THE DISCIPLINES PLAY PARIS! TUESDAY OCTOBER 9 AT LE BARON ENTRANCE IS FREE ON A FIRST COME BASIS DOORS OPEN AT 23H, SHOW TO FOLLOW RIGHT AFTERWhat a great week I’ve had here in Oslo—as my visit approached, to come to Norway to play the West Coast shows last weekend; stay for the intervening week, and then spend this weekend playing and rehearsing in Oslo seemed like maybe too much time away from home, that I would be spinning my wheels a bit when I should be spending down time with my family. But, I went forward, and as it turns out, it was a really good decision. I got to know Oslo a lot better, and make some lasting biz connections; I sorted out, more or less, a label and booking for the Disciplines in Norway; an important step for what happens to us in the rest of the world-we start here and branch out. During the daytime, I worked at the Disciplines studio—I sang a demo for a proposed theme for a French TV show (!), I did some overdubs for the album I’m producing for Mateo; and I organized the computer and all the files for the Disciplines and other users (that was a big job). In the evenings, I would hang out at the Revolver bar, a great place, on Møllergata, which is the road I take to and from the studio each day. Revolver has a few bartender/owners, it’s sort of hipster bar, but a really friendly one. I haven’t been drinking much, so when I go there, I order water—and Ole, one of the bartenders, makes me a special combo of sliced fruit and other additives to dress it up. The best one was a ‘waterini’—a chilled martini glass containing nothing but water and maraschino cherry! Ole’s girlfriend, Sarah, who we met at the Down on the Farm festival, where she was press coordinator, has been a great host too: she introduced me to tons of essential Oslo-ites in the music biz etc.
I also went to see some shows, notably the New Pornographers (who are slightly less than the sum of their parts—everything is competent, intelligent, etc…but nothing really inspires a passionate response to my ears—I prefer Carl Newman’s previous band,
Zumpano—they had more of a fun factor while still being witty and having brilliant melodies). Now, I swear, the current version of TNP has at *least * two, if not three, members of Zumpano in it.
I tried to bum rush the
Ja Rule show at Rockefeller, but it hadn’t sold well so the guest list was being restricted and it was like NOK320 to get in. That’s over 50 bucks. They offered Sarah & I two for one, even that was too much for an artist whose reviews inside and outside the hip hop community aren't too glowing...
On Saturday there was a free concert at the club Blå to raise awareness and support for organizations promoting universal access to clean drinking water in impoverished nations. They had free live music in between speakers, including Kenneth Ishak’s new full band the
Kenneth Ishak & the Skidz. Really good! Sometimes they sound like Stereolab, sometimes there’s a Neil Young vibe…great musicians involved.
Also on the bill was
Samsaya, playing Indian-flavored R&B, which I enjoyed too.
OSLO 10/5
This show, I think in a weird way, was our most important yet. It wasn’t the biggest, I’m not even sure it was the best (I think Bergen last week was unbeatable). But I think we turned a corner in the general perception of our band in Oslo. As I went around town this weekend, people were talking about it, even people who weren’t there. It started with the audience being a bit stiff and shy…waiting to see what we had to offer. We just kept pushing and pushing—but not aggressively: we just got more and more into it, not giving a f**k. And as the show went on, the people had to give us their vote—it was just taking off with each song, and the people started to get more and more relaxed and therefore more open about giving us props. By the end of the show people were WAY into it. We played an encore—and to me, this is no small thing. I only do it when people REALLY want it.
Yes, the daytime’s radio visits to
Kanal 24 and
P3 (commercial and state, respectively) were fun and both networks were extremely generous with their time! And yes, we had some business VIPs at the show (and had another commercial radio,
Radio Tango, interviewing us backstage). But in the end the vibe we made with the public I think glued us into a place in the music scene in Norway that couldn’t be contrived by using business contacts. We have Oslo’s vote…and with that, we can go forward. Forward, ho!
After the show we went to a birthday party for a local musician—he had rented out a lovely place called Pavilon, which is a free standing old house that’s a very modern bar inside, the place is hollow inside, so the second floor floats as a loft. Anyway, they had a backline set up, and we ended up playing a short set, like at 1.30 am—great! The only thing is that my voice was already tired from the Mono show (that’s a very difficult 45 minutes of singing!) and I found out that all this time we play tuned down a half step…so playing other people’s guitars puts my voice up significantly higher…but we only did like 4 songs. After that I joined some local musicians for a version of “I Am the Cosmos”…and then I just relaxed til the party wound down around 3; as I walked home I stopped at the Revolver and word was already out there that our show at Mono had been a scorcher!
Over the weekend we’ve been working on some new songs, we’ve demo’d 4 new songs at our rehearsal place…this has been a really big week! On to Paris!
Love
KS
Oslo, NORWAY
