BLACK PAISLEY – Late Bloomer (October 27, 2017)

From Stockholm, Sweden comes debuting Black Paisley with a musical combination of classic rock, AOR and modern country. The band is formed by some of Sweden’s most experienced studio and tour musicians backed up by a new songwriter and vocalist.
The album consists of nine songs with a spread from heavy rockers such as “Run Run Run” and “Ordinary Day”, via more melodic radio tunes like “Way To Something” and “Coming Home” but also touches the southern rock influences with “It Ain’t Over” and “Easy”. All engineered and produced by legendary Mats Lindfors giving the classic rock songs a more modern and crisp sound.

In the Autumn 2014, Black Paisley began the journey towards a first album. The Black Paisley Project is a spinoff from StephMetal – a Swedish cover band that had existed for many years featuring Stefan Blomqvist (vocals, guitar), Jan Emanuelsson (bass), Robert Karaszi (drums) and Birger Lundgren. Stephmetal won the Swedish “Company of rock” in 2009 and gigged frequently both in Sweden and abroad (UK, France, Netherlands, and Norway) during the 2000’s. In 2009 Robert Wirensjö then joined the band on keyboards, adding a new touch of professionalism to the band and their gigs. Robert had both recorded and toured with several of Sweden’s greatest artists like Michael Rickfors and Andreas Johnson among others.

The dream of making an album with his own songs had often been discussed during the time of Stephmetal. Blomqvist had for years written material partially tested both live and in the rehearsal room, and subsequently felt that now was the time to make this dream of an album become reality. The recording project was named Black Paisley, after Ritchie Sambora’s Fender signature guitar. In autumn of 2014, the recordings started outside Sundsvall with producer Johan Dereborn (former Gaston, E-type, Takida), where the band recorded the backgrounds live and also mixed the songs “Autumn” and “Kickin” during a couple cold November weekends.

During the Sundsvall sessions guitarist Ulf Hedin came onboard – also an experienced musician and songwriter. Ulf was to become a central musical engine in the whole Black Paisley project onwards. Friendly and talented drummer Mikael Kerslow also guested in Sundsvall.

In spring of 2015, the band continued recording ”It Ain’t Over” and “This Is My Day” in Stockholm, where they found spare space in Mikael Wikman’s fine drum studio (used by Rammstein and others). In autumn of the same year, they decided to put more effort into the project and came in contact with Mats “Limpan” Lindfors (Norum, Talisman, Meshuggah, Petter) who now took over the lead of the project, both recording, mixing and production together with Robert Wirensjö.

The rest of the songs were recorded at the prestigious Sound Trade Studios in Solna, where bands like Abba, Europe, and Michael Bolton recorded, too. Final mastering was done at Cutting Room Stockholm, by Mats Lindfors.

Line-up: Stefan Blomqvist (lead guitars & vocals), Ulf Hedin (solo guitars, backing vocals), Jan Emanuelsson (bass), Robert Wirensjö (keyboards, backing vocals), Robert Karaszi/Mikael Kerslow (drums)