Fans can be weird sometimes, but it’s fun when they do things about/for me!

Like when Thiago from Brazil used video and audio from The Cartoon Medley to make this video:

Hey, thanks for all your questions! I didn’t expect to get this many, and there’s no room to answer all of them, so I have tried to choose the more interesting ones.

Most of your what you were asking for can be found in the F.A.Q section, my Musical History post, or this album interview though.

Capristarz asked:
1. Why do you call yourself ‘Freddie25′ on YouTube?
– I really just made my YouTube channel to upload a video game trailer (Phoenix Wright 2) that I had managed to come across, but wasn’t available publically yet. So I just wrote “Freddie” first, because, well, English speaking people can’t pronounce “Fredde” properly, but obviously that wasn’t available, so I just added two random numbers.
(Although I should really have told you the more epic story, but made-up just now, about how I had planned all along to become famous and rich by the age of 25, and only upload videos until then. I turn 26 in September, so that would have been quite cool.)

2. What were your thoughts when you first plucked a note on/strummed the guitar?
– I don’t remember if this was the first time, but one of my earliest memories with a guitar was that I picked one string, then tried the next one to play “Little Cat” on it (a children’s song similar to Frère Jaques; it’s just three notes), and heard that it was all wrong. So I tried to re-tune the strings to get the right notes for the song. I had not realized that you could use your left hand to make different notes on the same string.

3. What kind of people/things most intrigue you?
– I think I’m mostly intrigued by challenges. As long as it’s not competitively. I like figuring things out, regardless of whether it’s a weird chord progression or a math problem. Or a girl’s personal problem. There has to be a solution for everything!! (Even questions like these are interesting and intriguing, because I learn more about myself when thinking about what to answer.)

Patrick asked:
1. I’ve been playing bass for two years, still having difficulty reading notes, have any tips?
– Not really. I don’t read notes either. I mean, I can figure them out, but if I have to use sheet music (in case I haven’t heard the song), I slowly go through the song, memorize every part, and then throw away the sheets and just play.
But I suppose it’s all about practice. Figure out what each symbol means, and then keep trying to play through songs as quickly as possible. After a few hundred hours, it should be a piece of cake!

2. Did/do you go to the University in music?
– Nope, I’m self-taught.

3. Allez-vous un jour venir au Canada?
– J’ai visité le Canada en 2009! ;)

Will asked: Other YouTube videos seem very commercial right now apart from yours as you seem to be doing what you want. Will you be doing any more queen songs? Or anything from way back then cos I like that!
– I don’t think I will. The thing is that I’m really trying to do new things every time, because I don’t like to repeat myself. When I’ve made a video game song, people tell me that I should do more of that, and when I’ve played TV themes, people tell me that I should do more of that. These days I get lots of requests about doing Queen songs. ;) But that’s not how I work, because I have to be curious and challenged about the things I’m doing; otherwise I just won’t finish it.

Donee asked:
1. To what do you attribute your gaining popularity?
– I don’t think my popularity is gaining exactly. 32 songs in 8 minutes is still my most popular video, and it was made in 2009. But with more videos uploaded, more people will get to know about me. I just try to keep the same quality, even though I’m often trying new things. (If I’d quickly explain why I’m popular at all, I’d say it’s because I do things in original and fresh ways, and I do it well. And because I’m charming, hah.)

2. If you had to choose, what would you name as your all-time favorite dishwashing detergent?
– Probably “Yes”, because I’ve bought like, two bottles of it in the last five years, and there’s still a lot left in the second one. It’s really long lasting! (And also because it’s the name of a great classic prog rock band!)

3. What kind of people are involved with your website and album development? More specifically, do you have an editor, publisher, photographer, publicist, taste-tester, etc.? If so, how did you come upon them (did they offer their services, are they family/friends, did you go searching)?
– I’m doing most things on my own. Regarding the album, I get help with lyrics from a few people who randomly contacted me, and have now become friends. I’ve hired David Schlein for drums, and the sound engineer William Blackmon to mix everything. The rest is all me; the composing, arranging and the recording of all instruments.
I also hired an acquaintance (we had talked a few times on a Dream Theater forum) for the album artwork.
About the website, I got help by a friend’s friend with making it (although it was mostly my design), but I’m running everything on my own now that it’s up.
(As for taste-testers, I often ask people in the FreddeGredde chat room what they think of things.)
So yeah, no editors, publishers, photographers or publicists. I’m looking for a label to distribute my album physically though, but I really prefer having full control, by doing everything myself.

