Vidar Vang

Last updated

Vidar Vang
Vidar Vang press photo.jpg
Background information
Birth nameVidar Andre Vang
Born (1976-09-22) 22 September 1976 (age 47)
Bjerkvik, Norway
GenresRock, folk, acoustic
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, harmonica, vocals
Years active1998–present
Website vidarvang.com

Vidar Jusnes Vang (born 22 September 1976) is a Norwegian songwriter and musician. He has recorded eight albums.

Contents

Early life

Vidar Vang grew up in Bjerkvik, in Northern Norway. He started to write songs in his teens.

Musical career

In 1998, Vidar Vang released his unofficial debut album Blue, recorded in his hometown Bjerkvik. The album was sold at concerts throughout northern Norway.

In late 1999, Vang recorded his first demo with a band, at Hønsehuset Studio in Bodø. This demo gave him and his band the opportunity to play by:Larm in Bergen in 2000, and the Norwegian Wood festival in Oslo the following summer. In August 2000, Vang moved to Oslo. In 2001, after playing by:Larm in Tromsø, the Quart Festival and the main stage at Norwegian Wood, he got signed to EMI. Vidar Vang and his band went on their first Norwegian tour in late 2001, before they entered Juke Joint Studio at Notodden, together with producers Seasick Steve and Cato “Salsa” Thomassen to record his official debut album. In September 2002, Vang made his official recording debut releasing the album Rodeo. Rodeo received a Norwegian Grammy nomination the year after. The single "Under Six Strings" has become one of Vang’s signature songs.

In 2004, Vang released the follow-up to Rodeo, Stand Up Straight. Vang's band, childhood friends from Bjerkvik and Bodø, now had become The Northern Men. "Here It Is" was released as a single and received extensive radio play in the fall of 2004. The album songs "Happy", and the duet with Ingrid Olava "Highways of My Mind", were also released as singles. On the eponymous Vidar Vang (2006), Vang recorded his songs with a more acoustic sound than on previous albums. Vidar and The Northern Men went separate ways in 2005 and Vang subsequently recorded with other musicians. The single "Stand Up" is one of Vang’s most known and played songs. Before and after the release of Vidar Vang, Vang toured Norway and Sweden, and also supported The Waterboys and Madrugada on their European tours.

In 2010, Vang released his fifth album, Sleepless Songs, produced by Frode Jacobsen and Alexander Kloster-Jensen. Album singles were "10 Below" and the duet "Love, Love, Love" with Tift Merritt.

On Sidewalk Silhouettes (2012), Vang recorded 18 songs alone with his guitar, before him and his producer, Cato “Salsa” Thomassen, overdubbed them lightly with old, analog synthesizers, sparse drum machines and electric guitars. Starting with the 2015 album Vårres egen lille krig, he dropped English as the primary language and switched to his native Norwegian.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darkthrone</span> Norwegian black metal band

Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leading bands in the Norwegian black metal scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thou Shalt Suffer</span> Musical artist

Thou Shalt Suffer were a band that was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. It formed in 1990 at Akkerhaugen, Norway, under the name "Dark Device". Its style was mainly death metal, though it included some black metal traits, alongside Ihsahn's trademark keyboard melodies. The band split up in late 1991 when its members formed Emperor and Ildjarn.

Ildjarn was a Norwegian cult black metal project that formed in 1991. Ildjarn recorded music until 1997 but did not officially end until 2005. The man behind Ildjarn was Vidar Våer, although some releases were collaborations with a musician known as Nidhogg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madrugada (band)</span> Norwegian rock band

Madrugada is a Norwegian alternative rock band formed in the town of Stokmarknes in 1993. Its key members have included Sivert Høyem (vocals), Robert Burås (guitar), and Frode Jacobsen (bass). After Burås' death on 12 July 2007, Høyem and Jacobsen decided to finish recording what was to be their final album in the original lineup. On 21 January 2008, the band released Madrugada and announced that they would split after one last tour. They performed their final concert on 15 November 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vreid</span> Norwegian black metal band

Vreid is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 2004 after the breakup of Windir following the death of lead singer and founder Valfar. The remaining members along with new guitarist Ese formed Vreid. The band's name is an archaic Norwegian word meaning "Wrath".

