Exclusive interview with Fredrik Persson of, "The Greek Theatre".
Interview By: Stewart F. Brennan Recently, I caught up to Fredrik Persson of, “The Greek Theatre”, to ask him some personal and pointed questions on his creative passion and music journey.
But before we get to the interview, let’s first shed a little light on the Greek Theatre and their music.
The Greek Theatre are a soft psych Swedish duo consisting of Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson who’ve just released their 4th full album called, “A Deeper Scar” on Dec 21st, 2024.
I first heard about the Greek Theatre in 2017 after cruising new releases on the Bandcamp music website. I was looking for music to absorb and grow with and to share with friends and music fans on my World United Music blog, when I happened upon the Greek Theatre. I was intrigued by the name, and thought, “What is this?” but when I had a listen to the sample song, “Still Lost at Sea”, I was floored.
Video: Still Lost at Sea
Have you ever had one of those moments when you’ve just heard a song for the first time and it completely absorbed you, captured you with its infectious sound? That’s what “Still lost at Sea” did to me. I was instantly struck by the songs soothing laidback sound and peaceful lyrics, that I swear, it made me feel like I had just travelled back in time, hearing for the first time, a hit song I missed from the mid 1960’s. Of course, when I played the song a second time, it became an addiction leaving me with a thirst to play it over and over. That hadn’t happened to me for a very long time and so I decided to listen to the full album, “Broken Circle” beginning with the first track, “Fat Apple (at about noon)” and became absorbed into what quickly became an absolute favorite album.
The subtle psych, progressive, sound of the Greek Theatre with its poetic opening line, “Cast away all of your fears” hooked me. I mean, “WOW!” What a way to open an album, especially in these crazy times we live. It brought me to a safe zone.
Fat Apple, built and progressed into a brilliant time warp of 60’s / 70’s rock that peeked into a satisfying infusion of atmosphere and nostalgia, and then drifted away like a rolling wave, back out to the conscious sea; teasing me with its connection to happier times, while leaving me longing to feel that rush of time again. Simply masterful, creative genius. The stuff of great memorable music that you never forget or get tired of.
I bought the album immediately and was inspired to restart the music program on my YouTube channel called, “The Minstral Show”; a music program that allowed me to share brilliant music by independent and unsigned artists with subscribers. I felt then, as I have since the beginning of my project, that the world needed to know about the great music out there in cyber space that they were missing, and the Greek Theatre were definitely one of those bands.
The Minstral Show 34b - The Greek Theatre, Dave Kerzner, Agusa
As a music fan that loves to discover great new music, I also enjoy looking into a band’s beginnings to see where their creative magic sprung from, and for the Greek Theatre, there was no exception.
I have found that first albums lay the ground work to a band’s sound, their atmospheres and expressions of what’s to come. That is exactly what I found with the Greek Theatre’s first album, “Lost out at Sea”. A soft folkish yet subtle energetic flowing music with country psych tones that were mature and begging for a listen. I could hear the quality right away and sat back to absorb their sounds. It was plain to see how their second album evolved and made it into the spotlight on the indie waves. Music around the world was coming alive in a renaissance of conscious thought, and the Greek Theatre was right there in the middle of it.
However, time and a world filled with loud twists and dark turns has a way of capturing our attentions while chasing us away from music and the relaxing moments that heal us.
As 2020 began and embroiled the world with an evil spirited plandemic, the renaissance of music and entertainment came to an abrupt end with a global lockdown.
But even as the tyrannical fear factors were being pushed by global establishments, bands like the Greek Theatre were still creating great music, although the attention for their music, as was the case across the spectrum of music, fell away to people’s concerns of tyrannical governance.
The Greek Theatre launched their third album, “When Season’s Change” in January 26th, 2020, just as global attentions turned away from music to focus on a coordinated fear balloon that was inflating across the world.
The title to the Greek theatres third album was almost prophetic to the times while also evolving the Duo’s sound which poked into the harder electric guitar psych era with the third track on the album, “The Post Factual Jam”. A reminder of the psychedelic era of the late sixties. Their soft folk, country psych sound also remained and progressed, reminding of the subtle sounds of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on the fourth track of the album called, “Bible Black Mare” an eight minute and twenty-three second masterpiece that holds its own Déjà vu.
“When Season’s Change” is a brilliantly evolved, and truly rich album filled with deeply immersive music with elements of mind-expanding adventure, peace, healing, and that ever present glorious sound of the sixties. A truly worthy follow up to their second album “Broken Circle”, an album that should have gained the band a larger following if not for the disruption of life by a globally coordinated psychological op.
The Greek Theatre’s fourth album, “A Deeper Scar” which was released on December 21st, 2024, is a great evolution of the band’s professionalism and signature sound.
