 | This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(December 2010) |
The Contenders | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Oslo, Norway |
| Genres | Roots rock |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | EMI |
The Contenders were one of the most popular Norwegian roots rock bands of the early 1990s, playing more than 200 gigs and releasing three albums.
In the fall of 1987, Bjørn Kulseth was waiting for the release of his first solo album Away, recorded in England that summer and due for release under the "project name" Hi-Yo Silver! in March 1988 . Having broken up The Act in January 1987 after four years of regular gig playing, he was now yearning to get back on stage.
So initially just to have some fun and play a few gigs, Kulseth rounded up his younger brother Stein and the rhythm section they had played with while growing up in Flisa, a rural village close to the deep forests by the Swedish border. The last recruit was Bjørn Gulliksen, the front man of The Ramblers from Kongsberg who were also handled by Kulseth's manager.
From the very first show – playing mostly pub rock classics and a few new originals by the Kulseth brothers – the response was strong. As word got around that the guy from The Act had a new band with three frontmen, offers for gigs started coming in. So when his more pop oriented solo album bombed – great reviews and close to zero sales – Bjørn Kulseth just kept on gigging with The Contenders and writing new songs with his brother.
After a few months, Bjørn Gulliksen found two bands to be one too many and was replaced by lead guitarist Stein Ramberg, who had played with Bjørn Kulseth in The Act in 1984.
In the spring of 1988, The Contenders started a residency at Cruise Café, Oslo's main venue for Americana music. Every week the band invited other Norwegian performers they respected as special guests: Singers like Trond Granlund, Henning Kvitnes, Jan Dahlen and Pål Andreassen. On the back of this residency, The Contenders were hired to back US singer-songwriter Steve Young (best known for Eagles' cover of his song “Seven Bridges Road”) on a Norwegian tour.
In the summer of 1988 the band recorded demos of three of their own songs. A version of “Ain't That Brave” from this session was included on the Norwegian Garage Rock collection Rock 'n' Roll Stowaways Vol. 1. Later that summer they played alongside Tom Russell and Backstreet Girls at Down on the Farm: An event that started out as a barbecue for musicians and friends and in a few years become the premier Norwegian roots festival with audiences up to 5,000.
In the spring of 1989, the band hired Oslo's all digital BEL Studio for four nights. Thirteen songs were recorded and produced by the Kulseth brothers with engineer Gragg Lunsford. EMI – Kulseth's label for both The Act and the solo album released under the project name Hi-Yo Silver! – got the first listen and decided to buy the master and sign the band. Released in January 1990, the debut album The Contenders features 11 tracks written by the Kulseth brothers, a rollicking boogie woogie-style cover of Hank Williams' “Jambalaya” and the first released recording of “A Little Love is a Dangerous Thing” by US songwriters Katy Moffatt and Tom Russell.
The critics were enthusiastic, with possibly the highest praise coming from the veteran Swedish critic Mats Olsson of Expressen. Annoyed that a new generation of Norwegian sports stars were now beating the Swedes, Olsson “worried” that The Contenders' debut album might signal a similar trend in rock music. The single “Sweet Little Thing” – written and sung by Stein Kulseth – got a fair amount of airplay and the band was invited to perform on both local and national TV. More importantly, the album helped to establish The Contenders as one of the most popular live bands of the time.
When guitarist Stein Ramberg left to play with Casino Steel – the Norwegian pianist who had been in the UK punk band The Boys in the 1970s – The Contenders continued as a quartet for almost a year. As they started preparing for the second album, they recruited Arnfinn Tørrisen who was originally also from Flisa, the town the others had grown up in. Tørrisen was known as the Norwegian Albert Lee and had been playing professionally since he was seventeen with Norwegian country acts like Big Hand Johansen's Country Team, Lillian Askeland, Bjøro Håland, Egil “Gille” Larsen, Teddy Nelson, G. Thomas etc.
In the fall of 1991 the band headed down south to Halden close the Swedish border, to record their next album at the residential studio Athletic Sound with house engineer Kai Andersen. The Kulseth brothers had by now been writing new songs for their live gigs for two years and had a good selection to choose from. One song seemed particularly promising: A midtempo tune called “Radioland” which was a tongue-in-cheek commentary on all the late night request shows that had become popular as Norwegian airwaves were opened up for competition during the 1980s. To maximise the song's commercial potential, “Radioland” and two other tracks were brought to Stockholm to be mixed by Dan Sundquist, the Swedish musician who had been in the new romantic band Reeperbahn in the early 1980s and who by now was a successful engineer/producer with a Swedish Grammy for Best Producer in 1988.
