts. The fire was there but the zeitgeist of the eighties made it impossible to play this music in those days. When I moved back to Sweden 1989 I was determined to "once again take up the banner of progressive music" ...sounds pompous doesn´t it...

4. MM: Unfortunately I haven´t heard your first legendary solo album "Gothic Impressions"...tell us what visions you had when doing this album and does it stand the test of time you think?

PL: I put everything on one card with that record. I wanted to do the ultimate anti-eighties album with that one and I think I did it properly! Four members of Änglagård played on the album among others. Gothic still sells very well och was elected best Progalbum of the nineties in Argentina!

5. MM: When and how did PLP come into beeing?

PL: PLP as a band got together by chance really. Both Magdalena and Jocke had been on Gothic Impressions and Jocke knew Nisse and Marcus so we decided to jam and that was it. We stayed together as a band for four years.

6. MM: In 1996 you did an album "Bilbo" with Mr. Björn Johansson. What is your feelings today about that album and the cooperation with Björn?

PL: Well both Björn and I are very proud of Bilbo as it is an album that has moved a lot of people. Bilbo has also been produced as a Ballet with over a hundred performances. Björn is a very talented guy and I look forward to play with him again. Acctually I was down to Gothenburg some weeks ago to work with Mr. John Bollenberg and Björn on the coming album "If only Stones Could Speak". Björn and I also has a new duo project coming up. Perhaps next year.

7. MM: In december 1997 I got to know PLP through the album "Mundus Incompertus". This CD is a masterpiece. Tell us a little about how that album was created?

PL: I wrote the music for Mundus and did most of the work myself. However we decided to mix the album at Nisses studio Eggshell and Nisse got really involved during the mixing and final arrangements of Mundus. I remember we worked day and night. We got the CD in our hands only two hours before we were to depart for Rio de Janerio where PLP was headlining a festival at La Scala in downtown Rio. It was really nervwrecking ....Also I had a breakdown about a week before the album was finished. I fell to the floor beeing unable to stand up for about 10 minutes...terrible. It was just to much work to be done.

8. MM: What does Veni Vidi Vici mean?

PL: It means something like "They arrived, they saw, they conquered..." at first it was more of a joke and a working title. At first we didn´t take it to seriously but then we said to ourselves...what the heck it WILL work and it is a rather cocky statement and it really fits the music and the overall concept of the album I think.

9. MM: I can see that there has been some changes in the group since the last album. Why is this?

PL: Simply the fact that Marcus and Jocke decided to do other things. There was also an fatigue after the long USA tour 1999. We had been on the road for almost four weeks traveling over the whole continent by airplane and tourbus. Some people like this kind of thing and others just can´t stand it.

10. MM: So now PLP is a trio which hires bass and guitar players when needed?

PL: BIG NEWS... PLP has invited Mr. William Kopecky to be full member in the band. He was thrilled and accepted immedeately. I feel that through Bill PLP will be revitalised. Really great!

11. MM: I think your new album is clearly your best one. How long did it take to do and tell us something about how it was recorded.

PL: As with all of my albums it contains material from childhood days till things we compose right up to the final mix. Usually it begins with me having some ideas for the epic tracks of an album in this case "Gradus and The Premonition". Then we work on the arrangements and add some shorter songs that we feel can fit into the overall concept.
12. MM: Veni seems to be filled with musical references from the past. I hear echoes of ELP, Genesis, Anekdoten, Bach, Änglagård, Grieg, Renaissance... What is most important for you. To make as original music as possible or is the main idea for you just to produce good music?

PL: Everybody has had influences in their lives and my idea is to use these influences to create something compleately new and personal. You might hear in my music a mellotron sound which reminds of King Crimson or a counterpoint part composed in the manner of Bach for a few seconds...but it´s because I felt this was needed for a certain effect at certain point. I think the challenge is to make music that will stand time and hopefully 100 years from now it will still be listened to. To be really honest I think that 95% of all popmusic from the fifthies up till now will have vanished compleately a hundred years from now. Very little will be left because honestly most of it is just crap really.

13. MM: How much influence has E. Grieg had on your music? Beeing a Norwegian I would like to know.

PL: Grieg has been with me since childhood days. I can´t have been more than nine or ten years old when I first played "In the Hall of the Mountain King or Anitras Dans" on the piano. I think Greig and perhaps more Debussy and the timbres of impressionism has had great infuences on progressive rock. For exampl Keith Emerson uses the cool possibilities of jazz but instead of also using what I call "the bad taste of jazz" he adds the beautiful harmonies of impressionism. The result was sometimes magical!

14. MM: Spontainously I find the lack of guitar on Veni a bit suppricing but at the same time it gives the record a certain charm and originality. In what way do you think that PLP sounds different to other bands in your genre?

PL: PLP is mainly a keyboard oriented group. I remember struggling hard on Mundus Incompertus to try to give Jocke a meaningful role to play. It was difficult for me not playing guitar. On Veni I didn´t have that "problem" because now PLP don´t have a regular guitarist. John Hermansens guitar was used more like if I would have added for example a violin here and there. PLP also has more classical influences than perhaps any other group today.

15. MM: Your new CD has many guestartists and also both a sting orchestra and a choir. Tell us how you did achieve this and why you decided to use them.

