Trollhättan is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is located 75 km (46 mi) north of Sweden’s second-largest city, Gothenburg.
Spring Johnny! which means Run Johnny! in Swedish, hailed from that town, Trollhättan, the 23rd largest of the country. What does Trollhättan means? Yes, it means troll’s hat. Great name for a city.
Something really surprising is that their website, which I believe was last updated in 2010 and was probably created around 2006, still works.
Here there is the band’s discography.
The first release was an EP called “…och Johnny Sprang”. On this 2006 release the band included five songs, “Maria, Du Måste Höra“, “Riksväg 45 Blues“, “Du & Jag En Gång Till“, “Släpp Mig Fri Nr.2” and “35th & Nine”. The EP received nice reviews from TV4 in Göteborg and from Annika from Hello Saferide.
The band released “Den Stora Uppgörelsen” the following year. It was released as a CD digipak and was recorded at DP Studios. Mixed and mastered by Mikael Mellberg. This EP was a bit shorter, four songs, “Några Ord På Ett Papper”, “Trollhättan City Nights”, ” Den Stora Uppgörelsen” and “Ikväll, Imorgon & Allt Efter Det”. The photos on the album are credited to Jonis Bader while the design to Martin Gustafsson.
Lastly the band released a single, on Myspace as a digital one, including two songs, “Största Skvallret i Stan” and “Väntar”. These songs were recorded in M15 Sonics between he 14 and the 16 of September 2007.
The band was formed by Olle Aronsson on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Eric Karlsson on bass, Oscar Persson on drums, Johan Rosén on keyboards and Kalle Widén on guitar and backing vocals. When the band played live sometimes they were joined by Niklas Bryngelsson on percussion, Elin Bogren on violin and Stina Widén on saxophone.
The band played live too. We know they played at the Club Ramaskri at Kontiki, London Gossip at Henriksberg and also at the Prison in Gothenburg. They also played at the Fairfest in Vänersborg and the Turbin festival in their own Trollhättan.
We learn that at some point Kalle and Oscar left the band to study. I believe Joel Edin played guitar and Fredrik Forsberg replaced them at gigs.
Also mentioned is a recording session where they were working on three songs which I believe remain unreleased, “Kungarna av Bitterljuvt Slut”, “Blåögd Orkan”, “Tolv Dagar (Inte Mer)”.
“Blåögd Orkan” would appear on a compilation CD released by the Groove Magazine in 2008 called just “CD 4 2008”. The song “Merkuri” would appear on “Marckänning – Tribute Till Peter LeMarc” on a CD released by SI Studio the same year with covers of this singer songwriter who was also from Trollhättan.
Johan Rosén seems to be still involved with music. He has collaborated with artists like Olivia Lundberg and David Nilsson as well as releasing 3 solo albums. He has also played in the band Dandelion Tree Band.
In 2018 the Västerås Tidning wrote an article showcasing Kalle Widén as a guitar educator. It mentions a solo album to be released by Kalle that year. That he was also in the bands Snook and Sugarplum Fairy and in total he has appeared in over 15 records, as a band member or as a producer.
Lastly a good find, a video of the band playing live at Sticky Fingers in Göteborg.
Do you remember Spring Johnny!? Anything else we should know about them?
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