David Myhr – Interview Exclusive

Written by Russ P
Saturday, 30 April 2011 05:00

David Myhr – once one half of Swedish power popsters The Merrymakers – has gone solo! And, like a heavily pregnant lady, his first album is due anytime soon. He already has a name picked out: ‘Soundshine’. Like any proud father-to-be David was eager to share a few words and a few cigars with us Über Röckers. He tells us how to make babies in the studio (recorded ones of course), what happened in his ‘Lost Years’ and what it was like working with the Godfather of powerpop – Andy Sturmer.

Going back to the beginning of The Merrymakers’ career can you tell us how it all started to happen for two Swedish guys who wanted to get their music out to the world? What hopes did you have and who were your influences and role models?

Wow, that’s a broad question! I could probably write a book about it – which no one would read, (laughs loudly). In the early days of The Merrymakers we were a five piece band mainly with local ambitions up in the north of Sweden but we got signed to a label called Stockholm Records which had as its ambition to make Swedish pop music an export success. Sweden, at the time, had only had a few huge successes like ABBA, Europe, and Roxette. In the end they were proven right that there was a huge potential. The 90s saw Swedish pop export successes such as Ace of Base, The Cardigans and a steady stream of smaller artists, bands, songwriters and producers – above all Max Martin.

However, we were immature back then and lacked a clear vision for our music. It wasn’t until we were a three-piece that we found our ‘sound’, which was a mix between current indie-pop/brit-pop but with retro influences from 60s and 70s music including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, ELO, 10cc, Wings and lots of other stuff. Crowded House, Jellyfish, and Matthew Sweet were examples of our heroes from the current music scene.

Our hopes were the same as every other band I guess – getting our music heard by a wider audience. In the end, with the help of Andy Sturmer (ex-Jellyfish), we found the right record label contacts in Japan who, in their turn, made The Merrymakers a rather well-known name there for a while since our song ‘Monument Of Me’ was a monumental radio-hit at the time. That was the ‘big break’ we had only dreamt of for years and years…

Tell me about your earliest musical ambitions. No matter how small they seem now.

To play Creedence, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ZZ Top covers at pizzerias in small cities like Kiruna and Pajala in the north of Sweden. That was the closest we got to living the ‘Rock’n’Roll dream’ going on ‘tour’ and having lots of fun! I still consider it the happiest times of playing music – when it still was ‘just for fun’. No other ambition than to hang out with your friends and play Rock’n’Roll and entertain a crowd. Great times!

What did you learn as a band between ‘No Sleep ‘Til Famous’ and ‘Bubblegun’?

That recording basic tracks live with a full band is a much more rewarding way to make a record than to start the recording by programming the hi-hat using sequencer software. The ‘live feel’ is important to preserve and the best way to achieve that is to bring a great group of musicians together. And that working with our idol Andy Sturmer as a producer didn’t mean we had to change too much of the way we wrote and recorded. He helped us realise we were on the right track anyway…

Several of the writers at Über Röck are crazy Jellyfish fans. So it’s natural that we pump you for information as to what working with Andy Sturmer was like. How did the collaboration on ‘Bubblegun’ come about?

When we first came into contact with Andy we couldn’t believe it. It was the biggest thing that had happened to us! We had listened to Jellyfish so intensely for years that they were almost as big as The Beatles in our book at the time. They were such an unbelievably great band who sadly only released two albums which were both brilliant all the way through. And he hadn’t been seen around since Jellyfish split up except for some odd guest appearances with the The Black Crowes, writing for Ringo Starr and stuff like that, so it was such an honour that he chose to work with us as a drummer and a producer on our album.

It started with a very brief email from him to us back in 1995 or so – when email was a rather new phenomenon for ordinary people. It only said “Hi, it’s Andy-Jelly – can I get your music here in San Francisco?” We spent days formulating a reply and we sent him the debut album and some new demos which he fell in love with. It eventually led to him – HIM! – suggesting we should be working together and that was the start. We spent even more days writing a long, long email, page after page, about how we could work everything out involving every practical aspect we could imagine – and we waited a week or so for his reply which was a short but positive one. It contained one word: “Cool!”