PL: Choir and orchestra just sounds great and it enhances the album I think. On Mundus I also hired a stringensemble for a recording session. I paid about $1200 ... but they played so badly that we had to scrap everything except ONE NOTE !!! One bloody note...an F...it must be the most expencive recorded note in the history of music!

16. MM: How do you normaly go about composing a peice. How do you present it and arrange it with the other members of the band?

PL: It´s a long process. I have hundreds of themes and idees of songs laying about and I just wait until some of them naturly come together to form a longer piece. Then I develop a concept idea for an album. Then Nisse comes in and we work on arrangements and tempos etc. Once we got something down we start the recording and develop the pieces even as we record. It´s an interesting process to hear the music come together while we record and also having the possibility to rerecord if need be.

17. MM: What was the most difficult thing with the new album?

PL: The most difficult was the whole magnitude of the recording...I mean all in all 40 musicians and singers...really something! Then we also had the time preassure as we have a licencee deal with Japan for four albums of which Veni Vidi Vici was the first. We were only finished with the mixing a few hours before we were due to go for the mastering in Stockholm. At that moment we hadn´t slept for some three night´s just working around the clock really. As we mailed the material to Japan we were dead and somebody else had to drive us back home for a couple of days sleep. Just hillarious!

18. MM: Hymn has become my favorite song. It seems to have a certain Brittish feel about it and also reminds a bit of ELP´s rendition of "Jerusalem". Magdalena sings very beautiful on this one. What are your comments?

PL: It´s acctually a theme I had for ages. If I recall it was initually inspired by "Third Impression" rater than "Jerusalem". But you´re right it has a strong feeling of the Europan choirtradition in it.

19. MM: My only objection to the album is some drumparts which seems to be a bit to heavy metal at times. I sometimes feel that the music would benefite from a more nuanced form of drumming perhaps á la Carl Palmer. Do you have any comments on this?

PL: Nisse´s style is very heavymetal and I like the agression of it. Live I feel this locomotive behind the music and it gives the power and contrast to my playing I think. Some fans like it and others think it would be better with a more "jazzlike" drummingstryle. On the first CD "Gothic Impressions" I shared the drumstol with Mattias Olsson from Änglagård. On "Green Meadow Lands" I did a tribute to Mike Giles (in the Court of the Crimson King) and on "Night on the Bare Mountain" I do something like a Carl Palmer orgy in drums and percussion.

20. MM: Some sequences in "Gradus ad Parnassum" from Veni Vidi Vici recalls memories from Änglagård. Why is this? Did you work with them? What do you think of them now as they were one of the nineties most influential prog bands?

PL: I helped Änglagård on their debut album "Hybris". They borrowed my B3 Hammond and I acctually play on one track even though it is not mentioned in the booklet. After trying numerous times their keyboard player just gave up trying to lay down a part and everybody stated looking in my direction...then they asked me if I could do it. Which I did. Accidently I also wrote the first review on that album where I gave it four points out of five. I still feel the vocals could be better. Hybris (1993) was important as it was the first really honest progressive masterpieces since the days of the seveties. I also played with them in Los Angeles 1993. What a success! I never forget that concert till my dying day! Accidently I remeber bringing down the first storm of applause on that festival after my concert organ solo at the beginning of the Änglagård set.

21. MM: The beautiful "Adagio" is played twice on the album. Why is this?

PL: Adagio is a part of my upcoming Concerto in Baroque style. On Veni it was to prelude the hymn but live we used it as intro with complete darkness on stage before we kicked into the titletrack Veni Vidi Vici. Really great effect! Also it binds together the album in a nice way and brings it full circle.

22. MM: Jonas Reingold plays incredibly well on the album. His basslines are sometimes brilliantly adapted like the one on "Tower of thoughts". How did you go about this?

PL: Jonas is a superb bass player like William Kopecky. I´m very fortunate to have such musicians around me. How we went about this...well basically testing different approaches to the music and then we suddenly heard that something worked perfectly... rec/play enough said...

23. MM: Tell us something about tour plans for the future?

PL: PLP is looking forward to tour extencively the coming years. We are booked for Island, Belgien and Germany this fall and will tour North and South America, Europe and hopefully Japan/Asia in the coming years. Just check our homepage for current information at www.parlindh.com

24. MM: What have you done after the release of the CD?

PL: I have produced a really cool band from Switzerland called "THONK". Their debut album is called "Earth Vision Impact". It was released this summer. I recommend it strongly! Also I´ve just been booked to play drums and keyboards as well as producing on an upcoming album called "If only stones could speak" by Mr. John Bollenberg and Björn Johansson. Mr. Rick Wakeman has apparently agreed to guestappear on the album as well. It will be great to work with such a distinguised musician. The CD is a concept album about the history of medieval Brugge in Belgium(where incidently Mr. Bollenberg lives) and will be ready early 2002 in time for Brugge becoming the cultural capital of Europe during that year!

25. MM: You have your own record company. What is the advantages and disadvantages of this you think?

PL: Advantages is above all the total control over everything. There are really no big disadvantages except perhaps that of a limited distribution capability.

