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B.U.C - Bio 2003
It was the spirit of the punk movement that made Ulf Ivarsson buy his
first bass guitar at the age of thirteen, when he joined the local band
Pink Pyjamas in early 1979. Major influences were British bands
like the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Ultravox (fronted by John Foxx) and
Buzzcocks , plus the legendary Swedish trio Ebba Grön.
After playing with different local bands Ulf Ivarsson joined local heroes
the Quiet in January 1981. At the age of
fifteen he was already playing with musicians ten years his age. Quiet
called their style ”rasta-fusk-rock” (i.e. ”rasta-fake-rock”)
and made a name for themselves with their combination of commercial
pop and reggae/ska/dub. In the rhythm section Ulf Ivarsson joined forces
with drummer Christer Björklund, whom he since has been playing
together with, in different constellations, for more than twenty years.
In 1982 Ouiet recorded with singer/producer
Dotun Adebayo, who also worked with British
reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson (LKJ) and Dennis Bovell. ”This
was a very important period for me, not just musically” Ulf remembers.
” We did quite a lot of touring, sometimes travelling 1000 kilometers
just to play in front of ten people! But we enjoyed it and many of the
things we did definitely shaped my future.”
In 1983 Ulf Ivarsson left Quiet to join
the local new waveband Grenzfall but after
recording and releasing their critically acclaimed debut mini-album
”Svarta Rosor” (i.e. ”Black Roses”) the band split
up. Ulf went on to form Vem von Helst,
one of the most high energy-driven rock bands of their time.
”At the time I was listening a lot to bands like the Gun Club,
the Cramps and the Nomads,” Ulf says. ”I guess that I must
have felt that I wasn´t finished with the punk”.
Vem von Helst started out as a power trio,
but after ”playing Gloria” and the New York Dolls´”Personality
Crisis” for a month” guitarist Zeke (from Quiet) joined and
the band took off, on a road all their own.
After a year of busy touring (a.o. playing support act to the Nomads)
Vem von helst recorded their debut album
Vem von helst (Mamma, 1984). The album was released in spring 1984.
A year later the band broke up. ”Around the same time I discovered
the blues, ” Ulf says. ” I started to listen to Albert King,
Albert Collins, Elmore James, Freddie King and Jimi Hendrix for inspiration.”
Soon Ulf Ivarsson joined the Eivon Boogie Band,
a busy touring band whose steamy mixture of blues, boogie rock an R&B
can be heard on their live album ”Beer Bottle Boogie” (Startlklart
1986).
” I now realized how much music really meant to me, ” says
Ulf. ” In ´88 I moved to Stockholm, where I studied jazz
and music theory. Unfortunately, I found it much too boring and the
mental enviroment at the music school much too sterile....”
A much needed release came when Ulf Ivarsson in 1989 was asked by
Thomas Di Leva - Swedish music wizard numero uno - to join his
band. Their outstanding musical relationship has continued ever since.
”We have actually known each other since the late 70´s, when
my first band, the Pink Pyjamas, opened
for Di Levas´ the Pillisnorks, ”
Ulf remembers.
Thomas Di Leva ranks among the most charismatic
swedish artists ever, and his spectacular stage shows (Di
Leva is both a singer and an actor) never fails to draw huge
audiences. Ulf Ivarsson has played with Di Leva on all major tours and
all albums (including the chart topping and double platinum-selling
”För Sverige i Rymden” ,Warner) since 1989.
In 1991 Ulf Ivarsson got an invitation from the legendary Swedish guitar
hero Clas Yngström to join his band,
the Sky High. During his long career Clas
Yngström has played with respected musicians such as Prarie
Prince ( The Tubes), Ross Valory, Tim Gorman (The Who). Kenny Aronsson
(Bob Dylan, Brian Setzer, Billy Idol, Robert Gordon), and Jonas Hellborg.
Ulf Ivarsson played his first gig as a member of
Sky High at the international musicfestival South By Southwest
(SXSW) in Austin , Texas 1991. In the summer of 1991 the band toured
Scandinavia , and in the following years Sky High also toured Germany,
Holland, South America and India! ”We did a lot of improvising,
and often performed without knowing what song to play next” Ulf
remembers. ”Clas taught me the importance of musical spontanity
and that real music is created in the very same moment it is played.
He gave me the courage to stretch out and improvise totally free.”
”Clas Yngström is, without any doubt , my mentor”. The
line-up featuring Ulf Ivarsson can be heard on their album ”Fuzzface”(Mega
Records 1994) and is also part of the Peter Green- Tribute album Rattlesnake
Guitar( Viceroy Records, 1995), where they contribute a version of the
Fleetwood Mac instrumental ”Supernatural”. ( The tribute album
also features Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull), Rory Gallagher and Dick
Heckstall-Smith a.o.
After working with music theatre Skottes Musikteater
in his hometown Gävle, Ulf Ivarsson in 1996 became part of the
internationally acclaimed Swedish world music group Hedningarna
(The Heathens). For this mission he learned how to play the bass mandora,
a new instrument especially constructed and built to fit the groups
innovative mix of traditional folk music with trance, techno and electronic
sounds. Ulf Ivarsson played bass mandora on the album Hippjokk (Silence,
1996) and the groups Scandinavian tour 1996, and was featured in the
music magazine Bass Player (April 1996) talking about the possibilities
of the instrument. ”It was definitely a new challenge to learn
how to play techno beat in 3/4 time”, Ulf says with a smile. Hedningarna
toured all over Europe (Spain , Holland, France, Belgium, Denmark) and
also made a memorable trip to Russia- a visit that inspired their next
album Karelia Visa ( Silence, 1998), based on Karelian hymns. Besides
playing bass guitar and the bass mandora, Ulf Ivarsson also programmed
the synthesizers and played percussion on the last album. (Released
in USA by Northside).
During the last years Ulf Ivarsson has recorded and performed with a
list of different artists: Conny Bloom
(Swedish guitar hero, ex-Electric Boys), Olle
Ljungström ( excentric Swedish rock singer, a childhood
hero of Ulf in the late 70´s), Daniella
Gordon ( a Swedish performance artist), Frida
Snell (grammy-nominated Swedish female artist), Ricard
Nettermalm (drum´n´bass Project), Lizzie
Zachrisson, the Finnish punkduo Superia,
the best selling Swedish artist Peter Jöback,
Little Chris, Mora Träsk,
Mark Owen (ex-Take That), the American girlband
Pierces, French artist Maryam Matisse
and Merlin from Canada. The Swedish reggaemaster
Papa Dee, english piano legend Geraint
Watkins ( ex-Rockpile, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler), Christian
Waltz, Beverly Knight, The
Beep Kid , Covenant, Caroline
af Ugglas, Sahlene,
Montys Loco, Steven B Andersson,
Desmond Foster, Ainbusk
Singers and Steve Gibbons. Ulf Ivarsson
has also worked on other projects in collaboration with internationally
acclaimed swedish producers Jacob Hellner
( Rammstein, Flesh Quartet, Clawfinger), Adam
Kviman (Eagle Eye Cherry) and Sank
( Prime Sthlm, User, Thåström).
Beat Under Control is 100% Ulf Ivarsson´s
own project but incorporates elements from all the different kinds of
music he has been involved in during the last 25 years. Debut album
The introduction is released in the fall of 2003. The journey continues...............
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