Mattias Olsson

Early life

He was born in Hong Kong to Swedish parents. In 1981 he moved to Stockholm. Starting as a drummer at eight years old he started off playing in big bands, pop and classical ensembles.

Career

When he was 17 he joined progressive rock band Änglagård. Änglagård consisted of musicians from Ekerö as well as Waxholm. The band was heavily influenced by bands such as King Crimson, Yes and Genesis but also listened to less famous bands such as Shylock, Cathedral and Yezda Urfa. Änglagård quickly became known for their instrumentation skills and their dynamic range often reminiscent of classical music. When the band started the current trend in progressive rock was to use the newest digital equipment. Änglagård decided instead to use old classic prog equipment like the Rickenbacker bass, Minimoog and the Mellotron. Änglagård recorded two studio albums in the 1990s, Hybris (1992) and Epilog (1994). They also recorded a live album called Buried Alive (1996). The title was a joke from Mattias, the worst title for a live album must be ...Buried Alive. After a long hiatus the band released their third album Viljans Öga in 2012.

He also did some sessions with White Willow and Pär Lindh.

After Änglagård, he joined Swedish pop band Pineforest Crunch who have so far recorded three albums: Make Believe, Watergarden and Panamarenko. The band's influences ranged from R.E.M, American Music Club to King Crimson and the Sundays. Pineforest Crunch had a very strong D.I.Y ethos and recorded six demos before getting signed to Abbas old label Polar. The band had a hit from the first album, "Cup Noodle Song". The single was a hit in Sweden and Japan and lead to intensive touring. The second album, Watergarden, was recorded in England with Radiohead producer Jim Warren. Watergarden mixed orchestral textures with Mellotrons and experimental guitars. Parallel with Pineforest Crunch, he started playing drums and occasional keyboards with Reminder.

He has since then played in numerous projects and is now active as a record producer. He has recorded albums with Deadwood Forest, Devi, Clockwork, AK-Momo, Nanook of the North, Vijaya and others.

Theatre and film

Together with musician and composer Matti Bye, Mattias Olsson has written music for both film and theatre. In 2009 they wrote music for productions at both Dramaten and Stadsteatern in Stockholm. They have also played together at silent movie festivals and showings both in Tromsö and Stockholm. They have written and played music for Berlin, Nanook of the North and Fritz Langs Metropolis.

Studio

Mattias Olsson runs his own studio outside of Stockholm called Roth Händle Studio. The studio started as a simple home studio using an Akai Dps-12 and a handful microphones. There was no plan to become a producer but as bookings started to appear albums started getting recorded. The small home studio is where the Swedish pop band Andreas & Jag started recording three albums. Andreas & Jag was Mattias Olsson and Andreas Morland. Other bands that recorded at the home studio are Pineforest Crunch and Nanook of the North. The first real location was at Finnboda Varv just outside Stockholm. At this studio location bands like Kit le fever and Clockwork recorded early EPs. The Studio has a collection of musical artifacts including claviolines, pipe organs, Stylophones, Mellotrons, Celesta, Orchestrons and Talentmakers.

In 2010 the location in Sundbyberg closed and the studio went into storage for a brief while before being relocated to Sollentuna.

Personal life

Mattias Olsson is married to Åsa Carild and has three children.

Selected discography