Träd Gräs Och Stenar

With their trance-evoking mix of psychedelic blues-rock and folk music, Träd, Gräs & Stenar played a central roll in the development of progressive rock in Scandinavia in the early '70s. They were also one of the biggest, and best-sounding, examples of the idea that the audience should participate in the music. Träd, Gräs & Stenar was formed in 1969 by Gartz, Abelli, Ericsson, and Persson, remnants of International Harvester, and released a self-titled debut album in 1970. That same year they wrote the music for the film Du Gamla Du Fria but remained mainly a live band. Not only did they perform better live than on record — they even had a program that pointed out live interaction with the audience as the main purpose. Träd, Gräs & Stenar stood for a union of art with politics and artists with the audience. Practically that resulted in concerts were the audience took part in the music, as can be heard on Spela Själv. This was also one of the ideas behind the illegal festivals at Gärdet that the band initiated. Guitarist Sjöholm joined in 1970 and the first few years of the decade came to be very productive for Träd, Gräs & Stenar. They toured throughout Scandinavia, took part in various festivals, events, and protests, and released the live LPs Djungelns Lag and Mors Mors in 1971 and 1972, both having grave sound problems. The studio album Rock För Kropp Och Själ with its 20 minute-long title track, was released in 1972. Feeling less and less support for their idea of an organic art anarchism and reportedly also having problems with the police because of the amount of drugs at their concerts, they decided to disband the band later the same year.

In 1979 Träd, Gräs & Stenar reunited, now including poet Thomas Tidholm, who had been a member of International Harvester in the '60s, and during 1980 and 1981 they toured under the name T Gås. If this reunion wasn't too successful and progressive rock was looked down upon in the '80s, the '90s saw Träd, Gräs & Stenar's influence being recognized again, with names like Pavement's Stephen Malkmus mentioning them as an inspirational source. In 1995 it was time for a more lasting reunion and in 1996 they played at the Emmaboda festival, which was followed up by a number of festival gigs in the coming years. In 2000 and 2001 they were recording material for a new studio album, the first in almost 20 years. ~ Lars Lovén, Rovi