2020-06-08
52
11.08: Simon Söderberg (I fill down what he says):
“I have been in the industry for 20 years and played in five-six serious band, I've had a recording studio and been interested in producing music and doing anything technically about music.
All the tapes I've been in Before Ghost, there's never been anything about money, it's that when you join bands, you do it together. Aside from a band it has been so but then it was about concerts during the summers and I got paid for it, I was hired musician, one makes a deal, carries out the mission and charges.
11.10: "otherwise it is a matter of course that everyone is on equal terms. I got to know Tobias Forge around 2003, we were in different bands and we got to know each other and became more and more friends and after some year Tobias moved to Linköping, around 2004"”
"I started playing in Tobias band around 2005/2006 and in 2009 I heard Tobias talking about a ploj project called Ghost that he was talking about"”
11.15: "what he played for me also sounded like ploj, Tobias wanted us to make a recording, that I would help him. And I did. Tobias had written three songs and we went into the studio and worked from scratch. Then it was just me and Tobias”.
"Nowadays you can program a melody loop, it's the same artistic execution as playing the instruments, so I did. It's more than writing notes because you choose which instrument to play the notes and how it should be done”.
11.22: Söderlund Björk interrupts: this is not relevant.
11.23: Michael Berg: thus, she must not sit and interrupt, now you must calm down.
Simon Söderberg continues:
“I was part of the recording and we released two singles. After an agreement we were going to release a disc and it was going to be recorded in my studio, it was the first disc with Ghost”.
"Then we got gigs, we had a conversation about me playing the guitar, we decided it and we needed a drummer and a keyboard player. I was involved because we had discussions about who would play what, who could fit so I was involved discussing the band. My view is not that Tobias did everything”.
“We had no agreement on compensation for that time. My attitude is that when you join a band, you are in a band on an equal footing if no one says otherwise. If no one says anything that this is my band and the rest of you are hired in, if no one says so, it's not so”.
“None of us in the band had any money to talk about, we talked about it sometimes, we could not afford to buy shoes, I myself worked part-time in a record store. We conducted gigs through the record company that we had and that accounted for the costs”.
"In the autumn of 2010, I asked if Mauro (Rubino) wanted to join the band. I've never heard anything about hired musicians, I'm a full member of the band”.
"I had seen Mauro play in Linköping and knew he was damn good, so I suggested him and we had a first rope and Mauro knew the songs best of all so after that there was no talk about him being there”. (At this point, two of the four in the courtroom are in the band, plus Tobias Forge).
“I am in the band and if we have agreements with companies and it is long-term for the band then it is long-term for me. We were all involved”"
(Several meetings are held and band members are starting to come and go for various reasons. Now we have arrived at 2011).
“We decided at a meeting that everyone would receive one sixth of the income and everyone approved it. We were prepared to fight for this and that in the future it would be successful, we believed in it”.
11.56-13.00: LUNCH
13.08: Simon Söderberg now continues telling about his part in Ghost:
13.09 “ "a manager came and we were planning Ghost and I was at the meetings because I was in the band"”
13.11: lawyer Michael Berg asks Simon Söderberg questions about who was the manager and how the election went to Simon answers that he was with and decided who it would be, as a way to show the right that he was part of the band.
13.13: "I resigned in 2011 because there was a lot going on with the band, I didn't have time for my regular job, it was a few hours a month in the record store, so I lived on my girlfriend”.
13.15: Berg asks several questions about why Simon Söderberg was involved in one meeting after another. The answers often become: "because I was in the band"”
13.17: Berg: an agreement was signed, did you sign just because Tobias wanted you to feel motivated?
Söderberg: No, I signed because I was in Ghost.
13.18: Söderberg: the proportion was determined since earlier then we would make it convenient to start an Economic Association, it would be done to it would be divided equally within the band. No other company would be formed”.
13.20: Berg: was there any American company involved?
13.20: Söderberg: Yes there was talk about an American company that would manage the money from there”.
13.20: to clarify, it is Michael Berg, the lawyer of the four former band members, who is hearing Simon Söderberg at the moment.
13.24: when the hearing of Simon Söderberg is complete, I will update upwards again, it became too messy for your reader. But I promise, the order will be restored, after Söderberg. Sorry if it gets confused…
13.26: Söderberg: we have had a meeting where we have discussed that we should distribute equally, that is what was the main part of the partnership agreement that we would write.
13.27: Berg: was there talk of anything other than that it should be paid equally?