Kit asked:
1. What is it that you look for in a love interest? That is to say, do you have a type or general preferences? I’m sorry if this one is too personal.
– Honestly I don’t know what I’m looking for. I wouldn’t say I’ve ever even been in love, so I just can’t say what is necessary for me to fall for someone.
But, I think there are three important aspects:
1. I want to find her physically attractive.
2. Liking video games (Might seem silly, but that aspect says a lot about her personality; that she still has childlike senses left, that she’s a bit geeky, and well, that she has the same interests as I do.)
3. I was going to write that she’d have to be “strong”/confident; that she is actually able to take care of herself and isn’t overly dependent on anything or anyone. But when thinking about it, I always seem to get curious/interested in girls with some kind of problem, because I really feel the need to help and “save” people, to make them feel better. But this might be the wrong reason to be interested in someone.. So I don’t really know.
Basically, I’ve no idea what I’m looking for. That special girl who just feels right.

2. You’ve written about “Vampire Bride” that it would likely be your last traditional, film-like music video. Now that some time has passed, do you feel differently about the project? Would you consider making another to promote your upcoming album?
– Yes, because I plan to make at least three videos for songs on the album, and I don’t want all of them to be split-screen videos like Beside Me, so to mix things up, I will try to make a “traditional” music as well! There’s also a cute story-driven song that would really work with an animated video, so I’m trying to find some animator to do that for me! I would like to do it myself, but there’s just no time! So if you know any great animators, tell them to contact me! ;)

3. you’ve achieved a good amount of success as a solo performer and as you have shown us recently, are quite capable of being a full band all by yourself. :) Do you see yourself staying solo always, or do you think you’d be interested in starting or collaborating with a band at some point in the future?
– If I would ever play concerts, I’d need another keyboardist, a guitarist and a bassist to join me and David Schlein, and if the chemistry is good, they might help me with recording future projects. But I don’t think I’d want to collaborate in more ways than that.

4. You’ve done several original songs at this point (my favorite so far is “The Wayfarer,” but they’re all good), in collaboration with other lyricists. How do you decide on lyrics for a song you’re trying to write?
– I used to have an annotation on YouTube, asking lyricists to send me lyrics that I could use when composing. I’ve never really cared about lyrics though, so I’ve usually asked friends what they thought of lyrics that are sent to me, and if they approved, I’d make a song of them. The Wayfarer was one of them! Basically, I have lots of musical ideas, so it’s a fun challenge to have a set of lines in front of me, and then compose something that fits.
Lately, I’ve been trying to do everything on my own though, and then I usually do the composing on my own first, just singing random words to replace later. Sometimes I come up with something decent on my own, and sometimes I send the song to someone else, to see if they can come up with better words.

Dan asked: Was the filming of the vampire bride video very awkward? :P
– Awkward? In what way? Sure, I had never met any of those who were present when we were recording it, but I don’t really “understand” awkward, so I had a pretty fun time. :) A new experience for sure!

Karki asked: And was it cold?
– Yeah, that was the worst part of it. Freezingly cold!!

D-DAWG asked: You play many instruments, have you ever considered learning to play the banjo? It sounds great with the accordion!
– I’m not that interested in the banjo, but I’ve been playing it now and then. Maybe I’d play banjo more often if I had one! It was the same thing for accordion. I never cared for it, until I just happened to have one in my apartment.

Valiant asked: What are your favourite songs to play on guitar? (I play the guitar as well, and need some inspiration to learn new things :D)
– I don’t ever play songs just “to play”. I learn/compose a song, record it, and then I move on to new things. So sorry, I can’t help you there. :)

Lazy asked: What’s your favourite place of all time and why? (Including the whole world + universe ;))
– Honestly it doesn’t really matter where I am. It’s all about what people I have around me, or like right now, what equipment and internet connection I have. :D The most beautiful place in the world can be awful if the company is boring.
(I like Gävle though.)

Joshua asked: Do you have an email sign up so we can be notified when you’re album is released?
– No, I don’t. Hmmm.. When it’s getting closer to the release, I’ll set something up.

