Individual biographies
for
the members of Panzerpappa

Trond Gjellum

Born:
November 19 1971

Occupation:
work as a teacher in secondary school

Instruments in Panzerpappa:
drums and percussion                                    

Drumkit
Pearl Master Studio drumkit in dark, red cherrywood finish
8x8", 10x8”, 12x9” and 14x14” toms, 20x16” bassdrum
14x5” Chad Smith Signature steel shelled snare
, 12x5"  Yamaha Manu Katche snare, Pearl 13x3" steel shell piccolo

Yamaha and Pearl hardware

Remo and Attack drumheads
clear Emperor on top and clear Diplomats on bottom of toms, Powerstroke 4 on bass drum batter, Powerstroke 3 with logo on front, Attack 1-ply no overtone on top and Remo Ambassador snare on bottom of snare

Vater and Sonor Piccolo sticks, Vater brushes, Zildjian mallets and Calato blasticks, Vic Firth Flats


Cymbals
Grand master, Pasha, Paiste,Wuhan, Zildjian and Steve Hubback Custom
5” bell, 8” splash, 10” splash, 12" china,  12” hi-hat, 14” crash, 16” crash, 20”ride, 18” china


Percussion
LP, Toca, Pearl, PJ, Steve Hubback Custom, homemade
Two jamblocks, one set of windchimes, two tuned bells, one cowbell, one drumset tambourine, one metal crasher, one jingle, one Tibetan bell, one shell bell, one gong plate, doumbek hand drum, tronofon string percussion, a variety of maracas, catanettes, rhythm eggs and other assorted percussion


Electronics
Roland, Zoom, Sharp, Behringer, AKG
Zoom Sampletrak loopsampler, Roland SPD-S sampling drumpad, Roland TR-626 drummachine, Sharp Mini Disc, Behringer UB-802 mini mixer, AKG C-420 headset microphone

Musical background
Have been playing drums and percussion since the age of eight. Have never got any formal education in drumming, but have got some tips and hints from various norwegian drummers through the years. Have also been singing a lot, but never got any formal education.

During the period of 1988-93,Trond played drums in various rock bands. Started the symphonic rock band Ab Intra together with Bjørn Lynne in 1994. After Ab Intra broke up in spring 1995, he formed Civil Surface, a band playing music in the style of Canterbury bands like Hatfield and the North. Then formed Sangioveze, a a heavy prog band fusing elements of King Crimson and Motorpshyco, during the fall of 1996. Played in this band until march 1999, when Panzerpappa was formed. Also plays drums on and off in the pop band Ethnobabes. Together with Jarle and Andres, Trond is also a member of Bad Alchemy, a coverband playing compositions of “Rock In Opposition”-bands such as Henry Cow, Univers Zero Zamla Mammas Manna, Fred Frith and Slapp Happy, and Canterbury acts such lke Hatfield & The North, National Health and Bruford. The group was initially put together as a backing band for the legendary bassist and singer Richard Sinclair, who visited Oslo in March of 2002. With Anders, he also plays in the free improvitation band Ur Kur.

Musical inspiration
Police and Stewart Copeland, King Crimson, Bill Bruford, Christian Vander and Magma, Daniel Denis and Univers Zero, Charles Hayward and This Heat, Lars Hollmer and Samla Mammas Manna, Henry Cow and releated, everything with Bob Drake on it, minimalism
composers as Steve Reich & John Adams, Frank Zappa, Fred Frith, John McEntire (The Sea and Cake, Tortoise), Andi Toma (Mouse on Mars), Roger Taylor (Queen)

Some favourite albums
Univers Zero – Ceux du Dehors
Magma – Hhaï
Mouse on Mars- Ideology
Tortoise – Standards
Queen-A Day At The Races
Quiet Sun - Mainstream
Hatfield & the North: Rotter's Club
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention- Roxy and elswhere
Police – Live
Terje Rypdal – Chaser
Zamla Mammas Manna - Familjesprickor
Yes – Close to the Edge
King Crimson – Larks’ tounges in aspic
Henry Cow – Unrest
Talk Talk – The Laughing Stoc
k
Lars Hollmers Looping Home Orchestra - Live 92/93
Steve Reich - Music for 18 musicians
This Heat – This Heat
801- Live

Other sources of inspiration
Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Andre Bjerke, Stanley Kubrick, Roald Dahl, Salvador Dali

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steinar Børve

Born: January 27 1973

Occupation:Scientist working on astrophysical and geophysical problems

Instruments in Panzerpappa:
Alto saxophone (Selmer Super Action 80, serie II) and keyboards (Roland XP-50, with expansions cards Vintage Synth, Piano, Keyboards of the ‘60s & ‘70s and Orchestral.)

