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After a three year hiatus MOTORPSYCHO NEWS will be continued on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/motorpsychonews

I feel it is about time to revive MOTORPSYCHO NEWS as the lack of up-to-date news about our favourite band is still quite evident and frustrating. This blog is dead, but Facebook lives! Obviously Motorpsycho News 2.0 will not be as profound as this blog because there is limit of 420 letters for status updates on FB (and my time is still very limited) but we -- YOU! -- can make up for that with improved interaction: Everyone can be a part of it!

I hope the resurrection of MOTORPSYCHO will prove fruitful for all of us! I am lookig forward to it! See you at a concert somehwere!

Peace!

Tourdates!

"Little Lucid Moments" out 28.03.2008

18.04.2008 - (NOR) Steinkjer
19.04.2008 - (NOR) Trondheim, Rosendal
23.04.2008 - (NOR) Tromso, Driv
25.04.2008 - (NOR) Oslo, Rockefeller
26.04.2008 - (NOR) Stavanger, Folken
28.04.2008 - (NOR) Bergen, Røkeriet Verftet
29.04.2008 - (NOR) Kristiansand, Kick
17.05.2008 - (D) Berlin, Postbahnhof
18.05.2008 - (D) Köln, Live Music Hall
20.05.2008 - (D) München, Backstage
21.05.2008 - (CH) Lausanne, Le Romandie
22.05.2008 - (I) Firenze, Viper
23.05.2008 - (I) Roma, Alpheus
24.05.2008 - (I) Rimini, Velvet
25.05.2008 - (I) Milano, Alcatraz
27.05.2008 - (BE) Antwerp, Hof ter lo
28.05.2008 - (NL) Eindhoven, Effenar
29.05.2008 - (NL) Utrecht, Tivoli
30.05.2008 - (D) Bremen, Schlachthof
31.05.2008 - (D) Hamburg, Fabrik
01.06.2008 - (DK) Copenhagen, Lille Vega
19.-22.06.2008 - (USA) Terrastock Festival, Louisville, KY
19.07.2008 - (D) Burg Herzberg Festival, Fulda

Lydverket

Marius Asp from NRK P3 writes:

The Norwegian music show Lydverket recently interviewed Motorpsycho – it will be aired tonight, but it can also be seen here, at The Lydverket Blog:

http://www.nrk.no/lydverket/motorpsycho-med-nytt-album/

Unfortunately, it is without subtitles, and in Norwegian. But the band discuss their taste in music and talk about how they clicked with new drummer Kenneth Kapstad through the Deep Purple track “Burn”, which was the first song they ever played together. There are also some excerpts from the upcoming album Little Lucid Moments. Feel free to link to the video!

The direct link to the 8 minute video is here. Thank you Roar! "Little Lucid Moments", Motorpsycho's new album, is due tomorrow!

Biella 1997

Molde Jazz 20.07.2007 pictures

Pictures from this year's Molde Jazz Festival on 20.07.2007 where the Kanon project feat. Bent, Snah, Øyvind and new Motorpsycho drummer Kenneth Kapstad played a highly adventurous and supertight set of fusion music. Thanks to Roar Johannessen!

Norwegian Ink

A Motorpsycho curiosity. Thanks to Norwegian Ink!

Of eternal love...

Sitting here on my desk in the most humid heat that has hit us this year so far typing letters and mails an E-mail hits my inbox. It read "Saw the news of the new drummer on Motorpsycho's website?".

Yes, I had read about Kenneth Kapstad's addition to Motorpsycho's line up this summer but I immidiately headed over the UnOff anyway only to surprisingly learn that the band has yet another European festival show scheduled. Then, checking the ever active forums for the first time in weeks I noticed an inquiry about the status of this very blog, MotorpsychoNews. Upon replying to that post I figured I might just as well share the reply with all of you:

Yes, indeed, an update is certainly long overdue and I do apologize to all returning readers. Quite frankly -- despite what I "promised" in my anniversay post -- I don't think I will be able to maintain MotorpsychoNews on the same level and with the same intensity and frequency I did in 2006.

