On Saturday Patrik Wennberg is releasing his two-track debut single “Välfärdens färd över världen”while performing live at Jazzhuset in Göteborg. It’s two songs with a pleasant atmosphere and we meet a thoughtful artist who radiates warmth and tranquility. I won’t put the songs in the department of catchy choruses, but they grow upon me the more I listen and I discover the hooks that are there, like the distorted bass riff in the title track which echoes through my mind afterwards. He also writes that he quit his job last year to be able to devote himself to the music. This aroused my curiosity, so I decided to ask him a few questions:

– Hi Patrik, on Saturday you are releasing your debut single and also makes your live debut as a solo artist, which of course makes us curious about you. Who is Patrik Wennberg?


– Hi Pär! Well, it took me a couple years to find out myself actually, haha. I’ve always been a huge music lover but where I’m from, a town called Trollhättan, there’s not much going on in the alternative scene and music seems to revolve a lot around Melodifestivalen, Idol and mainstream radio. I never felt like I fit in to that mold which is probably the reason I moved to Gothenburg the first chance I got after high school.

– When I first came to Gothenburg I shared an apartment with some friends who’re equally crazy about music. During the two years we lived together we tried out most parts of the Gothenburg music scene and at the same time kept pushing ourselves and each other to write, play and record tons of music. It was a fun, hectic and at times angst-ridden period of my life that made me evolve musically, but although we had high hopes and dreams about our band, Carl Frack, we never got around to release any material.

– With that in mind I finally decided, in the winter of 2014, to go my own way and do everything possible to pursue my dreams of being a musician. I started out with the goal to make an album of 10 songs and quit my daytime job as a mailman since I knew I needed time to focus on writing and producing songs. A year later I’m working part-time as a personal assistent and pursuing my dreams full-time.

– What are your musical roots?

– There’s lots of musicians and artists on both sides of my family but I was probably about fifteen when I started playing guitar. After that I spent most of my teenage years trying to perfect all the great stuff that John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers did on their albums.

– Being a kid in the 90’s probably shaped my musical influences more then I’m aware of but actually it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I found my biggest inspiration, Nirvana. In the making of my upcoming album, “All my friends are superheroes”, I’ve been deep into some of the greatest pop/rock hits of the 60’s and 70’s from artists such as John Lennon, Fleetwood Mac and George Harrison as well as finding new favorites such as Franska Trion, Angel Olsen and The war on drugs. I believe it’s through listening and learning how to play the music made by these great musicians, that I’ve been able to make something that is entirely my own.

– “Välfärdens färd över världen” is the title track of your single. What is it about?

– To me welfare, translation of välfärden, can mean numerous things. It can deal with existential matters such as love or the meaning of life but it can also be about things in the “bigger picture” that involve all people such as politics or philosophy. I find these two sides of the meaning very interesting and wanted to play with it in the sense that they’re also one and the same.

– In the chorus I sing “by my side” repeatedly to highlight that all through our lives we depend on each other to make our lives meaningful and happy. Friends, family and loved ones make us part of something bigger and I think it’s also our responsibility to repay the love we’re given to people all around us and our society.

– The second song on the single, called “The meaning of now”, also relates to these issues but from a different perspective which ties the single together conceptually.

– You sing in English but you have chosen a song title in Swedish, how come?

– I’d been carrying the title with me for quite some time and felt there was so much there to be said. As I went on writing the story and lyrics my mind was turned on to English and when it was finished there was no way of changing either the lyrics or the title without messing up the feeling of the song. I just couldn’t make myself do that, so I let it be.

– I know it’s not how anyone else would ever go about making a song but that fact is also one of the things I really love about creativity. Not sticking to any guidelines and just letting things flow lead me to writing a song that no one on this earth has ever done, in a way that only I can. That achievement makes me proud and I also feel that the song captures the essence of what you get when listening to my music. You get me!

– I understand that the music video is created from old family movies. Can you tell us a little about that?

– Exactly, the footage used to make the video was filmed with a Super 8 camera by my grandparents sometime around 1959/60. The tape had been stuck in someones attic or something all these years and the first time my father showed it to me was just as I was about to go into the studio to record the album. It’s really fascinating seeing all the old images and the looks of the people and step into a different time that’s so distant from ours yet not that long ago. My father was only about a year or two at the time and it’s funny seeing him and his sister fighting just as I’d imagined from their old stories.

– It also seemed fitting that my grandfather, whom I’ve never met and only seen one picture of my whole life, is the one playing the bass-guitar in the chorus. He was kind of a prolific artist in his home-town and from what I’ve been told he was a real showman. Not that I’m looking to become a showman but it’s interesting to think of how I’m a third generation musician and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and what have you. All the images really fit beautifully with the song and captures that feeling of togetherness and family that I was looking for when I wrote the song.

– What are your plans now in the near future when it comes to releases and playing live?

– The gig on saturday at Jazzhuset in Gothenburg is really a perfect start for me, seeing as it’s such a legendary venue where many of the Swedish bands I love have come through. There are more shows coming up and I’m very excited about the festival season I see lurking round the bend. Still to me music should always be in transit and therefore you’ll see me playing large venues with 4-5 people backing or by myself with just an acoustic guitar.

– A second single will be out in the months ahead and with every single I plan to release a music video of some sort. The most important thing is to keep pursuing my dreams in music and on the way I hope to meet new friends, play more music and not let anything hold me back. Soon enough I’ll be headed towards the release of the album, “All my friends are superheroes”, but I don’t see the point in rushing.

– Thanks a lot Patrik! Best of luck with your release and concert on Saturday!

Patrik Wennberg’s site – on Facebook