Musical Background:
Have been playing the saxophone since the age of 11 with a classical training. Started out in the local wind band, but participated more and more in representation bands both regionally, nationally, as well as internationally. Latest of these were serving in His Majesty the Kings Guard Band in 1993 and during the winter Olympics at Lillehammer in March 1994. In addition to this, a variety of solo performances. Most notably, performing as exclusive guest at the one-woman-show of Wenche Foss, the number one film and theatre diva in Norway, in Grieghallen, Bergen in 1991.

 Have been playing the piano since the age of 15. The intention was never to play the piano publicly, but during the production of  Songs from the Red Book of Westmarch, the project in which Steinar and Trond first met and played together, Steinar was also forced to play keyboards. The music for this project, almost 2 hours of partly orchestral music and partly rock, were written solely by Steinar and was his first serious attempt at writing music. The need for a keyboard player in Panzerpappa as well, has meant that Steinar has kept on playing keyboards since. Steinar has also written music to a student production of the two-act play Isabella, Three Sailing Ships and a Con Man by Dario Fo.

Musical Influences:
Samla Mammas Manna/Lars Hollmer, Henry Cow, Cartoon, Miriodor, Guigou Chenevier, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Mr. Bungle, Queen,  the musically legacy of Disney, Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, Egil Hovland, Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett and Knutsen & Ludvigsen.

Favourite Albums/Musical Pieces :
Lars Hollmers Looping Home Orchestra – Live 92-93
Zamla Mammaz Manna – Schlagerns Mystik
Guigou Chenevier – Les Rumeurs de la Ville
René Lussier – Le trésor de la langue
Miriodor – Jongleries Elastiques
News From Babel – Letters Home
Henry Cow - Legend
Univers Zero – Ceux du Dehors
John Zorn – The Big Gundown
Queen – A Night at the Opera
Ottorini Respighi – The Pines of Rome
Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Anders Kristian Krabberød

Born: February 5 1977

Occupation: Studying philosophy at the University of Oslo

Instruments in Panzerpappa: Bass (5-string Ibanez
RB885 Roadstar II series, Warwick Thumb 5- string bolt on neck) and Chapman Stick (#1438). Boss GT6B Multi effect processor.

Musical Background:
Started playing piano at the age of seven, but soon found that the guitar was more exiting. Played guitar in several small bands with friends from the age of 13. From 1993 to 1996 Anders studied music at Greåker Videregående skole, his teacher on classical guitar was the legendary Sven Lundestad,. During this period he was also playing guitar in one band – Vombat – and started playing bass in another – Nexus. This last band was playing what they called ‘technical’ thrash (much in the same vein as Atheist, although not as well written or executed), experimenting with time signatures, atonality and extended form. In 1994 he was for the first time introduced to progressive rock (King Crimson and Van der Graaf) and to contemporary music (Xenakis, Ligeti) this would forever change his view on music.

After the years on Greåker, Anders stopped playing in bands, concentrating on the classical guitar. But this also subsided after a while. In 1998 he stopped taking lessons with Lundestad, and was only playing on his own. At this time he had started his academic career at the university, studying literature, mathematics and philosophy. In the beginning of 2002 Trond called Anders and asked if he would be interested in playing bass in a project with Richard Sinclair. Anders was exited by the idea of playing again and said yes immediately. After that project Trond also asked if he would like to play bass in Panzerpappa.

 Together with Jarle and Trond, Anders also play bass guitar in Bad Alchemy, a coverband playing compositions of “Rock In Opposition”-bands such as Henry Cow, Univers Zero Zamla Mammas Manna, Fred Frith and Slapp Happy, and Canterbury acts such lke Hatfield & The North, National Health and Bruford. The group was initially put together as a backing band for the legendary bassist and singer Richard Sinclair, who visited Oslo in March of 2002. With Trond, he also plays in the free improvitation band Ur Kur.

