21 October 1996:
Well, there hasn't been much news lately, has there...? :-) For a start, I'm too busy with my badly paid work, and secondly, I don't really feel like spending a whole lot of time on updating the pages of a band that fired me. There's gonna be a FAQ about that here soon, by the way. I had the HTML code ready, but then I accidentally deleted it, so...
This news page - like the rest of the site - is from now on just gonna be updated with information regarding the line-up which I was in. I have nothing personally against the remaining "Brats" - who continue playing under that name despite sounding like something quite different - but if they want to advertise themselves on the Internet, they'll have to do it - exactly - themselves.
Okay, then... Now to some news regarding the line-up which I was in:
I've been told in a mail from 1+2 Records that they've finally released the one a half year delayed Curse of the Brats album! Hooray! Not a day too early (indeed). I'll keep my champagne on the shelf, though, until I'm holding my two hard earned free copies in my hand - and I'll tell you about it here.
That's one (I suppose the only) nice thing about being kicked out this band: I'm gonna get to make money from the sales of that album without doing anything myself. :-)
I just noticed that it's almost exactly a year since the first entry on this page. That was different times indeed...
23 April 1996:
As of Sunday 21 April 1996, I am no longer the singer of the Basement Brats - the band I helped form and gave its name almost exactly five and a half years ago. Several difficulties between me and the rest of the band finally culminated on the tour (in Spain especially) and led to this parting of the ways between myself and the rest of the band this last weekend.
A somewhat longer "declaration", detailing the background for this split will be posted on the Basement Brats Home Page in a few days. I will, for the time being at least, continue running the Basement Brats Home Page (and it should be quite interesting to see what the boys are gonna do now...), but when my eventual new project(s) get under way, I hope no one will blame me if I eventually give those somewhat more attention...
7 March 1996:
This is the last news item before we go on tour. We leave on Sunday the 10th and will be gone until the beginning of April. Below are the tour dates for you.
Since last we spoke, both The Bratbeat and the Shining Down single have been released! "Shining Down" actually came out on the night of the release party for "The Bratbeat". The LP edition of "The Bratbeat" is in production and might possibly be out this month - although it could take a bit longer.
For our American fans, both the CD and vinyl edition of "The Bratbeat" will presumably be distributed by Get Hip Records (I know for sure about the CD, anyway).
With that, I wish you all a happy March. We'll be back after 9000 kilometres...
01 Mar: Kongens Brygge, Halden, Norway (release party)
CANCELLED: 06 Mar: So What, Oslo, Norway
08 Mar: Lacoste MC, Sarpsborg, Norway
12 Mar: Yello, Toulouse, France
14 Mar: Tapioca, Vitoria, Spain
15 Mar: Komplot, San Sebastian, Spain
16 Mar: Templo Del Gato, Madrid, Spain
17 Mar: Gaztetxe, Alsasua, Spain
18 Mar: Planta Baixa, Vigo, Spain
19 Mar: Platon, Leon, Spain
22 Mar: Magic, Barcelona, Spain
23 Mar: Cotton Club, Lleida, Spain
24 Mar: Rico Amor, Castellon, Spain
26 Mar: 22 Rue de la Loi, Limoges, France
27 Mar: Jimmy, Bordeaux, France
28 Mar: Tontons Flingeurs, Rennes, France
29 Mar: Fahrenheit, Issy Les Molineux - Paris, France
30 Mar: Penicle Tontons Flingeurs, Arras, France
31 Mar: The Pit's, Kortrijk, Belgium
03 Apr: St. Croix, Fredrikstad, Norway
8 February 1996:
Sigh... I don't know what to do about this Curse of the Brats thing... I told you previously (below) that it was now confirmed to be in production. Well, it is - that is, the CD itself has indeed been pressed, but not the cover. The date now is supposed to be March, but with previous experiences with 1+2 Records in mind, I choose to believe whatever I want about that. Anyway, I won't write any more about it now until I'm holding the album in my hands and can confirm to you that it does indeed exist. We've got more important things to think about right now:
I'm happy to announce that The Bratbeat will be delivered to Bel Produksjon for production on the 6th and will be in our hands on the 21st. I sat up until 2 a.m. on on Sunday the 4th (well, it was Monday by then) to get the cover ready for making films out of it on Monday. By the way, why do everyone insist on using Macs for that sort of stuff!?
