David Mac (DM): Greetings Lars. It was great to see you again last weekend in Dana Point. Let’s start off by letting our readers know some basic biographical information on you.

Lars Näsman (LN): Hello David…I was born in a little town called Hassela in the middle of Sweden back in 1972. I was the third kid of four, I have two sisters and one older brother. I got a job and moved to a bigger town when I turned 18. I met my wife there and we moved to Stockholm. Then fourteen years ago we moved to a small town, Järvsö with our three kids. It is in the middle of Sweden. 

DM: Did you have any other interests growing up besides music?

LN:  Soccer! When I was 19 I had to choose between playing soccer in the highest league or developing my music career. I chose music.

DM: Good choice…

LN: I think so too.

DM: What were some of your earliest exposures to music?

LN: I remember when I was around eight years old my older sister and her boyfriend took me to a big outdoor family festival where we watched Jerry Williams. He was one of our biggest rock & roll artists in Sweden of all time. I remember I really liked it and I was so impressed by his band.                                

DM: How, when and under what circumstances did you first get into playing music?

LN: I started to play guitar in a band when I was around twelve, but after awhile I changed to electric bass. Then when I turned fourteen I got hired to play in an “after ski” band that had gigs every Saturday afternoon at a ski resort in the small town where I lived. I played with them for four years. We played every Saturday in the wintertime. We played all kinds of music. That was a pretty good school for me.

DM: How did you get in to playing blues music?

LN: When I was seventeen my brother asked me if I could rehearse with his blues band because he wanted to start playing harmonica instead of bass and I said: “I really don’t like that blues thing at all, but ok, I will do it because you are my brother” I did one rehearsal with his blues band and then I was hooked. I loved it!

The year after my brother gave me an upright bass as a Christmas gift. I remember I got so excited. After awhile I started to learn that instrument as well, even if I had a hard time from the beginning with blisters and bloody fingers. So, for a few years after that I played in many different blues bands. Sam Rocket & his Blues Prisoners, Knockout Greg, Jump 4 Joy, Harmonica Henry & the Blues Rockers to name just a few. Now over the last 20 years I’ve been playing with all kinds of blues and soul artists from all around the world.

DM: Were there any teachers or mentors that you would like to talk about that were of particular importance to your development?

LN: I must say my brother Per Näsman (Sam Rocket).  I should tell you that our dad passed away at a very early age. He was 36 years old. I was five years old and my brother was five years older than me. He got me into this and he made me listen to the right stuff. He has been a lifelong inspiration to me and has always been one of my best friends.

Of course, there is also Sven Zetterberg. He had a big impact on me. I remember the first time I played with him with Sam Rocket & his Blues Prisoners, we backed him on a club gig. That was a really special moment for me and the whole band. One which we will never forget.

DM: As it relates to the blues field, what were some of the early recordings that you got hip to and remember listening to that had an impact on your approach to music?

LN: I have to mention two records that made a great impact on me. The first one is T-Bone Walker’s The Complete Imperial Recordings. I was listening to that record every day for years. It didn’t matter what mood I was in, it always worked. I still listen to that album to this day.            

The second one is Junior Watson’s Long Overdue. A CD store guy knew that I just started to listen to blues and he said, “You really should buy this.” Which I did. After that I think I and my brother (Sam Rocket) did half of the songs from that CD for years on our gigs and I still think it’s a fantastic CD. I have toured with Watson a couple of times over the last few years. He is fantastic as you know David, so it’s wonderful that he is one of my California friends.                                                          

DM: Who are some of your influences on bass?

LN: Well, I have to say Willie Dixon of course, but I really love Larry Taylor’s playing especially together with Richard Innes. That combo was world class. Back in the day, I was really impressed by a local guy, the early bass player in Knockout Greg & Blue Weather, Thomas Hammarlöf.  I really liked his style and approach on stage.

DM: At what point did you meet Tommy Moberg?

LN: I meet Tommy at a Jazzclubb Fasching in Stockholm in 2000. I was playing with my brother’s band, Sam Rocket & His Blues Prisoners. We said, “Hi” and he told me about his band Trickbag and then he started to hire me after that. After awhile when they recorded their second CD, Afternoon Mint, they wanted me to do some upright bass on that recording.

After that I started with the band. At that time the band was playing a lot of local gigs around Stockholm, but Tommy and I wanted to do more festivals and tours in Europe. So, we decided to start working on that. After half a year or so the wheels started rolling and we started to tour much more, especially in Germany for quite awhile, and all over Europe with festivals and club gigs. We have been working together for awhile now...eighteen years…ha-ha…time flies.  

DM: One of the things that I find interesting about Trickbag is that it is kind of an International blues collective. You have Tomi Leino on guitar from Finland and Steve “West” Weston from England on harp for instance. Then you have yourself and Tommy from Sweden.  Let’s talk about that aspect of the band and that chemistry.