Hanna asked: It’s been a year since The Most Awesome TV Show Ever aka LOST ended so I guess it’s time to ask how did you feel about the ending? Also, who were your favorite characters?
– Aww, I get sort of sad just thinking about Lost. :( Anyway, I was disappointed by the ending. My understanding of it all is that the authors kept changing the upcoming storyline throughout the series so that no one would guess where it was heading. And then at the end, there was no way of tying it all together, so they just finished it all with what people had been guessing since the very first season.
So, disappointing ending, but still probably my favorite TV series ever. :) (I think Desmond was my favorite.)

Stefan asked: Why did you choose the Ibanez s680fm? For financial reasons, or was the guitar just really good in your opinion and suited to your playstyle?

– I had been using the same beginner’s guitar since I was 15 years old, so I just wanted a new and better one. Went to the instrument store, looked around for a while, and then just picked the one that seemed best for the price I had decided that I could afford. I hate buying stuff, because there are always so many options! And I’ve never been interested in different brands and stuff, so I don’t even remember what model I have. I knew it was an Ibanez though, because John Petrucci used Ibanez in the beginning of his career.

Rus-kun asked: Which instrument is most “epic”, in your opinion?
– Haha, I wouldn’t say that an instrument can be “epic.” Well, probably the keyboard then, because you can have such a wide range of completely different sounds. It’s amazing if you think about it, that you can have all sounds imaginable, on the same keys.

Rambow07 asked: Could you have a fan as your girlfriend, if not why?
– I could, because I know she wouldn’t want me for my musical abilities anyway. :) (Honestly I never perform for girls in private, because I want them to like me for who I am, and not because I can play guitar and sing.)

Greg Gillis asked: I spent a long time watching the rest of your videos until I came to the one where you were singing “Nigger Stoled my Bike”. Dude, I have to say I was pretty offended.
We here in the States are just really not down with that. Is this a European thing that we just don’t get?
– Here’s the thing: I understand that Americans are offended by that word, and I’ve had many conversations about its history to try to understand why it’s so horrible. And although I will never understand it fully (because I’m neither black or American), I still want to stand by the opinion that a word doesn’t have any other meaning than what people are giving it. And it should be obvious that I’m not racist when singing that word, because it’s just a joke from a video game meme.
And, the sooner people stop treating the word as an offensive one, the sooner it won’t be any longer. I’m sorry if you’re offended, but I really mean no harm.

Dan asked
1. How long (after practicing it) does recording take?
– That really depends on what song or video. If it’s something long and complex, like the Mega Man 9 Rock Medley, it can take weeks. For a simple video, like any of the medleys with just one instruments, it’s one day.

2. Is your room isolated to keep the noise out. or do you just record when nobody is home. or do you live alone?
– I live in my own apartment, so yeah, it’s mostly quiet. My computer is making some noise though, so I want to do something about that. But I don’t know what.

Susanna asked:
1. if you got one wish, what would it be?
– Probably to find “true love”. What could possibly be better?

2. what do you like and dislike the most on yourself?
– Hmm.. I don’t really think of it like that. I’m just me, and I wouldn’t want to be anyone else. But, my biggest flaw is definitely that I don’t really love anything or anyone. Nothing is ever really great, and everyone is replaceable..

3. If you got endless money, what would you buy?
– There’s nothing I really want that can bought for money. Love has to be deserved, and dinosaurs are extinct. :P
No, but seriously, money is really important to me, and I’d love to be able to make a living (and even get rich) on music. But this would be to be able to relax, to stop worrying about the future, about work, about whether the new album is going to sell or not. I can’t stand pressure.
If I got rich, I could have kids and spend a lot of time with them, and make sure that they’d have a great upbringing. Yes, I want kids. :P That is, when I’ve found that special one. :) Ugh, how cheesy I must sound now.

Ana asked: What do you feel when you play your instruments?
– What I feel? Well, what do you feel when you… use your fork to eat food? :) Seriously, I don’t look at music in that romantic kind of way. An instrument is just a tool to create music. I “feel” focused and concentrated, to make sure I play the right notes, in the right tempo and with the right strength.

ilovemonchichis asked: Which consoles do you have?
– Right now, only a Wii and a DS Lite. I sell consoles and games once I’ve finished playing them, and those two are the only ones I occasionally play these days, when friends come over.