We're finally getting some real dates for the tour, and I'll put them in this spot as soon as I've got them in front of me. For now, I've at least got some cities for you:
Upcoming concerts:
16 February: Rockehuset Musikksenter Rødsfjellet, Halden, Norway (with Poppets and Dødt Løp)
1 March: Release concert for The Bratbeat at Kongens Brygge, Halden (with Poppets)
Germany: Cologne
France: Paris, Rennes, Arras, Bordeaux, Limoges, Toulouse
Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Rastedon, Lleida, Galicia, Leon, Vigo, San Sebastian, Santio
Belgium: unknown location
28 January 1996:
I have been made aware that contradictary information regarding the infamous Curse of the Brats album in these news items may seem a bit confusing. Please keep in mind that the newest (uppermost) entries update the older ones - information in newsflashes lower on this page may not be accurate anymore. Generally you can say that it IS accurate UNLESS it is contradicted above. Is that any less confusing. No, I thought not... :-)
Since I'm writing anyway, I might as well mention that the boys have today finished the last bits of recording for the new, as yet untitled, album with some more background vocals, some percussion and a harp solo on one track. I finished the last bits of my vocals yesterday. Tomorrow, hopefully, we will start mixing the batch and spending the week doing that while simultanously putting together the cover. The album is then planned to be mastered on Monday the 5th of February, and we will hopefully have it in our hands around the 20th.
It's been a lot of hard work over the past two weeks - so far, we have spent 65 hours in the studio, with an additional 35 supposed to be put into mixing it - but hopefully the results will be rather fabulous. :-) Anyway, it's certainly taken a lot less time than waiting for the Curse album for about a year (Curse took only about 30 hours in all to record, though...).
We have also received a test pressing of the Shining Down single, and it sounds great. The finished product will probably be in our hands in the beginning of February or somewhere around that.
By the way, before anyone starts asking me when that single comes out: no, we did not intentionally try to make it look like the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" album. We just noticed today!
Upcoming concerts:
16 February: Rockehuset Musikksenter Rødsfjellet, Halden, Norway (to be confirmed)
1 March: Release party for the new album at Kongens Brygge, Halden, Norway
Most of March: European tour. More details about dates and venues to come..
16 January 1996:
It took quite a while for me to remember bringing the disk along, but putting these files on the machine at work obviously wasn't such a bad idea. I can now sit down and edit them here - at least when nobody's looking. Now if only we could get Internet access here so I could upload them right away as well...
Curse of the Brats has finally been confirmed to be in production, so soon we don't have to wait any longer! The Shining Down single is also ready for release any time now.
Not having to worry about that much anymore, we just started recording a new album yesterday, which will be out hopefully at the end of February, if nothing gets wrong and no one gets the Johannesburg flu. We're taking care of this one ourselves, so there shouldn't be any delays other than things like that which we have no control over. The album will be out on CD on That's Entertainment Records label, and hopefully a little later on vinyl on Screaming Apple Records. Anyway, the album will be great, believe me!
Upcoming concerts:
2 March: Release party for the new album, somewhere in Halden (to be confirmed)
March: Three weeks tour of Spain, France and perhaps a gig or two in Germany (details to come)
25 October 1995:
First, let me tell you who may have dropped in here from now and then how sorry I am that I haven't had time to do anything about these pages since June. I've been far too busy with far too many things. I'm still busy, but I'll try to keep these pages a bit more up to date than I have recently. You've got this news page today, and expect new photos and interviews and other stuff fairly soon.
Now for the real news:
Unfortunately, the Curse of the Brats CD, which we have been marketing on these pages since they came up, have, after having been delayed several times, been delayed again. The story is that the record company, 1+2 Records in Japan, have obviously been a bit too ambitious regarding the number of records they were supposed to put out this year, with the result that they haven't enough money to put Curse out on the market until December or January. Of course I find this rather irritating..
In the meantime, though, we will be releasing a single with three brand new songs on a new Norwegian label, started by the legendary Tom Trash. This will be released as soon as we have been able to record the songs (and make a cover for the thing). This will be done as soon as we have the money to spend on it.
Also planned is a split-album with our mates in the Kwyet Kings, to be released by Impossible (sp?) Records, Spain, some time in the future. Can't really tell you when, that depends on a lot of things, and we haven't even started doing anything with it yet.
Perhaps bigger news is that we'll be doing a two or three (most likely three) weeks' tour of Spain and France (yeah, despite the nuclear tests...) early next year. It's possible that we will also be recording a live album during this tour. Dates are not yet set, but you'll see them here when they are.
I might also mention that we supported Dead Moon in Oslo last weekend. A great day!
Upcoming concerts:
28 October: Sarpsborg Rockeklubb, Sarpsborg, Halden
1 November: Rockehuset Musikksenter Rødsfjellet, Halden, Norway - the official opening of the new "Rock
House".
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