LN: We had some different members over the years and you know how it is in the music business, people come and go, but our line-up has stabilized over the past six or seven years. I love playing with the guys in Trickbag. It’s a lot of energy and they are really talented guys. They are also easy going which is good as we have lots of traveling. As you mentioned we are from three different countries, so there is travel for us to just play anywhere.

DM: Trickbag is the “go to” band in Europe for American blues musicians.

LN: That is true. However, I would like to point out that every time I’ve booked tours with these guys I’ve tried to book them in my hometown Järvsö. For me it has been very important to bring them to this small town because I want the people here to be able to listen to these world-class players. It feels like the interest for this music has grown because of that and that makes me glad. I also brought some of the guys to some schools to do blues clinics and that has been good for the students.

We often do a stop at my house and have warm apple cake and coffee with my family. James Harman liked it so much. He still talks about that cake.

DM: A couple of people who you have worked with have moved on, as they say. Let’s start with your thoughts on one of the most important figures in the modern blues world, Sven Zetterberg, who you mentioned earlier in our conversation.

LN: Yeah, it’s a big loss for the blues and soul scene, especially here in Sweden. We were many that got really choked up when we got the news about Sven’s passing. I think he had a great impact on most of the people that are into the blues in Sweden. For me, when I was young I remember it was a really big thing for me to be on the same stage and to be able to do recordings with him. He was also a really nice and funny guy to be around, he made us laugh many times.

DM: Let’s talk about the man known as Barrelhouse Chuck and what it was like to work with such a modern day master of the blues piano.

LN: Chuck was a really great guy and a good friend. We did many trips together and we had some really nice tours and some really good times together. I think one of the best recordings I’ve been on is with Chuck when we recorded songs for Trickbag’s  …With Friends Volume 1. He was playing that piano like nobody else.

We have been through some tough times as well. I remember a gig we did in my hometown in Sweden. It was on a small island. It was part of a CD release tour for our latest CD at the time, Goin’ Downtown.  Chuck and Sven were on that tour. We started the second set and where supposed to introduce Chuck on the second song, but he didn’t show up. Then Sven came in screaming, “Chuck just had a heart attack!” He was lucky because there was a nurse in the audience that took care of him and called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital.

DM: He is also lucky that this heart attack took place while he was in Sweden and not here in the U.S.

LN: He kept trying to get out of the ambulance and was saying, “I can’t afford this. Let me out.” They kept telling him to calm down that …’everything was going to be OK… you are not in the United States… Don’t worry.’

He stayed there for a few of days and went through some surgery and got better. When the tour was over I drove eight hours to that hospital to visit him on his birthday and his last day in Sweden.

It all ended up pretty good even if it was a really scary experience, especially for him of course. Then it took just a few years then he got sick again...and this time he didn’t make it. He was a big inspiration, a good friend and a true legend.

DM: Another very important figure in this music is our mutual friend Lynwood Slim. We talked about this the other day, but his return to the stage after a two-year illness that nearly cost him his life was with your band at the Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, California.

LN: That was an amazing tour for me and the band. As you know it was our mutual friend John Reilly (J.R.) who booked that gig in Costa Mesa that you two put together. J.R. invited Lynwood Slim and Rick Holmstrom for that show. We did a couple of songs each with them. We had never met Slim before, so it was the first time we ever played with him.

JR picked up his Zoom recorder when Slim got up onstage. The recording with this little zoom machine turned out so good we actually could use it as a live track on Trickbag With Friends Vol 1, so I’m really glad that Slim is on that CD.

DM: I’m so glad he did that, as that recording came out so good. Slim’s opening remarks are very cool which was also captured by J.R. That was a very emotional moment for me and all the people who knew the extent of Slim’s physical ailments. It turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the big stage at the Doheny Blues Festival just a couple of days later.

LN: Lynwood and Chuck played a couple of songs with us at Doheny Blues Festival on that tour as well and for me that was one of the greatest experience I had so far as a musician. It was such a great, great feeling on that gig and the audience just loved that Slim was back. I’m so glad I had that experience with him.

DM: You have been out to California several times over the past few years. Have you played in other places in the U.S. as well?

LN: Tommy Moberg and I toured in Chicago and played with some local guys in 2007 and we were at Amanda’s Roller Coaster in Phoenix in 2010 and did a guest appearance there with Kim Wilson, Junior Watson, Bill Flynn, Barrelhouse Chuck and Aki Kumar That was a really great weekend.

I love California and it’s always great to play there. I have toured California six times in the last seven years with different bands and I loved it every time. I’ve booked Trickbag on four tours in California and we played the Doheny Blues Festival twice. I really love that festival.

DM: Let’s talk about the bass and your approach to that instrument. How do you feel about your responsibility to a band’s overall sound?

LN: The most important part is to play together with the drummer and find the groove and play from your heart.

DM: You have been working with a drummer over the past four or five years or so named Per Norin.

