The Swedish Arrangement

For one night in London experience the 2021 tour that Sweden (might) never forget...

The Dimpkers are coming to London, who are those cool guys?

Cast your mind back….to summer 2021, and the chips are down, ah but let’s not dwell on that. It was July, the sun was out and there happened to be a chink in the lockdown and travel ban. Our pals at Rootsy (Swedish record label and tour bookers) were feeling bullish and I was itching to go and try getting into Sweden for a second tour in the time of Covid. This trip I would be going alone (or so I thought). I had the jabs and the print outs of the proof of the jabs, several masks, a guitar and a small bag. At the last minute I got a call from Martin and Adam Dimpker offering to add a few extra dates to the tour and to join me where possible, sounds good I thought.

The travel rules at the time were such that although Sweden was (understandably) not keen to let Brits in they were happy to let anyone in from another Scandinavian country regardless of where their journey had started and good old Denmark was allowing us in. Apart from a fairly brutal nose swabbing on landing there was not much to it. There is a train from inside the airport in Copenhagen that takes you over the bridge to Sweden (it’s quite easy to pick the wrong one and end up in Oslo). That journey over the bridge is the only part of the trip where I was worried that I may come a cropper. I’ve heard stories of passport and checks on the train to Malmö akin to the tough nuts at US immigration and that I could well have been thrown out of the moving train and into the Öresund, splash. Happily each time I have made this trip I have managed to put my guitar away from me and just look as Scandi as possible, I was aiming for nonchalant and outdoorsy (I think I can do this because I’m at least 1/32nd Finnish which is sadly for me (and Finland) not enough Finn within to qualify for a Finnish passport but it definitely helps on the Bridge). This time the Swedish policeman passport checker did talk to me but I styled it out with a few “Yar, yar”s and basically he left me alone (No doubt thinking what a nice healthy looking Finnish man on his way back from Denmark). 20 minutes later I was over the border to freedom, and Sweden.

From there it was a very simple, very cheap train ride of about 4.5 hours to Jönköping (Yon shopping) where Adam Dimpker picked me up. The trains in Sweden are ace, not busy and they look cool. Big retro chrome things that look like lots of Airstream caravans stuck together. Inside they still have proper train restaurants and bars and non of it costs more then a 10er. The train I took worked out at about £30, bought on the day using an app called Omio - I highly recommend it for traveling in Europe. As I tucked into my Swedish train meatballs I thought about that £30 ticket which bought me a very long and very comfy ride and how it compared to train the into central London from my house which takes 17 minutes costs nearly £30 but you don’t often get a seat, hmm. The Swedes think their trains have gone to hell since recent privatisation but then they have had (had had, not anymore) a socialist government for 65 years and lots of things are better and cheaper, for now anyway.

So Adam drove me to Hulta, or Dimpker land as it should be known where more Dimpkers were waiting including brother Martin. We pulled into the family home, a large white wooden house in the middle of a small, low valley surrounded by forest. They have a football pitch in front of the house with well used full size goals and the first thing we did on arrival was take our shoes off and have a game of headers and volleys or ‘kicka” as they call it. It was at this point that I realised we were going to get along very well. So began a great friendship both musical and footballing and from there the trip was basically nothing but a good time. Adam and Martin had learned all my songs so from our first gig onwards we played together, them backing me on almost everything with beautiful harmonies and top guitaring (also drums and bass with their feet - you need to see it to believe it) and me mulling through some of their songs. The only downside was that next to them it’s very hard for non Finnish people to recognise my Finnishness (like seeing two elves and a dwarf hanging out back stage at a Lord Of The Rings gig) but thankfully there were no further passport checks required.

After the first gig I called Henry and told him the sun always shines in Sweden and in no uncertain terms he needed to get on a flight asap. Henry did didn’t hesitate, took the covid bus to Stanstead and the same route through Denmark which was still open, (thanks Danes) and arrived in Jönköping. From there the Dimpker’s dad, Björn (we need a whole feature on the Dimpker’s parents, definitely on the Cool List) picked him up and took him straight to a gig we were playing at Smultronboda (translates to Strawberry farm I think). Henry walked on stage mid gig, opened his guitar case and mid song and began playing seamlessly - the Dimpkers, suitably impressed from then on referred to Henry as “Hollywood Henry”, fitting. The Dimpkers played all the shows with us, did all the driving played lots of kicka, took us to lots of lakes and rivers to swim in and could not have been kinder.

The Dimpkers are seasoned pros, coming from a very musical family; Adam played lead Tuba in the orchestra age 6 and needed to be lowered into his instrument, their folks have a large music room full of instruments including a large white grand piano which would otherwise be quite Liberace but seems like it was made for the white wooden house. Their Dad is a pro singer and their Mum is a senior musical person in the Swedish Church and often gets sent on musical secondments to live in places like Cannes, not bad God, not bad. They have toured with some top musical folks (Reverend Sekou, Sam Lewis, Drew Young, Jerry Joseph) but their own music is getting the attention it deserves and you don’t want to miss it. They are also wonderful lads, soft as washing and as tough as ten bears. I will write more about these two, including our adventures on tour together with Jerry Joseph and our Portland recording times. They called me a week or so ago and told me about their shows at The Great Escape but it was actually our pals Tim Nelson and Gary Horseman (two confirmed members of the OMIT Travel Club) who’d seen their gig listings and suggested sorting out a London gig so so it came to be.

I’ll be picking them up after their last Great Escape show (2pm Jubilee Square) and driving them up to avoid train strike travel problems (they like a bit of collective bargaining). The show will be a mix of OMITF, Dimpkers and then both at the same time, härliga tider. This will not be the only post about Sweden, I am a confirmed Swedophile and we’re heading there in early 2024, keep it free for Travel Club.

We’re looking for someone to come and film the show so hopefully for those who can’t make it we’ll be able to play it back to you. For everyone else…

See you there.