13.28: Söderberg: No, it would be paid equally.
13.30: Söderberg: according to the future American company we talked about, the compensation would be one sixth, thus shared equally among all.
13.30: Berg: Tobias sought money through his company Svensk Drama Pop from Kulturrådet, whose money was it?
13.33: Söderberg: everyone's money of course.
13.34: Why is it so obvious?
13.34: we sought contribution from the cultural Council jointly as a band.
13.37: Berg: how were you involved in Ghost 2011 when you went to concerts?
13.37: I played the guitar in the band and everything practical with ropes and equipment, handling different types of equipment, when we played live and we had back-tracks so I had the responsibility that it sounded like it would.
13.39: Berg: did something happen after 2012?
13.39: Söderberg: I was frustrated and simply felt anger. We had agreed to write this partnership agreement but nothing happens, so I feel pissed off so I put Tobias against the wall and e-mail where I ask if we are a band or solo musician. I wanted a reaction.
13.40: Berg: does Tobias say anything about you being just hired musicians?
13.40: No, never.
13.44: Berg: Tobias writes in an email about hired musicians, have you never discussed this with hired musicians?
13.45: No.
13.46: Söderberg: we knew a Ju a giant because Tobias did not do as we had said and then he had to buy us out in that case, he can not ignore this Agreement.
13.51: when Simon Söderberg says Tobias didn't do what he said, Söderberg looks at Tobias Forge. And after that, it feels like Söderberg is talking more and more directly to Tobias Forge. It becomes noticeable now that they have been friends for several years and the hall breathes very very disappointing.
13.53: Michael Berg continues the hearing to prove that Söderberg was part of the band. It is through Söderberg's involvement, that he participated in the production of the music and that he participated in meetings.
In 2012, Ghost went on tour with all the then six band members. They received an advance payment. After that, the band started working on the next album, that work took six months, says Söderberg.
13.58: Söderberg: It was a long process, the first demo was recorded in my studio, when we played again we were in Nashville, but we held on for six months.
14.00: I was in Nashville for six weeks to work on the record, Tobias was there for two weeks I think.
14.01: Mountain: who paid?
14.01: Söderberg: it was Universal who released the disc so it was they who paid the recording.
14.08: Simon Söderberg is one of those in Ghost who has been with the longest and he has now been questioned for over an hour. It is important to remember that he only gets "please" questions right now because it is his own lawyer, Michael Berg, who asks out.
14.10: the hearing of Söderberg is in 2014 and what happened then.
14.12: we recorded a record and we needed someone who could play bass, Henrik Palm became current and then we asked if Henrik Palm wanted to join the band.
14.13: Berg: What does it mean that he was in the band?
14.14: Söderberg: that means he was in the band simply and would be entitled to compensation.
14.15: Tobias Forge's lawyer, Ann-Charlotte Söderlund Björk, interrupts: Excuse me but does he read innantill now?
14.15: Söderberg: No, I have a binder but I only have blank paper in it.
He holds up the binder for the court that sees that there is only one white paper in front. It is allowed to include supporting notes when going to the hearing but you must not read completely innantill.
14.19: Söderberg continues: there was a bad atmosphere when it came to the conclusion that we would only be hired musicians, we brought it up with Tobias who broke up and said he had nothing to do with the deal. None of us accepted it.
14.21: Söderberg now tells of a former member who was expelled and that everyone in the band was behind the decision and that everyone was there and decided.
14.23: Berg: was everyone involved and decided that he would be excluded?
14.23: Yes, everyone was there and made that decision.
14.24: Söderberg: we got a new contract proposal, in Swedish but we thought it was very similar to the first, so now we had got two contracts so we were cursed over so I felt I wanted to contact a lawyer that I could get help from.
14.26: Berg: but an agreement was made during the US tour, Why was that agreement signed?
14.26: because it was reasonable for a certain period of time, for a shorter period.
Now Berg asks questions about what songs Söderberg was with and did because the Forge page has a completely different view.
14.29: Ann-Charlotte Söderlund Björk interrupts the hearing a third time: sorry but these are copyright issues.
14.30: Berg: but you have claimed that he was not on these songs.
The President of the court allows the questions and Söderberg answers Yes to all questions o what songs he has been involved in.
14.32: pause to approximately 14.45
And after the break we run update from the bottom up again, sorry if it got messy. But scroll at the top and we'll drive from there after pause again.
Here above is what Simon Söderberg tells us in court, scroll up to his beginning and read down and it will be in the right order.