Since September 2006 I am the manager of a Sixties Psychedelic Garage Rock band and my "job" includes the vast variety of tasks that is part of working with a band, like booking concerts, doing press and promotion work, handling the band's communication, creating a network of followers and supporters, maintaining MySpace, driving the bus, tourmanaging before the tour as well as on the road, album and artwork production, sharing all the chaos and little catastrophies but also moments of joy, hope and euphoria that charakterize a band's daily life and last but not least of course attending a great number of exciting concerts all over Germany and Europe which is the sweetest "salary" I can currently fancy because naturally I am also a hardcore-die-hard fan, that sort of species I had turned into at the age of 12 back when I first heard The Beatles and which has become my second nature! On top of that I also do the booking for two Danish bands now.

All of that leaves me with very little to almost no time for anything else. And since I am pursuing a part-time "career" in this field as well as being committed to lead "my" band down the golden road to well deserved cult fame I put my entire dedication, heart-blood, time as well as all personal and financial resources into the music and the band(s).

It certainly hurts me to not find the due and appropriate time to update MotorpsychoNews regularly. I didn't even find the time to have the decency to let you know about the current status of the blog yet, the way I do now.

However, as Motorpsycho's festival tour comes nearer I will update the blog accordingly with a summary of what has happened the past months and as the tour advances I will of course also compile a Motorpsycho Concert Chronology 2007, which has always been the focus of the content anyway (and my favourite baby!).

If you are interested in what I am up to you are of course dearly invited to check out "my" band: currently we have 24 concerts lined up all over Germany and Austria and we aim to play up to 60 shows this year -- the spring already saw us hitting the road and playing incredibly exciting and far out places like Barcelona for example -- so check out one of our Dance Concerts and meet me on the road somewhere:

The Magnificent Brotherhood
Psychedelic Garage 'n' Freakrock from Berlin
The band's MySpace

Of course I keep a Brotherhood Concert Chronology, which at the same time serves as a personal diary (no-one really reads that yet). If you know me (or the band) you will surely be able to read personal details between the lines here or there.

The other two bands from Copenhagen (DK) I am booking (in Germany) are Cherry Overdrive and Fuzz Manta -- check them out, they are great too!

I am glad this is out of the way folks! Life goes on and magic has happened to me -- my years with Motorpsycho and countless other bands on the road, on the net and on the stereo now pay well off as all loose ends seem to connect little by little. My gratitude goes out to Anders Danielsen aka The other Anders for doing the first step, to Kiryk Drewinski, lead guitarist and mastermind in the Brotherhood, for the greatest inspiration of them all and last but not least to Susann for believing since day one!

Also thanks to Paul Diersen for his E-mail which prompted this post. And of course thanks to all readers and people who wrote me for caring!

Love & Fuzz!
your Brother / Companion / Halloween Head
Äxl/Alex

Rockefeller 25.10.2006

The third of three Motorpsycho shows at Rockefeller in 2006 is now up on Dime. Thanks to Gustav!

Today

A lot has changed since 30.04.2007: below a picture of Susann & Alex as well as Bent Krabbe in Kreuzberg on 01.05.2006!

Pictures by Ingo & Jette! Thank you friends!

One year ago

30.04.2006: Motorpsycho fans on the road for the band's spring tour 2006 between Copenhagen and Rostock. From left to right: Susann, Ingo, Jette, Alex, Anders & Aljona. Picture taken by Heidi.

More festivals confirmed

Yesterday Motorpsycho have been confirmed to perform at Storåsfestivalen near Trondheim! The festival takes place 26.-28.07.2007. Adressa article here. In July the band will also play the Melt Festival in Germany as well as the Quart Festival in Norway.

Thank you Roar!

Motorpsycho to play German festival

Those who took Motorpsycho's addition to the Quart Festival Line up as a possible indication that the band might head out on the road again were (sadly) proven wrong today: In a post to g35 Stickman Records stated that the band will not tour in the summer. However, Jeannette also revealed that a second festival performance this summer has been confirmed -- in Germany! Which festival cannot be announced yet. Motorpsycho has played quite a number of German festivals in the past including among others Rock am Ring, Bizarre and the Haldern Festival.