Andy Sturmer has never released an album since Jellyfish split. Many fans would like to hear something from him as he’s such a great musician. Why do you think this is? Mega-fans probably live in a bubble where they don’t see the difficult issues involved in making and marketing albums – they just want to hear music from their favourite bands. Speak to us a little bit on life verses art. That is ‘real everyday life’ verses ‘life making a living through music’.

We tried to ask him at the time why he didn’t release something on his own but I don’t remember if we ever got a ‘satisfactory’ reply. I think it’s a combination of many things. He was probably a bit disappointed that, despite Jellyfish’s fantastic albums, they didn’t become a bigger household name and at the same time maybe sad that the group had dissolved since he and Roger had grown apart musically. It’s always a tough one to start all over again after having been in a great group. Just ask Paul McCartney! Also, I think Andy didn’t really have as a goal to be famous. He said something about that he was very uncomfortable with the idea that people would recognise him and that if he ever released something it would be under some strange project name rather than his own. Also, it can be everyday aspects like economy – he had a quite successful professional life writing for and producing for Japanese artists which probably meant his focus was on that.

In The Merrymakers we have struggled very hard for many years to combine making music with the hard fact that you have to earn an everyday living. We are far from the only ones having experienced this. Most musicians are walking around as living ‘financial crises’. It was easier between the ages of 19-25 to spend days and weeks making music – or talking about making music – not worrying about paying the rent and supporting a family. And if you decide to make your living as a musician you tend to end up looking for gigs that actually pay the rent rather than focus on your own ‘art’.

In the case of The Merrymakers it has meant that ever since ‘Bubblegun’ we have been doing everything except finishing our own album – which was a great frustration for me personally. We made commercial jingles for radio, played in an ABBA tribute show and worked as music production teachers instead. Not a bad life at all but there was always this sense of not devoting ourselves enough to making our own music – the reason we were in the business in the first place. After we finally gave up I decided to balance the whole thing a little bit more towards my own stuff and I’m very happy and proud now to soon have an album finished. But it’s true that fans can be quite ‘demanding’ asking for new albums all the time from poor struggling musicians – but, on the other hand, without the fans the poor struggling musician would be not only poor and struggling but also without the reward of making people happy with his or her music which itself is a fantastic reward impossible to put a price on!

If you had an unlimited amount of money who would you pay to make another album even if it was only for your own listening pleasure?

I wouldn’t mind bringing in Jeff Lynne as a producer and backup singer. He and I would have a brainstorming session at a small English pub and put together a nice team – Dhani Harrison (in George’s place) for just being there ‘in George’s place’, Tom Petty as a sidekick, maybe Jim Keltner on drums. Paul and Ringo making the odd guest appearance and of course Eric Clapton would be invited. Maybe Benny from ABBA could help out on keyboards. I’m just worried there’s no price tag for putting together a team like that. But you said unlimited so why not…?

And which artist or artists would you love to work with, to produce albums for? Who’s on your wishlist?

I don’t have such high ambitions as a producer. I would be more than happy to produce anyone who would want to get close to a Merrymakers/David Myhr sound, if there is one, but doesn’t know how to achieve it – but I have no famous artists on such a wish list. Lady Gaga or Rihanna haven’t called yet…I think they are fine with whatever producers they might choose. But the other way round I have lots of ideas. I would live to hang around people who make great records nowadays. A couple of names that pop into my head are Keane – at least their first album is a masterpiece – The Feeling – an English pop group who are very pleasing to the ear – and a Danish artist who I came to admire a lot just recently called Tim Christensen. I wouldn’t mind involving Neil Finn as a co-writer – he could help me achieve a new level in many ways – not least in the lyrical department.

Anders and yourself, until fairly recently, had been working on a new Merrymakers album. Can you tell us how far you got with that album. And will the material that you were working on ever be released?

