GÖSTA:
Björn, how did you start with music?

BJÖRN:
Yes I started…
It came quite naturally because everyone in the family played and sang and I grew up with that then. The interest was already there then.
And then… Yes, I became interested and so and so I sat and played and learned a little more on the guitar. Yes, I were interested in general, thought that was exciting.

GÖSTA:
How did you meet Bob?

BJÖRN:
Yes, I met Bob at school, at Sannaskolan.
My classmates found him unbearable. That he was fretful and then they asked me to deal with this Bob and so I went out to meet him.
And then I said this: ”now we have to go down to the toilet and talk about this”. Not violently, but discuss this and then we realized that we had the same interests – music then – and then after that thing so we became very good comrades.

GÖSTA:
And started playing?

BJÖRN:
Yes, exactly.

GÖSTA:
What did you play then?

BJÖRN:
Yes, mostly own twelves as they call it, blues and own compositions.
And then there were certain songs stuck in the hood that you sat and tried to bring out musically. There were no sheet music or anything like that back then, so you had to take it out by ear. And it was exciting.

GÖSTA:
Say a song that you remember.

BJÖRN:
Yes this one… (singing) Östan om solen (East of the sun)… or something like that…
It was typically that style that was popular. Because then rock hadn’t caught on at that time.

GÖSTA:
How did you get into rock music?

BJÖRN:
Yes, Bob, he went to America with his family and I went out on the sea and when Bob came back, he had a lot of plates with him. Everly Brothers and Eddie Cockran.
They played music that you had never heard before.
I went around Africa and Spain and the most you heard was Evert Taube (a Swedish troubadour) on jukeboxes. So there were old things in those days.

GÖSTA:
So you started again and started again and started a band. What was it called?

BJÖRN:
Then we called ourselves The Rebels, because we thought we were a bit… We wanted to do a bit different things, music… Two guitars and two voices then.
It was a little different. It was exciting.

GÖSTA:
So you expanded. You weren’t just two, you eventually became four.

BJÖRN:
Yes, it was… Yes, this goes quickly…
Yes, we Bosse Winberg then and a guy who lived in Mölndal called Bo Wahlberg and then we started rehearsing and we thought it was quite funny and then there were a lot of rock band competitions like this back then.
And then we were going to compete in Bildjournalen’s rock band competition and during that time there were Rock-Ragge, Rock-Boris…
There were rock kings in almost every community and it was exciting stuff and we stood there and won that competition.
But before that a lot of things had happened. Before you got there… among other things, you had (laughs) I don’t know, I’m not going to say that…

GÖSTA:
But now we have to get into what’s going on with Rock-Teddy.

BJÖRN:
Yes, but…

GÖSTA:
It was for this, right?

BJÖRN:
Well, well…it was this Rock-Teddy. You should have a name then, but I don’t know…
It turned out then that I would sing and yes, and show on stage then. That was the style back then. And that’s how the name came about. Rock Teddy.
And then we went around and played and improved, I think, musically. And then…
Yes, a lot of things happened after that.

GÖSTA:
Tell us a little about when Bosse joined the band.

BJÖRN:
Winberg?

GÖSTA:
Yes.

BJÖRN:
Yes, Bob and I had been playing together for a long time, and now and then a guy called Bosse Winberg came along and he played some guitar.
And he built amplifiers. He was good at it. And he had a car which was very unusual for teenagers at that time.
We rehearsed and played and he also had records that were interesting and that’s how it came about.
And then came… a fisherman’s boy, Bo Wahlberg in Mölndal, he has quit. He had a fish auction early in the morning, he couldn’t take it and then I got hold of this guy called Ove Johansson. He lived in Gamlestan (part of Gothenburg) and so the band became…eee… Frazers, I think…
So we kept going. Yes, we made an effort and had some work and played and rehearsed. That was most of it.

GÖSTA:
What was your repertoire as The Frazers?