LN: He is a good friend I was the one who hired him for Trickbag. I have played with him in different bands though the years. We have played jazz and different types of pop music, but he had never played blues. I thought he had what it took to be a good blues drummer.  So, I started to invite him to our gigs so he could listen. I started sending him records to listen to. He worked on it and practiced for a year. It was at this point I let him try out with the band. He has been with us for the past five years.

DM: One of the things that all the Trickbag CDs have in common is that they were all released by Magic Productions. Let’s talk about Magic Productions.

LN: I started Magic Productions around 2003 as a booking agency, back then I was booking gigs for many different bands all over Sweden. That was actually the reason why I started the company. A few years later when we were going to release Trickbag’s Tailor Made I decided to release it on my company.

Since then we have a total of eight releases on the Magic Productions label, five with Trickbag and three brand new ones that just came out.  I’m really excited about the three new releases.

DM: As you should be Lars. Over the weekend you were kind enough to get all three of these brand new CDs in my hand and all three are outstanding. Let’s take them one at a time. Let’s start with Caught in the Groove by Sam Rocket and his Blues Prisoners.

LN: I talked to my brother that I wanted to produce their new CD. I thought the band sounded so good now. The last recordings they did were way back in 2001 when I was still with that band. So, it was about time.

I took them to Tomi Leino’s analog Suprovox Studio in Karkilla, Finland, where we recorded the CD. We did two sessions and mixed it there in 2017. Their first release in 17 years and I’m happy it turned out good.  

DM: I’ve got to ask you, is there any back story as to how your older brother, Pers Näsman ended up with such a wild stage name like Sam Rocket?

LN: It actually is a great story behind that name. The guitar player in an early version of the band mixed the names up of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers. So, on a rehearsal the guitar player just screamed out, “Come on Sam Rocket.” We were listening to them and were very inspired by what that band was doing. We did a lot of their songs as well. So, the nickname stuck.

DM: (laughing) Now I’m glad I asked. Let’s discuss the new Knockout Greg album that you also just released on your label.

LN: Knockout Greg called me a few months ago and asked me if I wanted to release their new CD. I said, yes. So, I started to work with the band right away.  At the same time, I talked to Jeff Scott Fleenor about booking them at Doheny Blues Festival in California this year.  He loved the idea as Knockout Greg was the first International blues artist to ever play at that festival.  We worked really hard to get the CD ready for the festival. The new band is called Knockout Greg and the Jukes.

As you know, I traveled out to California for the festival and did some backing vocals together with our good friend and amazing singer Mercedes Moore.

DM: …and the third release?

LN: The third release is on West Weston from the U.K. West is a really good friend and I’ve been playing with him for many years now in Trickbag. He hired me to do a recording with him a couple of years ago. It was also recorded in Tomi Leino’s studio in Finland. We did eleven tracks, all originals written by West. He took the recording back to the UK to do the mastering. Then we didn’t talk about it for a pretty long time until the end of 2017 when we decided that it’s going to be released on my company. That made me really excited. I’m really honored to release this, the first CD under his own name. I know there has been a lot of people waiting for a looooong time for this one.  

DM: It really is amazing to me that after all these years and all that West has accomplished in this business that this is his first album under his own name. You play upright bass and do some backing vocals on the CD and you are joined by Tomi Leino on guitar. That name keeps popping up in our conversation.

LN: As you know Dave, Tomi is a great musician and he is also a dear friend. We have worked together in various musical settings including of course all the records we have done with Trickbag.

DM: Let’s talk about any new projects that you have on the horizon.

LN: I started a soul project last year.  I, Tomi Leino and Per Norin did some recordings together with the great singers Missy Andersen and Mercedes Moore last year. We have also started to talk about doing a new Trickbag CD, but we haven’t decided exactly when.

DM: You have all kinds of stuff going on that keeps you very busy.

LN: I also have my own club over here. It’s an old storage for vegetables in an underground room and it was built in 1854. I had Knockout Greg, Sam Rocket, The Tomi Leino Trio, Missy Andersen, Mercedes Moore, Aki Kumar, Rockin’ Johnny Burgin play at the club. I’m going to have Mark Hummel coming in the fall.

I also had my own blues festival for a couple of years. It’s about an hour from where I live. I’ve had John Nemeth, BB and the Blues Shacks, Sven Zetterberg, Knockout Greg, Trickbag, Sam Rocket and others.

DM: When you look back on your career in the blues music field up to this point, what is it that you like to reflect on and think about.

LN: You know there have been so many great artists that I’ve worked with over these many years. I put tours together and I’ve been recording with guys that I didn’t think was possible. Many of these people are legendary figures in the blues music field, who are actually my friends now.

DM: That is pretty crazy when you stop and think about it. Which we just did.

LN: It’s crazy…in a good way.

DM: Crazy in a good way. I love it. Thanks Lars. We have been trying to get together for an interview for a long time now going back a few years. I’m glad we waited, as the timing is perfect.

LN: Thank you Dave. This means a lot to me.



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