The album opens with an alternative tune, “Alpha” being played in the background on a radio which then flows into reality as if you’ve just walked into the musician’s mind space. A great intro to an album that evolves the brilliance of the band’s sound, which reminds of how special it really is by the second track called, “All your Saviours”.
“All your Saviours” is an absolutely brilliant creation that captures the essence of an era long gone through its soft flowing country psych folk sounds and vocals. I’m reminded of the early 1970’s as the song seemingly captures and blends the best sounds of that era into a unique inspiration that is their very own sound. “All your Saviours” is absolute gold, and has become my favorite on an album filled with great music.
All Your Saviours
The Greek Theatre’s music not only belongs with the greats of those era’s but stand tall in today’s world as uniquely significant and necessary. They are like a missing link to the 60’s and 70’s eras of music that I’m starting to believe that both Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson are time travelers; for music, indeed, is a time machine to the past and “The Greek Theatre” are the masters of it.
So, here we are now in April, 2025 a few months after the Greek Theatre’s fourth album release, “A Deeper Scar” which is another brilliant album from this iconic Swedish music duo, so it’s a real pleasure for me to speak with one of the members of The Greek Theatre, Fredrik Persson, on his and Sven Fröberg’s music journey.
[WUM] First, let me tell you how much I’ve really enjoyed your music.
“WOW!” Triple WOW! And freaking amazing creative work you guys have blessed the world with. I’m absolutely blown away by your music. I love it and see it as a missing link to that special period of the 1960’s and 70’s that captured the world with a love fest and an evolution of mind and soul.
I’m truly thankful to have experienced your music and so, like all music fans, I’m curious to find out more about “The Greek Theatre”. So, let’s begin.
[WUM] What first got you into music, and what inspired you to start playing/making music?
[FP] My sister´s boyfriend (and later husband) was a huge Beatles fan and went into depression when John Lennon was murdered. At the time, I was seven years old, and of course, I wondered why he was so sad. My parents had a Beatles greatest hits record and so I put it on. I remember getting instantly hooked, not only by the catchier stuff like, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, but also songs like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
My father listened a lot to swing, Hank Williams, Fats Domino etc. He was born in 1933 and he told me how he tuned in to Radio Luxemburg in the 1940s and 1950s; a radio channel that played a lot of American jazz and country long before the Swedish public radio channels, which were the only ones available until the 1980s.
As a side note, my sister´s boyfriend ran a so-called pirate (illegal) radio channel in the 1970s and 1980s. I remember he was fined many times! He had a decent guitar which I sometimes played, but it was an older cousin who actually taught me the essentials of guitar playing in the mid 1980s. Even at that young age I was mostly drawn to the music from the 1960s and 1970s.
One of the few 80s bands I liked was U2, which seemed so out of touch with most other bands, both musically and aesthetically. However, they never influenced my own song writing. My first songs were attempts in the Beatles tradition and later, around 1990, I got more interested in psychedelic stuff, as well as the more folkier side of Led Zeppelin.
After moving to Lund, a southern university town, I discovered power pop bands like The Posies, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, etc. This led to my first proper band, The Halos, which actually did some recordings with Ken Stringfellow of The Posies. We were pretty close to signing a deal but ambitions within the band varied and now, twenty-five years later, I´m grateful I chose another life. Many friends that went all-in into the professional music biz are pretty fucked up and bitter.
The possibilities of sustaining a decent living off music started to wane in the early 2000s, even for the really great bands.
[WUM] How did your band form? How did you pick your band name or how did you settle on the bands name, “The Greek Theatre”?
[FP] My former girlfriend and partner, is a childhood friend of Sven´s wife. Sven is a true Stockholm dude and had already built up a remarkable record collection when we got to know each other in the early 1990s.
I grew up in a small town where the record stores only stocked mainstream stuff; rescue was mail order and the odd record fair in slightly larger cities.
Sven and I started working together when The Halos split and I was looking for new musical projects. With Sven, I re-discovered my late 60s/early 70s influences and thanks to him, discovered tons of more or less obscure stuff from that era. Regarding the band name, I´m not sure how that was chosen. Sven tossed around a few band names until settling for The Greek Theatre.
[WUM] How would you describe the music you create? And how does Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson typically collaborate on songwriting and music creation?
[FP] In my mind, our music is not hard to grasp, we never try to come up with “artsy” och “demanding” songs or albums. For lack of a better term, our music is totally organic and often a result of one´s stream of consciousness, ramblings on guitar or piano etc. However, we are pretty keen on the idea of creating a place, a setting that the music should conjure up.
We rarely write together. We write separately and then we tend to co-produce each other´s songs.
Since we have been working pretty steadily with The Greek Theatre for about twenty years, we trust each other and we seldom need to articulate what we think or what should be different. You learn to recognize the feeling when it all comes together.
