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Henrik Zetterman- Keeping it Dark

Henrik Zetterman was born in 1977 in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a child he leaned to play trumpet, flute and accordion. His biggest passion though was soccer so he gave up the instruments since he didn´t have the time to practice. For many years he didn´t pick up an instrument. But one day when he was 25 years old, he was lying in the sofa staring at the ceiling when it suddenly came to him: he should by a guitar. He had always been writing songs in his head and if he learned to play an acoustic guitar he could get the melodies out of his head and in to the real world. He practiced every day and soon he started writing songs. It just came naturally. 

He taught himself the basics of recording and in 2005 he released his first solo record which he had recorded on a porta studio. After he released some of his recordings on the internet a record label contacted him and wanted him to help some of their artists to write lyrics. After a couple of years of writing and playing songs alone, he wanted to try to play in a band. He had a friend who played the electric guitar. Henrik bought an old bass of his friend and they formed the band hardrock band Empress Drive in 2009. In this band Henrik played bass until 2016. While he was in the band he kept writing songs for himself and lyrics for the band. Since he was enjoying recording and mixing he started to educate himself. He got himself a university diploma in music and sound design. In 2016 when band broke up, Henrik continued his solo career. 2018 he released the EP ”As above so below” a compilation of old songs and recordings mostly produced during his sound design studies. 

After this album he wanted to make a clean album with mainly just acoustic guitar and vocals. The result is the new album An archos acoustica.  It released on streaming services worldwide 1/9 -2019. Henrik is now working on his next album “Introspector”. The songs are written and ready for recording and production. This album will not be as clean and naked as An archos acoustica and some of the songs are very different from his earlier productions. Henrik is also planning a new release of his first album Wake up dead angelhead during 2020. DIY Henrik Zetterman is truly a DIY artist. He does it all by himself. From idea to mastered release. Even album covers and promotion. He started out with writing songs, than he learned how to record the songs. But since he had recorded the songs and wanted to release them he had to learn how to master, make album covers and distribute the music. Since he is a solo artist he thinks that this is the best way to get the results he wants, and he really enjoys learning new things and develop the skills he already has.


Listening to music all his life he thinks that there are songs and a sound that he would like to hear but it can´t be found. These are the songs and the sound that he decided to produce, and the best way to do that is by himself. He really enjoys the creative freedom of being a solo artist but sometimes he misses the feeling of playing in a band. When the chemistry is right it´s a really beautiful thing to make and play music with other musicians he thinks. Playing in band is like meditation to me while palying on my own is more like a soulsearching cleansing experience. You get rid of your own personal ghosts and demons. Style and influences Henrik Zetteman´s music is kind of hard to put in a folder. It´s kind of an alternative singer songwriter he usually describes it. Some of the songs are just an acoustic guitar and vocals. But some are more complex productions with electric guitar, bass, drums and electronic influences. 

When he was young he was a hardheaded heavy metal fan listening to Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, King Diamond and lots of other heavy bands. But as he grew older he discovered all kinds of good music in different genres. He really likes triphop bands like Portishead and Massive Attack but he also listen a lot to alternative music and some reggae. What really influenced him to buy an acoustic guitar was seeing some of his favorite bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Neil Young, Cranberries and Alice in Chains on MTV unplugged. It was a really eye opening experience to hear songs like that played acoustic. Albums Wake up dead angelhead- Henrik´s first album. This one is only available on CD. It will be released remastered on streaming services soon. This EP is recorded on a porta studio and Henrik is playing acoustic guitar, keyboard and singing. As above so below- Released 2018 this album is a compilation of songs Henrik produced during his sound design studies. The songs are not very similar to each other but Henrik´s vocals and the lyrics bring them all together.

Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's October/November 2019 issue 10, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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