"Who are these guys?!"
By Joakim Nilén, Sweden, http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-29292/jbn/.
I guess it was the summer when I was going to do the military service, just about two months before attending. I remember sometime in late spring I was sitting zapping the TV-remote and just happened to stop by Mtv when they played this totally outstanding video. Not only the song was great, the video itself was among some of the best I've ever seen. Later that very same week I caught a train to Gothenburg and went to Skivhugget where I found "Ring". Happy as a little child I ran off to the desk, payed for the CD and took the next train back home.
Finally back in Herrljunga I loaded my CD-player and leaned back in my sofa. I didn't just enjoy myself, I was feeling quite irritated as well. Why, you might ask? Well, I asked myself: How come there's such a great band like this and I've never heard of 'em? My irritation grew even bigger when I figured out that the CD was released as early as '93. (It was, I think, '95 when I first heard the song on Mtv/Europe.) I began asking my friends about this group, however not a single one of my most music interested friends had heard anything with or about the Connells. Well, a week later I went back to Skivhugget and bought Darker Days, Boylan Heights, Fun & Games, One Simple Word and the available maxi- and single-CDs. Yeah, I guess you can say I was hooked... :)
Some weeks later summer was in full bloom and the song I talked earlier about, '74-'75, was receiving lots of airplay on Mtv as well as on most European radio stations. I really liked this period, you couldn't have the radio on for a whole day without hearing the guys having one song off "Ring" being played. The only thing I disliked was that people still didn't react when mentioning the name "Connells". However, when one played '74-'75 they instantly nodded and said something like: "Yeah, that tune's awesome" (In Swedish, actually...).
The best was yet to come. Later that summer, I think it was sometime in August, I found out that the group was going to have a gig at Chalmers - Sommarklubben in Gothenburg. At the D-day I brought two friends to the show and was feeling quite thrilled and excited. We were at the location some hour too early, so we just walked around out- and inside the building where the show was going to take place. The band members were tuning their instruments and relaxing. I walked around and felt really unreal, saying hello to the group members who strolled around. (Today I'm cursing myself that I didn't dare to walk forward to anyone of 'em and starting a conversation.) However, I did play on the same pinball machine as Peele did and that's a true merit That's a story I'm going to torture my future grandchildren with! :)
Anyhow, the gig finally started and the band got up on stage. At first I thought it was Mike who was missing, but afterwards I've learned who's who of the brothers. :) They did a great show and I had the best time of my life, stomping my feet and singing (more like howling really) along as good as I could. The rest of the crowd seemed to have a good time, but didn't fire up for real until they played '74-'75, then everybody sang along. After that night I was a great memory and a concert t-shirt richer.
Joakim Nilén