CD: Raw-Celebrating 30 Years

1994 was the founding year of the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. When I got the offer from Siggi Loch to become part of his new label ACT, the first thing he did was to change the original band name Unit to Funk Unit. When I asked why, he replied curtly: "Because you play funk" - and he was right. The rest is history. After 30 years, eleven albums, countless tours and everything that goes with it, I thought it would be great to record our anniversary album Raw in a special place. As luck would have it, my good friend Johan Lundgren, who was my trombone student many years ago, has built a fantastic recording studio in Palma de Mallorca together with another friend, Fredrik Thomander. I thought it was a great opportunity to record our new album in a relaxed environment where we could fully concentrate on our task and celebrate 30 years of history as a Swedish funk band.

I presented the idea to my bandmates and they were all enthusiastic. So was Andreas Brandis, the current head of the ACT label, on which all my albums have been released since 1994. Now I just had to book the flights and the studio, organize accommodation for all of us and find a way to finance the stay. And then there was one more little thing: we all had to write music for the album. Until the first rehearsals shortly before we left for Mallorca, nobody knew who had written which songs. I myself had worked hard in my free time and had five songs with me. We listened to the demos together and then worked on them together until they sounded like all of us. Each of us contributed and it was really wonderful to hear our compositions come to life.

When we landed in Palma at 2pm on my birthday, February 15th, we went straight to the studio to set up the sound. We just couldn't wait. Much of the set up had already been done by the studio crew and some dedicated volunteers and quicker than anyone thought possible we were able to start recording, with the fantastic sound engineer Shades managing the whole process.

From that moment on we knew this was going to be a special album. Everything fit like a glove. The atmosphere in the studio, the sound, the way the guys played in the band, the coffee on the roof during the breaks, the wonderful dinners together. In order to finance the recordings, we decided to give house concerts on the last two evenings after the recordings. Although this meant even longer days for everyone involved, it was a wonderful feeling to test the new pieces in front of a live audience that was almost sitting on our laps. It was so satisfying to get direct feedback from the people who came to these shows. And a film crew led by our dear friend Dan Sermand documented the whole thing.

We all left the island on February 20th with a sense of deep satisfaction, knowing that we had done our best and that our best was perhaps more than just good enough. Only one man stayed behind in Palma: Magnum Coltrane Price. Apart from being a terrific bass player and singer, he is also the only person by my side who has experienced the whole Funk Unit journey from Live in Stockholm to today. We had decided to mix the new album in the same studio where we recorded it, but Shades wasn't available again until a week later. I think Magnum enjoyed the time off in Mallorca and the subsequent work with the master. The result is this album: "Raw". It represents our honest and authentic way of playing handmade music that touches the body and soul. And I think it makes it clear: we are not just any band. We are the Nils Landgren Funk Unit.

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