26. MM: How much do you expect to sell of each album?

PL: Gothic Impressions (1994) has sold around 15 000 copies worldwide and is still selling very well indeed. This type of music do sell well over the years and all my albums will hopefully continue to sell for decades to come.

27. MM: Do you think that the present incarnation of PLP will be a lasting one?

PL: I think Magdalena, Nisse and I will work together for many years to come. But at the same time I´m interested to try other constellations as well so who knows perhaps there will be not only a PLP mark 1 but also a PLP mark 2 one day.

28. MM: Will there be a new live album soon?

PL: We released the "Live in America" 1999 wich was recorded in Brazil and the USA. Perhaps we will release another at the end of year 2002 or 2003 when we have relevant material recorded.

29. MM: Other plans for the future?

PL: Well we are looking at a new PLP album for 2002 of course. Then Mr. Björn Johansson and I are thinking of releasing one as well. Also there are discussion of another "New Grove Project CD" where Mr. Carl Palmer has been asked to sit in on drums! At this point I´m not sure if he can/want´s to do it though. I have been asked to produce that CD and play some keyboards as well...so there is really a lot of projects in the coming year. Also there is the release of Crimsonic Labels classical label "Nordverk" in the works. This is preliminary booked for the fall 2002. This would mean the release of five CD´s simultainously at the launch of this label. We are in the process of recording these albums right now.

30. MM: At last are there any plans to play Norway soon?

PL: I´m really looking forward to that as it is now some years since we played Norway. We´ll tour Island again next summer and the plan then is to go by boat from Bergen to Island bringing all our heavy equipment Hammonds etc. So that would be an ideal occasion to do a couple of gigs in Norway as well. Concert promoters...You are welcome $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

MM: Thank you very much for the interview.

PL: You´re welcome.

Interview by Juan Barrenechea Herrera for Subterránea magazine.

1. Hi Par! Welcome to Subterránea!. Firstly, could you tell us about the eventual tour for Southamerica on autumn 2000? Have Chile a place in the list?

(Pär) Hi there! Well PLP have been invited to play a number of gigs in Brasil year 2000 and yes we have also been invited to play in Chile. So at the moment we are talking about dates etc. When we have the dates fixed we will approach our old promotors and friends in Argentina and Brasil to see if we could do a few additional concerts with them as well.

2. I would like to say many prog fans are still waiting to see PLP in Chile. The last year you only play in Argentina and Brasil. What's happened with Chile on that tour?

(Pär) There was an invitation from somebody in Chile for us to play there as well but for some reason or other it didn´t work out.

3. What do you know about Chilenian bands, zines etc?

(Pär)Not much really...I´m looking forward to hear more Chilenian prog and other music when we get over there.

4. On hearing your new album "Live in America". I was surprised by your professionalism and incredible skills....The best live album I' ve heard this year. What are the band greatest virtue in your opinion?

(Pär) Perhaps it´s our ability to write music with complex classical structures but at the same time also keep the ¨watch out so we don´t push you over the cliff¨ hard rock attitude in there...which we especially do in the live situation. This I feel is one of the most interesting virtues of the band right now.

5. Talking about sucess, How many copies of the cd have you sold? In PLP case. In which countries do you have the biggest sucess?

(Pär) Well I don´t know exactly how many we have sold but it isn´t an awful lot really. You see we still don´t have any distribution! So our CDs are mainly sold by small indipendent dealers all over the world and since the media is negelecting prog totally it means that more than 99% of the people in a country like the USA for example don´t even know we exist...! On the other hand we sell more CDs than most other progressive bands. So if you look at it that way we are doing all right.

6. What about New Groove Project? Could you tell us about this fantastic side project?

(Pär) What happened really was that two guys from Switzerland hired Jode Leigh on drums, Roine Stolt on guitar and myself on keys to record some music they had written some years before. So they hired my studio in Sweden (Crimsonic Label Studios) and we all spent 12 days recording the whole album and just having a great time. I enjoyed very much working with especially Jode Leigh he was just a great drummer and brill guy in every way and of course with Roine Stolt.

7. Is also there the possibility to work with Bjorn Johnsson again?

(Pär) Funny that you should ask that question really because I had a two day meeting with Björn only a couple of days ago where we decided to start working together again on another duo album and also perhaps in future tours. Björn toured with PLP on our first South American tour and a lot of fans would very much like to see us playing together again. Which is nice.

8. Is Keith Emerson a strong influence for you? I ask this since there is a cover version of Blue rondo on one of you albums.

(Pär) Keith Emerson was important to me when I was developing as a young musician. I was into classical music only and felt a bit stifled in that enviroment. I didn´t feel at ease with all the silly rules which some of my earlier teachers tried to force me to follow. Then suddenly here was this fantastic player who played better than my teachers and who broke all the rules in a wonderful way. He showed the way for many keyboard players. It opened up a lot of possibillities within rock or rather in progressive rock.

9. On hearing this mini cd one can see how the Swedish folk music is important to you.

(Pär) Yes I´ve allways had a soft spot for mainly nordic and celtic folk music. As a matter of fact I am working on a future folkmusic CD. I don´t know when it will come out though.

10. What kind of things inspire Pär Lindh?

(Pär) Oh...a lot of things really...every thing from classical music to jazz to rock etc. Also nature, art and poetry for that matter.

