Dick Lövgren

Dick Lövgren
Lövgren performing during the obZen tour
Background information
Born	November 11, 1980 (1980-11-11) (age 31)
Genres	Heavy metal Technical metal Thrash metal Alternative metal
Occupations	Musician, bassist
Instruments	Bass guitar
Labels	Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Meshuggah Time Requiem Last Tribe Cromlech Frequency Armageddon
Notable instruments
Warwick EBS Line 6

Dick Lövgren (born 11 November 1980 in Sweden) is the bassist for the Swedish experimental metal band Meshuggah. He joined the band in 2004 as Meshuggah's third bass player.

Biography

In his early days, Lövgren was particularly impressed with Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. He said that Burton "was probably the main reason why I became a bassist". Lövgren is a schooled jazz musician, influenced by Dave Holland, John Scofield, Medeski Martin & Wood, Miles Davis and Brad Mehldau. He always preferred playing with fingers, in his main band, Meshuggah, he plays with pick exclusively, stating that the exact sound from the pick and distortion is strictly what Meshuggah wants to extract from the bass. Before joining Meshuggah, Dick performed with a vast array of bands in his native Sweden. First with the neo-classical metal/melodic power metal band Time Requiem, then the melodic/progressive metal band Last Tribe, the death metal band Cromlech and the power metal band Armageddon (alongside Arch Enemy guitarist Christopher Amott). In the late ‘90’s Lövgren held the enviable assignment of touring bassist for both Arch Enemy and In Flames. Dick joined Meshuggah in 2004 after the band's departure with their bassist Gustaf Hielm in 2001. In the same year, they released their one-track EP titled I, that contains a track of the same name, that lasts twenty-one minutes. However, Dick didn't play bass in Meshuggah's recording sessions until their 2008's highly successful album, obZen. The reason for this while recording Catch Thirtythree was the album finish deadline, so the drum and bass tracks were recorded digitally. He also released a highly acclaimed fusion-jazz album with the Swedish Nica Group ensemble titled Lounge. All tracks were composed by Lövgren, and the release showcases his creativity as well as jazz-styled playing skills.

In September 2010, Lövgren was accepted into the Gothenburg Music University to study improvisation and composition with Anders Jormin, the Swedish jazz double bass player, arranger and bandleader who has worked with numerous jazz artists, such as Bobo Stenson, Charles Lloyd, Tomasz Stańko, Don Cherry, Elvin Jones, Gilberto Gil, Lee Konitz, Joe Henderson, Kenny Wheeler and Jon Balke. He stated that it is a huge honor and a great opportunity, emphasizing that it will not jeopardize anything with Meshuggah. “I will be able to do the tours and come back to classes. But this does mean that I will be playing and writing a lot of jazz in the next few years between Meshuggah tours".

Equipment

Lövgren is endorsed by Warwick basses, which he has played since his teenage years. He owns a number of fretted and fretless Warwick models. He relies heavily on bass distortion in his main band, Meshuggah.

Basses

His main bass for recording and live shows are the 5 string Dolphin SN basses. His fretless and 6-string fretted basses were used while recording his fusion-jazz album, Lounge. He uses DR bass strings.

• 4x Dolphin SN 5-stringers
• 1x Dolphin Pro I (5-string)
• 1x Infinity (5-string)
• 1x Corvette (5-string)
• 1x fretless Infinity (5-string)
• 1x fretless Thumb (6-string)
• 2x Streamer LX 6-stringers

Amplifiers & effects

• Warwick Hellborg PR 40 Amplifier
• Warwick Hellborg MP 25 Amplifier
• Warwick WCA Hellborg CC 115 Cabinet
• EBS Fafner Head
• EBS ProLine Cabinet
• EBS MetalDistortion pedal
• EBS DynaVerb pedal
• EBS OctaBass pedal
• EBS UniChorus pedal
• EBS WahOne pedal

References

• Meshuggah at Allmusic

External links

• Meshuggah official website
• Meshuggah at MySpace
• Meshuggah at Nuclear Blast Europe
• Meshuggah at Nuclear Blast USA
• Warwick Endorsers Page- Dick Lövgren
• Warwick Monthly Review-Dick Lövgren(Meshuggah)

Persondata
Name	Lovgren, Dick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 November 1980
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death