Chapter 6
SEPTEMBER—NOVEMBER 1993
Very few new songs were written. Sonny is a Bad Guy/Tired/In Bed Without Madonna/My Worst Friend are among the known titles.
Kent and Chips sang backing vocals on one track of Karlsmark’s album. Apart from that, not much creative things were going on.
Chips: “This was actually very depressing times for the band. Our album sold a lot, the Abba song Ring Ring gave us another hit. The shows were great and we were showered with awards, but all the legal troubles got worse. We had no time for writing new material ’cause we were talking to lawyers all the time. And that’s not why you start a band”.
Hans: “After the tour we were all so tired, it was a really great year and a horrible year at the same time. It really felt like Sator versus the world”.
Michael: “We had a lot of “major crisis-meetings” this autumn. Finally we came to a point where we said -Fuck this! Let’s put the band on hold, for a while, stop touring and do something else instead”.
Kent: “Even if the we had almost a full album of new material. We didn’t
really feel like doing a new record, and go on tour again, so instead it was decided to go ahead with one of Chips little pet projects”.
Hans: “The idea was to record a tribute EP to some of the bands we grew up with. But instead of using already released tracks, Chips figured that the bands most certainly had more great songs that never got recorded. Why don’t we record those songs? He’d been writing to all these people asking for lost songs, and after a couple of years collecting material, we now had like 20 songs to choose from, so it turned into a whole album instead”.
In October Kent also did some backing vocals on the Swedish band Stukas album “The world according to…” The band included Mia Wikdahl (who appears in the Pre-Sator biography) and Björn Jonson (Long time roadie for Sator).
DECEMBER 1993
Sator performed 3 songs at “Union Carbide’s” farewell show. Carbide’s Cartoon Animal with Nymphet Noodler’s singer Mattias Hellberg, The Nuns’ No solution and I don’t care by The Boys.
On New Year’s Eve The Lardbyrds played at a party. Some of the songs performed were I’m gonna punch you in the face (by The Child Molesters) and With a Girl Like You (by The Troggs).
1994
THE RECORDING OF BARBIE-Q-KILLERS VOL 1
JANUARY 1994
Mon 3rd – Sator began working on the BBQ-killers album at Music-A-Matic studio with Jim Brumby engineering. During that time the band also squeezed in a show in Stockholm trying out the new material.
Tue 11th – Chips was invited to play some guitars on a single by the band Greenberg. The band also featured some members of The Stonefunkers.
Mon 17th – The mixing of the album started this day and would be completed the following Sunday.
Thurs 27th – The album was mastered and sent to the pressing plant. A quick one this time!
Sun 30th – A low-budget video was made for Black ‘n’ White.
Mon 31st – The No Solution video was shot, but later it would be withdrawn. It was only shown once on a Swedish TV-show. Both videos were directed by Michael Katzeff.
FEBRUARY 1994
No tour followed that album, just a few TV-shows. Almost without any promotion, “Barbie-Q-Killers Vol 1” still reached number 2 in the Swedish charts!
MARCH 1994
Fri 11th – Sator was one of the acts celebrating The Leather Nun’s 15 year anniversary.
APRIL—JULY 1994
I’ll wait was released as the second single from BBQ killers.
More new songs were written and the band started looking for a producer for a “real” Sator album. While the band waited for the producer to become available, several songs, intended for a split-EP with the American band White Flag, were recorded.
Another song, Even as we speak, was done during the same sessions for a US release only 7″ single.
AUGUST 1994
Wed 10th – Gothenburg. An unofficial joint venture between Sator/White Flag took place in front of about 100 people in a small club. The following day they’ll be on the big stage at the Hultsfred festival.
Thurs 11th – Hultsfred: Nix Vahlberg and Hans Östlund of the Nomads also joined the circus for a rendition of The Zeros’ classic song Wimp. Campino of Die Toten Hosen jumped on stage for The Runaways’ Cherry Bomb. The whole show ended with a chaotic version of The Beatles’ I’m Down. The audience looked a bit confused. Not much Sator material showed up in the set at all.
Sator/White flag also recorded a very messy ‘unplugged’ show for Danish radio. It contained acoustic versions of two White Flag songs; Face Down and A Moment of Silence.
SEPTEMBER 1994
Thurs 8th – Sator played Halter top and Ring ring for 20 000 kids at the Ullevi stadium.
Chips: “It all looked and felt very much like The Beatles show at Shea stadium, so we all independently did the “Beatles bow” after the songs. It was great fun”.