11. On Gothic Impressions album you play with Roine Stolt, the musicians of Anglagaard and many guests. Do you agree if one would say that it is a more baroque and symphonic than debut mini cd?

(Pär) Let´s get one thing straight here. Gothic Impressions was my first album and the mini CD was the second. Yes Gothic has a lot of inspiration from J.S.Bach on it... as well as from symphonic and renaissance music. Whereas the mini CD Rondo was not a serious attempt really. It is not an album that I´m all that proud of. But on the other hand it´s O.K. I suppose.

12. With "Mundus" PLP show a renaissance sounding music, with a great touch of progressive rock in the style of ELP and based on the elaborated keyboards developements. The best PLP album from my point of view. What do you think?

(Pär) PLP was more of a band when recording Mundus...also my recording skills had improved and I was going for a more direct group sound instead of the more orchestral sound on Gothic. I think they both are quality albums but different.

13. Tell us about your contribution to the norwegian compilation Alien Killer Orange?

(Pär) Not much to say really. They asked if I had something they could have for that CD and I gave them a live track.

14. What about the sweden's progressive music of today. Sweden seems to be a fantastic place with a lot of progressive bands, but many groups say too that Sweden had a very few listeners. Is this true?

(Pär) Well the thing is that there are a lot of talented bands and players around in Sweden today but unfortunately there is an allmost total lack of support from record companies and media. It´s all a bit sad! I get all this mail from Swedish people who´ve just heard the PLP Live album for example and they just can´t understand how the media over here have been able to get away with negelecting us the way they have been doing for five years! The good thing is that we are very hardened...or as Roine Stolt put´s it ¨If they choose negelect us well then I will just continue to negelect them¨.

15. Anyhow I'm impressed. In my opinion the scandinavian bands are building thier own progressive style, full of tension deeper, oscure and very sophisticated. Congratulations!

(Pär) Thanks! Well everywhere we go people says things like ¨Swedish prog is the best etc.¨ and I´m very pleased because some of it is really good. Of all prog bands I enjoy listening to today I think something like a third of them do come from Sweden.

16. Here in Chile we don´t have a distribution service to get the PLP cd's. Have you a distribution service in South America?

(Pär) Yes we do. In Argentina and Brasil.

17. What about recording a new studio album? Plans to future?

(Pär) We are planning to record a new PLP album this spring.

18. Thanks you for this nice conversation! I hope (and many chilean prog fans) to see to PLP in Chile. Is there anything you would like to say to the chilean prog heads.

(Pär) I want to say that PLP are dying to get back to South America for another tour and this time I´m sure we are not going to miss playing Chile. We are looking forward to see you all good people down there soon.

19. This is an special answer to all bands. Please name the five favorite cd's from all times.

(Pär) Well if you mean in the progressive genre it would be something like Foxtrot by Genesis, Pictures at an Exhibition by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Ommadawn by Mike Oldfield, In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson and Grand Hotel By Procul Harum.

Interview by Alfonso Algora for the Spanish magazine Lunar Waves Magazine, Dec. 1999.

1. First of all, it´s really curious how "mature" unknown musicians such as Roine Stolt or Pär Lindh now are worldwide known leading two of the best prog r ock groups in 90´s. Where were you "hidden" all these years? Tell us something about your beginnings, groups, etc...

(Pär) Well both Roine and I are around 15 years younger than the guys in Yes, ELP Genesis etc. and we have suffered because we were to late to ride on the seventies wave of progressive rock. When we started our carreers the progressive rock was hugely out of fashion from around 1978 to 1992 so there was just NO WAY one could make it happen during those years. Instead of conforming myself to the shit music of punk, disco etc. which plagued those years I decided to leave popular music altogether and only devote myself to classical music where I was hiding as you put it.

2. I think that the most interesting prog rock nowadays is played by north european musicians such as White Willow, Änglagård, PLP, The Flower Kings, Ayreon, Decoryah... and a hughe and happy etc. Do you think there´s a lack of ideas in english (too much Genesis´ clones) and american (very infuenced by Aor music) prog-rock? Is Northern Europe the future of prog-rock?

(Pär) When I started the Swedish Art Rock Society in 1991 I just couldn´t forsee in my wildest dreams the flood of inspired, unique high quality progressive music which were to burst out from the nordic countries throughout the nineties! It has been truly great to see all these bands and artists one after the other make their stamp on progressive music throughout the world. Wherever you come you hear " Swedish Progressive is the best" ... it´s quite amazing actually. "Is Northen Europe the future for prog-rock?" Well at least it will certainly play a major role in the future for this style of music.

3. Some people think that your music is great and you are one of the best musicians in the world nowadays; on the other hand, other people think it´s a paste or mix with several influences, as a cocktail. Prog fans´ oppinion is divided about you. What do you have to say about it ?

(Pär) There is nothing strange about the fact that people have different opinions about my music or the music of any other artist for that matter. It is the way it has to be and it is very healthy. I´m just fortunate to have been given very, very good reviews all around the world. It acctually amazes me!

4. You took about 20 years to release "Gothic Impressions". Which were the reasons for that delay? Do you think that if "Got. Imp." has been released in the 70´s it would be a classic album nowadays like "Close to the Edge", "Tarkus", "Thick as a Brick", etc...?

