NAS 10 Questions with Fredrik Segerstedt

This time on The NAS 10 Questions, we get to know Fredrik Segerstedt, a rock artist and producer based in Sweden with infuences such as Rainbow, Iron Maiden, U2, and Van Halen, to name a few.

The track "T.I.N.A. There Is No Alternative" is featured on NAS Playlists.

This specific features Kate Glock , London UK

Lead Guitar: Alex Raykin ,New York NY USA (Credits: Infinitive Spectrum, Speed Assault)

Final mix and Mastering: Matt Bishop ,Los Angeles CA USA (Credits: U2, The KIllers)

All the rest + Producing: Fredrik Segerstedt (Segerstedt Music) Sweden

Link To New Artist Spotlight Playlists:

https://www.newartistspotlight.org/playlists 

1. Tell us a little about where you are from and what you are currently doing.

I was born in Luleå in the far north of Sweden, but I have lived in many places in the middle of Sweden for several years, and since 1991 I’m living at the Westcoast in the south of Sweden.

I work full time in Gothenburg, I’m married and have two grown up kids (they have moved out since long), but still, I have problem to put in the time I would like to, into my music making.

2. What inspired you to start playing and making music?

I have always been attracted to music in one way or another, banging on pots as a toddler, hammering on my mother’s piano as a small child. I started to play drums in my early days but switched to guitar when I was in my teens, it was much easier to carry around, and much more versatile as an instrument on which you could express yourself. It was about that time I started to play in a band (or a garage-band as we call it in Sweden and no, I’m not talking about the app), it was back in the days when Rock started to turn into Punk, no real demands on skills just playing together for the fun of it. After some years I stopped playing in band, and I couldn’t afford the gears needed for recording and stuff, so I focus on my daily work career for many years, until I started to record my own music in 2018. Nowadays it is so much more affordable and easier to record your own music and distribute it, compared to how it was back then.

𝟯. Who are your biggest musical influences? How would you describe your style or genre?

I started to listen to Led Zeppelin, Kiss, AC/DC and Black Sabbath during the 70-ties and in the 80/90-ties I started to listen to Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Rainbow, but also different things like U2, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Bowie, OMD and others. (and Yes I am that old).

I have always defined myself as a Rock/Metal person, even if I’m today listening to all kind of different music and genres, but I have a special eye to the Hardrock and Metal scene from Sweden, such as In Flames and others, after all Gothenburg has a special Rock cradle.

So, in the end I guess that my own music is influenced by all the above, I like guitar-based Rock with a melody to it. Today there are so many different genres, Rock, Alternative Rock, Experimental Rock etc. I don’t even know what the definitions of all of those is.

I jump between genres when I create music, depending on which mood I’m in when writing the song and I’m trying to put my finger on serious matters in my lyrics, and that should also be reflected in the song. Therefore, I don’t want to be fixed in one specific genre and I know it’s a deadly sin not to stick to one, because it probably will confuse your audience.

Anyway, in the end I think I would define my own music as “Rock with a touch of POP”.

4. What are your goals in the music industry or as an artist?

I don’t have any goals of being a famous artist, I just make the music that I like and if someone else also likes it then it’s a fantastic bonus for me. But I wouldn’t mind be a music writer for other artists, that is more suited than me to front in the music scene, in the future.

5. Tell us about your creative process when you make new music.

I have basically two ways to create music, either I start on the piano or I start on the guitar. You can probably hear the difference between a song that I have written on a piano or on a guitar quite easily.

But the common denominator is that I always try to start with the hook, and then build from there. I use my cell phone to take notes and type down ideas that pops up, if there is anything that I hear that I think sounds cool to become a title or a hook. Typically, is that I create many different melodies that is nestled into each other and put in layers on top of each other, in the same song.

So, when it comes to the producing part, I always remove and get rid of a lot of superfluous things, to be leaner and cleaner in the production. The funny thing is that 3 different embedded melodies can become one whole new melody when the most of it have been stripped and slimmed down.

I can’t sing and I won’t sing, so instead I collaborate with talented singers from around the world. Which is so much more rewarding for me, I mean all the things they bring to the table, their magic and personal touch that they contribute with in a collaboration, make the songs sometimes to take another direction, but always to the better in the end.

6. What is your all-time favorite song by another artist and why?

Hard to just pick one… but one song that have followed me since I first heard it 1990, is the beautiful song “Captain Nemo” by the Swedish group “Dive”, with the fantastic singer “Chris Lancelot”. (He played in many different bands and had many different artist names. His real name is Krister Linder) Sarah Brightman did a cover of “Captain Nemo” back in 1993, but Dive’s version is so much better.

7. What is the best advice you have either given or received in terms of music? 

Someone said that to get and to retain the interest of an audience or listener, the lyric should be a story. Many people are curious, and they would like to know what happening next in the lyrics. But they also would like to sing along so the lyrics should have a hook that is easy to learn and that is recognizable. I try to follow those advice as much as possible and in my lyrics, I try to write about current topics and things that affect us in our everyday life.

8. Proudest accomplishment?

I would say when my children were born, but since this question should relate to music, I say when my first songs were launched at the different streaming services, and I realized that people actually listened to my stuff… a very strange but fantastic feeling.

9. Just for fun! What's been your most embarrassing moment so far?

I was playing in a synth band (and yes I was a Rock-guy in a Synth band) many years ago in Uppsala in Sweden, and we had done some promotion on the local radio station for a gig that we had some days later. This was my very first gig with this band, and there were quite an audience gathered. So, when I jumped up on stage and we started the first song, I realized that I have forgotten the whole song, I was totally blank, the others in the band looked at me and wondered what I was doing, and I just wing it by ear. It wasn’t until song number two that I snapped out of it and was back in the game. My first glimpse of stage fright I would say.

𝟭0. Tell us about your lowest and highest points in music so far.

I guess that we all have our lows when we are full of doubts and questioning what we are doing, if it is good enough and if anyone cares about it, therefore it is really good that the NAS community exist, where we can support, influence and learn from each other, I’m just wondering why I haven’t joined earlier this fantastic community of Indie artists.

When it comes to highs, this sounds maybe strange, but it was in March 2018 when one of my sisters, which was in her early thirties, got a lifechanging news from her doctor that she was HER2 positive (aggressive breast cancer). This devastating diagnosis obviously impact not only her, but the whole family, friends and relatives in a profound way. It made me think of how I could help and support, and how this could be shared by others in a similar situation. I decided to do a theme-EP with four tracks covering the different steps of the "five stages of grief", I've got a tremendous help of my other sister which did all the great singing. I’m proud of that EP because it also turned out to be an “Ice breaker” in the discussion about this difficult topic in our family.

Stream "T.I.N.A. There Is No Alternative" now

https://open.spotify.com/track/22ZUXrCsb7pfnNrlU9KTbV?si=da551180f2224000

and follow their socials

https://twitter.com/FredrikSegerst1

https://instagram.com/segerstedt_music/

https://youtube.com/channel/UCWwkgfhhwKZhbCcFkULAWcg

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