With a history going back to 1983 Treat are arguably one of Sweden's best kept rock secrets. The band have only ever released one album officially in the UK and, as of yet, have yet to play a gig on these shores. That however is all about to change with a slot at the upcoming Firefest III show in Nottingham Treat are about to give their UK fans, well a treat. HardRockHouse caught up with guitarist Anders Wilkstrom to get the low down on the band and their plans...

Hi Anders, firstly to start the interview off, would you care to introduce yourself and the other members of treat to the readers of HardRockHouse.com?

I’m the guitarist and founder of Treat together with singer Robert Ernlund and guitarist Leif Liljegren. We started the band in the fall of 1983! We previously had a band together called The Boys, who released 1 album in Sweden in 1982 but was a total pop compromise compared to the influences we shared when we started, and of course never took off, so Treat was a relief and a true ”Fuck ém”Let´s do our own thing! Entity. 

Who are your personal heroes and influences?

I grew up on Guitar players such as Michael Schenker in his UFO days and Eddie Van Halen! Those 2 have had the most influence on me playing wise, but from a songwriting point of view, there's too many to mention! I love a great song and find it in any field of music, regardless of style! 

How would you describe Treat to our readers who may be unfamiliar with your work?

A good time classic hard rock band with great riffs and melodies! And a hell of a show! Ha... 

Anders, to be honest I know very little about Treat, other than Jamie Borger and Mats Levén have both been members of the band, could you possibly give us a potted history of the band and how many albums you’ve released?

We have released 6 official albums and 15 singles between 1984-2006!

Scratch and Bite (1985) The Pleasure Principle (1986) Dreamhunter (1987) Organized Crime (1989) Treat (1992) Weapons of Choice (2006)

There is also a UK compilation called ”Treat” released in 1988! As well as a bootleg called ”Muscle in Motion” with demos from 1991, which someone got hold of and decided to make an extra buck by releasing without our knowledge or permission! That sucks as we would rather give these songs away for free to fans down the line! 

I did pick up your latest album 'Weapons Of Choice 1984-2006', which contains a stunning collection of hard rock songs. Which tracks would you recommend to the treat virgin?

Well, A little bit of everything really as this is a compilation of songs from a 10-year career as well as 2 new and 1 previously unreleased song!

I think in spirit, this album represents everything the band is about, and I think  anyone can hear the sheer and honest energy in the songs from the early days to the more well crafted and better produced songs from the latter!

Pick your own favourite! Honestly, I can’t, their all my babies. Ha!

Doing some research I see you were a member of the Electric Boys, a band I saw on several occasions in the early nineties, did you tour with the Electric Boys?

Sorry! I was never a member of the Electric Boys! They toured with Treat in Sweden in the late eighties and were great friends of us for a long time, as well as a great band, but the only Swedish hard rock act I was a member of  after Treat split up was a band called ”Mental Hippie Blood” that released 2 albums in the mid nineties.

How do you approach your song writing, as I believe that you are band's main songwriter?

Luckily, songwriting has been my ”save and grace” since the 80´s! This has been my main thing since then and is something I do from the moment I wake ´till late night if necessary!! To tell you the truth, I do approach it but it really doesn’t happen until It approaches me! Ha! I guess that’s what’s called Inspiration, right?

Anyway, I’ve been blessed with a very successful career both as a songwriter and producer over the last 8 years in the pop/rock field and Treat was basically the first taste of things to come! 

The band called it a day in 1993 why was this?

Mainly, I think the whole ”We against the world” spirit got lost somewhere along the way, and bear in mind that the rock scene drastically changed in those years and All bands from our era either split up or submerged in one way or the other.

And what led to the recent reformation?

We missed each other! I mean 10 years together through rain and shine makes a pretty strong bond at the end of the day, that and the fact that die hard fans has been approaching us about a reunion for years, made me ,Robert and Jamie take a decision in the summer of –05 that we to this date haven’t had any reason to regret!

Are they any plans for a new Treat album, as I believe that the members all involved in other projects?

It’s the obvious question right now, isn’t it?

Well, we could have started a new album last year already, we did write and record 2 new songs for the ”Weapons of choice” album, but in hindsight it wouldn’t have been the ultimate Treat album mainly because of lack of time and Involvement in other projects! We will most definitely give it our best shot when everybody in the band can devote their time to this for real!

I mean, the chemistry is there and we already have new song ideas that will blow the roof off when finished, so without writing anything in stone, We will start to work on a new album early in 2007!

Am I correct in thinking that the FireFest will be Treat's first UK show?

You are absolutely correct. This is the first Treat show in the UK ever!

So what sort of set can we expect from Treat at the FireFest then?

We will perform a 55-minute set that will contain the best songs from our career period! As this is a festival and there’s a time limit to basically all bands performances. We hope that the audience will get what the band is all about in this time and hopefully we’ll be able to come back to the UK later on to perform a full set.

Anyway the FireFest is gonna be a blast!!

And finally, the standard HardRockHouse question, is there anything further you would like to mention that we haven't covered so far?

I’m really curious to know why so many people from the UK are so supportive of Treat right now? We’ve only released 1 official album in the UK, and never played a single show up until now, it really feels heart-warming and we’re thrilled of the response we’ve been getting over the last months, Thank You!!

Many thanks to Anders for taking the time to answer our questions To find out more about Treat you can visit their website via www.treatnews.com