(Pär) One reason for me personally was the extremly high cost´s involved when you are a progressive keyboardist. The Hammonds, Mellotrons, Moogs, grand pianos, harpsichord, clavinettes, Leslies etc. etc. they just cost so much. Also you need a big place to store all the stuff and you need vans to carry all equipment. For me it meant that it took allmost 20 years to afford all my equipment including a compleate studio. All in all we are talking about something like $200 000, which is a lot of money! Concerning Gothic becoming a classic had it been released in the seventies...well it´s just impossible to say what might have been if...but it is a fact that Gothic Impressions has been compared to the "old" classical albums like Tarkus and Close to the Edge. So who knows?

5. "Gothic..." and "Mundus..." are classic prog albums very infuenced by ELP and baroque music. On the other hand, "Bilbo" is more folkie and has strong influences from Mike Oldfield. Why do you do these changes in your music? What kind of music can we expect in forthcomings Cd´s in the future?

(Pär) Well I´m persuing a lot of different styles in my musicmaking. At the moment I´m working on an PLP album in the vein of Gothic & Mundus but also on a more lyrical solo album as well as a folkmusic project. Also I´m looking for cooperation with a major classical label for my future releases in that direction.

6. Is PLP one man´s project or it works as a band when you´re composing, recording, etc...?

(Pär) It´s basically a one man´s project with good musicians around me.

7. Months ago I interviewed "House of Usher" and they told me that you´re one of the best musicians they´ve ever heard and that you live and breathe for prog music. What´s your oppinion about them? You really amazed them.

(Pär) House of Usher was very kind to us letting PLP stay in their homes as we played Detroit last summer. We did a double bill with them opening for us. They´re a good band and a very friendly bunch of people.

8. Unfortunately, you´ve never played in Spain. Is there any plan? What could spanish prog fans see in a PLP show?

(Pär) We would love to play Spain but it all boiles down to if we are offered an resonable fee and if the timing is right. We were talking about a gig in Barcelona in 1998 but it never happened. Perhaps one of these days...

9. Your success is amazing in countries like Argentina. Are you afraid of this quick success?

(Pär) Oh no...not a all! I mean we´re still a small band in comparison so the bigger we get the better.

10. If I ask a bass player for his influences, he probably told me names like Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, etc... Keyboard players never give names of alive influences and you always name people like Bach, Mozart, Ginastera, etc..., instead of musicians like Emerson, Moraz, Wakeman, etc... Which are your best keyboardists?

(Pär) Well my main influences are the classical composers...I mean they were the really great guys after all. But the keyboardists which has influenced me over the years are people like Brian Auger, Pete Robinsson, Keith Emerson, Dave Brubeck, Blandine Verlet and Glenn Gould to mention a few.

11. Which records, books and videos do you take with you to an island?

(Pär) Oh gee....well it would have to be a lot of records...as for books it would be Tolkien and a few others and videos it would be Gentle Giant live 1974 in Belgium, Genesis live from the Selling England tour, ELP live 1970 and a wounderful film about Domenico Scarlatti with Rafael Puyana playing harpsichord.

12. Do you have some project in mind with Roine Stolt?

(Pär) We´ve been talking about it for a couple of years...at the moment though we are both busy with other projects. I hope it will be possible one day.

13. Do you know spanish prog bands like Galadriel? Are you interested in spanish music (in general, not only prog bands or Julio Iglesias)

(Pär) No I don´t know Galadriel unfortunately. I like some classical music from the Iberian pelinsula. For instance D. Scarlatti lived and worked there as did Padre Antonio Soler and Cabezon etc. Of course I also like the guitar music from you country.

14. Imagine for a while... The Government of European Union is going to build a cathedral somewhere in Europe. They want you to choose one city to build it. Which city do you prefer for that?

(Pär) Oh...very difficult question...perhaps in Dresden if it was built in a Baroque style. That beautiful baroque city was wiped out during world war two.

15. A lot of PLP fans would like to listen to classical baroque composers but they don´t dare to buy those kind of records. Could you tell them the name of some clasical composers and records that could like to PLP fans?

(Pär) They should listen to the famous composers like Bach & Händel etc. but also try to get into more obscure composers like William Byrd, Sweelinck, Louis Couperin etc.

16. Could you tell me the name of any absolutely unknown swedish band that you think will be known in the future?

(Pär) Not that I know of right now. I´m a bit out of touch at the moment though. However I think the band Zello deserves more attention than they are getting. Their second album is something that a lot of progressive listners would just love to hear.

17. Please, tell some words to spanish PLP fans.

(Pär) I just wan´t to say that I really would like to come and play in your country. Perhaps one day soon it will be possible. Until then our very best wishes to you all from PLP.

Thank you.

Pär: You´re most welcome.

Interview by Marcos Oliveira, in the winter of 1997, for the Brazillian music- magazine Metemusica.

1. You were getting a great repercussion in your career as a erudite musician in Europe, when you decided to leave everything behind and to go back to Progressive Rock. Tell us how this radical change happened in your life.

