Melodifestivalen 2010
Interview with Micke Wennborn
Micke Wennborn is the composer of the most voted song in Eurovision On Top in 2009, "Fri" from Jan Johansen. The work of Micke is impressive as a musician, producer and songwriter. His songs were recorded by artists like Barbados, Tom "Bon Jovi" Nordahl, Py Bäckman, Magnus Bäcklund, Jan Johansen and many many more... He had a total of 3 songs in the Swedish pre-selections and another 4 in other countries within the EBU - all up to the finals of those countries. Micke gave us this interview to talk about his life and his projects.
Q: As a composer you've submitted songs for National Finals including Sweden and Lithuania. According to your experience, what are the biggest differences between both National Finals?
A: That the Lithuanian selection process is much more straight forward. You actually send your submission to a specific guy at LRT. He picks out the songs and chooses the artists. Quite similar to the actual Swedish procedures. Musicwise I have a sense that the Lithuanian song festival is a bit torn between passing on the legacy of traditional Lithuanian musc compared to what others realise is more commercial. The most interesting part of being in the Lithuanian selections is to learn more about another country's culture, economy, philosophy and traditions.
Q: Are you planning to submit any songs for this year?
A: Me and my closest co-writers submitted a couple of songs, but nothing new. That's much because of the current situation in the selection procedure, it just didn't feel worth while. We did the assumption that we really wasn't a part of the special circle that more or less has the festival as their playground and that we had too much other things going that were more important. However, at the end of the day, we managed to get a song through, "Magisk Stjärna (Magic Star)" that I wrote together with Py Bäckman (who among other things wrote "Stad i Ljus" for Tommy Körberg back in 1988).
Q: Is it a dream (or goal) for you to go to Eurovision? Why?
A: Hmmm, no, I wouldn't say that. I'm very divided about the Swedish Melodifestivalen. Of course, there's a lot of media coverage, but for the music itself it's all about the 3 minutes and if you're unlucky, that's all you get. That's about half the time than the average Idol-/X-Factor-contestant gets every week. Kind of strange considering it's a contest for songwriters, isn't it? And you always risk not being able to choose any artist you want for the song which also is weird as you very often aim for more consistent and long term collaborations. On the other hand, competing for Sweden would of course mean that you'd get to meet a lot of different interesting people abroad. But to take part for Sweden is absolutely not necessary. I'd love to be in the final waving a Polish flag for instance.
Q: If one of your songs can manage to go Eurovision, would you like to be on stage?
A: That depends on the song and the concept, but of course I would. If you want to be seen in this songwriters' contest, you have to be on stage, not "just" being the composer *laughs*. But then again, I am not an artist and never had the ambitions to be that either, so it would have to be as a musician or band member. That'd be cool. Who knows, I might show up on stage 2010.
Q: You wrote songs for well known Eurovision artists in many different styles. How do you feel writing and working with Jan Johansen?
A: You can always see a pattern in my songs. First, 95% of them I compose at my grand piano at home. The melody and the chords is what's important, and all my songs suits perfectly fine to play just on the piano. Second, I am a classical trained arranger and apart from that I always put much time in trying to weave production and arrangement together. I know that people who tried to analyse my style of arranging often find a common pattern, even if the sound itself can vary.
Working with Janne is fantastic. He has the same attitude to his singing as for example Rod Steward. He just sings. There's no need of vocal coaching, nothing you need to add, delete or patch up with his voice. He sounds as he sounds and if he has the right feeling for a song, it's always good. The only thing I introduced when we started working together was the ban of Autotune. There were absolutely no need for Janne to use that even if he sometimes was worried about pitch and besides, I don't want a vocal to sound like the GPS-voice in my car. I wish more music nowadays had more traces of human timing and pitch.
We have also played gigs together, and Janne is a super pro. A bad day of his is still a very good day and if something goes wrong, nobody would even notice, he's such a professional. His stagepresence is extraordinary and he's got a lot of routine. To be Janne's sidekick is great fun because you have quite a lot of freedom in how you play. Once you've built a personal relationship with the musician, Janne feels secure which makes it easy and fun to play together.
