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Trettioåriga Kriget(Thirty Years War) was formed in 1970 in Saltsjöbaden, a seaside resort southeast of Stockholm. They were at the time all around seventeen and still in high school.
The schools mainhall was in the beginning used as the rehearsalroom.
This first lineup of the band was a sixpiece with two drummers! It included
Stefan Fredin- bass guitar, vocals, Pocke Öhrström- guitar, vocals, Dag Lundquist- drums, Olle Thörnvall- harmonica, guitar, Dag Kronlund- piano and Johan Gullberg- drums.
1971 Pocke, Johan and Dag K. left and Robert joined on vocals and guitar.
1972 Olle quit playing harmonica to concentrate on the lyrics, leaving the band to concist only of Stefan, Dag and Robert. They decided they needed a good guitarplayer and started to audition some guitarists. Through these auditions they found Christer who joined the band in summer 1972.
The band rehearsed intensively for a year and a half and developed a style of their own quite unlike the main trend in Swedish rock during the Seventies.
Early 1974 they got a recorddeal. Also at that time they got a new rehearsal room in Saltsjöbaden. An old underground disco which they called "Grunden". There they would remain for a long time....An album was recorded that summer and released in august 1974. The album was named only "TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET".
The musical talent and originality of the group was duly recognized in the reviews. The album was an instant classic and is often considered as the
first Swedsih heavy rock album.
They also now started to tour extensively in Sweden and also did several live performances on national Swedish radio.
The second album "KRIGSSÅNG" was recorded in the summer of 1975 though it was not released until early 1976 . It is commonly regarded as Trettioåriga Krigets "masterpiece". The second side is totally devoted to the long suite "Krigssång 2".
These first 2 albums have had a tremendous influence on later Swedish
progressive and metal bands.
The band continued touring and gigging in -75 and -76 .
In October -76 they left for an extensive English tour from Croydon in London to Cardiff in Wales to Sunderland near the Scotish border. They went down very well and the English musicmagazine "Melody Maker" chose them as one of the most promising bands for -77, speaking enthusiastically of their "intense gripping songs" and saying that "the power of the music is tremendous"!!! Back home again however they got the boot from their Swedish label, who apparently hadn..t heard any news from abroad.
Trettioåriga Kriget then chose to sign for a small Swedish independet label called Mistlur.
The first album on this new label was called "HEJ PÅ ER".It was recorded in summer1978 in "Grunden", the rehearsal room, with mobile recording facilties. By this time Mats had joined ..boards and saxophone too.
The album was very well received and was to that date their best selling album. The album was seeing the band moving to a more simple songformat and is seen as the last album in a trilogy starting with the first album.
The band continued to tour extensively during this time around Scandinavia.
In the summer of 1979 the band recorded "MOT ALLA ODDS" also at "Grunden". It is largely regarded the bands least successful album though it has its moments, i.e. the title song.
This was the last album with Robert who left in autumn 1979 leaving the vocals to Stefan.
In 1980 the band played the Roskilde festival in Denmark and continued the extensive touring. And they also recorded their fifth album at "Grunden" called only "KRIGET".
The story then jumps to 1992 when Stefan, Robert and Dag played an accousitc set at a releaseparty for the CD-release of
"Krigssång". And then in 1996 to coincide with the release of their mostly live album "WARMEMORIES", the band decided to do two reunionconcerts in Stockholm...
In 2002 Stefan, Dag, Chris and Olle decided to start rehearsing to try out new material. These rehearsals were such a success that the band decided to enter the studio once more and record a new album. In the studio, Robert and Mats also joined.
The album was named "ELDEN AV ÅR" (Fire of Years) and was released January 2004. It got such very good reception and reviews. Many describing the album as the bands best and even one of the best reunionalbums ever released.
Liveshows also followed in 2004 with the classic lineup of Stefan Fredin, Dag Lundquist, Christer …kerberg, Robert Zima and Mats Lindberg.
In September 2004 the band even made their US debut playing the Progday Festival in North Carolina and also for the first time in over 30 years did a show in their homevillage of Saltsjöbaden.
Later that autumn their first two albums, "Trettioåriga Kriget" and "Krigssång" were re-released with bonustracks. In March 2005 the bands third album, "Hej på er" (Hallo everybody) was also re-released with bonustracks.
In June 2005 they played Swedens biggest rockfestival, Sweden Rock,
and in March 2006 they played the Baja Prog Festival in Mexico.
In August 2007 their 8th studioalbum, "I BÖRJAN OCH SLUTET"(In the beginning
and the end), was released to overwhelming reviews. The band saw it
like a natural follow up to "Elden av år", with a more coherent atmosphere,
and unlike "Elden" this album was written and recorded
in a shorter space of time.
Autumn 2007 also saw the band play in both France and Brazil for the first
time as well as some Swedish shows to promote the album
Spring 2008 saw the band play in Spain for the first time as well as
shows in Norway, Sweden and France.
In the autumn of 2008 the band did release their first live album called
"WAR YEARS". A double album covering their whole career from their
2nd show ever in their homevillage of Saltsjöbaden up their show
at the Progday Festival in North Carolina, US in 2004.
They also made their first tour of Japan and to coincide with the tour
released their first 3 and 2 latest albums there in a boxset called just
"Trettioåriga Kriget".
At the moment the band is planning a new studioalbum though work
on it has yet to commence. No release date is set either.
There are also plans for shows in South America coming spring.
DISCOGRAPHY ALBUMS:
Trettioåriga Kriget- 1974/2004
Krigssång-1976/2004
Hej på er- 1978/2005
Mot alla odds- 1979
Kriget- 1981
War memories- 1992
Om Kriget kommer (compilation)- 1996
Glorious war-recordings from 1970-71- 2004
Elden av år- 2004
I början och slutet- 2007
War Years (double livealbum)- 2008
More Years (livealbum)- 2008 Limited edition 100 copies
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