(Pär) Well...It was quite a step to take...I mean it wasn´t accepted by most of the classical world and I got some people turning up their noses and snearing at me saying I wasn´t a serious musician etc. etc. But really I did it because I don´t think most of the classical world is really serious at all. I mean if Mozart, Bach & Beethoven...Where would they be if they lived today? ...Well not in the stifled and corrupt enviroment of todays classical music world... Oh no they would probably be doing progressive rock where their fantasy and ideas would be accepted. So I guess my answer is that I was really dissapointed and disilluted in the classical world and I could see the sign on the wall around 1989 that the progressive was coming back so...I thought why not dare it and do something really worthwhile.

2. We know that the style - and the name - Progressive Rock close a lot of doors to an artist, even if he is a real master at the musical art, like it is in your case. Have you managed to overcome the hindrances and divulge your work for the general public in Sweden?

(Pär) No I haven´t and that´s why I started the Swedish Art Rock Society in 1991. We couldn´t get any gigs ...we were not accepted anywhere so we said...hell we will build our own stages and our own festivals and all support each other in what we believe in and through this the Swedish wave of new groups sprang forth really...groups like Änglagård, Anekdoten, Roine Stolt etc.etc. I think we have succeded really well.

3. Who is promoting your presentation in the city of Macae is the Sociedade Musical Macaense (Macae Musical Association), a non-profit entity that has for purpose to divulge mainly Erudite Music. Do you think that Progressive Rock can break some barriers that put Erudite Music apart from Popular Music, thus becoming a kind of synthesis of the styles of music?

(Pär) Yes I think progressive is breaking new ground now and linking up with classical music and expremental music in a way it has never done before. I have been getting some fantastic response lately from classical musicians who really believe in what I´m doing and that there is a new symbiose in the making here...I think the future will surprice us all really.

4. Gothic Impressions was one of the greatest debuts in the history of Progressive Rock. Afterwards, came a lot of other albums that were indeed great projects. Now the time has come to know the second realization of PLP. How was to overcome the challenge to do an album that succeeds a Masterpiece?

(Pär) 4. Oh...thanks for kind words about "Gothic". Well it wasn´t a problem really at all as I´ve got material for some 10 Gothic Albums lying around back in my home. So the problem is really as usual the question of time and money really...but I did feel the obligation to not let down all the fans of Gothic impressions as I´ve been getting some amazing response to that album I can tell you! It seems to affect some people very strongly indeed. I think "Mundus incompertus" is a worthy follower ...but of course it´s different in some aspects.

5. What does Mundus Incompertus deal with more precisely? What analysis would you do on this album?

(Pär) Well, lyricwize it relates to Gothic in the sense that it deals with the human condition on earth in a existancional way... put into a sort of cryptic poetry...musicwize it relates to Gothic in parts and other parts is really different I would say.

6. Two years remaining to the turn of 20th century. What are your expectations for the third millennium?

(Pär) I think we are entering a really exciting new era of music as a new synthesis of musical styles seems to develop into a more serious thing...I mean hitherto it has been more like a Mannheim-schule thing really...putting together different combinations of styles in a "let´s have some fun way"...I see the possibility that these ideas will come to their full blom in the next millenium as truly great music...

7. What is the sensation to present your work in such distant countries - with customs and social and political conditions so different from Sweden - as Brazil and Argentina?

(Pär) As we have never been to Brasil before we don´t know what to expect but we are thrilled to see your country and all good people there. I´m sure it will be an experience we will carry with us for a long time.

8. Did you have opportunity to hear some brazilian band?

(Pär) Not a lot unfortunately...we are eager to hear your music but I´ve heard a CD by a group called Bacamarte which i really liked a lot...but as I remember it was a group from the seventies wasn´t it?

9. What is the current line up of PLP (and those who will come to Brazil)?

(Pär) We are a five member band: bass Marcus Jäderholm, guitar Jocke Ramsell, drums Nisse Bielfeld, vocals Magdalena Hagberg and me on keyboards.

10. What music will the band perform on this tour?

(Pär) Music from all albums and a couple of covers I think.

11. Thanks for your attention.

(Pär) Thank you very much and hope to see you soon in Brasil.
 

Interview by Luca Rodella, in 1996, for the Italian prog magazine Arlequins.

1.(Luca) Just to break the ice: What´s happening in the near future with PLP?....

(Pär) Well...we have started the preparations to record PLP 3 & 4 which both will be fullength CD´s and we hope to release both these albums during this year. The material is already written. Also we are putting together concert material for spectacular live shows starting this year with us headlining the Gothenburg Art-Rock Festival on fourth of May this year.

2.(Luca)...and the far future?

(Pär) I have material for about 8 to 10 more CD´s on demo tapes and music scores so my wish is to arrange and release this material in a spring of productions over the coming years with as high sound quality as possible.

3.(Luca) What is the meaning of the CD Rondo, what does it represent?... it seems that it is neither on the same level as Gothic Impressions nor in a similar style to what you say the new work will be like.

(Pär) Yes I can understand that Rondo confuses people a bit. Rondo was released on public demand as a lot of people from all continents (not Africa) wrote to us and wanted us to release our version of Rondo which had been broadcasted in radioshows during 1995. It was first intended to be released as a single together with jazzeruption but at the same time Russian television wanted a piece in style of Solaris for a TV programme they were making about my music so I added this piece to the album. People should look at it as an appetizer of things yet to come. Rondo was recorded during a rehersal with only two microphone s in the middle of the room and it shows our musical potential as a live group.