The songs are pretty much finished when we present them to each other, mainly in the form of demos we send via e-mail etc.
Sven lives in Stockholm and I live in the woods down south so we only see each other a few times a year. That is one reason why we take so long between albums; the other being this “organic” approach without any deadlines.
We only use proper studios for drums and some bass tracks; the rest is recorded in various locations in Stockholm and in my rudimentary studio above the stable on our small farm. We try out overdubs and different mixes until we get the right vibe, image and sound. We never use any short cuts by emulating our musical heroes, although you can definitely hear our influences.
Our music lives in an idealized world, spanning from Laurel Canyon and northern California, over the ocean to the British Isles and Sweden where, in the 60/70s, a lot of great jazz and folk inspired music was made. Although I maintain that I feel our music is pretty simple, it requires a certain level of focus and time. Hopefully our albums create a cinematic as well as a spiritual experience. It´s never intended to sound druggy or hazy, but still leading to some heightened awareness.
Drugs or alcohol have never been a part of our song writing. Luckily, we can reach the required state without any stimulants! I suppose things were different in the 60s when folks were trying to break away from norms and cultural constraints.
[WUM] Can you share an amusing story about the band?
[FP] We have played only one gig! That was in Stockholm in 2001, I believe, before we were called The Greek Theatre and the band actually was a backing band for some recordings Sven made between 1999 and 2001. The sound check was so horrendous that I had a major panic attack and nearly left the venue! But in the end, it was a great gig. Back then the songs were a lot simpler. It would be almost impossible to play any of the Greek Theatre songs from our records, live.
[WUM] What is the best advice you've ever been given?
[FP] Use your ears and trust your instincts, whenever you are making music!
[WUM] Of the four Greek Theatre albums, which one is the most memorable for you? Do you have a favorite song or album?
[FP] The first one, “Lost Out at Sea”, has a special place in my heart. We realized that we could make a solid record that worked as a whole and we had some fine reviews. I think the last one, “A Deeper Scar”, is the best when it comes to the quality of the songs and the lyrics. Also, we recorded it with some members of Dungen, notably their fantastic drummer Johan Holmegard, which really made a difference in terms of groove and energy.
[WUM] In an earlier interview from your first album, “Lost out to Sea” you mention that there will be four Greek Theatre albums.
Now that you have released your fourth album, has this mind set changed? Take us through your four-album journey and your thoughts for the future of The Greek Theatre. What's next for Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson and / or The Greek Theatre?
[FP] Hehe, that whole “we wrote 45 songs in a cabin during one summer, which will be released on only four records” thing, was some kind of attempt to create mystery and lore! We will most certainly go on working together but perhaps in a slightly different form. I for one would like to scale down the arrangements and number of overdubs, going after more directness and simplicity, stuff that we can play live.
It is pretty exhausting producing the type of albums we´ve released. We mainly do this for our own sake and personal joy but the relative lack of interest from media and public doesn´t necessarily motivate you to embark on these big productions over and over again. Also, last November I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer so there´s no telling how long I will be around. Could be a year or several years. Maybe the prophecy of four Greek Theatre albums will prove to be true.
[WUM] Well, I for one, am a great fan of your music and know many others would also love your music if they took the time to listen. Personally, I find an inner conscious connection to it that has healing properties of its own.
Although, I have to say, I’m taken aback by your devastating cancer news. I’m a big believer in healing and so I join you in conscious thought and positive energy to beat this bastard cancer and pray and hope that you will be around for many, many years to come.
Looking back, if you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
[FP] Of course, the streaming services should really pay more to the artists. In many ways modern technology is a blessing; never before has it been easier to create music or discover new music. For instance, the big arrangements and complex soundscapes we create with The Greek Theatre would never have been possible before Pro Tools (and other so-called DAWs) and powerful but yet affordable computers. Back in the day, you needed big studios, a lot of people (engineers), a lot of time and thus enormous budgets in order to create massive records. The music industry is totally disintegrated and yet a few enormous acts (du jour) steal most of the bandwidth and resources. Also, the people in charge are insanely careful to keep feeding the masses the same shit, year after year. Just one look at the Top 100 from, say 1970, speaks of times when there was real diversity in popular music. However, good music always finds its listeners, given time.
[WUM] I have to agree with you on everything you’ve said Fredrik. More money for the artists who create the music and the world needs a good variety of music expression which is precisely why I created World United Music in the first place; to promote great music to the world, in the hopes that I could help bring music variety back to the world…because, as you say, good music always finds its listeners.
Fredrik Persson, it’s been an honor and a privilege connecting with you today. I wish you the greatest health and healing in your battle while I also want to thank you for sharing your creative genius that has brought healing and positive energy to the world through your music. I wish and pray for you, long life and continued inspiration. Thank you for spending time with me today.
Links for The Greek Theatre
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