Q: How do you see the success of "Fri" and which opportunities do you expect for your work?
A: "Fri" was a big surprise, and I still can not see it as a "hit" in spite of gold discs, chart success and lots of airplay in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Maybe because I do not look at myself as a hit composer. I'm more the guy who has a high level of performance with songs and production, but never gets "THE" hit. But "Free" as a craft has received much praise and there have been lots of inquiries about collaborations, and right now I have to say that I'm on overload with work. Whenever talking about "Fri" I always want to mention my sidekick, Patrik Tibell, engineer. We work well together and that the fact he understands what I mean absolutely super important. However, I'm a sucker for anyone that really knows how to deliever. Last summer I saw LaGaylia Frazier on stage right after a gig we had with Janne. thriller! Her voice, her stage presence and her total control over everything on stage gave me goosebumps. It was almost unbelievable.. After the gig I ran into her, but as we did not know each other, I just smiled and would pass when she grabbed me and said 'Hey, I've heard about you ", and later asked if I was interested in possibly playing with her live. I felt like a shy little boy ...
Q: Is there any special or funny situation you want to share with us?
A: There's plenty. Last summer for instance. I was supposed to play unplugged with Jan Johansen, live on radio. My memory is getting worse with age, so I need the sheet music, otherwise I'm lost. We came on stage and did a soundcheck. I glued the sheets to the floor and thought we were on air right there and then. Instead there were a couple of other acts and we were supposed to come back later. When it was our turn I discovered that a bunch of dancers had been dancing all over my sheets, they were impossible to read, they were covered with black footprints. The interesting part was that Janne followed me even when I played wrong, and I followed him. A blind leading a blind. Well, hopefully Janne got some new fans among those who normally likes free jazz. *laughs*
Q: Personally, what’s kind of music do you prefer?
A: I'm a typical AOR-guy, I love the slick West Coast sound but also energic music. I guess in a way I've been labelled as being a hard rock guitarist which I think it's kind of strange, and with the kind of music I'm playing these days, I'm definitely not hard rock. If I had to pick a band or an artist. Hmm... Billy Idol, perhaps? Even though his only good songs were "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell". Other favourite artists are Duran Duran, Ultravox and Toto. Among Swedish artists I think it would be Johan Kinde. I think he has an extremely good "eye" for everything.
Q: Which song from Melodifestivalen do you wish you had wrote?
A: "I want you to want me", with Cheap Trick. Oh, it was never in Melodifestivalen. *laughs*. But imagine it there, it would've won big time!
Q: What’s your next project?
A: There are many different projects. We're working on new songs for Janne and I'm producing Py Bäckmans forthcoming album from her church concerts. I've been working with Elena Risteska from Macedonia and her producer Darko Dimitrow. Me and Patrik Tibell have our own little project and I'm also composing for some of the leading modern dance orchestras. But of course, at the moment I'm mostly involved in our song for Melodifestivalen 2010. We've really made an effort to think as much outside the box as possible when it comes to production and musicians. It's a very interesting line-up. Right now I can't reveal any names, but they are all very respected British and Amercian musicians within folk and west coast who never has been participating in this context before. We've been trying to keep the whole thing as far from "plastic fantastic" and "loudness war" as possible and instead present well performed and good sounding music. I don't say that will guarantee anything but we can at least stand for the 3 minutes we have, that's the best we can do. Py and I have created a special website for the song "Magisk Stjärna", www.magiskstjarna.se, where we will keep a diary, upload pictures and stuff all through the contest as long as we're in.
Thanks a lot for your time, it’s been really great talking to you. Good luck and hope to hear from you in the future!
For more information about Micke Wennborn http://www.myspace.com/wennborn or http://www.magiskstjarna.se/
By Micke Hjernestam for Eurovision On Top.
