David Myhr - Soundshine

David Myhr in one hour long interview about old times with The Merrymakers and new times as a solo artist

Posted: February 5th, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , | Comments Off on David Myhr in one hour long interview about old times with The Merrymakers and new times as a solo artist

In case you missed it. On Sep 29, 2021, I gave an interview for the Material Issues podcast. Their archive with many great guests can be found at: materialissues.com

This is what International Pop Overthrow founder David Bash (who also made a nice introduction of me at my 2018 Los Angeles concert) wrote before the podcast:

“We’re heading to Episode 20 (wow!) Of Material Issues this coming Wednesday, and man, it will be quite special, because our guest will be the estimable former main man of one of the best bands to ever emerge from the bountiful Swedish pop scene of the ‘90s, The Merrymakers, as well as solo singer/songwriter extraordinaire with two fine solo albums under his belt, Mr. David Myhr! Mark and I will be asking him tons of stuff about his music career and otherwise, and as David is an eloquent gentleman, this should be a very interesting and fun show!”

Here is the podcast! (My part starts around 4:40). Enjoy!

 


10 years ago – “Finally Live in Tokyo”

Posted: January 11th, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on 10 years ago – “Finally Live in Tokyo”

Read the blog post from ten years ago here:

Finally! Live in Tokyo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The world’s first cover of ABBA’s new song “I still have faith in you”? By David Myhr & Peter Kvint

Posted: September 3rd, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on The world’s first cover of ABBA’s new song “I still have faith in you”? By David Myhr & Peter Kvint

OK, so this is a big deal! ABBA is releasing new music!!! For the first time in THIRTY-NINE years!!!

My relation to ABBA? A Swede who devoted his life to pop and great melodies? Well, take a wild guess. On top of that I’ve been “Benny” in various ABBA shows for twenty years. Above all in our own band Super Trouper.

More about my ABBA relation and when I met Benny Andersson here.

I didn’t know how to best celebrate the evening. But when one of Sweden’s finest singer/songwriters Peter Kvint suggested having a beer I said. “Yes! Let’s have a beer. And check out the ABBA voyage thing. And, if there’s a new song… let’s make the world’s first cover of it!”. And so we did!

And, here it is… !!! Below you’ll find the clip on YouTube but you can also find  the clip on Facebook and the clip on Instagram.

Hope you enjoy!

ps Do you want to here a “day after” interview I made for  Swedish radio P4 Norrbotten about our cover? No problem! Just listen here!

 

 

 



 

 


