Swedish singer MONEYBROTHER is half way through a whistle stop tour of the global Red Bull Studios network compiling material from five continents to create his album, due for release late this year.
For the last seven years Anders Wendin has been performing his own strain of feel good soul inspired rock pop music. His first album Blood Panic went gold in Sweden receiving a Grammy and he has since released a further five albums with right hand man and former Monster bass player Christoffer Roth. “Christoffer started Monster and I was the lead singer. He is a great bass player and has a studio back home. He works a lot!”
Anders and Roth left Stockholm for north America at the end of May and have been on the road ever since. When they arrived in the US Wendin was asked to open for sham-rockers Flogging Molly on their Green 17 tour and had a ball. Between shows Anders hooked up with cult producer Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey and more) at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, before hot-footing it to the Red Bull Studios LA working with Rockabilly outfit The Rhythm Shakers. The Swede recorded a track with lead singer Marlene Perez and double bass player Victor Mendez.
Traveling south of the border Wendin hooked up with percussion legend Marcos Suzano and vocalist Juliana Kiehls at the Red Bull music hub in Rio de Janeiro, describing the experience as ‘fantastic’ he also added that: “We were all going to bed thinking ‘how the hell are we going to top this?’” Well, Anders did when he travelled to the Red Bull Studios in Jamaica.
A true fan of reggae and dancehall he rates Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie, The Congos, Buju Banton and Sizzla as some of his favourite acts. Anders hooked up with Sly Dunbar [Sly and Robbie] who played drums on a track before heading to the legendary Tuff Gong studios: “We worked at Tuff Gong for three hours in the middle of the night, arriving at 11pm, I was doing vocals with four guys sitting around me in THAT studio…”
Leaving Tuff Gong MONEYBROTHER hooked up with Ras Fraser Jr. and the Hall of Fame Crew in a troubled area of west Kingston called Tivoli Gardens. “We pulled up outside a house and these friendly Rastafarian guys came out and kicked open a door and it was the coolest studio I’ve ever seen. We did a vocal take and there was no door to the booth and on the track you can hear everything in the background. The guys liked the tune so much they mixed it that night and before we left it was played on the radio. It was amazing and a lot of fun.”
From Tuff Gong to Trench Town, Jamaica was a spiritual experience for Anders and Christoffer and like many artists before him, Likke Lee, Alex Clare, Toddla T and Diplo to name but a few, Anders was romanced by this musical island musing: “Apart from Tokyo it’s the only place you can go where they think they are much cooler than you. They do their dance and they don’t really look at you. Every time I visit you see new trends – this would never happen at home.”
Sad to leave the beautiful Blue Mountains Anders travelled to greyer climbs touching down at London’s Heathrow for a session with Red Bull Music Academy participant Cornelia. Where the duo collaborated on sweet pop tune In The Night Time.
Comments
Add a comment