I'm Bjorn Juhl or BJ of BJF Electronics, 41years, happily married with my wife and we have two kids M&M and two cats, Robin & Maja.
These days I live by the Baltic sea, while most of my life I've lived close to a mountain.
I have played guitar since the age of 13 first in punkbands later various styles.I have played guitar with a number of late 70's punkbands, leadguitar with a glampunk band, then guitar with a vocal electric guitar duo,then lead guitar with a Rythm& Blues band, then leadguitar with a powerpopband touring also Europe and Beatles tributeband and The Boys tributeband around Christmas each year http://www.myspace.com/renegadesstockholm , while doing guest appearences with singersongwriters, blues combos and girlbands , coverbands, then rythm guitar in a heavy metalband, lead guitar in a Sex Pistols tributeband
http://www.uncledig.com/songgallery/BJF ... r%2003.mp3
Track 5 from same recording
http://www.uncledig.com/songgallery/BJF ... r%2005.mp3
, then leadguitar and arranger with current band more or less punk some tracks available at http://www.bjfelectronics.com and learning to play ballads and jazzstandards on acoustic and electric and as of 2006 I got a slidetube-this one fits better than the tube I got when turning 20
Currently my latest band, or rather the songwriter is writing new material and I make so many pedals that there hasn't been that many gigs last year, but I have picked up the acoustic to play ballads with a group of balladeers doing charity shows, in schools and churches , which is fun as I before this only used nylonstrings to make arrangements-ooch I rather not remember the ache in my hands from playing nylonstrings 5 hours aday for two years as a young boy with too small hands- that was more like conquer this or give up as was most gear back then.
I have had many jobs since my first job as a 16 year old, at one of Stockolms oldest musicstores, where I learnt how to do fretjobs and setting up and guitarelectronics aswell as making pick ups as the elder staff knew very little about electrified musical instruments and since I had played electric guitar for a while then they thought I would be in the know so what do you do except learn? Though I have made and serviced pedals and rebuilt and serviced amps since 1980 beginning with an EH Screaming Bird that broke down too many times on me from its poor construction, it was not until I meet my wife that I thought of making such things into a living. Why I was an airtool technician by day and postalworker in the evenings and guitartechnician by night when I was not out on a gig,which was all fun but not so fitting having a family- actually I wanted to be a language teacher or work for the Swedish Department of Words. Oh well, might do that one day too.
For a while I was on my way to become a fulltime musician but I realized I would not be able to always play the music closest to my heart...... uh the hard way...........oh yes I had the singing lessons and was told I'd be a good guitarist if I only knew the circle of 5ths.........shame really all those years learning all those notes on the fretboard and I was even a guitarinstructor at the time .......no that would not do- still I played all lead parts and set all sounds which I told at the time......so I decided to only play for fun and only the music I'd like and formed new bands having fun until I could go back to my roots and have made many gigs with no other ambition than to make good music and having fun.
On this the 7th year of making BJF pedals I testdrive all pedals I make and amplifiers at various volumes- not really playing, but practice while mostly listening to textures.....
Somehow part of me is a musician- I try not to forget that, and what fun that holds.
I have luckily avoided tinnitus from changing the ear next to the crash cymbal and by enjoying silence now and then to give the ears some rest and that I think is much thanks to Tom Weeler
and his excellent book The Guitar Book and the chapter on hearing damage or the Grateful Dead......
Without distribution through Custom-Sounds you would not have heard of me on this side of the pond, nor would I have had any interest in getting myself a computor. Come to think of it I would never had gone to CBGB's nor eating sushi................hm, I'm becoming 42 this year and so I might just learn the Riddle of the Universe.........great fun awaits!
BJ
Affiliations
http://www.bjfelectronics.com
http://www.mpamp.com