Live at Quart

Big, big news that will need no comment at the moment: Motorpsycho have been confirmed to perform at the Quart Festival in Norway on 4th of July, 2007! The band will perform right before The Who!!!

Thanks to The Other Anders!

All the men in dresses

Tonight will see the release-party of the new HGH album "All the men in dresses". If you are in Oslo I highly suggest to immideately head to the location of the party (see above flyer) and to celebrate! Geb's and Martin's new effort is somewhat of a continuation of their development towards pop-appeal as the new album will feature brass and choir as well as highly catchy melodies. However, it can also be seen as a departure from the Trash Grass way of doing things. It is also their first album that won't be released on Stickman Records. More about the album later, for now enjoy the party all you lucky Oslo residents!

Many thanks to Eirik Helleve for the flyer!

New-born Bent

MotorpsychoNews happily welcomes little Bent to this world! The new-born son of my dear friends Jette Krabbe and Ingo Seufer was given birth this morning at 6:11! With 3390g and 52cm rather petite, Bent Krabbe seems to have adopted his parents noble and nordic temper: he spent the whole day sleeping, not making a whole lot of fuzz about being on the world. And before everyone asks: his name was not entirely chosen for the obvious reason but also for aesthetic considerations! Of course if it wouldn't have been for his famous namesake from Trondheim Jette and Ingo hadn't come up with a name as beautiful as this one! All the best to little Bent, it will be a great joy to see him grow up!

Rockland Norwegen

If you live in Germany or if you happen to be able to receive the German TV station WDR tune in to a Rockpalast documentary about the "rock-country Norway" coming sunday night (15.01., 00:30 am)! The hour-long feature will throw some light on the Norwegian music scene in 2006 by visiting several Norwegian cities, as well as interviewing musicians, producers, labels & media. While Motorpsycho certainly weren't among the major new trends from Norway last year it should be interesting to see if the documentary & the interviewees give credit to the godfathers of alternative Norwegian rock music! Here is the full statement from the WDR newsletter:

Rockland Norwegen
14. auf 15.01.2007 (Sonntagnacht)
00:30-01:30
WDR Fernsehen

Ein Film von Elmas Sommer und Manuel Unger

In Norwegen leben kaum mehr als 4,5 Millionen Menschen, was in etwa der Einwohnerzahl Berlins entspricht. Dennoch kommt seit einem knappen Jahrzehnt eine stetig wachsende Zahl an international erfolgreichen Bands aus dem Nordland. Auf der Suche nach den Gründen für den konstanten Höhenflug der norwegischen Musikszene besucht das Rockpalast Team die Städte Bergen, Oslo und Tromsö, trifft Musiker, Produzenten, Labelchefs, Medienvertreter und viele andere Menschen, die ihr Land und seine Besonderheiten beschreiben. Entstanden ist eine 60-minütige Dokumentation, die eine Momentaufnahme der Musikszene Norwegens im Jahr 2006 zeigt und warum Bands wie Röyksopp, Turbonegro, Gluecifer, Kaizers Orchestra und viele andere bei uns genau so bekannt sind wie in ihrer Heimat.

Thanks to funki!

KissHerMind

After a year of refusing to jump on the bandwagon I have now joined MySpace. I have always considered this very space here -- MotorpsychoNews -- my space which I always proudly countered to all the MySpace-enthusiasts. However, during the last six months, through the work with the The Magnificent Brotherhood of Eternal Love & The Happiness's Close Companions, the psychedelic Garage Rock Band band I manage, I have learned to appreciate the advantages of MySpace. Everyone's favourite network has become almost irreplaceable in the music business, particularly for small unsigned bands, having a MySpace account seems to be really essential. So, in order to merge my multiple ambitions & interests in the music business -- band manager, webmaster of MotorpschoNews, aspiring writer/critic & last but not least scientific researcher about Berlin's music industry -- I considered it best to give in to the trend & finally create a profile at MySpace of my own. If you are curious to learn something about the man behind MotorpsychoNews as well as my ambitions & intentions for this site you are most welcome to visit my profile & join me as a friend.