4.(Luca) You speak without any delay, even emphasizing the term, Progressive rock; you propose music that can be considered the concrete form of the attribute Symphonic rock; you play this using instruments directly taken from the gold period of prog music; you have developed work elaborating on a Fantasy text and you are planning work based on myths and legends of virtuous warriors (in the most typical progressive tradition)....don´t you think that by doing this you are closing yourself inside a cliché, ambients already known that could become narrow?

(Pär) Hmmm..interesting question. Well I think this is a problem you have as an artist whatever genre you think you are working in and the important thing is to be aware of this all the time. My personal answer to this is to try to make each album different from the other (compare Gothic to Rondo) and in this way give the listener a pleasant shock each time she or he buys one of my CD´s. Also my background as a musician is very varied so I think people will continue to get shocked over the new styles & sonic landscapes on the new CD´s for many years to come.

5.(Luca) Your career of a classical musician implies a considerable technical preparation due to prolonged study. What do you think about people who say that the instinct and freedom given by someone not being able to play is better than a situation similar to your one?

(Pär) It´s a two way street as I see it: 1, A musician who have studied and have developt high skills in the art of writing and performing music develops an understanding of what is for most people a hidden and unknown knowledge or language within music which you need to have if you truly want to contribute to the development of music. If you don´t have this knowledge you might think you have invented something new and original when you are really only copying what has been done a thousand times before. 2, The danger is that if you study a lot and your personality is not strong enough to protect your own personal musical identity you might be conformed by external influenses from teachers or from a certain accepted tradition. This happens a lot I´m afraid and could be fatal for a persons musical identity. So this is why I feel comfortable to be in no mans land between the somewhat stiff but nessesary rules of classical music and the naive (in a positive scene) freedom of artrock.

6.(Luca) In the inner note of your first work you say that you did every thing possible to minimize the use of modern synthesiser sound in favour of old acoustic and electric instruments. Why this choice (when "important instrument magazine" say that you can now do nearly everything....even a coffee! with this or that type of sampler)?

(Pär) Well I wanted to attac the way some technology has been used by some people to "cheat" because of them being to lazy or not talented enough to learn to play any instruments properly. I think there is a real danger in this which might not be obvious for all people to see but I´ve seen over the years how fewer good young musicians with personality are coming in to the musicworld. Today I can hardly think of any new group that I really want to go and see because I expect them to stun me with their playing capabilities. I wanted to speak up for good musicianship because I think it is needed.

7.(Luca) You said that people are now increasingly questioning the value of much of the commercial nonsense predominant throughout the eighties and have started to look for a deeper and more meaningful musical language again. Don´t you think it is possible that "somebody else" could notice this trend and start producing "un-commercial nonsense music"...I mean don´t you feel it is a real possibility that somebody will ruin (or even, is ruining) this "happy land" that is the progressive ambient by producing shit just because they are sure they will sell it anyway?

(Pär) We will probably always have this problem but I feel that we now have a better situation than in the eighties.

8.(Luca) We see that some of the members of Änglagård are playing with you: Roine Stolt of Kaipa is your mixing engineer, you are in touch with Anekdoten that are good friends with Ulf Danielsson of A.P.M. (he was their roady when they played in that damned raining concert we organised in the deep south of Italy), Landberk told us during one of their Italian concerts that they were planing a tour with Anekdoten and so on. Is the Swedish progscene really so close and brotherly or is it just that there are so few people following prog that it is easy to find the same name all over? Why do you think Sweden is so prolific of prog sounds?

(Pär) Roine Stolt helped me mix not only Gothic but the coming Tolkien CD as well last month and we are planning to work closer together in the future.
Well when I arranged the first Progressive festival in Sweden 1991 most of todays progressive scene in Sweden turned up and that night became a source of great inspiration to all of us. Sweden is a small country so we progrockers tend to keep in contact all the time and generally supporting each other in what we do. I think in Sweden progressive rock has been more villified than almost anywhere else in the world with the possible exception of Great Britan so the reaction to this had to be a powerful one. That´s the reason I´m sure that Sweden has become such an important country for progressive and symphonic rock. Also we´ve hade a strong tradition here in the past which has survived in hiding during the eighties. The media still hates us here but there has been some openings even there latley. So there is hope. There is some conflict even in the progressive movement in Sweden but generally I consider the situation as very healthy.

9. (Luca) What about the Nice?

(Pär) Well I phoned Lee Jackson a couple of days before the ProgFest 93 in L.A. and told him to come and see Änglagård and me play. He thought it was a great event and we kept in contact and in the autumn 1994 I met him in England for an interview and saw that he could still play very well so we dicided to do something in the future. In early 1995 he told me taht Brian Davidson was avalible and at the same time I was asked to do a gig in Gothenburg. Since I didn´t have a band at the time I suggested that I would play with Brian and Lee. I rented a rehersalstudio in London february 1995 were we rehersed for the gig unfortunately it was cancelled. We also thought of making a CD. However the finanses of my record-company was a little shaky at the time so these plans were put on hold and thats really where we are at the moment. If a company would back us we could easily record a CD anytime.

10.(Luca) Have you got anything to say to the Italian prog fans?

