Trettioariga Kriget

Trettioåriga Kriget(Thirty Years War) was formed in 1970 in Saltsjöbaden, a seaside resort southeast of Stockholm. They were at the time all around seventeen and still in high school.

The schools mainhall was in the beginning used as the rehearsalroom.

This first lineup of the band was a sixpiece with two drummers! From the start the band included Stefan on bass guitar and vocals, Dag on drums, Olle on harmonica and guitar, Pocke Öhrström on lead guitar and vocals, Dag "Krok" Kronlund on piano and Johan Gullberg on drums.

In the winter of 1971 this original lineup of the band recorded the album "GLORIOUS WAR". The album was not released until 2004 though.

In 1971 Pocke and Johan left the band, though Johan would later on return
as the artwork master of TK!! To fill the gap Robert joined on vocals and guitar,

In 1972 Dag "Krok" left and Olle quit playing to concentrate on the lyrics.This left the band to concist only of Stefan, Dag and Robert.

They decided they needed a good guitarplayer and started to audition some guitarists. Through these auditions they found Christer who joined the band in summer 1972.

The band rehearsed intensively for a year and a half and developed a style of their own quite unlike the main trend in Swedish rock during the Seventies.

Early 1974 they got a recorddeal with CBS (now Sony Music). Also at that time they got a new rehearsal room in Saltsjöbaden. An old underground disco which they called "Grunden". There they would remain for a long time....The debut album was recorded that summer and released in august 1974. The album was named only "TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET".

The musical talent and originality of the group was duly recognized in the reviews..

They also now started to tour extensively in Sweden and also did several live performances on national Swedish radio.

The second album "KRIGSSÅNG" (Warsong) was recorded in the summer of 1975 though it was not released until early 1976 . It is commonly regarded as TKs "masterpiece" and is today rated as one of the best progressive rock albums ever. It has influenced many younger generations of Scandinavian bands.
The second side is totally devoted to the long suite "Krigssång 2".

The band continued touring and gigging in -75 and -76 .

In October -76 they left for an extensive English tour from Croydon in London to Cardiff in Wales to Sunderland near the Scotish border. They went down very well and the leading English musicpaper at that time, "Melody Maker", chose them as one of the most promising bands in the world for -77, speaking enthusiastically of their "intense gripping songs" and saying that "the power of the music is tremendous"!!! Back home again however they got the boot from Swedish CBS, who apparently hadn´t heard any news from abroad.

Trettioåriga Kriget then chose to sign for a small Swedish independent label called Mistlur.

The first album on this new label was called "HEJ PÅ ER" (Hello Everybody). It was recorded in summer of 1978 at "Grunden", the rehearsal room, using mobile recording facilties. By this time Mats had joined on keyboards and saxophone too.

The album was very well received and was to that date their best selling album. It saw the band moving to a more simple songformat though maybe richer in sound.
It is seen as the last album in a trilogy starting with the first album.

The band continued to tour extensively during this time around Scandinavia.

In the summer of 1979 the band recorded "MOT ALLA ODDS" (Against All Odds) also at "Grunden" with the use mobile equipment.
It is largely regarded as the bands least successful album though it has its moments, i.e. the title song.

This was up until then the last album with Robert who left in the autumn of 1979 leaving all vocals to Stefan.

In 1980 the band played the Roskilde festival in Denmark and continued the extensive touring.
That year they also recorded their fifth album at "Grunden" called only "KRIGET". It was released in 1981.

Now Dag wanted to leave the band to concentrate on his producing/studio
side. The rest of the band felt they could not continue without him
and decided to disband. The band did their last show at Swedish Radio
in May 1981.

The story then jumps to 1992 when Stefan, Robert and Dag played an acoustic set at a releaseparty for the CD-release of "Krigssång".

Then in 1996 to coincide with the release of their outtakes and livealbum
"WAR MEMORIES", the band decided to do two highly successful reunionshows in Stockholm.

In 2002 Stefan, Dag, Chris and Olle decided to start rehearsing to try out new material. These rehearsals were such a success that the band decided to enter the studio once more and record a new album. In the studio, Robert and Mats also joined.

The album was named "ELDEN AV ÅR" (Fire of Years) and was released January 2004. It got such very good reception and reviews. Many describing the album as the bands best ever and even one of the