Meshuggah, Refused & Mats Gustafsson
+ Gomelsky book update and 2 part twos (what's happening ... continued)
[This story is continued from: what's happening at The Non-Writer? - live music stories, videos and book plans]
Let’s see … I think I left you in a dive bar, or a bookstore, I can’t remember which. Today I’m going to take you to a couple of larger venues and tell you how the bands I saw have changed the sound of avant-rock, and how a guy who’s a major force in free-jazz today is connected to them. I’ll end with story and book updates.
The Umeå Connection
James Brown told his band that every instrument was a drum and Funk was born out of Soul and R&B. Metal band Meshuggah must have received a similar commandment when they stripped their sound down to basic percussive elements, including the vocals, and created a new kind of Metal music. It got called djent, because that’s the sound their guitars made. A slew of bands would follow, emulating that sound. Eventually, like the term nu-metal, the djent label would become disparaged by the very bands practicing it. But some labels are just plain useful. You hear the term djent and you have a good idea what the band will sound like … pounding, precise, polyrhythmic progressive metal.
Meshuggah
Meshuggah prefers to call their sound "Heavy, experimental music”. Just like any label can’t fully describe a band’s music, the heaviness of Meshuggah’s sound can only be hinted at on a recording. Remember the “full body” experience I mentioned in the last article? Meshuggah live delivers that. I saw them for the second time about a month ago. They’d upped their game in the light-show department since the first time I saw them a few years ago. I tried to capture a bit of that on video which you can see here:
They got their start in the late 1980’s in the college town of Umeå Sweden, and as I’m about to tell you, they aren’t the only influential musicians to spring forth from this relatively small town. Why would this place, just 400 km from the arctic circle have such a big impact on music? Here’s what one of the guitarists said:
“Being a bunch of guys from in the sticks up north in Sweden, growing up as kids, we weren't part of any partying culture or any Stockholm sound scene or anything — we were just messing around on our own — which meant that, for us, the most important thing ever, being in this band, has been the exploration of music and what we can do together.” — from blabbermouth.net
A few years later in this same town, the process of messing around would bear fruit again when the hardcore band Refused formed. Their path to musical notoriety would not be a steady climb, like that of Meshuggah.
Refused
I’ve talked about the band Refused in past stories, but have to say it again. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Refused. It was a music video on TV. Watching music videos on TV was not something that I usually did, but there it was and I couldn’t take my eyes and ears off of it. This was the most awesome music video I had ever seen, and it is simply the band performing on a soundstage with no audience. The visuals are quirky and fun, but the music and performance, especially from front man Dennis Lyxzén, is off the charts. Unfortunately, and unknown to me at the time, the band had broken up in no uncertain terms about a decade prior to my TV viewing excitement. Refused are Fucking Dead.
The song I watched on that video is from an album entitled The Shape of Punk to Come. If that title doesn’t mean anything to you, here’s a link to the original Ornette Coleman album. Yes, this hardcore punk band was taking influence from a Jazz pioneer. This not only confused their hardcore fans, but the subsequent tour did not go well, culminating in a dramatic breakup at a house-party show near Washington DC that was raided by the police. All of this was documented on video by one of the band members and can be seen in the link above (Refused are Fucking Dead).
I watched that documentary the same day I first heard that music video. Oh well. Add Refused to the list of great bands I will never get to see.
Wrong.
Turns out, that album that broke up the band eventually found an audience. Some of that audience were famous musicians who talked about it in interviews. I guess I wasn’t the only one regretting having never seen this band. The demand for a reunion kept building until the band got an offer that they couldn’t refuse (ha, ha!) from the good folks at the 2012 Coachella Festival.
I didn’t go to Coachella, but I did see them 3 times after that. Once was in the first week of March 2020. By the end of that week ALL shows everywhere by everyone were canceled because of Covid. I guess I was lucky in more ways than one that night.
And then I would see them again last month, just 2 weeks before seeing Meshuggah. I didn’t shoot any video of this Refused show. I wanted to take it all in, because once again the band are saying: Refused are Fucking Dead. We’ll see. If they ever do reform again, I MIGHT BE FUCKING DEAD.
