FM
History
Trettioåriga Kriget (The Thirty Years' War) is a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 1970 in Saltsjöbaden, a seaside resort southeast of Stockholm. When formed, the band members were all about seventeen years old and still in high school, back then they used the school's main hall for rehearsal. The initial lineup of the band was a six-piece with two drummers, from the very beginning the band included Stefan on bass and vocals, Dag on drums and Olle on harmonica. In 1971 a few original members left the band and Robert joined on vocals and guitar. In 1972 Olle quit playing harmonica to concentrate on the lyrics, leaving only Stefan, Dag and Robert handling the instruments. At this point they decided that they needed a guitar player and the band opened up for auditioning, and it was during these auditions that they found Christer who joined the band in the summer of 1972. The band rehearsed intensively for a year and a half and developed a style of their own, quite unlike the common trends in Swedish rock in the 70's. In 1974 they got themselves a record deal and a new rehearsal room in Saltsjöbaden, an old underground disco that they called "Grunden", in which they would remain for a long time. An album was recorded that summer and released in august 1974 titled "Trettioåriga Kriget". The musical talent and originality of the group was duly recognized in various reviews, the band now started to tour extensively in Sweden and also did several live performances on swedish national radio.
Their second album "Krigssång" was recorded in the summer of 1975 (though it remained unreleased until early 1976), it is commonly regarded as Trettioåriga Krigets "masterpiece". The second side is totally devoted to the long suite "Krigssång 2". The band continued touring and gigging in -75 and -76 . In october -76 they left for an extensive English tour from Croydon in London, Cardiff in Wales to Sunderland near the scottish border. They were very well recieved and the english music magazine "Melody Maker" chose them as one of the most promising bands of -77, speaking enthusiastically of their "intense gripping songs" and "the tremendous power of the music".
