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Benny's Road to ABBA

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Benny's Road to ABBA Excerpt from the book »Benny’s Road To ABBA« © Premium Publishing 2004 Meeting Björn IN THE MID-SIXTIES there must have been few contrasts greater than that between work- ing in a bank and touring with a rock band. Working days starting and ending at normal office hours, the sound of clattering calculators, discreet financial transactions, low-key conversations – as opposed to »days« that started in the afternoon and ended in the early hours of the morning, shouting and screaming, loud rock’n’roll, long car rides, con- stantly new hotels. But that was the contrast that young Thomas Nordlund had to face when he quit his secure job at the bank in Uppsala to take care of The Hep Stars’ brand new production company, Hep House. For the first thing he did was to throw himself right into events and spend 10 days with the band on their second folkpark tour. A year had passed since Thomas helped The Hep Stars with the Tio i topp »coup«, which resulted in three songs on the chart. Later in 1965, through his friendship with Lennart Hegland, Thomas had got a job at Europa-Produktion for a couple of months. Although his time with the company was brief, he learned a lot about showbusiness from Åke Gerhard and his associates. His task was to book gigs for the acts signed to the pro- duction company, and his own contribution to that procedure was not insignificant. At the time, the folkpark arrangers implemented an extremely severe rule, which stipulated that if an act arrived late, the arrangers could make a deduction on the fee. If 109 Excerpt from the book »Benny’s Road To ABBA« © Premium Publishing 2004 the gig started 10 minutes late, they’d deduct 10 per cent, 20 minutes meant a reduc- tion of 20 per cent, and so on. If the act was really tardy they might not be paid at all, but still have to go through with their show. Artists with tight booking schedules would sometimes get off stage at practically the same time as their next show was due to start – at a venue several miles away. It also happened that the concerts couldn’t start because there were too many people trying to get in – the audience simply didn’t make it to the stage on time – and even then there would be a deduction on the fee. This absurd practice was still in use in the mid-Sixties. But Thomas had other ideas. »I brought with me a ›banker’s philosophy‹ and thought, ›We shouldn’t sign these contracts‹. One problem for an act like The Hep Stars was the difficulties in getting in and out of the parks: there were too many people, too much excitement surrounding them. If they were due to play at 9 pm in one place and then at 11 pm on the next, I felt that you should use an »approximate starting time« for the second gig. I had to fight with the folkparks for this principle, because it happened that two arrangers would make a package deal and book one gig each. The first arranger might then have been instructed to ensure that the 9 pm gig didn’t start on time, so that the second could make a deduction for the late start on his 11 pm gig. Whether they split the profits, I don’t know, but we sniffed those arrangers out pretty quickly and after that we were very careful before we signed a contract with them.« Thomas also introduced what was probably Sweden’s first rider: the long list of spec- ifications which stipulates what the stage must look like, what must be available back- stage in terms of food and drink, and so on. These days, such a document is usually sev- eral pages long, but as early as 1965 Thomas implemented what he calls a mini-rider. »The arrangers were usually very generous with coffee and sandwiches, but there wouldn’t be things like towels in the dressing rooms. So I put together a specification in which all these details were listed: starting times and a request for towels in the dress- ing room, things like that.« For a group like The Hep Stars, with fully booked tour schedules and a generally hectic existence, Thomas’ contribution was invaluable. However, Thomas left Europa-Produktion after only two and a half months, when he had to finish his military service. Although his appetite for showbusiness had been whetted, after that he went back to the bank. But just a month or so into his employ- ment at the bank, in the spring of 1966, he started getting phone calls from The Hep Stars. They had founded a production company, they told him, and now they wanted Thomas to run this business for them. He hesitated a long while – after all, he was still only 21 years old – but finally, he received a very convincing message. »They wrote that they would offer twice as much as I earned at the bank if only I wanted to come to them instead.« The guys got their way. Thomas accompanied the band on tour to get to 110 Excerpt from the book »Benny’s Road To ABBA« © Premium Publishing 2004 ME AND MY CAR. The Hep Stars loved their American cars. Naturally, Benny had one of his own. know them a little better, but also to thoroughly talk through the ideas for the com- pany. After this overwhelming 10-day experience of hysteria and chaos he could finally install himself behind his desk. On July 11, 1966, the offices for the Hep House pro- duction company was opened in a converted apartment in central Stockholm. The five Hep Stars members, Felle Fernholm and Åke Gerhard had equal shares in the company. A firm by the name of Hep Stars AB already administered the group’s own finances, so the idea behind Hep House was to use the large income to start a pub- lishing company and, most importantly, a production company and record label for other artists. If this activity turned out to be profitable, the firm would expand further. While The Hep Stars continued their rampage through the Swedish summer roads, 111 Excerpt from the book »Benny’s Road To ABBA« © Premium Publishing 2004 Thomas Nordlund dived head first into the many tasks at hand. It was a time of grandiose plans and high-flying lifestyles within the band. The guys were at the top of their game and everything seemed possible. For the 1966 folkpark tour they had over 150 bookings, more than any other act that summer – on certain dates they had as many as three gigs in one day. The fee for a weekday concert was 2,500 kronor (£175) and on Saturdays the price was 3,500 kronor (£244). The group was touring all over the country in six brand new Ford Thunderbirds and Ford Mustangs – their camper van attracted far too much attention from the fans, and had been retired the previous year – making a great impression wherever they appeared. The guys were rolling in money, they almost had more than they could spend, and life was one long row of gigs, partying, girls and general mayhem. Firm evidence of extravagant lifestyles was easy to come by. Benny, for example, had a habit of forgetting where he’d put his things. »He was something of a scatterbrain,« says Svenne Hedlund. »A lot of his clothes were left behind at hotel rooms. ›Damn it, where did I leave that one?‹« There was seldom any talk of trying to locate the stuff that had been misplaced. Instead, Benny would pull out a few bills from his wallet and buy new things. THE ›SUNNY GIRL‹ SUCCESS HAD whetted Benny’s appetite for further songwriting. While ›Sunny Girl‹ was still at the top of the charts he was already working on his next tune. The helpful Valter Pettersson in Falkenberg had given The Hep Stars use of his house, where they spent 10 days rehearsing their summer folkpark tour. Valter also helped Benny get access to the nearby Skrea church where the keyboard-hungry young man could sit and play the organ at nights. His interest in the fugues by the clas- sical music masters had deepened since Valter first introduced him to them. This inspi- ration was now combined with the sacred sounds from the church organ and trans- formed into an idea for a song. Together with Svenne, the rest of the tune was then developed in Valter’s house. »The parts that are perhaps the most important in the song – the introduction, the middle part and the finish – he wrote himself,« Svenne says, »but the rest of the melody was pretty much 50-50, and the lyrics as well.« An intimate musical friendship had developed between Benny and Svenne, as The Hep Stars’ singer supported the budding composer, offering constructive criticism of his first efforts. It was obvious that they shared the same ideas of what constituted a good song; this was partly why Benny sought a songwriting partner. Naturally, he also wanted help with the troublesome task of writing lyrics, something that he was never very fond of. »We had a lot of fun when we wrote that song,« Svenne recalls. »We sat one night at the bar at the Hotel Opalen in 112 Excerpt from the book »Benny’s Road To ABBA« © Premium Publishing 2004 Gothenburg and wrote the lyrics, which took quite some time. I remember that we were very pleased with ourselves.« When all the work had been completed, Andersson and Hedlund had created one of the very best Hep Stars songs: ›Wedding‹.
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