Ljusdal is a small town about 200 km north of here (Kungsgården) and last December Men On The Border supported our good friends Pünk Flöyd on the release gig for their latest album, Echöes. December was a very cold month in Ljusdal. Odd and I got to the venue, The Glass House Rosehills in mid-afternoon and we already knew we were to play in a very large greenhouse but were not really prepared for the reality of -18°C outside and -10°C inside. There was a good-sized wood burning stove which almost glowed red and what looked like a mini jet-engine pumping heat into the room – heat which was quickly sucked out into the freezing air through the glass walls and roof. It was a bit worrying, but nobody else seemed concerned. Later they even brought out some smaller heaters which were great if you stood directly in front of them.
During late afternoon and early evening, the temperature in the greenhouse gradually crept up above zero and was it almost warm by the time we got to play. Nobody in the audience took their coats off though, which says a lot. Stupidly I didn’t put mine on while later watching Pünk Flöyd and was basically a bit bloody cold the whole evening.
After the audience had gone home, we hung around playing songs just for the fun of it, before most of us headed back to drummer Håkan’s place for a bite to eat, a drink and a session in his basement studio. Together we recorded a seriously wicked version of Bowie’s Starman while sampling various exotic alcoholic beverages. Well, maybe it wasn’t the best version of that song I’ve ever heard, but it was a lot of fun to play. Göran had gone back to the hotel early, but Odd and I hung out with PF until 4 in the morning when we finally headed in the direction of central Ljusdal, about 2 kilometers away. We walked and froze the whole way as it was still -18°C. I don’t know why we didn’t take a taxi as that would have been a lot wiser. The outcome of that stroll was a week in bed with the worst cold I’ve had in years. But no regrets, it was a great weekend.
Pünk Flöyd do covers of Pink Floyd songs, but they do them in their own humourous and extremely personal way. Like “The Wall” played in waltz time (the album is called “The Waltz”). They went down a storm at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 2016 with Men On The Border. That was followed up in 2017 by a gig at the 1815 Union Bar and then the prestigious Cambridge Folk Festival in 2018. The film of that event shows a couple of thousand very enthusiastic new fans.
They are an entirely acoustic band and even Johan Barreby’s organ has a foot pump. For the Corn Exchange gig, it was not possible to ship the organ from Sweden, but Göran searched for an organ on sale locally in Cambridge and incredibly he found one. It was perfectly functional and cost only £30, about 400 SEK. As soon as the gig was over, an offer to buy the organ was made by one of the girls from Strawberry Switchblade who was in the audience. It was hilarious to see her, Texas Bob Juarez and various members of PF trying to get that heavy organ in the back of a car which was far too small for it at one in the morning. In the end the organ had to be left at the Corn Exchange and was apparently still there a year later.
Pünk Flöyd unfortunately don’t play so often and are spread out over half the country, but if you get the chance – see them! And if we get the chance, we’ll play with them again.