2010-01-14
© http://www.eurovisionontop.com/ http://www.eurovisionontop.com/specials.htm http://www.mickewennborn.se
Micke Wennborn is the composer of the most voted song in Eurovision On Top in 2009, "Fri" from Jan Johansen. The work of Micke is impressive as a musician, producer and songwriter. His songs were recorded by artists like Barbados, Tom "Bon Jovi" Nordahl, Py Bäckman, Magnus Bäcklund, Jan Johansen and many many more... He had a total of 3 songs in the Swedish pre-selections and another 4 in other countries within the EBU - all up to the finals of those countries. Micke gave us this interview to talk about his life and his projects.
Q: As a composer you've submitted songs for National Finals including Sweden and Lithuania. According to your experience, what are the biggest differences between both National Finals?
A: That the Lithuanian selection process is much more straight forward. You actually send your submission to a specific guy at LRT. He picks out the songs and chooses the artists. Quite similar to the actual Swedish procedures. Musicwise I have a sense that the Lithuanian song festival is a bit torn between passing on the legacy of traditional Lithuanian musc compared to what others realise is more commercial. The most interesting part of being in the Lithuanian selections is to learn more about another country's culture, economy, philosophy and traditions.
Q: Are you planning to submit any songs for this year?
A: Me and my closest co-writers submitted a couple of songs, but nothing new. That's much because of the current situation in the selection procedure, it just didn't feel worth while. We did the assumption that we really wasn't a part of the special circle that more or less has the festival as their playground and that we had too much other things going that were more important. However, at the end of the day, we managed to get a song through, "Magisk Stjärna (Magic Star)" that I wrote together with Py Bäckman (who among other things wrote "Stad i Ljus" for Tommy Körberg back in 1988).
Q: Is it a dream (or goal) for you to go to Eurovision? Why?
A: Hmmm, no, I wouldn't say that. I'm very divided about the Swedish Melodifestivalen. Of course, there's a lot of media coverage, but for the music itself it's all about the 3 minutes and if you're unlucky, that's all you get. That's about half the time than the average Idol-/X-Factor-contestant gets every week. Kind of strange considering it's a contest for songwriters, isn't it? And you always risk not being able to choose any artist you want for the song which also is weird as you very often aim for more consistent and long term collaborations. On the other hand, competing for Sweden would of course mean that you'd get to meet a lot of different interesting people abroad. But to take part for Sweden is absolutely not necessary. I'd love to be in the final waving a Polish flag for instance.
Q: If one of your songs can manage to go Eurovision, would you like to be on stage?
A: That depends on the song and the concept, but of course I would. If you want to be seen in this songwriters' contest, you have to be on stage, not "just" being the composer *laughs*. But then again, I am not an artist and never had the ambitions to be that either, so it would have to be as a musician or band member. That'd be cool. Who knows, I might show up on stage 2010.
Q: You wrote songs for well known Eurovision artists in many different styles. How do you feel writing and working with Jan Johansen?
A: You can always see a pattern in my songs. First, 95% of them I compose at my grand piano at home. The melody and the chords is what's important, and all my songs suits perfectly fine to play just on the piano. Second, I am a classical trained arranger and apart from that I always put much time in trying to weave production and arrangement together. I know that people who tried to analyse my style of arranging often find a common pattern, even if the sound itself can vary.
Working with Janne is fantastic. He has the same attitude to his singing as for example Rod Steward. He just sings. There's no need of vocal coaching, nothing you need to add, delete or patch up with his voice. He sounds as he sounds and if he has the right feeling for a song, it's always good. The only thing I introduced when we started working together was the ban of Autotune. There were absolutely no need for Janne to use that even if he sometimes was worried about pitch and besides, I don't want a vocal to sound like the GPS-voice in my car. I wish more music nowadays had more traces of human timing and pitch.
We have also played gigs together, and Janne is a super pro. A bad day of his is still a very good day and if something goes wrong, nobody would even notice, he's such a professional. His stagepresence is extraordinary and he's got a lot of routine. To be Janne's sidekick is great fun because you have quite a lot of freedom in how you play. Once you've built a personal relationship with the musician, Janne feels secure which makes it easy and fun to play together.