David Myhr interviewed by Guitar Geeks Podcast

Posted: August 22nd, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , | Comments Off on David Myhr interviewed by Guitar Geeks Podcast
(In Swedish): I anslutning till releasen av min EP And Now This (mer om den här!) så hade jag den oerhörda glädjen och äran att vara med i avsnitt #241 av “Guitar Geeks Podcast: Mer än du vill veta om gitarrer, förstärkare och allt däremellan”. Lyssna där du hittar podcasts, t ex på Spotify här!
I mitt fall blev det kanske i första hand “allt däremellan” för jag fick tillfälle att prata OM:
Insider-storyn kring nya EP:n And Now This. Mitt album Lucky Day. Att bli pappa vid 50. Att min musik  kallas powerpop eller gitarrpop och huruvida min musik bör kallas retro eller tidlös. Paul McCartneys nya fina låt “When Winter Comes” som inte visade sig vara så ny.  Hur bra jag trivs med co-writing. Både på Merrymakers-tiden men också som soloartist när jag kan “ringa vem som helst” inklusive diverse amerikaner som jag co-writat med i Los Angeles, Nashville och New York. Fantastiske låtskrivarpartnern och producenten Brad Jones och hans förmåga att agera “song doctor”. Hur jag tog med Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck som “krockkudde” och om att vi lade om en del trummor i Atlantis. Hur Brad Jones förutom att producera och instruera och agera ljudtekniker även slängde på sig en bas och levererade briljanta basgångar så fort inspelningen började.  Gitarrer som användes på inspelningen. Min akustiska Martin HD28, Brad Jones fantastiska Gibson Les Paul Goldtop och hans gamla akustiska gitarrer inklusive en Gibson L2 och en Martin (båda från 30-40-talet).  Fantastiska Nashville-sessiongitarristen Pat Buchanan som spelar på både album och EP och det faktum att han använder en Kemper-stärkare. Att spela uttänkt plockgitarr med capo på Brad’s Gibson Les Paul i hans VOX AC30 på extrem volym. Peter Kvints syn på att det är de sista 15% som är det jobbiga. Att det för mig är en ganska ångestladdad process och att mina samarbetspartners inklusive fantastiske mixteknikern Markus Black Sjöberg får räkna med många mejl. Mastring och att det var jag som var den galning som Andreas Dahlbäck hänvisade till i Musikproddpoden som pga mitt Beatles-konnässörsskap åkte till England och Abbey Road för att mastra första albumet för att sedan inte höra någon skillnad efter att legendariska mastringsteknikern Steve Rooke gjort sitt. Att jag numera gått tillbaka till att använda mig av Classe Persson. Elsitaren som hörs på nya EP:n i låten “Egyptian Blue”. Hur den Theremin som ljuder på “You Spin My World Around” återskapades. Min misstänksamhet mot långa låtar men även om den delade kärleken till episka outron där både Eric Claptons “Layla” och The Beatles “Hey Jude” kom på tal. Filosofin med att satsa på “all killers, no fillers”. Spotify-spellistan som jag skapade till min 50-årsdag som nu utökats till 51 låtar. Hur jag normalt skriver låtar. Alla röstmemon som samlas på hög och att jag liksom Elton John skulle vilja ha en Bernie Taupin som serverar färdiga texter att tonsätta. Hur jag oftast börjar med melodier och ackord men att i fallet “We Wanted To Shine” så började det med titeln som jag fick ifrån ett citat från en Tom Petty-intervjubok. Att jag är nästan lika mycket pianist som gitarrist. Att som “Benny” spela ABBA med både Katja och Camilla (inklusive på Hollywood Bowl) och med Super Trouper och med Janne Schaffer. Att jag var fem år när jag lärde mig Gubben Noak hemma i barndomshemmet där mina bröder också spelade piano. Bortgågnne brodern Svante som lärde mig bluesskalan. Att jag var klassens Beethoven. Hur jag lärde mig gitarr och att jag började sjunga för att ingen annan ville. Att vara Piteås Paul McCartney. Avundsjukan på kompisarna som bildade bandet Måfå i 11-12-årsåldern. Förebilderna i lokala rockföreningen Ripp-Rock inklusive Bo Sundström, Andreas Mattsson och Leo Holmberg. Ripp-Rocks skiva. Första bandet 2nd Hand B Band. ZZ Tops och Billy Gibbons influens. Upptäckten av Beatles (och sedermera Dylan och Bowie m fl) vid 10 års ålder vid Lennons död och Kjell Alinges Eldorado. Att tävla i TV i Minnesmästarna 1988. Att låta “som Beatles”. The Merrymakers bildande och historia inklusive kopplingen till Jellyfish. Kontraktet med Ola Håkansson, hur Anders Hellgren kom med i bilden och att bli droppad av Martin Sköld i Kent. Inspelningen av första albumet No Sleep ’til Famous i gamla Glen studio med hjälp av en Atari-dator. Att hamna i skymundan jämfört med (relativa) storheter som Brainpool, The Wannadies och This Perfect Day men också om den plötsliga kontakten med husguden Andy Sturmer i Jellyfish och jakten på kontakter i Japan. Att vara “Big in Japan” ett tag. Andra albumet Bubblegun med producenten Ronald Bood (som kontrakterades tack vare hans arbete med briljanta Grass-Show) och Andy Sturmer som producenter och Tomas “Tjärran” Tjärnqvist på bas.  Min Rickenbacker från TipTop och lite andra gitarrer inklusive en Gretsch Silverjet och mina stulna Epiphone-gitarrer och att vid 40 års ålder unna mig en Gibson Les Paul från DLX Music. VOX och Matchless förstärkare. Usla dealar, USA-kontrakt och krossade drömmar. Att bygga studio i Spånga (som sedan såldes till Clawfinger och Meshuggah), sedan i Hagsätra (köpt av Tom Hakava), jaga det perfekta baskagge-ljudet, köpa Per Gessles gamla mixerbord och glömma att skriva låtar. Ögonblicket när AmpFarm kom och man kunde simulera en VOX AC-30 i datorn. Att producera japanska plattor med bl.a. Puffy AmiYumi och om den röda sammetssoffan som hamnade hos Andreas Rydman, Mårgan Höglund m fl och de mintgröna skinnfåtöljerna som hamnade hos Andreas Dahlbäcks Durango Recording.  Valet att gå på Musikhögskolan i Piteå och kontakten med KG Johansson, Micke Långs och arbetet med Sgt Pepper Live inklusive turné via Cirkus i Stockholm till Liverpool. Fiaskot Rubber Soul Live och om den levande Beatlesjukeboxen och samarbetet med Porter & Thorells syndrom. Hur Musikhögskolan i Piteå blev min arbetsplats men också om tiden på Nacka Gymnasium samt mina extraknäck på SMI och KMH. Det förmodat hopplösa i att försöka haka på gitarrister som Sebastian Nylund och Janne Carlsson. Att spela Neil Young, Stones och Creedence på pubarna i unga år.  Det fina med att plugga musik och hamna bland likasinnade. Min Duesenberg Mike Campbell-gitarr från Brinks Musik som min fru Paula överraskade med att föreslå att jag skulle köpa. Min Martin Tom Petty  signature edition.  “Mitt livs konsert” som förevigades i konsertfilmen Made in Piteå. Att ha “lokala” komband som t ex Japan. Att turnéra i Kalifornien med artistkollegorna Chris Price och Linus of Hollywood under parollen Melody & Madness. Om drömbandet med Andreas Dahlbäck, Peter Kvint, Jerker Odelholm, Robert van der Zwan och Mikaela Hansson. Repertoaren på Made in Piteå inklusive gamla Merrymakers-låten “April’s Fool”, Peter Kvint co-writen “Record Collection” och Costello/McCartney-låten “Veronica”. Gamla pedalbord som BOSS ME-5, Sebastian Nylunds Zoom, den njurformade POD:en från Line 6. Mina pedaler inklusive TS-9, Akai, Arion, El nano holy grail, Mad Professor little green wonder, MXR boost och att det är svårt att lägga ned lika mycket tid på ihopsättandet av pedalbord som Peter Morén. Livegigs, pandemi och att dra barnvagn på Kajsas på Kajen och Kajsas i Parken, lärarjobb och jingelmakande. Pågående co-writes på distans med bl.a. Bill DeMain och Brad Jones. Samarbetet med Dobedai produktionsbyrå och jinglarna Ryds bilglas, Insplanet, Heron City och Kondomvaruhuset m fl. Demoitis. Frilanstänk och att “ha 12 jobb”. Svindyra albumprojekt och väntan på den “feta synken”. Att ha låtar med i amerikansk film med Jon Favreu i huvudrollen och ändå bara få dela på 300 dollar (före skatt och sociala). Att ha många strängar på sin lyra. Att det är OK att hjärteprojekt får kosta men bra om några projekt går plus och få ihop ekvationen. Att inte alltid måsta tjäna pengar. Att musikutbildningar borde bredda synen på musiker till att inte bara handla om ett instrument utan att i stället erbjuda ett smörgåsbord av möjligheter. Gitarren jag skulle ta med om det brann som ett minne av min bror.

