BURRN magazine Japan
Interview made by Jorgen Holmstedt

Grand Illusion was one of the highest rated AOR bands in Scandinavia after creating classy albums such as "Ordinary Just Won't Do" and "The Book Of How To Make It". Therefore it was a bit of a shock when the band broke up in 2005 without any signs of things going wrong.
 
Anders Rydholm, leader and sole songwriter of Grand Illusion, explains his reasons for pulling the plug on the band and why he prefers to work with veteran AOR singer Sherwood Ball in their new band Code.

The first question is very obvious: why did you break up Grand Illusion?

Anders: The mistake I did with Grand Illusion was that I spoilt the rest of the band members. I basically took care of everything on my own. The rest of the guys did very little but their actually performances and even though we had several talks about it didn’t lead to any changes. In a band situation you all have to pitch in a bit more than that cause there really are a lot of other work than just playing your parts. So it really was time for a change. I also wanted to work with different musicians and singers before I am put to rest. It was just time to create something new.

Is Peter doing anything musically now?

A: He is doing a record with a Danish guitarist. I think Peter has had some other offers too.

And the rest of the Grand Illusion members?

A: Per Svensson, the other singer, is disappointed but understands me totally. We're still working together as Per has provided back-up vocals for both the Code and the Demon albums. Ola Karlsson, who wrote a lot of the Grand Illusion lyrics, was always a bit off side anyway. He doesn't even like Grand Illusion's music as he is primarily a country and western fan. Ola is very talented though. If he really focused on his writing, he could deliver lyrics for big hits, I'm sure. The drummer Christer Sundell is also feeling sad about the demise of the band. They all are very nice guys but you can't afford to have that sort of low interest in a band, especially not today with all of the musicians of the world being available through the Internet. It's just to send files back and forth, you know.

I suppose you found Sherwood Ball that way.

A: Yes. I was listening to an old Jay Graydon CD, "Airplay For The Planet", which Sherwood sang on one day in the car and I started to wonder whatever happened to this great singer. I remember the song which really got me going was "Holdin' On To Love". I had not heard anything from Sherwood Ball in years, being a big fan of his ever since he toured Sweden in 1994 and `96 with Jay Graydon All Stars. I found Sherwood's homepage and sent him an e-mail asking if he was interested in listening to some songs which I had written. Khalil Turk at our Europeian label Escape had suggested I should work with someone else for a while anyway.

Anyone in particular?

A: Chris Ousey and Steve Overland was the two names Khalil put forward. He wanted to set up meetings with them and me. But I told him they were not the sort of voices I had in my mind for these songs. Anyway, Sherwood Ball replied in just one hour. He was very enthusiastic and wanted to hear more. We found each other very quickly. Sherwood is very driven, just like me. A month later me and Ola af Trampe, the lead guitarist from Grand Illusion, flew to the States to meet Sherwood armed with lots of songs. We picked the best ones of 40 songs and decided to do an album.

When was this?

A: This was at the end of 2004 or early 2005. In the end we booked the Castle Oaks recording studio in Calabasas, California, and recorded 13 songs with Gregg Bissonette on drums.

It must be cool to have some one like Gregg Bissonette of all drummers on the debut album. I mean he has played with David Lee Roth, Brian Wilson, Don Henley, Santana and just about everybody in the business.

A: Oh yes. This was because we really wanted to make the very best out of this. Gregg was definetely not cheap to hire but it was a challenge to get to get to an even higher level this time around. As you might know Gregg has played on tons of great record and the nice thing was the positive way he reacted when he heard the songs. As Gregg is such a marvellous drummer, I urged him to put in some cool fills here and there. But he said those songs speaks for themselves, they do not call for a flash drummer going over the top. Get this: Gregg did all the drums for the 13 songs in ten hours, including breaks for lunch, dinner and coffee! And he had not heard the songs before. Amazing.

What where the qualities in Sherwood Ball's voice which convinced you that he was the man for your songs?

A: Sherwood has got the power and a very emotional voice at the same time. He is also a good showman on stage. Sherwood has also written almost all the lyrics for the album. He is not one of those singers who has been heard to death on dozens of albums over the years, like Göran Edman. Edman is great but I prefer someone like Sherwood who hasn't done that much over the recent years. It keeps things fresh.

Why the name Code?

A: It's supposed to be referring to an honorable agreement, not computer programming or secret morse codes as one might think. We would like to establish a new rock code, a standard to create by. The main reason why relationships break down, be it in a band or in any other business, is because lack of communication. But people will never get that. (laughter) It's still a good, short name though. I think people will remember the name quite easy.

Is Code a band or a project?

A: It's a band. I think it's still important to be able to play live if you want to succeed. If we get the chance to play some live dates, all we need is a drummer but that's no problem to find. Me, Ola and Sherwood can cut our parts live.

So you wanna play live?

A: Sure, we hope get a chance to play those European AOR festivals like Firefest in the UK and United Forces Of Rock in Germany. I think that would establish Code a little bit. To play in Japan is still a dream of course. I don't know why we were never invited in the Grand Illusion days. Quite recently we sort of got a request to back up Demon Kogure live either as Code or Grand Illusion but nothing came out of it. That would have been nice. I think even Peter and the other GI guys would have been into that, just to get the chance to perform in Japan.

Isn't Sherwood Ball a guitar player too?

