It all started in 2005. I had just recorded the second album by my band LOCOMOTIVE BREATH, where we did a cover of "Can't Fake It" by TARGET (Jimi Jamison's 70s band). Joe Romagnola of Grooveyard Records liked what I'd done to the song. He started harassing me about doing a cover album. I generally don't like cover albums, even though I've been on a few. I've never really figured why the world would need yet another umpteenth version of "Purple Haze" or, God forbid, "Sweet Home Alabama". We however discussed it back and forth and my only "demand" was that we'd do songs that in some way have inspired me, songs I still love and can stand by, and songs that have never, or at least rarely, been covered before. Said and done. Late 2005 we started elaborating on the idea, bouncing songs back and forth. Joe had his suggestions and I had mine. We agreed quite easily. I started demoing the stuff, just programming drums and recording guitars and bass, and we decided if it was a possible candidate. Some songs I tried out but they didn't pass the needle's eye, such as "You Need A Woman" (TARGET), "Catch Your Train" (SCORPIONS), "Old Fashioned" (IRONHORSE), "Waves" (RESURRECTION BAND) and "Rockit To The Stars" (DRIVER), "Woman Tamer" (SIR LORD BALTIMORE), "Power" (DIAMOND REO), "Bedroom Thang" (ZZ TOP) and "Satin Peacock" (LEGS DIAMOND). Some of these later appeared on Volume Two. The story behind each track you will find under "The Origins".

In April 2006 we had decided on a set of songs that felt good. Songs we both felt strong for. Of course I couldn't do all the musical tricks myself, so I started thinking about what singer would fit what song, what guest guitarists would enhance what song, bass player and of course drummer. In May Peter Svensson started laying down the drum tracks. Actually even before this Dan Swanö had done his vocals, Tommy Denander his solos and Lori Linstruth her magic tricks. The album was mixed in September 2006 by Pelle Saether at Studio Underground in Västerås, Sweden.

June 6 MOUNTAIN OF POWER played a one-off gig at Sweden Rock Festival. The live line-up featured Janne, Micke "Nord" Andersson, Mattias Osbäck, Nalle Påhlsson, Peter Andersson, Chris Catena and David Fremberg.

In 2009 I started working on "Volume Two". This time I wanted to broaden my views on guests and invited more international musicians, such as Paul Shortino, Ty Tabor, Rusty Burns, James Collins, Greg Martin, Jarrod England, Cindy Weichman and Martin J Andersen. Of course I wanted to keep up the standard on the Swedish guests, too, and worked hard to find guests that would add something to the track, which meant getting really cool people like John Norum, Conny Bloom, Clas Yngström, Thomas Larsson, Maria Rådstam, Christian Rivel, Sven Cirnski, Pontus Snibb etc on the ship.

"Volume Two" also meant a new range of old favourites to cover. This time I've made a couple more "combinations", meaning I've merged two or more songs into one, like "Struck Down" + "25 Hours A Day" (with a touch of "Come On Over") by Yesterday & Today, "Makin' Magic" + "Makes No Difference" by Pat Travers, "Reasons Love" + "This Kids" by UFO and "Bad Penny" + "Keychain" by Rory Gallagher. Other bands include: Blackfoot, Mahogany Rush, Trapeze, Trigger, Ozz, Sammy Hagar, Electric Sun, ZZ Top, Leslie West Band and Resurrection Band.

It was released January 11 on Grooveyard Records as usual!

Janne Stark