Already in 1999 we had three songs more or less finished. The titles were ‘Tweed’, ‘Everything Is Wrong’ and ‘New World’ but our A&R man said “I don’t hear a single” – as Tom Petty once sang. So we got a bit lost because we thought the songs were really strong. We also had recorded four or five more backing tracks only waiting for lyrics to have them finished off – but those lyrics never seemed to get written. And, if you ask me, that was the main reason we didn’t finish the album. So, depending on how you count, we had three finished song and five half-finished and lots of other ideas floating around which never materialised. Whether those songs will ever be released I can’t tell – I think the most likely scenario is that Anders or I re-record them in new versions on our own possible solo albums in the future. One of the few things that did come out  – and which is the song I’m most proud of from this period – is our rockin’ version of Paul McCartney’s kind of sloppily produced – but with genius melody! – Eighties ballad ‘No More Lonely Nights’ – which ended up on a McCartney tribute album called ‘Listen To What The Man Said’ together with many of our heroes like World Party, Matthew Sweet, Owsley and The Finn Brothers amongst others. I think we did a great job on that. Anders took the main responsibility producing it. He did a great job to make the song sound ‘new’ and it still sounds kind of fresh to my ears and very far from the original.

‘Under The Light Of The Moon’ in particular has a solo George Harrison sound about it. With Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s solo careers overshadowing George Harrison’s do you think that people ‘forget’ about the great records that George Harrison released on his own? Do you have any personal favourites of his?

It’s funny you should say that. That song is mainly Anders’ song but I think I Beatlefied it quite a lot when I contributed the middle eight melody and chords and the guitar playing. Peter as well with his Lennonish background vocals. Anders never admitted to being very influenced by The Beatles but I think he would have a hard time denying that song has a Beatlish vibe to it.

In answer to your question…George Harrison is George Harrison and will of course never be forgotten but it’s true that he was overshadowed. You could say that he had ‘some competition’ within the group. A huge understatement to say the least. But he was such a brilliant songwriter and such a kindhearted, spirited, generous, and humorous person. I love him dearly. As a solo artist he had some ups and downs and I can’t honestly say I return to all of his solo albums very often not least since he sometimes became a little bit too introspective and mysterious. But of course the best songs from ‘All Things Must Pass’ are fantastic. One of my favourites today is ‘I Live For You’ which my wife helped me to rediscover. She holds George as her “favourite Beatle” which, by the way, is one of the many reasons I admire her so much. From another period I love the ‘Cloud Nine’ album. I remember listening to it almost every day for a year or so when it came out. And anything he did with Jeff Lynne and the Traveling Wilburys from that period – late eighties, early nineties – was just pure listening joy. George’s voice might be the Beatle voice that actually moves me the most. I guess my wife is right after all…that’s usually the case.

The intro piano riff to ‘April’s Fool’ is a tribute to Abba. Did you have to pay any royalties to put that on the album as brief as it is?

No, not at all. It’s a tribute and nothing else. The melody and lyrics of the song have nothing to do with ABBA. It’s just the rhythmic pattern of the keyboard intro that is ‘borrowed’ from ABBA. Andy Sturmer came up with the idea and he showed me by playing in the air roughly what he wanted to hear from me playing the piano. I figured out the notes – he seemed happy about my suggestion. But I said to him “…but that sounds like ABBA…?” and he said “Yeah, I know. I don’t know how it would work here but in America it would work perfectly well” and I didn’t question it more than that. When the whole album recording was over Andy was very happy with how ‘April’s Fool’ turned out. He said “I would be proud having that on my album”. So ‘April’s Fool’ will hold a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. Not only because I’m also happy how it turned out but for having the pleasure of co-writing with one of my greatest musical heroes of all time. Andy contributed a lot to the lyrics and to the chorus melody as well.

What happened in the time directly between the release of ‘Bubblegun’ and your gig in Spain in 2007? What were you and Anders up to?

In my opinion we spent too much time and focus on building and re-building studios, buying the latest recording equipment every two years, and too little time writing and recording songs. But again, who could have known that we entered the studio owning and recording business at the worst possible time when the whole music industry was completely breaking down at the same time. I am much happier now without a recording studio to take care of. Instead I hire one if I need one from devoted people who love owning one. But one of the hard facts behind why all these studio projects took so long was because we had to try to figure out how to make our living as well. So we started to work as music production teachers at two different schools, which took a lot of focus. Anders also started a family – he has three kids now. I spent quite a lot of time traveling and going in and out of various projects – mainly musical ones – but the biggest thing that happened to me was falling in love with a Spanish girl, traveling to and from Spain, figuring out where to live, and eventually marrying her. That’s not done in a day either. But my life was enriched a lot after deciding to not always have The Merrymakers as my highest priority in life. Apart from all the things we did separately we actually also did some stuff together – we wrote and produced five singles for the Japanese duo Puffy and produced a couple of albums – one with a Swedish band called Dorian Gray, and another one for a Japanese artist called Yuko Yamaguchi. And even more recently we recorded an album for a Japanese band called Fujifabric.