KissHerMind @ MySpace

Thank you! Peace!

Sail on!

Happy New Year to Psychonauts near & afar!

Unlike the previous turn of the year, 2005/2006, when Motorpsycho fans had a double-album worth of new material as well as a tour to look forward to there are no Motorpsycho activities scheduled at the moment. And while it is way too early to write off 2007 as another inactive year for the band, it seems, however, as if Motorpsycho fans will have to get used to a more conventional work rhythm -- as opposed to the overwhelming release-frequency & ambitious work-ethos of the 1990s -- with at least a year off between each future album/tour-cycle.

Official statements by the band, their management or their label, Stickman Records, happen rarely & randomly. According to news on the Stickman Records homepage as well as their newsletter earlier in 2006, a comprehensive Motorpsycho double-DVD, expected to chronicle the band's videography as well as the cult-documentary "This is Motorpsycho" from 1994, is still being worked on, due for a future release -- perhaps finally in 2007?!

In September 2006 another post by Stickman stated that Bent & Snah are working on new material. Shortly afterwards the band debuted an amazing & epic new song called "Phoot's Phlower" during their fall tour of Norway in October 2006. However, after the concerts at Rockefeller Bent told a fan that they have "no plan" right now. He said he had written new material but not recorded yet.

Then, in early December 2006 various local & inside sources reveal that the band has indeed been recording in Trondheim, though we don't know if these sessions are intended for cutting new material for the follow-up to "Black hole/blank canvas". Either way, at this point it is safe to say that a spring 2007-release of new material accompanied by the traditional spring tour will not happen. For now Psychonauts will have to exercise patience for a sign of life from Motorpsycho -- but once we will see a concert-poster again featuring that so familiar drawing we will definitely know it was worth the wait...

Thanks to Wolfgang Schreinert for providing above picture of the poster announcing the Treviso 12.05.2006 concert!

Go to Luckywood!

Last weekend: On tour in Brandenburg with The Magnificent Brotherhood of Eternal Love & the Happiness's Close Companions. Going up the country from Berlin down the Highway 101 to Luckenwalde, Teltow Fläming county. A small town, one mediaval church, one market place & one club for bands to play. 20.000 inhabitants, seemingly no people aged between 20 & 50 left in the city due to high unemployment rates & the general decline of the east german regions. Much to our surprise though 64 young alternativ people, the majority of them way under 18 years, show up for the concert. During the band's soundcheck & while we're hanging out in the Alhambra's backstage before & after the show the DJ's mix attracts my particular attention: appropriately interspersed with lots of classic 1960s material (Jefferson Airplane et al.) he employs lots of Motorpsycho tunes throughout the evening, including selections off of "Trust us", "Let them eat cake", "Phanerothyme", "It's a love cult" & "Black hole/blank canvas". Approaching the guy who runs the club & who booked us about that he smiles broadly & goes on to tell me that "Motorpsycho are incredibly IN here among the people!". Upon that information I leaned back impressed & satisfied & continued to groove along to "Go to California" -- I think this anecdote strikingly illustrates the phenomenon Motorpsycho & the longevity of their popularity among an independent & (left)alternative audience (in Germany).

Merry Christmas!

One year MotorpsychoNews

MotorpsychoNews celebrates its first anniversary today! One year ago, in December 2005, Motorpsycho's return from a three & a half year hiatus was imminent & my introductory post "Tour dates shaping up!" came just in time to kick off a great year 2006 for Motorpsycho fans. 174 posts later (which equals an average update frequency of every second day) I find myself rereading the introduction to this space which is still featured on the very top of this page & which I quickly & spontaneously scribbled down back then. It reads:

The aim of this blog is to accompany their [the band's] return with news, media coverage, show-reviews as well as personal reflections. This blog might very well turn into a source about all things Motorpsycho in the hope that the band will find its way back into a more regular work-groove.