A: Indeed he is. Sherwood is quite good at it too. But when it came to play guitar on the album he listened to Ola af Trampe playing and said, "Why should I try when you guys are doing it even better". But Sherwood has a lot more input compared to what the Grand Illusion guys had. Sherwood interpret things in his own very unique way. The Code CD has meant that I've actually been able to have a deeper dialogue with the singer. That's quite different from the GI situation were I was very dominant and it's been very rewarding, the music has improved a lot from that healthy sort of give and take situation.

Why is the album called "The Enemy Within"?

A: It was the song title we liked the best. The song itself started life with a different title, "The Game". Sherwood wasn't too happy with my original lyrics. He said the words were nice, but didn't say very much. I'm sure he was right. Sherwood is the kind of singer which is very driven by his emotions and therefore is very picky with the words. He wants the lyrics to communicate with people, we should be able to relate to what he is telling us. So Sherwood wrote this lyric about the fact that on we can be very happy family fathers and at the same time we can turn into the devil behind the steering wheel and force someone off the road if we are in a hurry. He is right, isn't he? (laughter)

Ola af Trampe has contributed some writing as well, like "Sign Up For Love".

A: Ola came up with the main riff for that one. To me it's the most different, unusual song on the album. At least it's the most metal oriented one. Still with a very melodic chorus though. Speaking of Ola, have you heard his guitar solo on "Home Away From Love"? It's gotta be his best lead break ever! That song sounds quite close to Grand Illusion, when I think about it. "Flying High" does too.

The ballad "How Do We Stay In love" must be one of your strongest slow songs so far.

A: Thanks. Sherwood sounds kinda like Michael Bolton on that one, does he not? It's got a lot of emotions, that song. Good melody. Originally I had a different chorus melody and Sherwood had the lyrics for it, but as he started to sing it he just stopped and said this is wrong, Anders, please, re-write this. (laughter) As I said, Sherwood just can't perform if it doesn't feel right.

"Alive" has an mystic intro with old war battle style beats of a drum and wolves howling.

A: The song is about an Indian warrior. Sherwood is part Indian and a very proud one too. He wrote three verses for that one, but in my arrangement there was only space for two verses. Sherwood begged me to include all three verses, it was really important to him but I felt that would ruin the structure of the song. That's when I added that intro and suggested he sang his extra bit over that one. (laughter) I think it came out very well and different too.

"Change the World" seems to have a political message?

A: In a way. It's our way of saying that it's time to stop ruining mother Earth with all the pollusion and all that shit. Now we get all these nature disasters happening all over the world and that should be taken as an alarm bell. It's adressed to the leaders of the world. The ending of that song is cool with all those solo parts, like classic Toto. I'm sort of jamming with myself there, as I'm playing bass, rhythm guitar and keyboards. (laughter)

Isn't Sherwood's dad a famous guitar string manifacturer?

A: Ernie Ball, yes. Sterling Ball, Sherwood's brother, is taking care of the business these days as Ernie Ball died a few years ago.

You mentioned the album you produced for Demon Kogure, a major Japanese rock star, how this that happen?

A: The team behind Demon had heard Grand Illusion and wanted that sort of style, very melodic rock with lots of vocal harmonies, for the Demon record which was going to be a cover album of Japanese hits which were sung by female artists in the 80's. They got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to arrange, perform and produce the album. I went for it, not really knowing what to expect but it sounded like an exciting challenge. Then the songs was delivered to me: a heavy metal song, a disco tune, a latino track with accordian... An extremely mixed bag if styles! I didn't get it, what did they expect me to make out of this?!  And they still didn't tell me, no matter how many questions I asked. In the end I just did it my way, and from what I understand that's what they wanted me to do all along. When the album was finished an A&R guy called Tak from the label, Avex, came to see me in Sweden and in his company was Gen, Demon's manager. Demon himself couldn't come as he is also working as commentator for sumo competitions and there was a big sumo happening in Japan at the same time.

There is a bonus DVD with the Demon album where I think you can be seen?

A: Yeah, they had a small film crew here in Sweden a month ago where they shot me working in the studio and things like that. I haven't seen the final thing though, not yet.

Ola af Trampe and Per Svensson from Grand Illusion are heard on the Demon CD.

A: Yeah, and the amazing thing with Per is that he is singing in Japanese. Still he doesn't know the language at all. We listened closely to what Demon was singing on the vocal files he sent us, and wrote it down phonetically for Per to sing. We were not sure if it was good enough, but Demon's team said it sounded perfect! They only wanted us to change one word - and that was of the English back up vocals. When they were in Sweden I asked if it didn't sound as if there was some foreign accent on it. "No, it's OK", was all they said. (laughter)

How did you manage to produce Demon's vocals if you've never met him?

A: We talked on the phone and I wrote him some vocal instructions. But he also had his own ideas of he wanted to sing. It was not a problem at all.

What do you think of his image, hiding behind lots of make-up like Kiss did in the 70's?

A: I understand it. As far as I know Demon has been looking like that ever since 1985 and I think he is stuck with that sort of face paint by now. He still hasn't unmasked so he can walk the streets as an ordinary man. Must be good when you are that famous.

What's your next step?

A: I'm gonna wait and see what people think of the Code album. I always pay attention to the respons on the records I make to see if I should do any changes next time around. I sure hope we will be able to make more Code albums. It's so nice to work with Sherwood Ball who has also become a great friend. I know he wants to make more Code stuff too.