Bigbang (Norwegian band): Difference between revisions

Bigbang
Bigbang
	File:Bigbangforwiki.jpg
Background information
Origin	Oslo, Norway
Years active	1992 – present
Members	Øystein Greni; Olaf Olsen

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Revision as of 21:20, 14 September 2006

Bigbang is a Norwegian rock'n'roll band led by frontman Øystein Greni.

History

Bigbang plays retro-rock, in '70's style but also acoustic folk ballads such as Chocolate Factory or Old People, all sung in English.

The album Clouds Rolling By from 2000 was the beginning of their commercial success thanks to the Girl In Oslo hit that was released in many compilations by that time.

Øystein's own father, Thor S. Greni was performer in the Undertakers Circus 1960-70's soul band. The songs were sung in Norwegian except two Curtis Mayfield covers included in the debut album.

Young Greni grew up with the intimate conviction that "[he] was born to do that", he was influenced not only by his own father's work but also by other 60/70's Norwegian bands as well as British and American artists like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Eric Clapton's Blind Faith cult band. As a skateboarder he was into Punk rock energetic music like The Jam, Dinosaur Jr. or Hüsker Dü and American 80's alternative like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Tom Petty. He was also into Bob Dylan and Neil Young's folk-rock though, hence a sounding resemblance with acts such as Pearl Jam (To the Mountains) or R.E.M. (Spiritual Heart Surgery).

Bigbang's classic Long Distance Man is actually the English adaptation (with totally different lyrics) of a Norwegian sung Undertakers Circus 1973 tune. The band often covers their favourite tracks on stage, including almost all previously mentioned bands and even an instrumental partial cover of James Brown's 'There Was A Time'.

Bigbang was formed in 1992 by Øystein Greni, Erik Tresselt and Christer Engen (Turbonegro). Throughout the years the band's line-up has changed several times. The following persons have entered and left the band:

Nikolai Eilertsen
Karim Sayed
Stig Morten Sørheim
Kristian Syvertsen
Martin Horntveth
Erik Tresselt

As of 2006 (and the latest record, Not A Rolling Stone EP) it consists of Øystein Greni, Olaf Olsen (who joined in 1999) and Erik Tresselt (who rejoined after some years of absence). Øystein Greni is the only person who has always been a member of the band, and he is also commonly seen as the band's front figure, as he writes almost all the songs as well as being the lead vocalist and guitarist.

Short time after the release of the 2005 EP, Erik Tresselt left the band, and was replaced by Jarle Bernhoft (former guitarist & vocalist of the Norwegian punk/rock band Span). The current line-up is somewhat unsure, as Bernhoft has only done one concert in Norway so far. On the acoustic tour they did in early 2006, former bass and piano player Nikolai Eilertsen joined the band. He also played at a couple of electric shows in April and Norwegian Wood in June. During the concerts of this summer, it was Lasse Weeden who played bass, but it's uncertain that he are going to play for longer.

The spelling of the band name is often inconsistent. It is usually written "Bigbang" or "BIGBANG", and Øystein Greni prefers "bigbang" personally, but "BigBang" and "Big Bang" have also been used.

In Norway bigbang is often described as "norways best live band" which is not really far from the truth, since Radio Radio TV Sleep has became the most successful live album ever released stateside.