…as The Soundtrack of Our Lives powers the Paradise

In the welcomed rock and roll revival happening in music over the past two years, many of the greatest new bands are from Sweden. Bands like the Hives, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Sahara Hotnights and Division of Lauralee deny everyone the right to slap the ABBA stereotype on Swedish music ever again. Yet perhaps the frontrunner of this scene is The Soundtrack of Our Lives, whose music indeed possesses that rare timeless quality that the band name suggests.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives put on a high-powered show at the Paradise Rock Club on Monday night. Guitarist Ian Person, one of the founding members of TSOOL, chatted about the band before the show.

‘It’s like the movie Groundhog Day,’ said Person of the band’s rigorous schedule. ‘Everything keeps repeating itself.’ However, the guitarist claims he loves playing in America and is looking forward to the rest of the tour.

The band has had a year jam-packed with touring and the release of its newest album, Behind the Music, which hit U.S. record stores in October. Not only has the band toured on its own throughout Europe for months, but it also supported Oasis this summer (and had a blast with the mischievous Gallagher brothers, according to Person). Boston is the fourth stop on the current U.S. tour, and the six guys of TSOOL would not have a break for another 10 nights after the gig at the Paradise.

Some music journalists have mistakenly pigeonholed the music of TSOOL into the genres of psychedelia or space rock. There’s no doubt that its sound contains these elements and is somewhat reminiscent of Love and other British invasion bands, but Sunday night’s show proved that the music of TSOOL is just multi-textured, well-crafted, solid rock and roll.

TSOOL mainly played songs from Behind the Music in its first set, which demonstrated the band’s ability to work in extremes. The band effortlessly shifted from rocking out to mellowing out, and brought the audience along for every moment. After opening with the driving, glam rock-esque numbers, ‘Broken Imaginary Time’ and ‘Infra Riot,’ they then fell into the easygoing, trippy ‘Mind the Gap.’

The tender piano of melodic ‘Tonight,’ as well as ‘Instant Repeater 99,’ a favorite from TSOOL’s 1998 album Welcome to the Infant Freebase were other highlights of the first set. The charismatic lead vocalist and founding member (whom Person knows ‘from skateboarding in the ’70s’) Ebbot Lundgren convinced the audience to sit down on the venue’s floor and ‘just chill out’ in the middle of a knockout performance of ’21st Century Rip Off,’ which closed the first set. The two encores included more songs from Behind the Music, and the carefree and psychedelic ‘Galaxy Gramophone,’ from an early EP.

Person spoke about the songwriting process of TSOOL. He and co-guitarist Matthias Barjed write most of the songs, although the entire band participates. ‘We all have our own home studios and we send tapes to each other and work it from there,’ he stated. Person also listed some of influences he has in mind while writing, including Black Flag, George Harrison and the Rolling Stones.

The band heads for the studio again in February and Person said that he and Barjed have 50 songs ready to go. He also revealed the extensive collection of songs TSOOL has recorded-the sheer quantity ensuring that many will never be heard by fans.

‘The first album was supposed to be box set because everybody at the time [in 1996], all the artists that had been around, like the Beatles and the Stones, were doing it,’ Person noted. ‘So we wanted a sort of story in reverse – like we’d been around for 25 years or something. So we wrote and recorded 60 songs and we’ve got a lot of those left.’

For Behind the Music, the band recorded 55 songs, and the album ended up taking nine months to record. ‘You have to kill your darlings,’ the guitarist added. ‘So this time around, we’re only doing 30 songs. We don’t have any discipline when we record – it’s just mayhem.’ Person hinted more to what we can expect from the next album, and said it will be much more straightforward rock.

TSOOL has remarkable onstage rapport and the knack for pumping up an audience. They look like they enjoy themselves onstage … and even off-stage, as Lundgren wandered off during various moments throughout Sunday’s show, singing from the ranks of the crowd. These guys truly live up to the rock star reputation. They’ve been working at it for a long time, and 2002 is the perfect year a payoff, especially with the excellent climate in rock music and the band’s sudden-sprouted fan base.

You may be asking, what gives this band the right to take on the name ‘The Soundtrack of Our Lives?’ Isn’t that assuming a bit much? But by checking out their live shows and listening to their albums, you realize the talent and potential of TSOOL. They may not be completely revolutionary, but the band’s got one of the best sounds out there.

Any matter, Person chose to explain the band’s name before performing.

‘Ebbott came up with it. It sort of suited the band you could sort of get away with anything songwriting-wise,’ he explained.

So, it’s basically an excuse for TSOOL’s artistic freedom if the band wishes it.

‘People hated the name in Swedish press and English press when we started out. But now they like us and love it.’