New interview by The Power Popaholic

Posted: July 26th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on New interview by The Power Popaholic

Hey there dear followers, likers, and general David Myhr-hang-arounds! 😉

Here’s a brand new interview made by Aaron Kupferberg of The Power Popaholic about the new EP And Now This where I also talk about how and why The Merrymakers came to and end and a few more things… If you want to see the Power Popaholic post (including a link to a review of the EP) – see here! Below is the YouTube clip with the actual interview!

Hope you enjoy!

David Myhr with the David Myhr T-shirt

 

 

 


Lyric video for “You Spin My World Around”

Posted: July 20th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on Lyric video for “You Spin My World Around”


Here’s a nice little summer surprise for all you music lovers! A lyric video for the track “You Spin My World Around” from my latest EP titled And Now This! (Get it, and the T-shirt, from Lojinx here!)

It’s the second track on the EP and although the saying goes that choosing a favourite among your own songs is like choosing your favourite child, I must admit that it’s very close to my heart and that I’m really proud of it.  (And also, by the way, I know who my favourite child is. It’s Alma!).

The highly talented video maker Alexander Edström who has helped me so many times before (like for instance with the beautiful lyric video for “The Perfect Place”, not to mention the very recent video for “We Wanted To Shine” ) has done it once again. He has created this wonderful lyric video for you all to enjoy!

 

 

If you like it, please feel free to share, and let’s hope that the track “You Spin My World Around” will be spinning around the world!

Hope you’re all enjoying your summer!

 


The EP “And Now This” celebrated as a “must hear” in Spain’s biggest newspaper El País!!!

Posted: July 13th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on The EP “And Now This” celebrated as a “must hear” in Spain’s biggest newspaper El País!!!

For those of you who understand Spanish, just read this article!