I am happily astounded that MotorpsychoNews established itself as exactly that -- a source for all things Motorpsycho -- and the vast variety of topics MotorpsychoNews touched within the Motorpsycho universe still amazes me. I feel I have thoroughly accomplished the purpose articulated one year ago. That's why I will leave the original introduction untouched because it still holds up & of course I will try to work towards the same goal in MotorpsychoNews' second year too -- let's see what the band has in store for us in 2007! Maintaining this blog has been both a lot of work as well as great fun & inspiration.

Thank you to all readers who stuck with me, to all the people who contributed, commented, helped, reflected & supported, particularly to the UnOff, the people at the forum, at g35 & everybody I met & traveled with on tour, also thanks to The other Anders for continued inspiration & friendship & many translations as well as to Rolf Klausen for many guest-features & lots of translation help too! Last but not least my love & kisses go out to Susann for making life really worthwile & so much brighter & tender ever since we met in Rostock!

MotorpsychoNews will present a more comprehensive look back on the Motorpsycho year 2006 later on, for now you can browse back-issues in the INDEX or have a look at what has kind of become the heart of this site, the 2006 Concert Chronlogy spring, summer & fall!

If you feel like it please leave a comment or e-mail me for feedback!

Thank you!
Best!
Alex.

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.

Hagfors Gebhardt Hello!

HGH played a sweet concert at Copenhagen's Studenterhuset yesterday afternoon before supporting Kaizers Orchestra at Vega in the evening. Some impressions from the day below, pictures taken by The Other Anders. The third picture shows Rune (foreground), Susann & yours truly in the middle, plus two German Kaizers fans in the background.

Anti-pedagogics

Tomorrow (thursday), HGH & Kaizers Orchestra will play the first show of an almost sold out three-night stand (Dec. 07-09) at Copenhagen's Vega that will wrap up Kaizers Orchestra's "Grand finale"-tour. As previously reported by MotorpsychoNews the two bands have toured continental Europe together during the past three weeks, a highly prestigious support slot for HGH who were introduced to large audiences during the 16 shows.

"Me & my buddy" on a mission: HGH -- Håkon Gebhardt & Martin Hagfors.

However, the brief foray to large concert stages with Kaizers Orchestra is just one facet of the two Trash Grass musicians' mission to spread their message of "love, tolerance & movement" to the world. In addition to relentless touring in support of their four long play albums on Stickman Records between 2000 & 2004 the duo has undertaken an interesting experiment prior to the tour with Kaizers Orchestra: they played to young children in elementary schools in the Trøndelag area (around Trondheim) of Norway. An article in this magazine has more information:

-HGH is doing a tour on elementary schools, performing a show called "Me & my buddy". Very playful and funny. Even 12 year old boys with "stone face" and girls who roll their eyes eventually start smiling, Martin Hagfors says. He adds: "After one show, a father told me that his son had gone straight home and made himself a guitar out of one plank and a string".

-Some of HGH's philosophy when performing for kids is that you don't have to be "good" to succeed. They call it anti-pedagogics. Both Martin Hagfors & Håkon Gebhardt got thrown out of a choir when they were kids because they sang too loud.

"We call it trash music, because it's not good unless it's bad. Having a hard time can make you strong, and dissonance can be beautiful. That's why we also play on instruments we don't really know how to play, to show that it's possible anyway. For example, I can't play the bass or piano, but i do it anyway," says Martin.

-In the show Martin & Geb are two buddies who live on a small farm in the mountains. Here they experience among other things that their cat is abducted by a UFO. This creates lots of noise and loud sorrow. Children can relate to that sorrow, many have experienced losing a pet.

"To us, the important thing was to create a show where we touch upon subjects like 'right', 'wrong', 'fair', 'unfair', etc. And also, in the show there is some jealousy kids can relate to. My character has a girlfriend on the moon, but my buddy never sees her and doesn't believe me. But he has a real girlfriend and that makes for jealousy", says Martin. They also talk about kissing, in the song "Wet your lips".

-They've used their normal songs, but created stories to wrap around them and make them fit in a show for children.

-The response has been very good, yes, and they now started using many of the stories in their regular shows.

