A few days ago I got in touch with Anders "Gary" Wikström, the guitarist of the legenadary Swedish band TREAT. He was very kind to answer a few questions I sent him. Here's the interview! Special thanks to Helene for being so helpful!

The last TREAT album was released in 1992. What has happened since then? Are you still writing songs and playing?

Anders: "I'm glad to inform you that I'm still writing songs and playing. Nowadays I've taken the role as producer working with my partner Fredrik Thomander in our own studio in Stockholm, calling ourselves Epicentre. We write and produce records for both domestic and international artists."

Do you know what has happened to the other members of the band, are the still in music business?

Anders: "To my knowledge only Jamie (drummer) and Patric (Keyboard player) are still somewhat in the music business. Matts Leven (Our 2nd singer) has recently been recording and touring with Yngwie Malmsteen."

The Treat CD's seem to be very sought after items in the AOR circles, especially your second album "Pleasure Principle". As a matter of fact, I think it's one of the greatest albums ever released. What is your favourite Treat album and why?"

Anders: "My favourite Treat album is "Organized Crime" basically because of the strength of the material and production. (And I designed the cover, haha ha)"

I always felt that Treat was the band mostly likely to make it big, as your songs were highly melodic and catchy. Indeed you were quite big in Sweden for a few years, but the international success wasn't as big as I think it could have been. What do you remember as your greatest moments? Did you have hits in other countries apart from Sweden, great gigs etc.?

Anders: "The best moments were definitely opening up the Monsters Of Rockfestival in Germany -88, and our headline tour in Japan -90. Actually the song "Rev it up" (From "Pleasure Principle") was covered by an American band called "New City Rockers" -87 and was a hit in the billboard hot 100 chart inthe US. Got tremendous airplay in America in the summer of 87."

Recently I saw a compilation called "The Best of Swedish Melodic Rock Anthems" featuring bands like Talk of The Town and Alien, from the late eighties. Has there been any interest in re-issuing of the Treat albums, or issuing a compilation or something? I think there a lot of younger AOR fans out there who haven't heard your music. And while we're on the subject...any chance of hearing new material from Treat ever again? Or new melodic rock material from you?

Anders: "There might be another Treat album somewhere down the line. There is at least 10 recorded songs from the time 90-91. We just have to wait and see... I'm writing melodic pop and rock stuff all day long... and have a lot of cuts on forthcoming albums all over the world."

What do you think of the melodic rock scene know, with labels like MTM and Frontiers leading the way? What are your thoughts concerning the whole music scene today?

Anders: "The music scene today seems very short sighted, and sadly bands don't get the chance to build-up their career gradually, I hope that is gonna change."
By Kimmo Toivonen