This Saga has been written from my memory, as good as I can recall these more or less honorable events that make the Saga of the Norwegian rockgroup Barbie Bones.
The beginning:
It all started in Bergen about 1987 years after the birth of Christ. The two Bards by the name Yngve and Dag came sailing southwards from Sunnmoere some years earlier, and had already given a hand on the long-playing record of Kaare and Kjersti from Bergen. The two Sunnmoere-men declared that this they could do much better themselves, and therefore they decided to write music to their lays(norse:words/poem). They wanted to travel around the world, so therefore they wrote in the language of the Brits.
After some weeks they had several tunes on their tape-recorder, and realized that they needed more people to help out with performing their music. The drummer from Fana by the name Rune, and the bass-player Geir from Tertnes were sent for together with the keyboard-player Sveinung from Sunnmoere, and that´s me, Sveinung, who´s now writing down this Saga.
The first concert:
On the last day in the first month in the year 1988 after Christ, the band played under the name MONA LISA OVERDRIVE at the club HULEN(norw:the cave) in Bergen. The people present pronounced several positive adjectives about their music this night, and therefore they drank a lot of mead(norse beer), so therefore there is little, or nothing more remembered from this night, but surely it was an enjoyable event.
| Maxi-single: | |
|
| After a one-gig tour to Volda on Sunnmoere, where only a few liked what they heared, it was decided by the band-court that the men should record 3 songs onto vinyl, so they could send records to different venues, and thereafter maybe perform for people around the entire kingdom of Norway. Since the music from Bergen had a very bad reputation at that time, the records were sent by anonymous messengers, and with no traceable names on the cover. So this was the story about how SHAKE ME HIP was released.  |
The press:
Both of the two music-papers of the kingdom were positive about what was found among the raven-black vinyl-mass, and Torgrim of Eggen, from the east, called the music Cyberpunk. He had´nt really heared the record, but his maid had, so I guess it was she that liked it.
Swedish gut-gas:
By the time that the band had played for some people, and the record was casted broadly around the kingdom, rich men came and wanted to help these poor bards further along. Peter from MISTLUR in the kingdom of Sweden was ready for some companionship, but he thought the music not aunty enough.
EMI:
After the melting of the snow in the year of 1989 after the birth of Christ, EMI of Norway presented a proposition for co-operation. This was agreed by the men, and at the same time they agreed about changing the name of the band. Many names were tasted: C.I.Angels, JingleBells, but on a rehearsel winter 1990, they agreed about BARBIE BONES. Barbie should depict the sweet and beauty of their music, while Bones should present the harder side of their music.
Espen the blonde:
After Geir from Tertnes left the band to work with his own personal music, there were a hunt for a new bass-player. And after some months Espen, a jolly fella from Bergen was found.
| Brake for nobody: | |
| The
longplaying record "Brake for nobody" was released shortly after
the leaves of the birches had sprung out the very same year. Dag and Yngve
wrote all the songs, and in addition Dag was responsible for the cover-art.
Even the production was taken care of by the two, an exception of two songs
which were produced by Roli Mosimann from Switzerland. He had earlier been
playing the drums in The SWANS, and had also been producing THE THE, THAT
PETROL EMOTION, and YOUNG GODS. The album was very well received by the
critics, but it didn´t sell much. |  |
Outside Norway:
EMI´s men around the world would like to try selling the album to people all over, but they needed live pictures of the men playing their music. So in co-operation with the men from VISCOM in Bergen they made 3 music-videos which were originally made as demos, but since the richest men thought them good enough as they were, and they were broadcasted around in Europe, and the album was sold in several countries.
Tours:
After several concerts in Norway it was now time for Sweden and Denmark. They played a lot, but only for a few people. Their new British manager, Dave Mail, had fixed gigs at marionett-theaters, and at venues no one in Sweden had ever heard of. It was a real downer, but Denmark was much better. But at the end of the day, their anger towards the Brit was to massive to continue the co-operate.
