Tomas Bodin interview November-2002.

Tomas Bodin - A Flower King on his own feet! Tomas Bodin is not only the keyboard wizzard of the Swedish progressive rock band The Flower Kings - he is now an independent composer and instrumentalist. Right now he has released his second solo solo effort called "Pinup Guru" - named after an old Genesis track - his first was "An Ordinary Night in my Ordinary Life" from 1996.
A cold and stormy evening in October the smooth talking and nice Tomas Bodin called me up for a pep-talk, regarding his musical past, present and future.
So read on and get some information on the album and the inspiration from Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and the future work with the classic composer Gustaf Holst - a project which will feature the talent of Pain of Salvation main man Daniel Gildenlow

The Interview:

Q: How did you project start out? And how would you describe this solo effort?

Tomas Bodin. A: Well, the idea started out in my head as a three piece. his is in fact the classic formation in progressive rock. This is also the reason for the different style and sound from this project to the music in The Flower Kings.

Q: How did it all start? And how did you get the idea for the odd title of the record?

Tomas Bodin. A: First I had an idea of playing some very different things - from Ambient to World Music. Therefore I had an working title "Around the World in 80 minutes" - but a CD cannot contain 80 minutes of music, so it stranded. But during a photo session in USA between San Fransisco and Los Angeles the webmaster from the Flower King web site suggested the title "Pinup Guru" - and it kindda fitted in several ways! And we even asked our fans from the Web!

Q: Who are the other musicians involved in the making of this record?

A:First of all a trio should be powerful - therefore I had to include two friends and excellent musician. It is Jonas Reingold on bass and Zoltan Czörsz on drums. Both involved in The Flower Kings, too.
Zoltan has been in Denmark for a while playing with young jazz pianist Nicolai Bentzon.
On "Pinup Guru" we had focus on having a good time - which I hope you can ear, but we also worked deliberately with the groove and feeling on the record - it's important to me that the albums "swings"!

Q: There is a difference between the Danish (where I live) and the Swedes (Tomas is located in Uppsala, Sweden) - because we don't have this big a prog-scene!

A: No, but I know that there are a lot of talented guys in the music business in Denmark. But The Flower Kings has never played in Denmark, actually - so if you are aware of some places that are interested in having us - please do not hesitate. But it is a bit odd that we have been playing big gigs in USA and elsewhere in the World, but not in Copenhagen!

Q: Are you planning a tour now?

The Flower Kings. Tomas Bodin.

A: Oh yes, we will be touring as a power trio. Jonas Zoltan and me - I'm doing the guitar parts on a hammond organ - like on the record. And again the trio thing is perfect - the opening track on the CD "Sodium Regale" is very much inspired of "Jerusalem" from Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Q: What are you up to in the future?

A: Im' working with Daniel Gildenlow from Pain of Salvation. A project regarding the old classic composer Gustaf Holst. He was a Trombone player and made a classic play called "The Planets" - it's really exciting. And besides I saw a statue in Sct Petersburg - a warrior so the project will be inspired by that too, regarding subject like heaven and hell and the guideline to that. In some crooked way it is also inspired by "Pictures at an Exhibition" from ELP, too.

Q: Thanks for the talk - I hope that we will see you in Denmark soon, i'm also looking forward to your future project!
Steen Peitersen


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