Musical influences:
Frank Zappa, Henry Cow, King Crimson, Iannis Xenakis, Brian Ferneyhough, Richard Barrett, Stravinsky, Van der Graaf Generator, Mats Gustafsson, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Jaco Pastorius, Ingebrit Håker Flaten, Univers Zero, Robert Wyatt, Samla Mammas Manna, Fred Frith

Favourite Albums/ Musical Pieces (for the time being and in no particular order):

Iannis Xenakis – Phlegra, Thallein, Nomos Alpha, Komboï, Oresteïa, La legend d’Eer,
Pléïades, Aïs, (etc. etc).
Brain Ferneyhough -  Terrain (for violin and wind octet), Kurze Schaten II (for solo guitar)
Richard Barrett - Negatives
The Thing w/ Joe McPhee – She Knows
AALY trio w/ Ken vandermark – I wonder if I was Screaming
Peter Brötzman – Nipples, Machine gun  
René Lussier – Le trésor de la langue
John Coltrane – Interstellar Space
Captain Beefheart – Ice Cream for Crow, Lick my Decals of Baby
Frank Zappa – (It’s almost impossible to pick one or just a few of his records, suffice it to say that I really like almost all of his albums)
Zamla Mammaz Manna – Schlagerns Mystik, Familjesprickor
Aksak Maboul – un peu de l'ame des bandits
Henry Cow – Western Culture, In Praise of Learning
Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom, Shleep, Dondestan
John Zorn and Masada – The Circle Maker, Live in Jerusalem
King Crimson – Red
Van der Graaf – Still Life, Pawn Hearts

Other sources of inspiration (philosophers, authors, directors, etc):
Donald Davidson, Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty, W.V.O. Quine, Bjørn Ramberg, Douglas Hofstadter, Samuel Beckett, Tor Ulven, Jorge Louis Borges, OuLiPo, Raymond Queneau, George Perec, Collège de 'Pataphysique, Peter Greenway, Anselm Kiefer

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jarle G. Storløkken

Born: April 1 1977

Occupation: Student (Master of Music, University of Oslo), freelance musician, IT-consultant

Instruments in Panzerpappa: Electric and acoustic guitars

Equipment:
Yamaha electric guitar, Epiphone Sheraton electric guitar, Fender Stratocaster (Korea built), Epiphone Regent hollow-body semi-acoustic “jazz” guitar, Yamaha Compass acoustic guitar, Dolphin banjo
Fender Hot-Rod Deluxe 40W combo 1x12’
amplifier, Marshall JMP modified 50W head (ca. 1978), Marshall JMP-1 Valve MIDI controlled preamp, Marshall Valvestate 80+80 power amp, Marshall 1936 2+12’ speaker cabinet, Marshall 4x10’ speaker cabinet
Boss GT-6 multieffects processor
, Jimi Hendrix wah, Ibanez Tube Screamer (80’s edition), Boss Super Chorus, Boss Vibrato

Musical background: Picked up guitar at the age of 10, influenced by a.o. Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Lonnie Johnson & Eddie Lang, The Rolling Stones etc. Started taking classical guitar lessons at the age of eleven.

Joined and played with a lot of different bands during secondary school, high school and my first years at the university:

Infanticide Thrash/death metal band. 1990-1995. Started out playing covers of Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Sarcofago, Obituary etc., and gradually started writing our own songs in a sort of technical death metal idiom. Infanticide recorded one demo-tape with 4 songs in 1995, and participated on a compilation album of local bands from Lørenskog entitled “Rock I Fullt Alvor” (“Rock of extreme sincerity”) in 1994.

Husarrest Jazz-rockband. 1994 to 1996. Two of the other members, Ola Lindh (keyboards) and Fredrik Jørgensen (bass) now plays with me in the jazz quartet Made in Corea. Husarrest recorded one demo tape with 5 songs, entitled “Ode to the Odd”, in 1995.

