Briskeby is a dream come true for Lise Karlsnes (vocals), Bjørn Bergene (guitar), Claus Larsen (drums) and Baard (or "Brad") Helgeland (bass). All from the Oslofiord region of Larvik/Tønsberg and all in their early twenties (except Baard/”Brad”, approaching the shadowland that is thirty) they have already accomplished much more than they set out for.
Bjørn and Claus have played together since the age of 12, growing up on influences as diverse as Kiss, Velvet Underground, The Police, Depeche Mode and A-Ha. In due time they recruited Baard and moved to Oslo where they met their first singer Liv, who soon after left the band to devote herself full-time to family life. After years of playing the underground club scene of Oslo under the name Cosmic Debris, they decided to change names after having to trudge through the snow every night to their rehearsal room in the quiet residential Oslo neighbourhood of Briskeby (”A place where nothing ever happens, the neighbourhood God forgot”, according to Bjørn). A deal was signed with the tiny label Forward, who released their debut EP "Song To Whisper" in early 1999, which title track soon appeared in a remixed version on the Swedish club sampler "Masters of SVEK". "Song To Whisper" received a fair amount of radio play, resulting in festival appearances and national press coverage.
With the departure of Liv, the band was left searching for a new singer.
The main criteria was that the new member must a) have a great voice, and b) be un-pregnant. They found both – and much more - in Lise, whom they met at a friend’s party. Lise had no previous musical experience, except a short-lived duo with a friend; two girls with a guitar and - according to Lise - "some very bitter lyrics about how stupid boys are". At the time she met the boys in the band she was working at a Shell station, and was thrilled by the possibility of being part of a real band (and not having to support herself by selling windshield wipers, condoms and spark plugs).
The arrival of Lise created new artistic possibilities, and the band laid the foundation of the Rock Extravaganza that would soon become their international trademark. With the release of the "Propaganda" EP and a now-legendary appearance at the ByLarm music industry convention (the Norwegian equivalent of the UK´s In the City or USA´s SXSW), Briskeby became headline news in the Norwegian daily press. Universal Norway signed the band, who shortly after left Oslo for Polar Studios in Stockholm to start the recording of what would become the "jeans for onassis" album.
"jeans for onassis" crystalized the band’s vision of Rock Extravaganza in a way that startled critics and the public alike, leading to massive radio play and sales of more than 120.000 copies (in a country with slightly more than 4 million inhabitants), a solid string of radio hits ("Propaganda", "Wide Awake" and "Cellophane Eyes") and a series of awards, including no less than 4 local Grammy Awards. The album title is the band´s comment to the Scandinavian fashion industry, who went gaga after laying its collective eyes on the band (smothering the band with awards to such an extent that a Lise-look-a-like(!) was employed to collect prizes at the various galla ceremonies…)
The rumours of the young supergroup started spreading across Europe, partly fuelled by the band’s support slot for A-ha on their German tour, in which the band performed for ecstatic stadiums, gaining a large following by thousands every night due to their high voltage live presence. This rumours helped spark the signing of the band to several territories, in addition to the videos for "Propaganda" and ”Wide Awake” receiving heavy rotation on both VIVA and MTV. The band were also added to prime time slots on more than several large scale European and Scandinavian festivals the summer of 2001, which included record-breaking attendances at both the Roskilde Festival and the Quart Festival, in addition to a string of successful appearances at amongst others Rock Am Ring, Yran and Skanderborg.
Briskeby´s modernistic and unique rock solid ice cold passion ambience has fascinated both indie purists and pop enthusiasts, conjuring images and influences from Phil Spector to Chris Stein to the visions and delusions of grandeur of arch-1980s peacocks-with-padded shoulders pop via John Cale/Nico, Brian Eno/Roxy Music to latter-day ("near-retro"?) British and Scandinavian neo(n) pop.
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anyways, i gots to run, but gimme a call later on, k?
Hi!
Catherine have added a UNPLUGGED VIDEO
to their site.
Stop by and see us preform hitsongs like "(When did I) Stop just for you, live!. Don't miss out!