The reason I’m attracted to both of these bands is obvious - they are pushing the boundaries of heavy music. I met Dennis Lyxzén briefly a couple of years ago and asked him about that. He was touring with a hardcore all-star band called Fake Names. Refused had not been active for awhile. What was he doing now that might be boundary pushing? He dropped a bomb on me.
Mats Gustafsson
He said that he was forming an improv band with a couple of guys from Refused, along with …….. Mats Gustafsson!! This guy is one of the premier free-jazz sax players in Europe, and I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that, although I knew the name, I couldn’t place it. Dennis told me how in this band he has his microphone hooked up to a table of effects boxes. The band is called BACKENGRILLEN and they describe their sound as free form death–jazz. There are some videos of early performances and they are noisy as hell, or heaven; wherever you find your best noise.
At this point in the story, you’ll probably not be too surprised when I tell you that Mats Gustafsson is also from Umeå. He lives in Vienna now and I reached out to him to ask about these Umeå connections.
Mats:
“The connection with Umeå is pretty insane. When I grew up – it was all about punk and garage…. I was 14 when the whole punk thing exploded. And since I am 10 years older than Dennis and David [of Refused] …. I missed the local hardcore train in Umeå. I was already in Stockholm exploring the first wave of free music. It was a great feel to reconnect with Umeå, by starting to play with David and Dennis. It is ALL connected. On ALL levels. I cannot wait to continue what we started [with BACKENGRILLEN].”
“Backengrillen are charging up… the heat is rising. Refused making their last tours this year and it seems to have been quite spectacular already. Those guys are amazing. On all levels. It is a bit sad that Refused is closing down shop now. But, they will all four continue in other formations and keep making the world more beautiful and sane. Backengrillen will be touring in 2026. And our debut album will be out on SVART records at the end of 2025. I love this. It combines all parts of music that I love and adore. Energy, commitment, improvisation, creativity. And all in a radical form.”
“I love Meshuggah. Lots of mutual friends there of course. The Umeå connection is wild. But, no, we never worked together yet…. There is time for everything. Who knows what tomorrow will give us?”
Mats has recently been releasing on Bandcamp a huge number of back-issues from his prolific career. You’ll want to look at it just to marvel at the Who’s Who of great musicians he’s collaborated with: https://matsgustafsson.bandcamp.com/. I asked him about this:
“The present flow on Bandcamp is not my doing really… ha ha! I don’t have time to sit with this at the moment. I am so incredibly busy with new projects and recordings at the moment. Touring and all related behavior. And I do LOVE spending time with my amazing family… I have TROST records in Europa setting up my stuff at Bandcamp and Catalytic Sound in the USA doing it in parallel. Good for everyone and most of all good for the customers and listeners.”
“Bandcamp works really well – and I have to say this is the only platform that is good for us all. Musicians, composers and listeners. I use it a lot for finding creative music and buying physical products. I love to have my music available. And I love the act of doing limited edition stuff. It needs to be a balance.”
Mats just got back from a tour of Europe and will soon be playing in Victoriaville Canada. Here are some of his other projects:
“So many creative things going on at the moment…. Hard to keep track of it all. I’m working a lot with David [from Refused] in Fire! Orchestra – and he is also part of the new version of the orchestra “WORDS”, to be premiered in the late fall of 2025. Spectacular line up. And I keep giving Dennis jazz vinyl … for his education in jazz. There are some serious gaps to fill. I throw them at him. Well invested money.” [Ed note: both Mats and Dennis are obsessive record collectors and you can find them on many YouTube videos talking about their collections.]
“Cosmic Ear soon to be released… May 23rd… on We Jazz records. Wild wild shit, inspired by music from Mali, Marokko, Scandinavian folk music, free jazz and Don Cherry. Christer Bothén is our maestro. Forever. Also premiering a new project in 2025/26 with Magnus Kollberg ( of Andy Bell / Oasis – fame) from Umeå (!). THE MAGNUTS. Slabs of unheard music that combines garage / beat with free jazz and other shit. With Hedvig Mollestad on guitar.”
