-Band history-
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Panzerpappa mark 1
The tale of Panzerpappa begins in the summer of 1996, when Trond Gjellum started to record some simple demos on his own. Seeing that Trond Gjellum is a pretty dull name to use as an artist, he decides to take the name Panzerpappa, a name deprived of any meaning. The songs he records are simple sketches of what later will become De 99 trappetrinn and Verktøyet er den 23. veien. The songs are based in the progressive rock sound of Samla Mammas Manna and Univers Zero, and he wants to start a band to perform his music. However, as he can find no one to form a band with, the project is shelved. Then, in May 1997, Trond plays a concert with the band Sangioveze - a kind of heavy prog band in the vein of Motorpshyco and King Crimson. At the concert, he is asked if he is willing to play drums in a project aiming at making music to Tolkiens The Lord of The Rings. Trond gets in touch with Steinar Bøvre, and agrees to join the project. During the summer, the band rehearses and plays one concert at a Tolkien-festival at the University of Oslo. During these sessions, Steinar and Trond find out that they have many common influences when it comes to music, especially the music of Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna/Lars Hollmer and Univers Zero are common ground. Therefore they agree to do further collaborations in the future. October 1997, Trond travels to London to be present at the release of King Crimson’s The Nightwatch. One of the other Norwegian participators on this trip is Knut Tore Abrahamsen. Knut Tore and Trond find out that they want to do something musically in the future. In the beginning of 1998, Steinar and Trond start a band together with Knut Tore, and they agree to use the name Panzerpappa. Trond is still playing drums in Sangioveze. The only thing missing now is a bass player. In march that year, Trond attend a concert with the band Agartha, lead by Jørgen Skjulstad. Trond approach Jørgen and ask him if he’s interested in joining Panzerpappa. Jørgen says yes. During the summer of ’98, Panzerpappa meet on a couple of occasions to write some songs together, but they have no formal rehearsals. The band is in limbo for rest of the year because of many outside obligations for all the members. The 1st of March 1999, Trond quits Sangioveze and is now ready to fully concentrate on Panzerpappa. However, it becomes fall before Panzerpappa begin to rehearse. The rehearsal room is a small room in the basement of the student house Knut Tore lives in. There is no drum kit there, so Trond plays on books, chairs and the other members! They book a concert in November at Lillesalen in Oslo, and they manage to get a few rehearsals in a room with a drum kit before that. On the 10th of November 1999, Panzerpappa have their live debut. Despite a few wrong notes, some under-rehearsed songs and quite a bit of stage fright (Knut Tore had never played with a band on a stage before!), it all went very well. In December, they play a concert in Asker together with White Willow and get numerous positive reactions. The rest of the year is spent writing more songs. In January 2000, Panzerpappa get a permanent rehearsal room. They can now concentrate on writing more songs. In March they play with Anekdoten in Asker. They get a lot of attention and the word begins to spread… During the spring, Panzerpappa plays several concerts and write a bulk of new material. When they meet after the summer holiday, they decide that the time is right to record an album. In the middle of November, Panzerpappa records their debut album … passer gullfisk, in Frogner Lyd studio in Oslo, Norway. The engineer, Georg Tanderø, later becomes engineer for his favourite band Motorpshyco. In December, … passer gullfisk is released. Panzerpappa plays a well-received concert at the release party and the band can take a well-deserved holiday after a hectic year. During the spring of 2001, the band writes some new songs and the future looks bright. Then in May, Knut Tore tells the rest of the band that he will get married and move to Copenhagen with his wife. This could have grinded the band to halt, but the help was just around the corner.
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A friend of Trond , Endre Begby, was also a fan of the band, and he said yes without hesitation when the band asked him if he was willing to join as their new guitar player. During the summer of 2001, the band rehearses the songs, but because Jørgen have some other obligations, the rehearsals are not working as well as they should, and when the band enters the studio the record their next album, Hulemysteriet, they are sadly under-rehearsed. Nevertheless, the recording session is a positive experience, and when they play a concert at Oslo’s hip, experimental music scene, Blå, in November, they sound as a musically tight unit. Then things start to fall apart… |
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In the beginning 2002, Steinar get the opportunity to study for half a year in Australia , and Jørgen use more and more time on other musical projects. In February, Endre and Jørgen leave Panzerpappa. With half the band lost and the remaining 25% in Australia, Trond is left with the job of finding their replacements. In fact, that proved to be much easier than expected. Jarle G. Storløkken and Anders K. Krabberød plays with Trond in the backing band of Richard Sinclair in march, and when Trond ask them if they want to join Panzerpappa, the answer is yes. During the summer, Anders, Jarle and Trond write songs and rehearse together. The new material shows a promising future for the band. Jarle has a background as guitar player in a lot of different bands, ranging from straight jazz and pop to playing cover tunes by Zappa and a variety of progressive rock bands ranging from King Crimson, Yes and Genesis to Gentle Giant. Anders has his roots in bands as Van der Graaf Generator, but also get a lot of inspiration from modernist composers as Iannis Xenakis and Brian Ferneyhough In September, Steinar returns, and for the first time in almost a year, Panzerpappa is a full band!
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