(Pär) Yes I want to tell them that I love Italy and would dearly like to come and play there with my band as soon as possible.
I remember when I was 19 years old I played some pianoconcerts in Italy and there was this openair concert in Roma. I was rehersing on a Steinwaygrand in some park in the middle of the city on a sunny day and suddely I was surrounded by girls in their early teens (you could imagine how pleased I was) so I diceded to play some ELP instead of the classical stuff and to my surprice they knew this music very well and they loved it. That would never have happend in Sweden. I was amazed.

This is an interview made by the magazine Big Bang with Pär Lindh, on the 25:th of May 1996.

Can you introduce Björn Johansson to us ? How did you meet ?

I met Björn at the last festival I arranged as chairman of the Swedish Artrock Society Crimson in Uppsala, summer 1993. Mr. Johansson came up to me and asked if he could perform some acoustic guitar solos as interval music between the bands while the stage was being set, and I said "great idea !", because people wouldn't have to wait so long between bands; instead, they could be entertained all the time. Björn actually made possibly the most appreciated performance during that festival. Later he told me that he was looking for musicians to help him with a solo album he was planning to do, and I said I was working on my debut album also, looking for guitarists, etc. So we decided to work together. Björn has played in many bands, and he is a very versatile musician, with insight in many styles of music : classical, folk, progressive, blues, rock etc.

Who had the idea of adapting Tolkien's book ?

I had written "Song Of The Dwarfs" at age 14 to the lyrics from "Bilbo", and Björn had the folk theme which fitted well as intro and conclusion to the song... that was the beginning really. Then, since we both had lots of tolkienesque material and as far as we know nobody had done music to "Bilbo" before, we just decided that it would be a worthwhile thing to do, really.

Many progressive musicians have already been attracted to the work of Tolkien; I'm not only thinking of concept albums based on "Lord Of The Rings", but also of bandnames like Marillion, Isildurs Bane, Ganfalf or Galadriel. Do you think there's a particular "spirit" in common to both genres, litterary and musical ?

Well, I think Tolkien is a very imaginary writer who has created a secondary world with more morals and less pollution and corruption than the real world in which we live, and in a way, this is what progressive music is trying to create as well, you know. So there seems to be a natural link between Tolkien and progressive music in general.

Apart from some obvious references, for instance to Bo Hansson, the music on this album often has a very typical "Scandinavian" feel. Do you hear it, and how do you explain this ?

In the Nordic countries, both in jazz and especially in Scandinavian progressive music, we have in a natural way let our cultural heritage come forth to a great extent. I mean, just listen to Kaipa, Änglagård and Bo Hansson for instance, and you can actually smell the earth and forests of the North ! As far as "Bilbo" is concerned, we wanted the Nordic folk music to play an important role which was easy as we are born with it. There are also some Celtic or English folk influences on this CD.

Contrary to what was originally planned, the lyrics are not excerpts from the book, but your own interpretations of its content. Why ?

Well, in the beginning, we were very encouraged by the Tolkien estate, who said they liked our music very much. They told us our music in many cases was right on the nail, etc. So you can imagine how shocked we were when, after having waited for EIGHT months, we received a NO from them ! I mean, we just couldn't believe it... Since they had also demanded that we go ahead and make a final mix of the whole album with Tolkien's "lyrics" before they could grant us the final permission ! I was so angry after this treatment that I sat down the very night we received the negative answer, and wrote new lyrics to all the songs, and by noon the next day they were all written ! Then we recorded all the vocal parts again... but thanks to Magdalena's wonderful support, the songs were re-recorded within ten days, although she was working full-time as a teacher at the same time. She's just great !

Why did you and Björn play all the instruments (except flute, oboe and of course the vocals) on the album ? Did you want it to strictly be a "duo" project ?

Yes, absolutely. This was partly because of bitter experience from the "Gothic Impressions" sessions where I had to wait a whole year for the drummer and bass player of Änglagård to fulfill their promise to play on my CD ! After a year I called them up and said that I wouldn't wait any longer, and just sweated through and played drums and (synth) bass myself on half the songs. The reactions from some reviews later showed me that my own drumming was as appreciated, if not more, than that of Änglagård's. This encouraged me to try and develop my drumming again after not having played drums since the seventies, when I was considered by some to be the best drummer in Sweden. At the age of 11-13, I used to practice five hours a day... as well as an hour or two on the piano !!!

Your band, the Par Lindh Project, finally made its live debut in May. The reaction of the audience was apparently very positive...

It was marvelous ! It was great to play, for instance, the "Gothic..." material live, and I think it went very well. The challenge for us is to integrate the many sides of this band. On one hand you have Magdalena and me who are more classically oriented, and on the other side, you have Marcus, Nisse and Jocke who come from the hardrock/trash music, and who find progressive rock a new and interesting genre. We have a couple of CD projects coming up with the band, and one of them is going to be very complex, over-the-top aggressive and experimental. Magdalena is going to be the lead singer, and you will be surprised at how dangerous she can sound on darker songs likes "London Town". Nisse also sings lead very well while playing drums. Wise by experience, however, I'm not going to talk too much about future CD releases, until they are more or less ready. But we are looking to play some more exciting live shows in the Autumn...