For my money, it’s hard to top abandoned playgrounds when it comes to creepiness. A single swing swaying back and forth with nobody on it? Add some mist and a set of footprints that just stops, and you have the makings of a pretty spooky trailer, if not the opening scene of a full-on thriller. All of which may be why I was attracted to Abandoned Playground, a hard-rocking band that formed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2018. Curious to know more, I reached out to bass player Bjorn Egelius to answer a few questions…

How did Abandoned Playground come together?

I’ve known Mikael for fifteen years or so. We both have a long background as musicians. One day Mikael was up in Stockholm and dropped by my place, he asked do you have any songs that I can do vocals on?  We felt it was a really good thing coming out of it.

How would you describe your sound?

A bit heavy with some post-punk influences.

Your most recent single is called “You’re a Dreamer.” Can you say a little about that?

It’s about a person drifting away from you and others close to him/her doing their things with concern for others or themselves for that matter.

I find it interesting that you combine various elements in your music—particularly punk and prog, which used to be perceived as inimical to each other. How did you arrive at that combination?

I have a background as a bass player and founder of a progressive rock band, therhythmisodd, with whom I recorded a couple of albums.  In my younger days I was more into punk and metal.

Mikael also has a background from the punk scene, so I guess it influenced us a bit.

The band consists of you and Mikael Johansson. How do you work together as a team? What is your writing process?

I write the music and and lyrics, Mikael arranges the vocal performance and adjusts the lyrics.

And your recording process?

The music is recorded by me at my “home studio,” shipping it over to Mikael who records the vocal at his end of the woods.  The next step is to hand over the project to Burken (Peter Bjorklund) for the solo guitar.

Finally the programmed drums are replaced with acoustic drumming performed  by Fredrik Gunnarsson.  Usually I rerecord the bass part to make it sit tighter with the drums to make more groovy.

As I mentioned above, I find your band name to be incredibly evocative. What does it mean to you, and how does it reflect what you’re doing with your music?

Funny you’re asking! It has to do with my old recording studio I had for more than 20 years. The landlord needed to take down the building, so my “playground”  had to be abandoned!  🙂

You formed in 2018, so that’s well before the pandemic. How did you weather the early pandemic years as a band?  

Since this has been more of a project than a band (we are actually located in different areas in the country), it was a booster for the project since we had to spend more time at home, which was good for the creativity.

What’s the music scene like in Stockholm?

The music scene in Stockholm is a bit hard, at least for unsigned bands.  The pandemic lockdowns hit a lot of the clubs and bars, of course.

Is there any chance that you’ll play live anytime soon?

Yes, that is something that we feel is really needed. We are planning for it.

Anything else on the horizon?

A new song is coming this later this fall. The name is “it’s a smash hit.”