I was so excited to hear he was playing with Hedvig Mollestad. I asked him to tell me more:
“Hell yeah. Hedvig is the BEST!! She has played in my NU ensemble before - different pieces. She is just the GREATEST. She played 8 months pregnant at the Roskilde Festivals some years ago…. when we did a weird Frank Zappa celebration. Hilarious. She couldn’t even have the guitar in front of her, because of her belly. Total rock n roll. I played with her trio a bunch of times as well. That trio is so rad… so creative. I love it!! Great people as well. She was the featured soloist in my "Hidros 9" piece recently, with two chamber orchestra ensembles and her and Colin Stetson as soloists. That was just INSANELY GREAT! So, I look for ANY chance to play with Hedvig. And the new MAGNUTS project is insane…. she is all over the place there…. and her playing is just through the ceiling.”
Once again, I see this story is going long. So let me wrap things up here with some updates.
Book Update
A couple of years ago I had a fun email exchange with Simon Reynolds, the author of the post-punk bible Rip It Up and Start Again. I asked him for advice on writing The Gomelsky Recordings, a book I’ve been working on since 2018. He said “Don’t fall in love with the research.” I knew what he meant, but it was too late for me.
I’m still finding material for the book.
Case in point … have you ever heard of Normie Rowe? If so you must be from Australia or New Zealand, where Normie was a big pop star in the mid 1960s. By 1967 he was seeking bigger fame. He went to London and hooked up with Gomelsky who got Graham Gouldman to write a hit song for Normie. By then Gouldman had written many hit songs, including for Gomelsky’s Yardbirds. You may know him as a member of 10cc or Godley and Creme.
I’d never heard of Normie Rowe until a couple of months ago while watching a short documentary on Graham Gouldman. His story is kind of sad. Not long after releasing this song called “Going Home”, Normie got drafted and sent to Viet Nam. His rapidly rising star soon flamed out. He lost whatever momentum he had in the fickle world of the music business. Normie was never the same.
Another piece of research I recently stumbled onto is a documentary about the band Magma. Gomelsky produced their early records including their most famous MDK. Magma is a major chapter in the Gomelsky story and I don’t know a lot about them. I was thrilled to discover this documentary.
To Life, Death, and Beyond - The Music of Magma (on Vimeo)
So yes, I am in love with the research and it is never ending. But that’s no reason not to release the book. The way to release this book has been staring me in the face for awhile now. I’m going to release it right here on Substack. I can do this one chapter at a time in a serialized form. And since I know my research will never be complete, this has the advantage of allowing all of you to join in with your stories and knowledge about each chapter. It will be a “living book” so to speak.
Look for the first chapters to start appearing by the end of the year.
In the meantime, if you want to get to know Giorgio Gomelsky better, get this book. I did the foreword!!
Story Updates
Last year I wrote two long form stories that ended up being part ones. The first story I intended to be a two parter. The second story took on a life of its own and now demands a part two.
The first story,
looked at the history of avant-garde music and its infiltration into the pop zeitgeist by the 1970’s. In part 2 I’ll examine the decade of the 70’s in more detail, and chart a course describing the rapid rise and fall of avant-pop music.
Of course there’s a Gomelsky connection here, so let me just tease you a bit by unveiling where the story ends. It’s at the Zu Manifestival in NYC 1978. And I hope to have a surprise interview to cap it off.
For the second story from last year, I didn’t have a part two in mind, but …
… as I pointed out in that story, history keeps rhyming and there have been several new verses added in recent months.
Hope you stick around for these stories and more. Share The Non-Writer with your avant loving friends. Substack tells me The Non-Writer is read across 32 US states and 32 countries. Thank you all. And check out my YouTube channel where I frequently post short videos of live music including links to the artists so you can help support their work.
Wonderful writing - Thanks! Living in Sweden I've been follinging Mats G's various activities for close to 30 years now and seen him live countless times in billiobs of various constellations, even Backen grill. Fantastic artist, wonderful Music!
Thank you for this great "newsletter" ... for the links ... and for the announcement about the upcoming release of your book on Giorgio. It's been years in the making, but your research has proved to be extremely valuable. I wish you well with it, and I hope that you will be able to leave behind something that will be easily found by those who may have an interest in Giorgio's amazing life and creativity. Giorgio said to me that Magma was his favorite band of all the bands and musicians he got involved with ...