Uncas Tribe
Uncas Tribe
Gothenburg, SE
Rock / Pop / Americana
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BEGINNINGS
The Uncas Tribe was originally formed in 1991 by singer/songwriters Uncas Rydén and Staffan Ericson. The two went to school together and in many ways taught both themselves and each other how to make music. The early Uncas Tribe was a continuation of the part cover, part original band No Connexion, who featured Uncas on lead vocals and Staffan on guitars, as well as other former schoolmates and the sports teacher on drums! With band members moving out of town, pursuing civil careers, No Connexion split up in early '91. Uncas and Staffan, however, went on to record four songs that summer due to be released on audio cassette in the fall. (Mp3 would still have been a meaningless combination of two letters and a number!) When the time came to press the cassettes, the duo still didn't know what to call themselves. It was then that an old friend told Uncas over a beer that they should allude to his Mohegan name and baptise the band Uncas Tribe. Hard liquor closed the deal, and ever since, Uncas Tribe has been the name of any constellation involving Uncas Rydén. (Except for a very short period in the winter of 1998 when the band for mysterious reasons decided to call themselves Crimson Red.) The tape, simply called Uncas Tribe, was eventually released in the fall of 1991, providing Uncas and Staffan with sufficient cause to throw a mother-of-a-blowout at the theatre Atalante in Göteborg. The main feature of the night was to be the screening of a brand new video for one of the songs. Unfortunately Uncas and Staffan only managed to get hold of a couple of 14' tv-monitors that the crowd had to pass by one at a time in order to catch a few seconds of the nonsensic love drama. (The song was titled In your bedroom tonight. You do the math!) Thus begun and ended the saga of the duo Uncas Tribe. Future versions would have to include a drummer and a bass player.
FORMATION OF THE TRIBE PROPER – THE EARLY YEARS
In 1993, Staffan Ericson introduced Uncas Rydén to promising bass player Gian Kündig, yet another old schoolmate, though five years their junior. Uncas and Gian instantly hit it off at a party to which Uncas had been invited by another mutual friend. Uncas, as always impeccably dressed for the occasion (dinner jacket, tie, the works!) sat down on the sofa and stunned the crowd, including Gian, with his version of Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man. It wasn't long before the two of them decided that they must play together. Good things often come in package deals, and this one was no exception. For Gian happened to know this drummer, Daniel, who was really good. And believe it or not, he was, though Uncas and Staffan weren't to find out until almost a year later when the two of them decided to team up with fellow friend and singer/songwriter Jon Denman for another recording session. Dividing the guitarwork between them, the threesome engaged Gian to play bass guitar while his friend Daniel Gibson would bring up the rear. A total of eleven songs were recorded at Studio Fredman (run by notorious heavy metal producer Fredrik Nordström) in the fall of 1994, including four of Uncas' which still retain their positions on the Uncas Tribe's playlist: Room Full of Mirrors, When She Comes, Your Only Life and Sister. The first track featured Kalle Stintzing on keyboards, while the recording of Your only life saw the introduction of saxophone player Lisen Rylander and trumpet player Kristin Lidell to the Tribe. Lisen also did some backing vocals on that track.
THE NINE PIECE
Though the joint venture between Uncas, Staffan and Jon worked out satisfactory, it was obvious that the three of them were too disparate musically to be in the same band. That formation would never reappear. However, Uncas, Gian and Daniel continued to play together through the rest of that fall, focusing on the music of Uncas. They decided to go into the studio again the following summer. This required the aqcuisition of a lead guitarist and, preferably, a keyboard player. The choice for guitarist eventually fell on Peder Jansson, who's thin, crisp phrases and rich yet elusive harmonies added well to the rawness of the threesome. An excellent keyboard player with knowledge of everything from Bach to Cage, through the Beatles and the blues, Uncas' brother Niklas Rydén was engaged to fill that position. His understanding of rythm, harmony and melody was to prove essential to the new sound of the band. The brass girls from the previous fall, Lisen and Kristin, teamed up with saxophone player Gunnel Samuelsson to form a small but lively brass ensemble, while Lisen's friend and colleague Helena Nygren was brought in to help with the backing vocals. Her voice as well as her arrangements worked wonders for the outcome of the recordings. Finally, the band was joined by percussionist Juan Carlos Nunez, who added a spicy Caribbean touch to this brand new gumbo. And so it came to pass that nine people went into Studio Fredman in the summer of 1995 to record a total of five songs: I'm on the track, Before the flood, Indispensable, Your only life (new version) and Shadowland. With the exception of Your only life, these songs are rarely featured on the playlist anymore, not because they don't cut it, but rather because they were steeped in a volominous sound that the band find it hard to recreate even today.
