Hereīs an small Interview with Guitar
player/Songwriter: Bjorn Stigsson
(ex. LEVITICUS & XT)
ĐPhoto by Roger Riveland
Hello Bjorn ! Can you please start with telling us, what you are doing
now a-days !!!
Iīve been working as a Producer for the last 5 years together with
Andreas Rickstrand ! We call ourselves "Rico & Bear"
(Bjorn means Bear in english-Editor) and we have been
Producing/Remixing and writing songs, for several different labels
& artists ! In several different Music styles.....anything from
Dance/Pop to R&B. We are right now busy with A-TEENīS (ex.Abba
Teens-Editor) Christmas single (Stockholm Records) And we have been
doing remixes for "E-TYPE, Solid Base, Sonic Dream,
CHARLOTTE-Take
me to your heaven (The 1999 Eurovision song contest winner from
Sweden) and many more like "Cool James&Black Teacher,
CHARIZMA"
Are your Hard rocking days over ??? Or is there any chance that we will
hear your Guitar again ?Well. I just donīt have the time to play any
Hard rock right now. So my carrier is put on hold ..but who knows what
the future will bring !!!
Any plans for a LEVITICUS
Reunion ? I know that many would like to
see that (myself included) No..not exactly. But iīve been talking with
Hakan (Andersson) and Kjell (Andersson) about getting into the studio
again ! So it might be a continue of "The Strongest Power"
who knows...Letīs wait and see what will happen !
Which LEVITICUS
album are your favorite one ? and why ?
My favorite album is "The Strongest Power" Because it has a
charm and "roughness" That fits me perfectly! "Knightīs
of Heaven" is also okay...but I think itīs too polished and
"fluffy" for my taste "The Strongest power" sounds
like the real LEVITICUS...A lot of
"action" and with some Heavy Bass-synthesizerīs in the
background
Can you tell us about your best memory from the LEVITICUS
days
I've got a lot of great memories from all those wonderful years, that
we played together! We were such a great team and we shared the same
goals and visions! We had a lot of fun together. One of the best
moments most be the first time that we played the GREENBELT festival
in England(1984) We really shocked the Crew-members, when they found
out that Kjell had 4 Bass-drums + all the other stuff that we had! And
the audience was really ecstatic after we had played ! We became the
talking subject during the whole festival that lasted for 4 days
!!!Everyone that walked close to us got to sign autographs! This was
our Big break ! ... And we that had traveled to England as a small,
unknown band from Sweden...
XT was a really Melodic band when
you started, but you became harder and harder for each album ...how
come ???
Well...XT started in the Autumn of
1991 ! So I guess it was a natural development for us! The songs just
became "harder & harder" It was'nt anything that we
planed to.
So...Which XT album do you like most ? and why ?
The last one that we did "Extended Empire" because it's
HEAVY !
Do you know what Sonny Larsson (XT vocalist) are doing now ? Does he
still sing in King of Modern Swing ?Sonny is mostly a songwriter now !
But he plays sometimes with some of the members from King of Modern
Swing...but the band is put on hold
He sang on your solo-album! But was'nt he supposed to sing on the
next LEVITICUS album too ???Yes ! But he decided to study instead
Which bands inspired you to start playing Hard
rock ? And what do you listen to now ??
DEEP PURPLE and LED ZEPPELIN was my inspiration when I started to
play! And I must say that old "Purple" are still my favorite
band! "Made in Japan" and "Burnin/Stormbringer"
with gentlemen Coverdale and Glenn Hughes....they are my fave
vocalists. I don't have that much time to enjoy and listen to any
music right now, since i'm working in the studio almost 24 hours a-day.And
I really wish that I could go to a good concert now&then. I
haveīnt been to a show since last time Whitesnake played here and
thatīs almost 2 years ago!!! Great band ! AEROSMITH is another band
that I really like,great songs and a great vocalist!