Lumsk is a Norwegian folk metal band from Trondheim. The band combines traditional Norwegian folk music and folklore with rock, progressive rock and metal. The group has both male and female vocals with violin, guitar and drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashen Mortality</span> British doom metal band

Ashen Mortality were a British doom metal band formed in 1993 by Ian Arkley and Melanie Bolton. They recorded two demos, and two albums, and played gigs in England, the Netherlands and Germany. Featuring clean and growled male vocals, and female vocals, their music was heavy, slow to mid-paced, and influenced by medieval music, black, doom, death and goth. The band split up in 2005, when Arkley went on to form My Silent Wake.

<i>Basement Apes</i> 2002 studio album by Gluecifer

Basement Apes is the fourth album released by the Norwegian band Gluecifer. It was released in 2002 and produced by Kåre Christoffer Vestrheim and Gluecifer. The album's title is a pun on The Basement Tapes, a 1975 album by Bob Dylan and The Band. Basement Apes became the band's best-selling album in Norway, selling 17,000 copies in its first year of release, and peaked at number two on the Norwegian Charts.

Ribozyme is a Norwegian hard rock band formed in 1998. It features progressive drum beats, emotionally strong guitars and an ever-changing vocal style. It has been classified as dark, but not Gothic; angry, but not violent; sad, but not tearful, not hard, but still heavy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sivert Høyem</span> Norwegian musician (born 1976)

Sivert Høyem is a Norwegian musician, best known as the vocalist of the rock band Madrugada. After the band broke up following the death of Robert Burås in 2007, he has enjoyed success as a solo artist and is also a member of The Volunteers with whom he released the album Exiles in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahg</span> Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band

Sahg is a three-piece Norwegian hard rock/doom metal band formed in Bergen in the summer of 2004, by key figures in the metal scene of their country: Tom Cato Visnes, Einar Selvik (Kvitrafn), Olav Iversen and Thomas Tofthagen. Iversen has been the main songwriter and the only constant member of the band since its inception.

<i>Automatic Thrill</i> 2004 studio album by Gluecifer

Automatic Thrill is the fifth studio album released by the Norwegian band Gluecifer. It was released in 2004 and is the band's last album before disbanding in 2005. Gluecifer would later reunite in 2017. Automatic Thrill was later reissued on vinyl with the additional track "Speedfoot".

Cato Salsa Experience was an indie rock band from Oslo, Norway. The group formed around jam sessions at lead singer Cato Thomassen's house. The group began playing locally and released a vinyl EP before Emperor Norton Records, an American label, signed them and released their 2002 full-length, A Good Tip for a Good Time. Later in the 2000s, the group began recording albums with The Thing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingrid Olava</span> Norwegian singer and musician (born 1981)

Ingrid Olava Brænd Eriksen is a Norwegian singer, musician and actress, best known for her debut single "Only Just Begun" from 2007 and as a backup singer for Madrugada. After hearing her live performance, EMI Music Norway invited her to play in a studio, and later signed her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida Maria</span> Norwegian singer

Ida Maria Børli Sivertsen, better known simply as Ida Maria, is a Norwegian musician and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kvelertak</span> Norwegian heavy metal band

Kvelertak is a Norwegian heavy metal band from Stavanger, formed in 2007. The group comprises vocalist Ivar Nikolaisen, guitarists Vidar Landa, Bjarte Lund Rolland and Maciek Ofstad, bassist Marvin Nygaard and drummer Håvard Takle Ohr. Founding member and lead singer Erlend Hjelvik left the group in 2018, being replaced by Ivar Nikolaisen. Most of Kvelertak's songs have Norwegian lyrics, and their main influences are rock and roll, black metal and punk rock.

Jetsurfers was a Norwegian band from Oslo. The band has released three studio albums, one live album and one compilation album.

Magnus Eliassen is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kråkesølv</span>

Kråkesølv is a rock band from Bodø, Norway. The name is taken from a tune by the hardcore band Hjertesorg, in which Fredrik William Olsen and Thomas Litangen played.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vidar Johansen (musician)</span> Musical artist

Vidar Johansen is a Norwegian jazz musician, music arranger and composer.

References