Very old friends

Last spring, when Motorpsycho introduced one Øyvind Brandtsegg on vibraphone to their stage line-up for 21 out of 31 gigs in 2006 very little was known about his previous connection to the band. Inevitably his contribution to the studio version of "The Golden Core" -- one of Motorpsycho's most enduring signature tunes -- received the most attention among fans who were waiting for the tour. Furthermore an article stated that he hails from the same small town as Snah does (Steinkjer). When Bent & Snah supported Brandtsegg during an improvisational gig of his own project Kanon later in the year it became clear that he has to be regarded as an integral person in the Motorpsycho universe.

Bent, Snah & Øyvind on stage, Berlin (GER), 01.05.2006, by Jette Krabbe

Thanks to Rolf Klausen from Trondheim here is more evidence -- not new, but forgotten & obviously overlooked by most of us -- for the long-time friendship & musical relationship between Brandtsegg & Motorpsycho. Rolf found this interesting message from 1999 in the g35 archive:

[g35] Willy B lecture

* To: g35 List
* Subject: [g35] Willy B lecture
* From: "Vegard B. Havdal"
* Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 19:59:17 +0200 (CEST)

Hey.

I was at a 'lecture' (kåseri) thing with Willy B the rock critic and Motorpsycho collector (and I allow myself to say eccentric) in Bergen on saturday. He chatted about rock groups, why they do the things they do, and various stories. He also played obscure music, and the first thing he played was a cut with Bent, Snah and Øyvind Brandtsægg (jazz band Krøyt, vibraphone on Golden Core) from 1987 in a basement in Steinkjer. It was about a 4 minutes cut from a 25 minute jam, and what we got to hear was a passage containig that heavy, descending riff from Un Chien, right before the quiet part. So that bit is old.

I was lucky enough to talk to him afterwards, and he said he thought he couldn't talk too much about Motorpsycho, even though he wanted to. I don't think he's much of a net user, unfortunately, he really ought to be around here.

Vegard

Bent, Snah & Øyvind rehearsing early ideas for "Un chien d'espace" back in 1987?! Oh boy, they were 18 back then -- what an utterly intriguing notion of the three teenage boys spacing out in a shabby basement already foreshadowing the genius of Motorpsycho!

Øyvind refines "Un chien d'espace", Berlin (GER), 01.05.2006, by Jette Krabbe

Interestingly enough Willy B., the rock music critic who held the lecture & played that excerpt, did perform with the band earlier this year under the name The Insect Machine (compare the Concert Chronology Part III) so things came to a full circle in 2006. Also a while ago it was announced that this very Willy B. was about to write an official Motorpsycho book (compare here & here) & Rolf poses one very relevant question in his e-mail to me: what has happened to that biography?! Quite obviously, keeping the above anecdote in mind, he would be able to tell us a lot of interesting things! Let's hope something will materialize one day...


Many thanks for Vegard for his initial post to g35! And of course to Rolf for leading our attention towards it.