And for the rest of you – read on and I’ll explain what it says. The record review section of El País on-line writes that it’s the best bunch of records in a long time. And included within the 16 records you “must hear” is my new EP “And Now This”!!!  I am obviously very proud and thankful for this. (And special thanks to my good friend Javier Martínez in Burgos, famous from for instance this Instagram post, who made me aware of this…).

Here is an excerpt from the article:

 

My (somewhat rough) English translation:

– David Myhr, ‘And Now This’

Who is it? David Myhr is a Swedish musician highly appreciated by the tasters of (almost) perfect pop songs. After having formed part of The Merrymakers he has published works under his own name.

Is it that good And Now This? It only has four songs, but magnificent ones. For those who likes the more melodic part of The Byrds or Teenage Funclbu; sweet songs and beautiful performances.

 

 

As those of you know who have followed me for a long time, Spain is my second home country given that my wife Paula is Spanish. But it’s also one of the countries on this earth that has received my music best. I’m very grateful to have released my solo albums on the ultra cool Spanish label Rock Indiana and for having toured there. I have also made several appearances on Spanish national radio (speaking in Spanish for better or worse!!!). For instance, check out this program where I speak (in Spanish) about my favorite recrods of all time for almost an hour! Or see this interview together with the great Linus of Hollywood during our Melody and Madness tour of Europe.

 

¡Muchísimas gracias El País! Y a mi público en España quiero decir que tengo muuuchas ganas de volver a España y algún día tocar en vivo de nuevo. Saludos desde Suecia!

Lots of thank you El País! And to my audience in Spain I would like to say that I am veeeeery eager to return to Spain some day and to play live again. Greetings from Sweden!

 

Please let me finish off with a reminder of the video from the first song of the EP, “We Wanted To Shine”:


“We Wanted To Shine” – lead single from the upcoming EP “And Now This”!

Posted: May 7th, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on “We Wanted To Shine” – lead single from the upcoming EP “And Now This”!

Oh boy… what a year we’ve seen! Are you ready for some good news? Well, I think I’ve got some for you…

Today I’m announcing a new EP with the lead single “We Wanted To Shine”. The EP is due 21st May and is titled And Now This.  Just like I did on Lucky Day I’m working with Brad Jones and Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck as my trusted co-producers.

 

You can listen and download from here!

Here’s the new video made by the fabulous Alexander Edström:

Oh, and by the way – wouldn’t it be ultra cool to wear the David Myhr T-shirt that David Myhr is wearing on the artwork? Well‚ just get your T-shirt (and get a download of the song) from here!

 

Now, let’s wait for the full EP! As Brad Jones said after listening through: “–Gonna be a pretty high-voltage EP!”

 


Concert movie and live album from David Myhr: “Made in Piteå”

Posted: October 23rd, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Concert movie and live album from David Myhr: “Made in Piteå”


Today I’m happy to present the concert movie (and live album!) titled “Made in Piteå”!!!

Please feel free to share the video on YouTube using this link:

bit.ly/madeinpiteayoutube

After the release of my Nashville-recorded album Lucky Day in 2018 I played a couple of shows in my hometown Stockholm (including the release party at Debaser Strand). But also at such widely different places in the world such as Sundsvall, Madrid, Burgos, San Diego, Los Angeles (live video here), San Francisco, Tokyo, and Osaka(!). But none of the shows were as grandiose and magnificent as the one in my former hometown Piteå on November 21, 2018, at Black Box, Studio Acusticum. There I was backed up by a fabulous backing band with some of the country’s foremost musicians consisting of the album’s co-producer Andreas Dahlbäck on drums, the songwriter/producer Peter Kvint on guitar, Jerker Odelholm on bass, Mikaela Hansson on keyboards, and Robert van der Zwan on guitar.

Finally, today, the concert movie and the live album from this unique live concert are being released. Both with the title Made in Piteå. Apart from songs from my solo debut Soundshine (2012) and my latest album Lucky Day (including Swedish national radio P4 favourites ”Jealous Sun” and ”The Perfect Place”), the set list also includes the movie song and ELO pastiche ”Spellbound” known from the Ulf Malmros movie Flykten till Framtiden, the Myhr/Kvint song ”Record Collection”. As well as ”April’s Fool” from my former power pop band The Merrymakers that was written together with Jellyfish frontman Andy Sturmer. On top of that we play my version of the Costello/McCartney classic ”Veronica”. In short – a night full of pop candy of highest caliber!

About the title Made in Piteå, it’s a declaration of love to my former hometown where I grew up. Both the concert and myself are actually made in Piteå. And Deep Purple had already taken the title Made in Japan for their live album…

The love for my hometown may at least to some extent be answered. Only days after the concert it stood clear that I could round off the year titled the winner of the 2018 Municipality of Piteå Culture Prize.