When the Radioland album was released in January 1992, the whole campaign was focused on the title tune. The strategy worked. The single “Radioland” topped the airplay charts for four weeks and helped to sell close to 15.000 copies of the album. The Kulseth brothers now signed an international publishing contract with the Stockholm-branch of EMI Music Publishing. The critics were also enthusiastic about the new and modernized version of The Contenders, with several comparisons made to the transformation Tom Petty had recently gone through by working with Jeff Lynne.
In March 1992, The Contenders were happy to be invited to support Tom Petty at his sold-out shows in Gothenburg's Scandinavium and Stockholm's Globen. So after performing songs like “Louisiana Rain” and “Listen to Her Heart” hundreds of times during the previous 10 years, Bjørn Kulseth got to celebrate his 30th birthday on March 7. by supporting the writer of those songs in front of 12.000 Stockholmians and later hanging out with The Heartbreakers at the legendary Café Opera.
With two weeks notice, The Contenders were now invited to compete in the Norwegian Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, traditionally a huge television event watched by virtually all Norwegians. The band quickly wrote and recorded their first ever song in Norwegian with the title “Munn mot munn metoden” (i.e. “The mouth to mouth method”). After the live and directly televised performance in Oslo Spektrum on March 21. the regional juries voted The Contenders’ song in at next to last of the ten entries.
Much of the summer of 1992 was spent on the road, with highlights being an outdoors show in the port of Malmø during Euro 92 (The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship) in June and The Molde International Jazz Festival in July. In the fall of 1992, The Contenders were invited to contribute to a double tribute album to the Norwegian singer-songwriter Åge Aleksandersen. The Contenders chose to cover “Kvalmen” (“Nausea”) from Aleksandersen's 1979 album French Only.
Though neither of The Contenders’ first experiments with signing in their native language were particularly successful, the Kulseth brothers decided that Norwegian lyrics was their future. They worked hard on their songwriting and in the fall of 1993 had enough songs to start recording their third album. As on Radioland they started recording basic tracks in Halden's Athletic Sound, but then moved on to Studio Nova in Spydeberg for overdubs and mixing.
In January 1994 the album Amors bil (i.e. "Cupid's Car"), was released. The first single “Folkets Hus” (i.e. "Community Hall") - an allegory on the fall of the post World War II social democratic solidarity - became a minor radio hit. The second single "Indianere" (i.e. "Red Indians") also received much airplay, but even though the critics lauded the band's new blend of classic Americana music with Norwegian lyrics, the album sales never took off.
After touring the Amors Bil album, Per Ivar Stræte found he had developed tinnitus and put his drums in storage. The rest of the band then joined forces with the singer-songwriter Roy Lønhøiden as a third front man and called themselves Kulseth & Lønhøiden Almenning. Lønhøiden had grown up in roughly the same area as The Contenders and after singing in English in the boy/girl duo Peyton Place (one self-titled album on Sony in 1994) he had also decided to switch to Norwegian.
Kulseth & Lønhøiden Almenning released their one self-titled album in 1998 on Bjørn Kulseth's own label Norskamerikaner (i.e. Norwegian-American). Bjørn Kulseth has later produced and released solo albums by Roy Lønhøiden in 2004 and 2006 on this label. Stein Kulseth has also worked with Lønhøiden as a songwriter and studio musician and has since 1999 been a semi-permanent member of veteran Norwegian roots singer Trond Grandlund's band.
The guitarist Arnfinn Tørrisen started playing and writing songs with J.T. Lauritsen & the Buckshot Hunters in 1995 and they have since released four albums. Tørrisen has also recorded and performed with Roy Lønhøiden. In 1998, the bass player Odd-Eirik Fleischer joined Home Groan, a band led by The Contenders' former soundman Martin Hagfors, which have since released 10 albums.
The drummer Per-Ivar Stræte learned to live with the tinnitus after a few years and the last line-up of The Contenders occasionally reunites for one-off gigs, mainly around Christmas time in their old hometown Flisa.
(Blue vinyl promo single, EMI Odeon 1989)
(Vinyl single, EMI 1991)
(CD single, EMI 1992)
(CD single, EMI 1992)
(CD promo single in cardboard cover, EMI 1993)
(CD single, EMI 1994 )
(Vinyl album, That's Entertainment 1988)
(Double CD, Norske Gram 1992)
Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although highly successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next five years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "Atomic", "The Tide Is High", and “Rapture”. The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, and early rap music.
Princess Anni-Frid Reuss, Dowager Countess of Plauen, better known by her nickname Frida, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer, songwriter and environmentalist, who is best known as one of the founding members and lead singers of the Swedish pop band ABBA.
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English glam rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.
