Mattias Bärjed

Mattias Bärjed
Mattias Bärjed in 2013
Background information
Born	(1973-05-21) 21 May 1973 (age 52) Karlstad, Sweden
Genres	Alternative rock, psychedelic rock, garage rock, experimental music
Occupation(s)	Guitarist, musician, songwriter
Years active	1986–present

Biography

Summarize

Perspective

Background

When he was four or five years old, he wanted to be Randy Bachman.^[2] Before he focused on music, he played football in Råtorp's IK's junior team. During 1988–91 he drew comics in comics fanzines such as Fizzo and VälArt, collaborations with fellow cartoonist David Liljemark (who provided story lines, sometimes also inking). The fanzine Seriechock No. 5 (June 1991) published the only interview Bärjed did as a comics artist.

By then, he had already been in local bands such as Ants of the Underground (1987), Christ Couldn't Come (1989–90) and Pretty Green (1991). Later, he joined members from another Karlstad band, Ugly Jake, to form Nymphet Noodlers, which was Bärjed's first major band which went on to release records. He then joined Mindjive during 1995–97.^[3]

Thumb — Mattias (2nd from left), as a member of The Soundtrack of Our Lives, 2004

Career as a guitarist

Mattias Bärjed is probably mostly known for being one of the guitar players of the Swedish rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives, which he was a part of from March 1997^[2]^[4] (replacing founding member Björn Olsson) to the band's amicable break-up in 2012.

In 2009, Bärjed started the band Free Fall with Jan Martens from Nymphet Noodlers, Ludwig Dahlberg from The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Kim Franson.^[5] Their debut single "Power And Volume" was released by Nuclear Blast in 2012, and the following year saw the European release^[5] of a full-length album by the same name.^[6] Among the main influences for Free Fall, Bärjed has mentioned "The Stooges, The Who, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Deep Purple, The Beatles, Motörhead."^[7] He has also described Free Fall's music as "Freedom rock".^[8]

Over the years Bärjed has been working as a session or concert guitarist for a whole string of Swedish rock bands and artists, including The Hellacopters and Håkan Hellström. He played guitar on Broder Daniel's last gig on 8 August 2008.^[9]

Since spring 2015, he plays guitar in the hardcore band Refused.^[10]

Composer of film music

In later years Mattias Bärjed has started a solo career as a film score composer. He wrote and performed most of the music to Peter Birro's television series Upp till kamp (2007),^[11] directed by Michael Marcimain. Bärjed also acted as "Anders", a member of the band featured in the film. In 2012 Bärjed composed the music to Marcimain's feature film debut Call Girl (2012).^[1]^[12]

In 2015 Bärjed and Jonas Kullhammar shared the Guldbaggen award for best soundtrack, for their work on Gentlemen, based upon the novel by Klas Östergren.^[13]^[14]^[15] The soundtrack to the film also got a nomination to the Grammis award (jazz category).^[16]

Bärjed's collaboration with Marcimain has continued with "Jakten på en mördare" (The Hunt for a Killer, 2020) and "Händelser vid vatten" (Blackwater, 2023).

Private life

Since 2014 Mattias Bärjed lives in Visby.^[17] He grew up in the Karlstad suburb Skåre, but later lived for many years in Gothenburg and in Stockholm.

Remove ads

Discography

Nymphet Noodlers

Nymphet Noodlers – Impeccable Selection (EP, 1993)
Nymphet Noodlers – "The Sea" (single, 1994)
Nymphet Noodlers – Going Abroad (album, 1994. Expanded re-release as a 2-LP, 2021)

The Soundtrack of Our Lives

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Welcome to the Infant Freebase (album, 1996)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Extended Revelation for the Psychic Weaklings of Western Civilization (album, 1998)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Gimme Five (EP, 2000)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Behind the Music (album, 2001)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Origin Vol. 1 (album, 2004)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – A Present from the Past (double album, 2005. Compilation of EP tracks, B-sides and outtakes)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Communion (double album, 2008)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Golden Greats No. 1 (compilation, 2010)^[18]
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Throw It to the Universe (album, 2012)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Shine On (EP, 2012)

Solo (film music)

Mattias Bärjed – Upp till kamp (soundtrack, double album, 2007)
Mattias Bärjed – Familjen Babajou (soundtrack, digital release, 2009)
Mattias Bärjed – Himlen är oskyldigt blå (soundtrack, digital release, 2010)
Mattias Bärjed – Call Girl (soundtrack, album, 2012)
Mattias Bärjed – Gentlemen (soundtrack, double album, 2014)
Mattias Bärjed – Gentlemen & Gangsters (soundtrack, digital release, 2016)
Mattias Bärjed – Liberty (soundtrack, digital release, 2018)
Mattias Bärjed – Jakten på en mördare (The Hunt For A Killer) (soundtrack, digital release, 2020)
Mattias Bärjed – Händelser vid vatten (Blackwater) (soundtrack, digital release, 2023)

Free Fall

Free Fall – Power And Volume (single, 2012)
Free Fall – Power And Volume (album, 2013)

Refused

Refused – War Music (album, 2019)
Refused – The Malignant Fire (EP, 2020)
Refused – Born On The Outs (EP, 2020)

Other

Dundertåget – Skaffa ny frisyr (album, 2009. Producer)
The Hellacopters – Grande Rock (album, 1999. Acoustic guitar and backing vocals)
The Hellacopters – High Visibility (album, 2000. Acoustic and electric guitar)
The Hellacopters – By the Grace of God (album, 2002. Acoustic and electric guitar)
The Hellacopters – Rock & Roll Is Dead (album, 2005. Acoustic guitar)
Håkan Hellström – För sent för Edelweiss (album, 2007. Guitar)
Håkan Hellström – 2 steg från Paradise (album, 2010. Guitar)
Mindjive – "Package Design" (single, 1996)
Mindjive – Chemicals (album, 1996)
Thunder Express – Republic Disgrace (album, 2007. Producer)