How did the decision to end The Merrymakers come about? It must have been all the more strange since you’re just two guys who are presumably very close friends.

Yes it was kind of surreal. The difference between being a band and not being a band is very subtle since we weren’t doing much as a band anyway. Anders and I have known each other since we started first grade together in 1977! And we have worked so closely together for so many years – so of course we just joked about it over a beer at a local bar. We said: “Let’s bury this old tired band of ours” – and toasted and that was it… I think we were both quite relieved because it had become quite obvious that we weren’t inspiring each other anymore. We just put the brakes on each other all the time since we had different ideas on how to solve each and every problem. We remain friends and we still see each other once a month when we play together in an ABBA tribute show group called Super Trouper. We do it as part of our lives as freelancing musicians but also as a way to actually get together and have a laugh.

 

And now what can fans of The Merrymakers expect from David Myhr with the new album ‘Soundshine’ that you’ve recorded?

I think they can expect what they’re used too. No big surprises! Three minute catchy pop songs with what I hope are strong melodies, instant hooks, and layers of background vocals all played in a “timeless” fashion. Maybe even more “timeless” than The Merrymakers in the sense that The Merrymakers was partly rooted in a 90s indie pop scene where there was kind of a rule to have a wall of guitars on the choruses and sometimes it sounds like the tempo of the songs are forced a bit too fast. My hope is that my new album has a little bit more ‘air’ in the sound, that it sounds a bit more relaxed and mature. But my intention is to try to create all the heavenly pop magic that you can expect from an album that has taken ten years of songwriting – and headaches – to achieve.

Talking of headaches how do you find the recording process? Exciting? Depressing? Frustrating? What’s it like being the producer and the artist? What are the difficulties?

The recording process is a combination of all of the above. This time the recording of the basic tracks was the most carefree, playful, spontaneous and most inspiring ever in my life as a musician. I give almost all of the credit for that to my wonderful drummer and co-producer Andreas Dahlbäck who has such a flow when he’s recording that I can almost not believe it. He has so much professional recording experience. I was kind of shocked when he and the two other session guys – Rikard Lidhamn on bass and Anders Pettersson on guitar – were able to hear the song for the first time – played by me on an acoustic guitar – and then learn it, re-invent it, and record it with me within an hour and a half.

For me it was like “…but I’ve had this song in my head for seven years…shouldn’t you at least hear it twice until you decide what to play on it…?” But I quickly got used to it and started to relax. A truly great experience. Then of course doing the vocals on my own later in the year was a much more complicated process. Being the songwriter, artist, singer and producer at the same time locked alone in a room with a demanding microphone in front of you is not something I would recommend to anyone. Because it’s so easy to lose focus and be objective. But with a limited budget and a perfectionist attitude that’s what you have to get used to. Tiring, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding is my description of that part of the process.

‘Got You Where He Wanted’ is the first single from the album and is up in cyberspace for all to hear. Tell us about the recording of that song. How did it develop from writing it to recording it? The chorus in particular is very upbeat and uplifting and is set alight by the brass and the backing vocals. Were you hearing the end result in your head from the very beginning?

The initial spark for the song was the simple, basic three chord guitar riff that I came up with in our studio and was one of the few times I actually switched on my own VOX AC-30 amplifier in the last few years. I got so used to (and lazy) using software amplifiers in the computer so I hardly ever bother with cranking up the volume on the real one, which is a shame. It’s really something different being in a room with just an electric guitar and your amp and turning it up real loud. I felt like I was 23 again and came to think of a Matthew Sweet song called ‘Sick Of Myself’, which has a very similar groove. I just switched the order of the chords. The verse melody came automatically and then I had to kind of search for the continuation of the melody and chords in my head. I am particularly proud of the surprising Bb7 and G7 at the end of the chorus, the rest is just traditional stuff chord-wise.