Artwork for the live album Made in Piteå by David Myhr (Photo by Jonas Nordqvist)

My day job is as a senior lecturer at the The School of Music at Luleå University of Technology. In Piteå. (It takes me some five hours door to door to commute to work including an hour and twenty minutes by plane. And that’s one-way…). And the concert itself was part of an initiative called ”The University Presents” where the university’s artistic production is displayed. The majority of the songs on Lucky Day were written during a co-writing trip to Los Angles, Nashville, and New York and those also constitute the sounding, artistic output of a licentiate thesis that I’m hoping to finish ”any year soon”. However, the concert movie and the live album are done at my own initiative and expense. I even went as far as renting oriental rugs as stage decoration from the neighbouring city Luleå in my eagerness to create a “Tom Petty-vibe”. Any voluntary financial contribution for a virtual concert ticket to paypal.me/davidmyhr (or for Swedes to Swish 123 546 84 26) for the production would be very welcome. Only in case that you enjoy it of course! But it’s nothing I’m counting on. It just had to be done anyway. I felt this would be “the definitive David Myhr-concert”. And it was exactly what it became! So I felt it was of outmost importance to preserve this moment in time for the grandkids! (Although grandkids might be a few years away given that I became a first-time father earlier this year a few days after my fiftieth birthday.)

Please note that the movie has English subtitles if you turn on captions on YouTube. It will certainly help you understand what i’m saying between the songs!

Here’s an interview about the release for Sveriges Radio P4 Norrbotten:

And here are some pictures of the fine people in my backing band taken from my mysterious “campaign” the days before the release on my Instagram Page.

The concert is mixed by Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck at Durango Recording and the video is edited by Niklas Karlsson.

Here’s the complete setlist:

1 Wait Until The Moment (Myhr/Jones)
2 Never Mine (Myhr)
3 Looking For A Life (Myhr/Mattsson/Eskelin)
4 Room To Grow (Myhr/DeMain)
5 Lucky Day (Myhr/Jones)
6 Record Collection (Myhr/Kvint)
7 My Negative Friend (Myhr/Hines)
8 The Only Thing I Really Need Is You (Myhr)
9 April’s Fool (The Merrymakers/Sturmer)
10 I Love The Feeling (Myhr)
11 Lovebug (Myhr/Dotson)
12 The Perfect Place (Myhr)
13 Jealous Sun (Myhr/Bleu)
14 Spellbound (Lagnefors/Myhr)
15 Veronica (Costello/McCartney)
16 Got You Where He Wanted (Myhr)

Please enjoy! Peace and love!

 

Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck, Peter Kvint, Mikaela Hansson, David Myhr, Jerker Odelholm, Robert van der Zwan (Photo by Jonas Nordqvist)


David Myhr celebrates John Lennon and his solo catalogue in live streaming concert today on Lennon’s 80th birthday

Posted: October 9th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: post | Comments Off on David Myhr celebrates John Lennon and his solo catalogue in live streaming concert today on Lennon’s 80th birthday


John Lennon has been a key figure in my life ever since his death when I was ten years old. (More about my relation to The Beatles in general in my blog post about the day I met Paul McCartney). And today I paid tribute to John by singing songs from his solo career in an almost two hour long live stream concert on Facebook Live. Please feel free to have a look. Join in, come together and sing along! (The action starts at 06:50).

 

 

 

 

David Myhr - John Lennon 80

Below are some examples of my fandom…

View this post on Instagram

Eighteen years old in my room back home in Piteå, 1988. #johnlennon #thebeatles #zztop #johnnywinter

A post shared by David Myhr (@davidmyhr) on

View this post on Instagram

@johnlennonofficial 1974 – @davidmyhr 1988 #tbf #johnlennon #statueofliberty #imaginepeace #peacesign #newyork #firstpilgrimage #quepasanewyork #piteåspaulmccartney #mullet #hockeyfrilla #ripprock

A post shared by David Myhr (@davidmyhr) on

 

View this post on Instagram

Call me crazy (I am) but while in Karuizawa, Japan, I felt I just HAD to see @mampei_hotel where John & Yoko spent the summers 76-79. Here in their room #128 and in John’s corner of the Café Terrace where he enjoyed his Royal Milk Tea (which I obviously also did). #johnlennon #johnandyoko #pilgrimage #lifelongobsession #royalmilktea #endgunviolence #imaginepeace #karuizawa

A post shared by David Myhr (@davidmyhr) on