BJÖRN:
Yeah, it was very Everly Brothers, Eddie Cockran. So, there was one that Winberg was very fond of, his name was Duande Eddy I think it was.
And that was the repertoire that hadn’t really come here, hadn’t really made it here, I think. But it was on records that Bob and Winberg had.

GÖSTA:
Can you say that when you were Rock-Teddy, a kind of rock king, as it was called then. Were you popular as a rock king?

BJÖRN:
I don’t want to comment on it myself, but yes, I think so.
It went very well and you got a lot of pats on the back and many offers.

GÖSTA:
Then as Frazers you recorded a record and where did you do it?

BJÖRN:
You mean this old 78 rpm record?

GÖSTA:
Yes exactly. The record.


Here Gösta and Björn talk past each other a little; Gösta about The Frazers, Björn about The Rebels.


BJÖRN:
Yes, there was a record store on Kungsgatan called Erdmans Musik and old Mr. Erdman there.
We then entered his gramophone shop and tried out guitars. Very exciting at the time.
Then heard about this and asked if we wanted to come downstairs, because he had a studio there.
We followed Erman down and we were very impressed in this studio, what I thought myself, very advanced things.
And now we did a test recording with two-part vocals and guitars. And he thought that was exciting.
His wife, among others, stood up on the stairs and shouted to Mr. Erdman that now you can come up, there are customers in the store. And then he thought that she can take care of that because now I have found something else. And then it developed so that I played double bass and guitar. Bob got hold of an old stool and played with beaters on it and played the backing guitar as well. And so we recorded this then.
I thought that was great fun.
And Erdman stood for a lot. A very, very likable man.

GÖSTA:
Then this music was to be published, but the gramophone company didn’t like the name Frazers, but what did they want to call you?

BJÖRN:
No, it wasn’t this record they wanted to release.

GÖSTA:
So it didn’t come out…

BJÖRN:
No, no.. no.. it’s only on tape now. No, it was long after this…


Now the conversation finally turns to The Frazer’s first recordings


GÖSTA:
Then we can take that story with Frazer’s first recording, which would later be published.
And this story of how it became Spotnick’s. Can you tell me?

BJÖRN:
Yes, we had problems with rehearsal rooms.
There were some. Burås ungdomsgård, for example, but there were many bands fighting for times and opportunities to rehearse.
Then we met a man at a gig who had a plastic factory on Göteborgsvägen – I think – and he offered us to rehearse there.
And we did that at night because then the factory was closed.
And then did in a tape on a Tandberg cassette player. Old Spinning Wheel and Ghostriders In The Sky. And two more. Old Man River I think it was and My Old Kentucky Home) and we sent this up to the gramophone company Karusell as it was then called.
And they became very interested in this and asked what we had recorded this on. And then Winberg said we had recorded this on a Lyrek, I think, a Lyrek machine.
It sounded a little better then and they thought it sounded exciting and then a representative of the record company came and when they heard that we had done it on a Tandberg they thought it was quite well done.
And then the Spotnicks thing started.

GÖSTA:
What did you think of the new name?

BJÖRN:
Well, it was nothing especially good.
I thought it was a very strange name. I didn’t get attached to bands at all. And Spotnick’s…
But it’s clear that they had good persuasiveness and all that and so in the end it turned out that way.

GÖSTA:
In 1961 you were on a TV programme. What did you do then? Oh what happened then?

BJÖRN:
Yes, it was then a TV program here in Gothenburg.
Yes, we were going to do two melodies in a TV show and we didn’t have direct stage clothes then. Looked rather boring and then someone found out that Povel Ramel (a Swedish revue artist and all-round artist) had some fantasy costumes that we could then borrow. They were spacesuits with four arms, very warm and strange.
And we did this program then and at the same time we were photographed in the studio and it ended up on the cover of the record that was released in England. Which went up on the list there.
And then we got an offer to go to England on tours and before it took off we got a telegram: ”Don’t forget the spacesuits” and then we sat questioning and wondered which spacesuits they mean?
And then they had that cover.