Sam asked: Why do we never see you shred? Can you shred?
– I don’t like the idea of music being about skills. :) It’s not a game, like Guitar Hero! It’s about being creative and coming up with new things. So, there are maybe a few faster runs on the album, but I try to focus on melody, even when it’s a guitar solo.
And no, I wouldn’t say I’m a great shredder.

Randi asked: What’s your favorite kinda food? and what do you like to drink the most? oh… and do you have any pets?
– I eat everything, so no favorite kind of food as I can recall right now. I drink water the most! :) No pets. I grew up with all sorts of animals though (and I like cats the most), but right now, I don’t have the time or need for any.

Sorry if your question didn’t make it, but this is getting too long, so I’m going to stop here. Thanks again, and I hope you found something interesting in my answers!

I was thinking that it might be fun and interesting if you all sent me some questions today (any kinds!), via a comment or a private message, and for tomorrow’s post, I’ll try to answer all of them! :)

So, let’s do this!

Edit: Okay, enough. :D I already have way too many questions to answer now, so I will have to put a stop here, and see if I can fit all of your questions in tomorrow’s post. Thanks, I’m surprised by how popular this post became!

For today’s update, I had planned to show you some graphs of the opening amount of views for my videos, just to see how the Killer Queen cover is doing compared to my old videos! (Yes, I’m childishly captivated by graphs and statistics.) But It’s still a bit too early to say how it’s doing, so instead, I’m going to show you an old video game cover I did in 2007. It’s almost five years old now, so it’s a bit rough on the edges, but still!

It’s the opening theme from the NES classic “Solstice“. The intro was spectacular for being on that console, and it’s basically a prog rock song (my favorite genre), so I just had to try to remake it with real rock instruments. And here it is:

FreddeGredde – Solstice

You can hear the original here.

Today is going to be a lazy day for me. I’ve been working too hard the last seven days or so, with the Killer Queen video, with the website, with various album related matters, and some private things.
So, I’m going to relax all day, and gain energy to be able to continue recording the remaining tracks of the album tomorrow!

Oh, and I’ve also fixed an American shop, which is up and running now! Besides the US, it can also ship products to Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand! So, enjoy your shopping. :D

Oh, and I’d like to win an iPod.

The poll happened to reach 1,000 votes today, so I figured it was time to start a new one!

These are the results of the old one. I like that the prog rock songs won quite comfortably, because that’s the kind of music I really like doing! I hope not too many chose it just because of the word “epic” though. :P
(Epic is more or less a term that describes the progression of a song, that there are different sections, and themes that are repeated in different ways.)

So, the guy who was going to help me with the new video realized that he wasn’t good enough. So now I have to do it personally, again, even though I don’t have time for it, because I have to prepare new tracks for the drummer so he can keep recording his parts!
But I promised to post this new video five days ago now, and I really don’t want work to just lay around while I’m doing other things, so now I’m working day and night to make a better job at it than I first did. It has to be up this weekend.

I also have to make that American shop available.. Hmm.. Maybe I’ll have time this weekend. I’ll check out if it’s able to ship things to Asia, because I know that there are many Asians who would like their own FreddeGredde t-shirt. :)

Oh and about that, the first customer at my shop has received his shirt. Look how sparkly it is!

My new music video keeps getting delayed. I actually did finish editing last Sunday, but the results were not that great. I asked the people in the chat room, and most decided that I should redo the visuals to make it even better.

I really didn’t want to waste more time on it though, but luckily, I found a guy who was willing to try to do it for me! So he’s working on it now. I don’t know when he will be finished though, but hopefully this week! I’d be disappointed otherwise..

Anyway, here’s a short video of one of the harmonies/Fredriks that will be in the video (there will be lots of them, so there’s lots of green-screening involved):

It doesn’t sound very good now, but I promise it will sound a lot better with all the other harmonies. :)

This will be a geeky post, but there was a big Nintendo conference today, in which they announced their new home console; Nintendo Wii U! These E3 conferences have always been like Christmas for me, because new exciting games were shown and there was such excitement in the air. Obviously I’m a bit older now, so it’s not a big deal anymore. It’s a bit sad in a way, that I don’t think as passionately about these things as I used to.

