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The Fools Frequently Asked Questions

Who were the Fools?

Q: Who were the Fools? I can't keep track.
A: The Fools were initially Jens Månsson and Björn Roth. Later Patrik Sonestad joined, then Magnus Robertsson and finally Per "Pepps" Persson.

Where from?

Q: Where did the Fools come from?
A: The Fools were based in Sölvesborg, in the south of Sweden.

What instruments?

Q: What instruments did they play?
A:

Jens played keyboards (Casio CZ-1000, Roland Alpha-Juno, D-10, SH-101), and drums.
Björn played guitar (Yamaha SE-250, Bjärton nylon-string), bass, drums, and some keyboard.
Patrik played keyboards (Ensoniq Mirage DSK-1) and oboe.
Magnus played keyboards (Kawai K-1 and Ensoniq SQ-1).
Per played a Vantage bass.

Björn was the lead singer, and Jens sang backup on many songs. After "Pepps" had joined, he sang lead vocals on several numbers. Unfortunately no good recordings exist of this.

Guest artists?

Q: Who were guest artists on the Fools' recordings?
A:

Staffan Johansson guested on guitar, drums, and keyboard
Henrik Persson guested on vocals
Fredrik Dahl guested on drums
Peter Palven guested on rhythm instruments

Equipment

Q: What recording equipment did the Fools use?
A: Tape recorders: Tascam PortaTwo 4-track cassette, AKAI GX-4000D and Tandberg series 12 stereo reel-to-reels, Alpage FL-2100 cassette deck. Some microphones, the most used one being Björn's 200SEK "Champion" electret condenser.

Effects

Q: Did the Fools use any external effects (reverb, distortion, etc)?
A: Generally, no effects were used on the recordings, purely because no one could afford any! For guitar there was Jens's "Eltronik" (correct spelling!) cassette recorder which had a line input that could be switched to phono, yielding a nasty-sounding distortion when used with an electric guitar (as heard on Go home!). Another was the (borrowed) Ibanez Flanger heard on Hunted to death jazz.

Fools or Foolz?

Q: What was the group's name, The Fools or The Foolz?
A: The name was changed around december 1990. The group felt the commercial future of the group would be enhanced if the name was spelt with a Z. It's hard to say if that judgement was correct. On this site we generally refer to the group as "The Fools".

The Fools SBG?

Q: What's with "The Fools SBG"?
A: There seems to be quite a few Fools and Foolz bands out there. To differentiate us on digital media stores the name is "The Fools SBG" there - SBG for Sölvesborg, of course.

Records

Q: Did the group ever release any records?
A: No. Some cassette copies were made for friends. However, the music is available on this site, and on streaming services and media sites, for instance:

Gigs

Q: How many gigs did the Fools/Foolz play?
A: Two. Four if you count the "T-sump" and "Javisst" gigs.