Alf Wigen:
Then they contacted this man from Rogaland, who had been selling popular-music to the Phillipines. He took over and sent the men to Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, and Austria. The people there were friendly and welcomed the Norwegians. The nights were lively with a lot of drinking and joy with an exception of Holland were people just stood there and seemed to be at another level.......
Italy:
The darkhaired Italians seemed to like their music, and bought as many redors as the Norwegians. Dag and Yngve went south for interviews, and the 1991st summer after the birth of Christ they left the first Quart-festival in Kristiansand, and with Inter-Rail tickets they went to the AREZZO-WAVE festival in Italy. Because of an early departure, they could stop in Rimini. There they found the Lambrusco very effective, so after a sad accident, Yngve had to have the whole length of his leg plastered . Therefore he had to use crutches with wings glued on to them on stage. Since we played with Leningrad Cowboys Espen had brought his wig, a bicycle-seat cover made of pure Norwegian lamb-wool.
| America-1: | |
|
| A small record-company from North-America, RESTLESS, wanted to sell the record over there, and the men left for the States when the leaves started to fall from the trees the year after the album was released. They played in the city of New York at a music-convention by the name CMJ(College Music Journal). And the men were privileged to get to play at the old cow-house CBGB on the island Manhatten. This happened at the same time as the record was released over there. A few good reviews came across the ocean, but else? Little. The whole trip was filmed by the U-gang from the Norwegian Broadcasting, and the program was on Norwegian television a couple of weeks after. |
| Death in the Rockinghorse factory: | |
|
| At this time the men had recorded an EP with 4 songs, but a German EMI-boss ment that we should go for an album, so we started recording some more songs in a hurry. The band almost worked themselves to death in the boathouse-studio, Sigma, and finally finished the last song, Kaptain Nemo on overtime. Dag had once again done the graphic design for the album-cover, but the German EMI-boss said that he prefered another painting by Dag than the black and silver one which was our choice. Well, the German had his way, and everything was ready for printing. The EMI-folks in Oslo messed it up, and used the wrong photo on the back of the cover. This was the beginning of the end. |
New leadership in EMI-Norway:
The week prior to our second album-release, some important people in EMI were re-arranged in the system, and new people hired, but the new guys couldn´t start until the fall.
Bad vibrations everywhere:
Little or nothing functioned the way it should during the release of "Death in the Rockinghorse factory", but the promise of a tour in Germany,Holland,and Belgium kept our heads above the water.
New EMI-Norway:
The day we left for Belgium, we were told by the new EMI-men that we should forget our newly released record. Since they had not been able to control the last release, which the said should never had happened, they wanted to start all over again. Forget Europe, and go around Norway for some years like you´ve already been doing for some years now.
BAD RELIGION:
We were really depressed, but we had received some fundings to tour together with BAD RELIGION in Europe. We knew little about this band, but we realized quickly that they were big in Germany. Around 2000 people came to the concerts every night to listen to their melodic and multi-voiced punkmusic. And we got to play for all of these....
| GO BANG! | |
| The
GO BANG!-festival in Berlin and Bremen was part of the tour, and in Bremen
we played for more than 11.000 people together with BAD
RELIGION, PEARL
JAM, SISTERS
OF MERCY, CONCRETE BLONDE,
and FURY
IN THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE. |  |
| NEW MUSIC SEMINAR: | |
|
| After finishing the tour in Germany, we went directly to New York to play at the New Music Seminar. I don´t know why we did this because the new album was not to be released in the states as the first one. But it was a very nice trip. |
BEST NORWEGIAN ROCKALBUM 1992:
After NMS the silence was overwhelming. We went in different directions, but then we received the Norwegian Grammy for best rock-album in 1992. The bronze-statue was given to our favourite bar in Bergen, GARAGE. The prize didn´t help us at all, but the party at Lillehammer is one of the best I have ever experienced.