A band of nine ambitious young musicians is hard to keep together unless you are a combination of dictator, agent and psychologist. Uncas being none of the above, this nine piece only performed twice: at the open square Kungstorget in Göteborg in the summer of '95, and at the nightclub Valand the following winter. By then Peder Jansson had been replaced by guitarist Andreas Falk, who's style and attitude was much more rock than jazz. That said, the band continued to work together through much of 1996, preparing for a small tour of Norway that unfortunately was cancelled just when they were about to leave. That proved to be the nail in the coffin for the nine piece. Life was getting complicated, full of stupid distractions. It was time to take a break. It was time to think again.
THE YEARS OF IN BETWEEN
In the winter of 1997, the Uncas Tribe had been reduced from nine to four members: Uncas Rydén, Gian Kündig, Daniel Gibson and Andreas Falk. Although they did a birthday gig that January together with Kristin Lidell (trumpet) and Gunnel Samuelsson (saxophone), it was clear that less rather than big was to be the future of the band. That year wasn't to see much activity anyway, with the exception of the home recording of two brand new songs: Alive and Sugar plum fairy. The first one has been performed on and off ever since, while the second remains a regular feature of the playlist, though these days under the name of Holly Golightly. In late 1997 Andreas Falk left the band. He was replaced by experienced guitarist Lars-Olof (Lollo) Bengtsson, who brought new visions and ideas to the sound of the band. In the spring of 1998 the Uncas Tribe once again went into the studio, this time the Eternal Sounds, run by Martin Gobliewski. With the help of Lollo they dusted off Indispensable, one of the most conspicuous tracks of the nine piece era. Undressed, robbed of the volominous brass, keyboard and vocal arrangements, it took on a straight forward, Police-style nakedness. The second track was the brand new This time, baby, who saw the introduction of the talented singer/songwriter Jenny Lundin to the band on ingenious backing vocals. This time, baby was later to become perhaps the foremost icon of the playlist. This version, however, was steeped in a Tom Petty kind of tremolous multi-guitar sound, stuck somewhere on the border between rock and pop. It sounded different, it sounded good, but something wasn't right. The ultimate sound still eluded the band. They performed twice that year, once in March, once in late fall. But their hearts weren't really into it, their minds rid of ideas, their thoughts scattered across distant islands. And so the Uncas Tribe took yet another break. This time it lasted longer than before. Much longer.
NEW BEGINNINGS
The band was Uncas, Gian and Daniel. It had been like that since the beginning of time. A dozen people had come and gone over the years, but none had ever remained. Except of course for the three stooges. Most worrying was that for six years they hadn't been able to find a satisfactory guitar player. Not that those who had been were bad. On the contrary – they were great, sometimes exceptional. They just didn't fit the sound of the band. The band that had been Uncas, Gian and Daniel. Since the beginning of time. But in the winter of 2000 things had changed. Suddenly there was fire in the sky and revolution in the air. A new king had been born, one that could challenge even the best of them for the throne. A guitar player beyond imagination. A ”must have” for the self-conscious and ambitious Uncas Tribe. His name was Henrik, and he could sure play that guitar like a-ringin' a bell! So by March that year the Uncas Tribe were back in the studio, this time with a guitarist that not only fit the sound, but transformed it into what it always should have been. Henrik Pilquist, nick-named ”the Arrow” (a Swedish allusion to his last name) was the perfect match. As was engineer/producer Daniel Veres who ran Rivertone Studios from his house south of Göteborg. Two tracks saw the light of day in that suburban dwelling: This time, baby and When she comes. None of them were new. The last song had previously been recorded during that first session at Studio Fredman in the fall of 1994. This time, baby had also been recorded before (1998), but this version rapidly became an icon, a symbol of the born-again Uncas Tribe. It epitomized the sense of simplicity and laid-backness that all of a sudden seemed to have embraced the band. It was as though that year of absence had brought on a kind of understanding that music didn't have to be that complicated. That everything would work out for the best if you just sat down together and played the way you liked, not the way you imagined others would like you to play. Indeed a revolution, a fire in the sky. However, another year was to pass before this revolution was taken to the people. A year of learning and experience. For how to take the revolution to the people if you don't know them?
WAKING UP THE AUSTRIANS (OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND...)