HGH will return to Norwegian school stages after the completion of the Kaizers Orchestra tour the arcticle states. If you want to expose yourself to some anti-pedagogics you should not miss the afternoon HGH show on Friday, December 8th (3:30 pm), at Copenhagen's Studenterhuset where the band will play a special headlining free-entry promotion show in addition to the their three performances with Kaizers Orchestra at Vega. The afternoon concert -- check out the flyer next to this paragraph -- has been arranged by Adandenco, better known to the Motorpsycho community as The Other Anders. MotorpsychoNews will travel to Copenhagen tomorrow -- we are looking forward to many smile-provoking moments with the soulful music & witty humour of Martin & Geb in Copenhagen!

Thousand thanks to Holger Mannes for his engagment for HGH! Holger provided the article. Also thanks to Trondheim's Rolf Klausen for the translation!

Sideproject activities assembled in the In the family section!

More from the HGH/Kaizers-tour...

Reports & reviews from the ongoing HGH/Kaizers Orchestra tour have been few & far between. But here is a review from Vienna, 25.11.2006. It mentions the HGH performance:

A capacity crowd at WUK danced through the entire night. Already the two-man support-band HGH knew how to win the audience over. Solely on toy & children’s instruments they presented their music style called “Trashgrass”, which sounds like Toy Dolls on Bluegrass & which convinced the Vienna audience not only because of their version of “Star spangled banner” performed on nose-flutes.

Here are three pictures from that Vienna show, taken by Anne-Kathrin Hartmann & originally posted on this blog.





Apart from the review-snippet above it's hard to tell how HGH were perceived by the Kaizers fans or by the press. I guess a certain over-saturation with Kaizers Orchestra -- this is the third leg of a long tour, which began in 2005 -- is responsible for the lack of reviews in the press. If you saw one of the shows the two Norwegian bands have played together so far & want to contribute some impressions e-mail me please! Comments Rune, Motorpsycho fan from Holland:

Listening to the CDs of HGH is one thing. Seeing them live is something else. I am questioning Geb's judgement, leaving MP to deal with projects like these...Kaizers rocked the joint, though! Great gig!

Some more HGH pictures can be found on a German Kaizers-fansite: a shot from Köln, nose-flutes in Bochum, the duo München, Zurich #1 & #2, Berlin #1 & #2 & one more from Hamburg.

An extra show has apparently been added to the tour in Århus, Denmark tomorrow, December 5th, compare this site.

In the family

I consider HGH news significant news for any interested Motorpsycho fan, that's why you can find coverage of their tour here at MotorpsychoNews. In honour of the deceased IN THE FAMILY-site -- greatly missed by many of us -- I will create an extra post which I will link in the sidebar for quick side-project navigation (still under construction though): check it out!

Trash Grass på Kontinentet!

Geb live on stage with HGH at Rote Fabrik, Zürich (CH), last sunday (26.11.2006). HGH are currently on tour with Kaizers Orchestra. More pictures below (click to enlarge), all of them courtesy of Eat the Music.

More random stuff from the fall tour

Some more visual stuff from the band's fall tour available: check out the pretty cool video footage of "Psychonaut" (complete with "Blueberry daydream") from the first night at Rockefeller (24.10.2006) on YouTube -- part one of the song here & continued in part two here! Great projections there! Thanks to Pekka Stokke!

Furthermore some interesting pictures from the second night in Trondheim (22.10.2006) can be found here, taken by Marius, a Trondheim based amateur photographer who keeps a blog here. Thanks to Vegard! This is my favourite pic of the bunch:

Read all about the band's fall tour last month here! But your help is still needed! Thank you!

HGH/Kaizers Orchestra tour now underway

The last part of the Kaizers Orchestra tour in support of their last studio album "Maestro" during which they will be supported by HGH is underway since yesterday when the two bands played the first European date in Köln! As previously reported HGH will support Kaizers Orchestra during all concerts of the "Grand finale"-tour outside of Norway, an enormeous exposure for the cult Trash-Grass band which consist of Håkon "Geb" Gebhardt formerly the drummer of Motorpsycho & the American-Norwegian singer, songwriter & bandleader Martin Hagfors. Due to a massive demand two additional shows in Copenhagen have been added to the original tour-dates: the "Grande finale" will now be a three-night stand at Copenhagens Vega, December 7, 8 & 9! HGH are also scheduled to appear in an afternoon gig of their own at Copenhagen's Studenterhuset, December 8 (details to follow!)! While Kaizer's Orchestra are expected to go on a break after the tour's end, HGH are expected to release a new album next year & to go on an extensive European tour.