Gudedrikk experimental jazz-poetry collective, founded by Petter Vangstein (from Dead Dino Storage etc.), featuring the notorius Odin on vocals, recitation and general performance art. 1995-1996. Participated in the so-called “Megamix ‘95”, and made it all the way to the final at the legendary Sentrum Scene (which suffered such a tragic fate by the hands and cohorts of Mr. Olav Thon…) in Oslo, where we half puzzled, half delighted the audience with our rather eccentric and schizophrenic stage appearance. Recorded one demo tape with 5 songs in the spring of 1996.

Crakax – pop-progressive band. 1994-1995. Started out doing cover tunes of bands like Kings X, Primus, Soundgarden and Rush, and eventually started writing our own music. Recorded one song for a compilation of local bands from Lørenskog (the sequel to “Rock of extreme sincerity”). Regrettably, this was never released.

Kong Kannibal – rock band with progressive influences. 1993-1998 (I joined in 1995). Released one CD single with three tracks, called “Ned” (in English: “down”), in 1998. Influenced by a.o. Faith No More, Helmet, Mr. Bungle, Naked City, Neurosis etc. Gigged frequently in Oslo and it’s suburbs in the years between 1996 and 1998.

Spasmatic Tweetches – dance band. Cover versions of well-known jazz-, pop- and rock tunes. Frequent gigs at parties, happenings, weddings and other festive occasions in the Romerike area (Lørenskog, Skedsmo etc.), and even a job at a real “barn dance” at Toten.

 These are the bands I play with at the present day (besides Panzerpappa):

4Flate – part-time jazz quartet, part-time dance band. Has probably done about 300 gigs since the band was founded in 1995. Will enter the studio to record a CD with original material during the spring of 2004.

Made In Corea – pianoless jazz quartet which exclusively plays music by the American pianist/composer Chick Corea in new arrangements. The line-up: vibraphone, guitar, double-bass and drums. Made in Corea recorded a live demo at Spotlight, Lillestrøm in March this year, and played 8 gigs at 2003’s Kongsberg Jazz Festival.

S.U.A.N. – pop/rock-band started in 1995 by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter par excellence Kjetil Laumann of Dødsverk fame. They remained a power trio until the summer of 2002, when I joined, playing organ and synthesizer, as well as writing arrangements for a newly recruited vibraphonist (Ola Lindh from Made In Corea, Dead Dino Storage…), trumpeter and trombone player. The band has thereby expanded to a septet. S.U.A.N. went into Panser (!) studio at Kalbakken in November 2002 and December 2003, and has now recorded 15+ tracks with the new line-up, of which most of them are scheduled for release on CD early next year (2004).

Dead Dino Storage – coverband (no, not coverband – tribute band!) playing progressive rock classics. Started out in 1996, and had it’s first gig at a “Medieval Night” at Torshovteateret, Oslo. The repertoire has been centered around the music of Yes, Genesis, Rush, Jethro Tull et al., and the band has also done large-scale tribute projects dedicated to the music of Frank Zappa, King Crimson and Gentle Giant.

Bad Alchemy – coverband playing compositions of “Rock In Opposition”-bands such as Henry Cow, Univers Zero Zamla Mammas Manna, Fred Frith and Slapp Happy, and Canterbury acts such lke Hatfield & The North, National Health and Bruford. The group was initially put together as a backing band for the legendary bassist and singer Richard Sinclair, who visited Oslo in March of 2002.

Member of Panzerpappa since spring of 2002.

Musical influences:
Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Andres Sergovia, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, Brand X, Rush, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Soundgarden, Coroner, Metallica, Slayer, Entombed, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Cynic, Death, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter etc. etc.

Favourite albums (for the time being):
King Crimson – Red, Lark’s Tongues In Aspic
5UU’s – Crisis in Clay
Henry Cow – Unrest
Miles Davis – Black Beauty
Thinking Plague – In Extremis
Slayer – Reign In Blood
Miriodor – Elastic Juggling
Zamla Mammas Manna – Familjesprickor
Gentle Giant – In A Glass House, Octopus
Yes – Close To The Edge
Dødsverk – Sjelefred
Picchio Dal Pozzo – Abbiamo Di Suoi Problemi
Stormy Six – Macchina Maccheronica
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Bill Evans – Sunday At The Village Vanguard/Waltz For Debby

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