Q: How do you see the success of "Fri" and which opportunities do you expect for your work?
A: "Fri" was a big surprise, and I still can not see it as a "hit" in spite of gold discs, chart success and lots of airplay in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Maybe because I do not look at myself as a hit composer. I'm more the guy who has a high level of performance with songs and production, but never gets "THE" hit. But "Free" as a craft has received much praise and there have been lots of inquiries about collaborations, and right now I have to say that I'm on overload with work. Whenever talking about "Fri" I always want to mention my sidekick, Patrik Tibell, engineer. We work well together and that the fact he understands what I mean absolutely super important. However, I'm a sucker for anyone that really knows how to deliever. Last summer I saw LaGaylia Frazier on stage right after a gig we had with Janne. thriller! Her voice, her stage presence and her total control over everything on stage gave me goosebumps. It was almost unbelievable.. After the gig I ran into her, but as we did not know each other, I just smiled and would pass when she grabbed me and said 'Hey, I've heard about you ", and later asked if I was interested in possibly playing with her live. I felt like a shy little boy ...
Q: Is there any special or funny situation you want to share with us?
A: There's plenty. Last summer for instance. I was supposed to play unplugged with Jan Johansen, live on radio. My memory is getting worse with age, so I need the sheet music, otherwise I'm lost. We came on stage and did a soundcheck. I glued the sheets to the floor and thought we were on air right there and then. Instead there were a couple of other acts and we were supposed to come back later. When it was our turn I discovered that a bunch of dancers had been dancing all over my sheets, they were impossible to read, they were covered with black footprints. The interesting part was that Janne followed me even when I played wrong, and I followed him. A blind leading a blind. Well, hopefully Janne got some new fans among those who normally likes free jazz. *laughs*
Q: Personally, what’s kind of music do you prefer?
A: I'm a typical AOR-guy, I love the slick West Coast sound but also energic music. I guess in a way I've been labelled as being a hard rock guitarist which I think it's kind of strange, and with the kind of music I'm playing these days, I'm definitely not hard rock. If I had to pick a band or an artist. Hmm... Billy Idol, perhaps? Even though his only good songs were "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell". Other favourite artists are Duran Duran, Ultravox and Toto. Among Swedish artists I think it would be Johan Kinde. I think he has an extremely good "eye" for everything.
Q: Which song from Melodifestivalen do you wish you had wrote?
A: "I want you to want me", with Cheap Trick. Oh, it was never in Melodifestivalen. *laughs*. But imagine it there, it would've won big time!
Q: What’s your next project?
A: There are many different projects. We're working on new songs for Janne and I'm producing Py Bäckmans forthcoming album from her church concerts. I've been working with Elena Risteska from Macedonia and her producer Darko Dimitrow. Me and Patrik Tibell have our own little project and I'm also composing for some of the leading modern dance orchestras. But of course, at the moment I'm mostly involved in our song for Melodifestivalen 2010. We've really made an effort to think as much outside the box as possible when it comes to production and musicians. It's a very interesting line-up. Right now I can't reveal any names, but they are all very respected British and Amercian musicians within folk and west coast who never has been participating in this context before. We've been trying to keep the whole thing as far from "plastic fantastic" and "loudness war" as possible and instead present well performed and good sounding music. I don't say that will guarantee anything but we can at least stand for the 3 minutes we have, that's the best we can do. Py and I have created a special website for the song "Magisk Stjärna", www.magiskstjarna.se, where we will keep a diary, upload pictures and stuff all through the contest as long as we're in.
Thanks a lot for your time, it’s been really great talking to you. Good luck and hope to hear from you in the future!
For more information about Micke Wennborn http://www.myspace.com/wennborn or http://www.magiskstjarna.se/
By Micke Hjernestam for Eurovision On Top.
2010-01-14
© http://www.eurovisionontop.com/ http://www.eurovisionontop.com/specials.htm http://www.mickewennborn.se
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