David Fridlund

Another year is coming to an end.
It passed just as quick as they always do and before you know it it's New Years Eve, you go out with friends (hopefully), have a few drinks, watch the fireworks and all the drunken people rumbling in the streets, you cheer at midnight and you kiss your loved one if you have one, think about the year to come, go to bed and wake up to the first day of the new year and you think: "A brand new year…what's in store for me from now on..?"
You think about a year as a long time and in a way I suppose it is, but as it ends it feels like it was the shortest year ever.
They say time goes quicker the older you get. I'm not old, but I am older than before and it feels like it is true: time does go faster with every year…same with the one that just passed, but at the same time it somehow felt like an eternity.
I've done a lot this year. I've been to Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, England, Northern Ireland, Austria, Switzerland…and that is more than I have ever traveled in a year before.

Good stuff 2006:

-All the travelling.
 All the great, friendly people at the Forfey festival in Northern Ireland where Sara did a gig (with me helping out on bass & drums).
-Recording and releasing a new album with David & the Citizens.
-Kicking lazy band members.
- David & the Citizens signing to Bad Taste Records.
-Releasing my solo album in Germany. Better late than never…
-Getting my driver's license. All thanx to my dad  (this is a really old picture of course, but it was the only pic I had on the computer...) who paid for it! Without his help I would never in a million years have been able to pay for it myself. I thank him and send him my love.
Always.
-Getting to know Mr. Mango - Magnus Josefsson. He is a great guy with a great philosophy about life.
- Fashion Police studio
-Finding my way back to my real friends David & David. And Daniel. And Daniel & Ulrik in Stockholm who came to visit for a couple of amazing summer days.
-Open air bathing at Ribersborg.
-Writing a new solo album. (ok - most of those songs were written last year, but some I wrote this year, so…)
- I got a scholarship in May! The city of Malmö awarded me (and a bunch of other creative people living in malmö) 20.000 kronor for my continuous work with my music. Thank you very much Malmö!
- Sara
- My brothers Joel & Viktor.

If I have forgotten anyone who should get thanked, well then I'm sorry.

Bad Stuff 2006:

-My very much-loved stepfather Raul passed away in May. I don't know if I will ever understand that he is gone for real. I still think that I will meet him in the street any day. As vivid as he ever was in life, he is now when he is gone.


-Not getting a big amount of money that I was expecting. I had been looking forward to it for so long and I had made plans about going to USA with Sara. I was happy. I thought my economy would get sorted and that I wouldn't have to struggle just to be able to pay the rent. But…I was wrong about that money and instead of a time of travel & "luxury"  (luxury in my world is not having to choose between buying bread or milk but being able to get both…) we've gone through yet another six months of borrowing money, balancing on a thin thread just to be able to keep everything together. And well - it is tough, it really isn't easy being a musician in this country, but there are no alternatives for me so I will keep on being stubborn…

-Svenska Musikerförbundet. (the Association for Swedish Musicians).
-ALFA - KASSAN. What a bunch of wankers they are.  

-Not being able to record my next album. Such great songs and they're all just lying there, waiting to be recorded and put on an album…it makes me sad and frustrated when I think about it, but then again - they will still be great songs no matter how long it takes to have them recorded / released.
- Fighting with people that used to be my friends.

Monday night. Sitting by the computer trying to stay awake - after all it´s only a quarter to ten and I am grown up and grown ups don't go to bed this early unless they work the graveyard shift or something.

Went out Sunday driving yesterday, me and Sara. Didn't really do much but we took a trip by the nowadays abandoned nuclear power plant in Barsebäck. The Danes hated it all the time as it was actually up and running and just a while ago it was shut down by the government. Just as well - I hate nuclear power, it scares the shit out of me…i remember when I was a kid my mum and stepfather had this cartoon magazine about an old couple living in the countryside in England. One day war is declared and they drop the big bomb. Everybody dies, the radio is silent and not a living soul is heard or seen. This old couple try to keep living their life but in the end the radiation gets them both. I used to read that magazine over and over. I was so fascinated and scared at the same time.

Anyway, me and Sara helped poisoning the planet a little when driving around in the countryside of Skåne. We came to a flea market somewhere and Sara and the guy running it came to talk about pollution and the fact that a lot of parts of Sweden will be under sea level in just about 20 or so years. Asked if he wasn't afraid that the water by his house would rise, but all he said was that he thought it was nice to have warmer winters, more sun and don't have to worry about changing the tires on the car…Jeesuss…no wonder the world is rapidly coming to an end when nobody really takes it seriously anyway. But that's how they all see it, isn't it?

- "Lovely weather, isn't it? Don't have to take a trip this year, might as well stay at home and get a tan in the garden this winter?!" (must be said by a really British accent ) (or a really Swedish one perhaps)

Changing subject now:
You know I still think about my solo album #2 every day. And though I have been really busy lately with the Citizens, playing live and stuff, I am actually working on said record as often as I can. I recorded two songs a while ago - one is up on my MySpace where you can listen to it as much as you feel like. It's just a raw version of it, but none the less…
I've been working as a maniac with a new one that I am doing on piano, but I can't really get the lyrics together so that one will have to wait for a while. Bastard song.

I am turning 32 on the 17th of Dec. I have a drivers license. I am actually growing up. Maybe. Just need a proper job now. Borrowed money to pay the rent. Bills piling up at the kitchen table.
? very fun indeed.

And before I quit I urge you all to check out this! Good shit!

Here's a picture of me sweating it out at Obstwiesen Festival in Germany this summer taken by an Austrian friend.