Motorpsycho @ Colos-Saal

Flytjendur

• 

  Motorpsycho

  Motorpsycho was formed in Trondheim, Norway, in 1989.

  Founding members, heavy metal heshers Hans Magnus Ryan

  & Bent Sæther, first met in high school in Steinkjer a few years

  earlier, but Motorpsycho as we know it first got rolling when

  B met HM on the bus one day and recruited him for this new

  band project on the spot.

  Joined by drummer KillerKjell Jenssen and taking their cue

  from ‘record collector rock’ and the new US and UK guitar

  rock of the time, early Motorpsycho was a power trio that

  aimed for that mythical sweet spot where Sonic Youth noise

  meets Hawkwind psych and Hüsker Dü songwriting with a

  60s twist… and something else happens.

  Their first recordings don’t really sound anything like that at

  all, and neither their 1990 demo tape Maiden Voyage (MC,

  1990), nor their first two releases Lobotomizer (LP, 1991)

  and Soothe (mini album, 1992, that introduced new drummer

  Håkon Gebhardt), hit much of a nerve with the public.

  It wasn’t until multi instrumentalist Deathprod joined the

  band in late 1992, and the resulting recording Demon Box

  (2LP, 1993) was released, that a larger audience noticed

  them. This album was a creative watershed for the band

  where everything - including the kitchen sink - was thrown

  in the mix, and this new, no holds barred approach

  triggered a creativity earlier albums had just hinted at.

  The one-two-three punch of Demon Box, Timothy’s Monster

  (3LP, 1994) and Blissard (LP, 1996) won the band domestic

  Grammy equivalent prizes and made Motorpsycho one of the

  biggest Norwegian bands of the alt rock era. It was at this

  time an annual continental touring cycle was initiated, that

  has kept them a popular international touring act ever since.

  Never content with any kind of labling, the band continued

  to experiment with looser, jazzier approaches (Angels and

  Daemons at Play 2LP, 1997), droney post rock (Trust Us 2LP,

  1998), and full-on classic rock (Barracuda, mini LP, 2001),

  before taking the first of their - by now regular - stylistic

  left turns, making a series of more or less pure ‘60s style

  orchestral psych-pop albums with Let Them Eat Cake (2000),

  Phanerothyme (2001) and It’s A Love Cult (2002).

  This period closed with the jazz inspired In The Fishtank

  (LP, 2003) , a collab with the Jaga Jazzist Horns.

  Burn out and personell changes sent the band into a 2 year

  period of semi-retirement, before the core duo of HMR & BS

  returned with double album Black Hole/Blank Canvas in 2006.

  A new lineup congealed in 2007 with the arrival of drummer

  Kenneth Kapstad, and sent the band off in a much more

  experimental direction, where Little Lucid Moments (2LP,

  2008) and Child of the Future (LP, 2009) were their take on

  modern guitar rock, while Heavy Metal Fruit (2LP, 2010) went

  a little bigger and a little more retro.

  The rock opera Death Defying Unicorn (2LP, 2012), written

  and performed with Ståle Storløkken, was a huge project

  that both brought the band to the stage of the national opera

  house and almost ruined them, so the follow ups Still Life

  With Eggplant (LP, 2013) and Behind the Sun (2LP, 2014)

  were slightly less financially ambitious, song focused affairs.

  These are the also the albums where Reine Fiske (Dungen)

  made his first recorded appearances with the band.

  The rock band/church organ/choir work En Konsert For Folk

  Flest (2LP, 2015) was a second collab with Storløkken

  recorded live in the Nidaros Cathedral. Here Be Monsters

  (LP, 2015), an experiment in ‘the sound of 1973’ sent the

  band off on a slightly mellower tangent, before a solo

  exhibit at the national museum of rock and a tie-in comp,

  both called Supersonic Scientists (2LP, 2015) capped off

  this chapter in the band’s career, with Kapstad handing in

  his notice in the summer of 2016.

  Fall 2016 saw the new old core duo of HMR & BS working

  with theatre group De Utvalgte at Trøndelag Teater and

  making Begynnelser (2x10’’, 2017), before starting the next

  chapter as a touring rock band, recruiting Tomas Järmyr

  on drums.

  This new line up went all-in with the darker more progressive

  ‘Gullvåg triology’, consisting of The Tower (2LP, 2017), The

  Crucible (LP, 2019) and The All Is One (2LP, 2020), before

  producing and playing on Norwegian folk/rock legend Ole

  Paus’ last album Så Nær, Så Nær (LP, 2020). The band also

  managed to finish a more metal/hard rock focused work

  with Kingdom Of Oblivion (2LP, 2021) and the ultra proggy

  Ancient Astronauts (LP, 2022), before the pandemic kind

  of stopped them in their tracks.

  Curtailing touring and looking for ways to keep going, the

  basic material for both Yay! (LP, 2023) and Neigh!! (LP 2024)

  was recorded in the band’s rehearsal room/studio in Trondheim

  over the next few months, but these activities weren’t enough

  to keep the band together, and they were again reduced to

  a duo when Järmyr left in January 2023.

  These two last homemade albums were the first releases

  on the band’s own NFGS label, along with a new compilation

  called Small Boats (2CD, 2024). All previous lisense deals

  with long standing labels Stickman Records and Rune

  Grammofon, were terminated in 2023, and the band is now

  in total control of their recorded legacy, which at last count

  numbers more than 30 albums, thirty singles/EPs, a host

  of live albums (the Roadwork series) and two compilation

  albums as well as two C&W albums under the nom du guerre

  The International Tussler Society (Soundtrack from The

  Tussler CD, 1995 and Motorpsycho presents The

  International Tussler Society 2LP, 2004). NFGS is planning

  to re-release everything on physical formats in time, but are

  fully aware that this is a huge and time consuming task that

  will take years, if not decades.

  Motorpsycho has no plans to stop working any time soon!

• Jupiter