The "Grand finale" tour calls at:

21.11.2006 Cologne, Germany Live Music Hall
22.11.2006 Bochum, Germany Zeche
23.11.2006 Nuremberg, Germany Hirsch
24.11.2006 Munich, Germany Backstage
25.11.2006 Wien, Austria Wuk
26.11.2006 Zürich, Switzerland Rote Fabrik
28.11.2006 Berlin. Germany Postbanhof
29.11.2006 Hamburg, Germany Uebel & Gefaerlich
30.11.2006 Gent, Belgia Handelsbeurs
01.12.2006 Groningen, Holland Oosterpoort
02.12.2006 Amsterdam, Holland Melkweg
03.12.2006 Utrecht, Holland Tivoli
06.12.2006 Århus, Danmark Train
07.12.2006 Copenhagen, Danmark Vega
08.12.2006 Copenhagen, Studenterhuset (afternoon) -- HGH only
08.12.2006 Copenhagen, Danmark Vega
09.12.2006 Copenhagen, Danmark Vega

MotorpsychoNews does not aim to offer a coverage of the HGH/Kaizers tour as detailed as about Motorpsycho's 2006 tours but expect some random press reviews & notes if something will become available/published.

As always your input is appreciated: Many Psychonauts will go & see the shows if only to show their support & love for Geb -- I will travel to the second Vega show myself. If you will attend a show & feel like sharing what it is like to see HGH at a big venue supporting Kaizers Orchestra, or if you know of a review in your local press, then please e-mail me!

Btw, I have two tickets to the long sold out first show at Vega, Copenhagen, December 7, 2006 for sale because I will now attend the second night -- if you are interested in purchasing them just drop me a line! Thank you!

Kaizers Orchestra live @ Popkomm Showcase, Berlin, Germany, Kesselhaus, 21.09.2006, picture courtesy of Save Me Kaizer -- can you spot someone familiar? ;-)

Student of your history

The Concert Chronology Part III (fall) has been overhauled & finalized with a lot of final updates: I have supplemented the existing comments to Trondheim I & II & Rockefeller I with really extensive & insightful notes by Jonne Kramer. Thank you so much Jonne for taking the time to sit down & review your personal tour, greatly appreciated, the best! I have also added a lot of performance notes as well as some song-timings for both Trondheim shows, Rockefeller II & Bergen II based on the available audience recordings. Some minor corrections here or there have been made to most entries, thanks to, among many others, The other Anders, Rolf Klausen, Akane, Laika, Tore, Ove, Gustav & everyone at the Forum & G35! Last but not least two more setlist scans are now available (also added to the CC), thanks a lot to Akane:

Trondheim 21.10.2006:

Stavanger 27.10.2006:

I will soon join all three parts (spring, summer & fall) of the Concert Chronology 2006 in order to create just one 2006-file. That doesn't mean though I will stop accepting contributions -- the Concert Chronology is an ongoing project & I would like to urge anyone to submit whatever he or she remembers of the show(s) he or she attended! Every detail, as small as it might seem, is worth being considered, put together they all tell the incredible story of Motorpsycho in concert! The 2006 Concert Chronology has been my favourite pet & I intend to expand my work to previous (and hopefully future) years too, hopefully with as much detail & rich documentation as for 2006. Quite obviously I do depend on your memories, contributions & submissions regarding this matter. Please show your devotion to the band & their art as performing artists & write me something about the Motorpsycho shows you attended in the past, as great or small the number might be, every contribution from you will be gladly accepted & enormously appreciated! More about that later, for now drop me a line here! Also thank you to the people who have already contributed with comments & setlist-scans!

Motorpsychodelic thanks & regards,
yours passionately!