Green Carnation is a Norwegian progressive metal band from Kristiansand, Norway, formed in 1990. Green Carnation's trend of music has continuously changed on every release one by one; from straight forward death metal in their demo, to death-doom, then a progressive doom metal sound, to an atmospheric gothic metal sound, to a melancholic hard rock sound and in 2006, went as far as to releasing an entirely acoustic album Acoustic Verses. The band released its first album in 14 years titled Leaves of Yesteryear on May 8, 2020, which marked a return to their earlier gothic progressive metal roots. A new single was composed, arranged, rehearsed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, called "The World Without a View", and released digitally on December 18th 2020.
The Hep Stars were a Swedish rock band formed in Stockholm in 1963. During 1965–1966 the band was the most successful of contemporary 1960s Swedish pop groups performing in the English language. Outside the Nordic countries the band is best known as a launching point for the keyboard player and composer Benny Andersson, who went on to enjoy worldwide success with ABBA.
Any Trouble are a British rock band, originating from Crewe, England, best known for their early 1980s recordings.
The Minus 5 is an American pop rock band, headed by musician Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows, often in partnership with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.
Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, It's a Bit Complicated, released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Jean Dubuffet's definition of outsider art – art by prisoners, loners, the mentally ill, and other marginalized people, and made without thought to imitation or presentation – South London's Art Brut were tagged by NME as part of the "Art Wave" scene that also included bands such as The Rakes, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. The band released further albums, Art Brut vs Satan in 2009 and Brilliant! Tragic! in 2011. A fifth album, Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!", was released in 2018.
Fra Lippo Lippi is a Norwegian band. They had several hits in the 1980s, such as "Shouldn't Have to Be Like That", "Everytime I See You" and "Light and Shade", and recorded a new album as late as 2002. The band name is derived from Robert Browning's poem about the Renaissance painter Filippo Lippi.
The Blackbirds is a Norwegian rock band from Oslo. The band was formed in 1996, but it was not until 2001, when five became four, that they developed their own style. Two guitars, bass guitar and drums was the recipe for The Blackbirds elegant sound. The four had known each other for many years and this can easily be heard when they are playing. The Blackbirds is a very good live band with experience from hundreds of live shows throughout the country.
The Act was a Norwegian rock band active in the mid-1980s. They toured extensively and released the album September Field.
Hi-Yo Silver! was a musical solo project by Bjørn Kulseth, the former lead singer and songwriter of the Norwegian rock band the Act. The only Hi-Yo Silver! album was entitled Away and was released in 1988.
The Cate Brothers are an American singer-songwriter-musician duo of twin brothers from Fayetteville, Arkansas, Earl and Ernest "Ernie" Cate. In the mid-1960s, they became performers of country soul music at clubs and dances in Arkansas and elsewhere in the mid-South of the United States. Both brothers are singers, with Earl playing guitar and Ernie playing piano. They were recording artists during the mid- to late-1970s and again from the mid-1990s through the first decade of the 2000s.
Asad Ahmed is a Pakistani guitarist. His first stint was forming The Barbarians. He has been a member of the famous pop trio Awaz, has played with Junoon, Vital Signs and was a founding member of the rock band Karavan. Asad is considered as the founder of Rock Music in Pakistan. He is currently a Solo Artist.
Backstreet Girls are a Norwegian rock band. Formed in 1984, they have released 16 albums.
Elektrisk Regn is a new wave punk band from Bergen, Norway, founded in 1978. They appeared when new wave started growing in Norway with such bands as De Press, The Aller Værste! and Kjøtt. El-Regn was one of the first bands to introduce the underground genre in Norway.
Frank Aleksandersen is a Norwegian singer, drummer and lyricist. For a while, he was the drummer for the jazz-inspired band Vanessa. He is the cousin of the trønderrocker Åge Aleksandersen.
Viva Brother are an English rock band from Slough, England. Previously known as Brother, they signed to Geffen Records in October and EMI Publishing in November 2010. Their debut album, Famous First Words, was released on 1 August 2011, and reached #34 on the UK Albums Chart. It was confirmed on 1 April 2012 that Viva Brother had split up. In June 2012, the band members launched a new band, the synthpop group Lovelife. Viva Brother uploaded a cryptic video to their social media platforms on 22 September 2017, hinting at an announcement on 3 October. The band confirmed they were reuniting on 3 October, with their first show to be played at The Garage, in London, on 30 November.
Per Hillestad is a Norwegian musician (drums) and record producer, known as drummer in Lava and was contributing in releases by a-ha, Vamp, Jonas Fjeld, Bjølsen Valsemølle and Marius Müller.
Tonic Breed is a Norwegian thrash and heavy metal one-man music project by Patrik K. Svendsen. Until 2019, Tonic Breed was a four pieced band, established in Sarpsborg, Norway in 2006. As of 2021, Tonic Breed has released three albums, their most recent being, Install Memory, on September 14, 2018. Besides the three studio albums, the band has also released five singles and twelve music videos.