The lyrics were a pure ‘make it rhyme’ game – like a crossword puzzle. I remember lying in my bed at night trying to think of some word because I was going to produce a demo of the song the next morning with my students and I needed something for the singer to sing. I had a fever and a bad stomach so it was even more painful than usual writing lyrics. Now when I read it – it actually does seem to have some kind of simple message along the lines of “if you’re not happy with your relationship – get out of it!” and in the bridge I’m trying to give a hint in-between the lines with the meaning “and come to me instead”.

When I presented the guitar riff to the musicians at the time of recording they made it even simpler than it already was, but I insisted on my version on my overdub. So when my guitar comes in on the second verse the guitars are kind of competing about which is the best way to play the riff – and the final result is a nice clash between the two. Later my co-producer Andreas came up with some brass ideas for a few of the songs on the album and it gave even more colour to the song, which I’m happy about.

Another memory from the process is about the high-pitched background vocals singing “Got you where he wanted” on the chorus. It’s like three semitones too high for me to sing but I tried to do it anyway – stupid as I am – standing at home screaming the hell out of it while my wife was in the next room thinking I was crazy. In the end I used a combination of my screamy version, a pitched version of myself and a female singer called Jenny Sandgren. So I think in total there are eight Davids and eight Jennys or something like that. Another thing which is something I very rarely do is to actually vary the lyrics on the choruses – the lead vocal goes from singing four syllable phrases like “and how about you” to eight syllable phrases like “but you never seem too happy” and other variations in the same little space which gives it a kind of soulish atmosphere. A more improvised kind of attitude. Pretty normal for other artists I’m sure but I’m not used to that. Fun to try – but even more work lyrically of course.

 

 

What’s the proudest moment of your career so far?

 

One is playing live in Tokyo for business people with The Merrymakers with Andy Sturmer as our drummer! Being our favourite songwriter, lyricist, singer and artist in the world – it was just so unreal to have him there behind the drums – he was our favourite drummer as well of course…and on top of everything in lovely Japan! Another couple of great memories – even though they’re outside of my career with original material – are playing the role of Benny Andersson in an international ABBA tribute show at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 16,000 people and playing the role of Paul McCartney performing the whole Sgt Pepper album live in Liverpool in front of, amongst others, Cynthia Lennon. We performed with the entire orchestra from the School of Music in Piteå – the music university I attended and now work at.

 

And what’s been your biggest musical trauma? For example your favourite band splitting up, favourite band making a bad album or band member dying?

 

That John Lennon died the way he died must undoubtedly be the biggest trauma. However, for me that meant the start of everything because it was when that happened that I totally dived into the world of Beatles music as a 10-year old. And I’m still swimming around in that world more than thirty years later.

 

After the break up of Led Zeppelin Robert Plant considered becoming a teacher. Have you ever thought about doing anything else other than music to make a living?

 

Well I am a teacher. But in music – songwriting and music production – so it doesn’t really count as something else does it? I once toyed with the idea of driving taxis – imagining myself in a sunny Stockholm, windows down, in a nice, shiny black, clean car listening to my favourite records on the car stereo. But Anders, who had tried that job in his youth, told me that’s not what everyday life as a taxi driver really is. I also tried working in the music business for a while which I kind of enjoyed as well. Sitting on the other side of the desk for a while rejecting demos instead of being rejected was nice for a change.

 

You recently played your first solo gig. How was it?

 

Yes I recently played my first solo show. And it was great! A small step for mankind but a giant leap for me! I was unusually nervous of course and it was hard work before, and I was worried about my voice giving up and all that stuff. But at the same time it was very rewarding and there was an hilariously fun party afterwards – at least for me – because it brought a crowd together in my former home town that consisted of my life-long friends, the local musical heroes that inspired me in my youth, and my current students, not to mention my lovely wife Paula who happens to be my biggest fan luckily (and practically) enough. Just a great night and it left me with a taste for more! The songs really did seem to work live as well!

 

Thanks David for taking the time to talk to us at Über Röck. Good luck with the solo record.

 

Thank you so much for your interest, for your deep knowledge of the subject, and for your interest in talking about the actual music. A big honour!

 

David rest assured the honour is all ours…..

 

Uber Rockers with an interest in hearing some quality powerpop to help soundtrack their upcoming summer should head over to David’s website right now at http://davidmyhr.com/where you can check out some tunes from ‘Soundshine’ plus order his merch.  Don’t forget to tell him Uber Rock sent you.