Anyway, I think The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Wii looks pretty good! It’s always a huge thing when a new Zelda game is released on a home console, because it only happens like, every fifth year. So it’ll be great I hope, and I will definitely play it!
Oh, and GEncore in the chat room said I should show you some old video game songs I’ve recorded, now that I’m talking about video games, hah. So here’s a Zelda related song from 2005 or so:

FreddeGredde – Zelda Jazz

After that, they showed a few games for the Nintendo 3DS, and honestly I’m not too interested. Mario Kart is always fun, and the new Super Mario game might be good, but at this point, they don’t make it worth buying the console.
Kid Icarus COULD be interesting if the gameplay is great, but I doubt it. 3 vs 3 multiplayer battles seems fun though, and the developer (Sakurai) has made the Smash Bros games, so he knows a thing or two about multiplayer battles!

Speaking of which, they announced Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS! Wooo, that was the best news of the conference. I love those games. Here’s another old recording of the Smash Bros theme, from 2006, consisting of only me and a friend’s vocals, and some clapping. No effects except for reverb:

FreddeGredde – SSB Acappella

Finally, the Wii U. The “new thing” about it is that there’s a screen on the controller, so you can play the game without the TV, but still have home console graphics. Or use the screen as an item screen, or as an aiming device. It plays all the normal Wii games, and you can use the old controllers, so that’s good.
But I don’t know. I’m not that hyped about this one; it’s graphically around 360/PS3, and isn’t controlled that differently from what we’ve already played. Except for gimmicky tech demos, where you can move the screen around to see different angles of things.
But as always, it’s all about the games that come to it! So I’ll probably buy it sooner or later.

Yup, that’s it.

Capristarz from the chat room asked me if I couldn’t do a short post about my musical history, and I started answering her comment with “I don’t really have much of a musical history”. Then I continued writing for a good while with my reply, until I realized that I should just make a post of it. So here’s the rest:

My family had both a piano and a guitar around the house at different times when I grew up, but I don’t recall playing as a kid. I’ll have to ask my parents about it, but I got my first guitar and keyboard when I was around 14-15 years old. I know that the music teacher in school was surprised that I suddenly could play instruments in the ninth grade. Apparently I had not been able to before that, at least not what he had noted.

And well, I started playing with friends for fun, tried out different instruments at school, and performed a couple of times when I was around 16-17 years old. (I played in two bands at the same talent show once, and ended up on first and third place.) After that I lost interest in performing though, so I mostly just sat at home, composing, and trying to record things.
One of the best things I did back then was this:

The Adventures Of Alfons

I refused to sing though, because honestly, I was afraid to sound like my cousin, who sang all the time, but not very well. :D So I preferred to keep quiet.

My “music career” stood completely still until I was around 20 years old, when I decided to actually learn how to sing from scratch. I had a few private lessons with a vocal trainer, which might have helped me, but I didn’t really like it. So I just read on the internet for tips, and recorded myself singing over and over again, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, and how to adjust my mouth and muscles to sing better. I think this one is the oldest recording of me singing:

Edge of paradise

Hehe, I did my best to hide all the flaws with filters and effects, but you can hear at several spots how I tried to paste together two separate takes of the same line, because I wasn’t able to do the whole line in one take. I never showed this recording to anyone.

In June 2008 I uploaded my first video to YouTube, playing Für Elise on guitar. No one even found the video, but when I uploaded Mega Man 9 Rock Medley and Wind Waker Unplugged, gamers started spreading them on forums throughout the internet. I got sort of popular!
And finally, in 2009, I decided to post a video of me actually singing! 32 Songs in 8 Minutes. I was really scared of what people were going to think, but it turned out to be a huge success, and the rest is sort of history I guess!

Update:
I still didn’t take my music career seriously though. I kept uploading 3-4 videos per year, because I hate stress and pressure, and I just want to do things in my own pace. In 2010, I felt that I was ready to make my own album, so I started writing for it, and in 2011, on the 13th of August, I had finished “Thirteen Eight”! The name confused people, but it’s mainly because I realized that most of the songs include the odd time signature 13/8, and those kinds of things really symbolize my way of seeing music. I like odd times and other creative technical ideas!

All in all, I’m proud of being able to make my first album, all on my own too. I never thought I’d get this far just a couple of years ago! And I still listen to some of the songs on it. I do believe that the fatal flaw was the mixing though. With a warmer and more organic sound, more people would have liked it, so I made a few bad decisions there. I still think that everyone should give it a try, because it will probably grow on you! :D

And there you have it.