The Uncas Tribe were on the track, though they still weren't playing around much. Nothing at all, as it were. The members were all busy with other projects, and it wasn't until the fall of 2000 that the opportunity presented itself: a place in the ski resort of Bad Gastein, Austria, needed a coverband for some six weeks. But Henrik couldn't go, working for the Man as he was, and this Man was not a very pleasant character – he just wouldn't let the best guitarplayer around go about his business! So there they were again, the three stooges, stuck on the edge of success without anyone to fondle the sixstring. They eventually found one, however, in Jonas Hasselgren, a very competent musician and songwriter who had previously worked with the different band members on various occasions. So off they went to the hills, valleys and steep slopes of the Alps. And what an experience it was! It took some getting used to, that's for sure, but with the help of a Belgian ski instructor (who played some strange kind of horn, preferably to Joe Cocker's You can leave your hat on) and an American industrial designer (with a shady past, who had once played the trumpet and frequently treated the band to champagne and drinks at the local casino), the band soon became the hottest item on the intense, overcrowded entertainment scene of that (in)famous resort. And that's where and how they learned to take the revolution to the people. That's where the brethren were born, the band of brothers who hence were to dedicate their lives to the sole purpose of bringing good, original music to the people. Drunk on gallons of Apfelkorn and the notion of what life was actually about, the band returned to Göteborg, exhausted after six weeks of sheer revelation. This was indeed the beginning of a wonderful future.
HOPE, GLORY AND DISTRESS
Hope presented itself in the spring of 2001 with a show case gig at the local venue Jazzhuset. Henrik were naturally back with the band, but the stooges found it hard to part with Jonas, having experienced so much together, and him being an original brother and all. So they put two great guitarists on stage and the result was – not overwhelming. And the deal was nowhere to be found. Great fun in Austria, but when it came to the real deal, Henrik was the guy. The Uncas Tribe recharged, rehearsed and came back with a vengeance in the fall to present the line-up that has hence comprised the band: Uncas Rydén, Gian Kündig, Daniel Gibson and Henrik Pilquist. The three stooges had finally turned into a true band of brothers, led by the reverend Uncas. Gigs at venues such as Pusterviksteatern and Stadsteatern in Göteborg brought some glory to the band, and word eventually reached that big center of all things Swedish – Stockholm. And all of a sudden the Uncas Tribe were to take part in a tremendous effort to spread great (original) music all over Scandinavia. But first the band needed a video to show what they could do on stage. In late January 2002 the stage was once again set at Pusterviksteatern. The crowd was brought in, as was three camera men that documented the show thoroughly. The result was great. They thought so in Stockholm, too. The Uncas Tribe was one of the best acts they'd ever seen. And so hope grew bigger as time passed. And passed. And passed again. Until the time came to realize that this, too, wasn't to be the Big Thing. By then, times were changing once again. The brothers had to look elsewhere for work, bread, business and experience. They played together from time to time, but not at the same time, not as the band of brothers they had been. The reverend Uncas ventured off in other directions, starting work on a musical, and eventually writing a novel. The original Uncas Tribe were not to perform again for over five years.
THE SUN ALSO RISES
They tried from time to time, retried and tried again. Eventually Uncas, Gian and Henrik tried out a new drummer, the exceptional, much experienced Abbe Abrahamsson. They also brought in guitarist Kalle Ruuth and did a couple of trial gigs at the small venue KoM in Göteborg, originally run by the talented and lovely twin sisters Karin and Maria Forsman (remember their great band Pilgrim!), later taken over by illustrious musician/songwriter/cabman (and present patron) Fredrik Kjellberg. It was great rock'n roll, no complaints. But something just wasn't right. Brother Daniel was missing. In the fall of 2006, the three brothers (ex Daniel) turned to playing acoustic gigs at the renowned blues and jazz venue Jazzå, situated in Göteborgs notorious Longstreet district. In the winter of 2007, however, a real opportunity finally presented itself. The theatre Atalante where the reverend Uncas had worked on and off since the beginning of time, was turning 20, and the show was to go on for some full three weeks. On Saturday, March 17, the last day of celebrations, the original Uncas Tribe (since 2000) entered the stage at Atalante after five years of absence. The response was instant: we've missed you! Full circle, you might say, from that October day in 1991 when Uncas Rydén and Staffan Ericson celebrated their first release at Atalante under the name of Uncas Tribe with those ridiculously small monitors. And ever since, the show has gone on, even better for each time the brothers get up there on stage and do what they do best. The Uncas Tribe are back. With a vengeance. Again. This time they're here to stay.
