2017 - August 22 - Oppned (UpsideDown)

From 1988-1990, no Norwegian band was even remotely close to having the kind of success DumDum Boys had. They won Spellemannsprisen - the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy for rock music for each of their three first albums, and while their debut has the raw excitement of a band ready to rumble and their third album cemented their mass appeal, to me, their second album, Splitter Pine is the most complete of the three. It has most of the energy from their debut while starting to find more mass appeal through the title track without the excessive polish of their third album - and it takes you on a journey that starts with middle eastern weapons and violence (this was 1989, mind you, and given the political climate in Trondheim at the time, I am thinking the song Boom Boom had the Israel/Palestine conflict in mind - but I could be wrong) and ended with a warning about the issues with the ozone layer. In between we have songs about sex, love, and youthful exuberance - and then there is this gem about really transitioning into the adult stages of life ("twenty-something is still kind of young, but oh my god, I feel old"). Oppned is one of the more hidden gems on the album - sandwiched in between Boom Boom and the magnificent title track, but it gives the air the album needs between two very heavy hitters. It is a great song from one of the best, if not the best Norwegian album not made by Motorpsycho.

May 21 - Tyven Tyven

Today's song is simply the most perfect song about loss and grief I can remember having heard. That does mean that there might be other songs that I am not remembering at the moment, but the simple imagery of death as a magpie stealing the apple of one's eye is so poignant in this song. It was written shortly after the singer, Prepple, lost his daughter, after she was admitted to the hospital with meningitis. Prepple and guitarist Kjartan Kristiansen were frequently sitting together in sessions fuelled by grief, loss, and alcohol, and out of this immeasurable tragedy came this incredibly beautiful and moving song. My feeble translation is just that - a translation of the imagery used throughout. Kjartan Kristiansen is a very visual lyricist - he prefers to write in images and evoke emotions that way, and I am nowhere near him, but I find it important for English speaking readers to get a glimpse into what this song is all about.

Asks no one, not a soul
Swishing steely scythe
Tears open clear blue skies
Nobody's safe in the fields

Cuts autumn without sleep
Without rest, blind and dumb
Soon there then here as lightning
Stealing the apple of your eye

Thief, thief

Does a string exist
That mends hearts torn apart
No pardon, mercy for non
Slicing down all for one

Thief, thief

We are all the same
For the scythe
If it had a soul, it'd be a magpie's
Stealing those who shine the most

Thief, thief

Thief, thief
robbed the apple of my eye
Sneaks in the shadows
Only us two remain

Thief thief
Took what he found
All we have hidden
Will never be forgotten

February 2 - Splitter Pine

Some songs simply define a year. A whole year. At least in retrospect. The year I am talking about is 1989. I was 17 - or rather about to turn 17. At least when the song was released, I was about to turn 17. I was doing my rock show in Radio Ung, I think the name at this point was Madhouse, and DumDum Boys were giving interviews with the local press as they were readying for what I think must have been the release concert for the album at Rosendal Kino, an old movie theater that was turned into a pub/concert arena as well as housing the local film club, showing arthouse movies (although that part might have happened later). It was also the place I had loyally watched all three Star Wars movies during fall and winter breaks since 1983 until it stopped being a regular cinema in 1986.

But, anyway, I was there on assignment, with a tape recorder in hand - and I got one of the guys in the band assigned to me. I was nervous beyond compare - and at one point, I asked my victim, "which one of them are you again?" he was gracious - only a few years older than me - and responded that he was Persi, and he played bass. I remember we walked and talked, there was snow on the ground, and we walked past UFFA (Ungdom For Fri Aktivitet - Youth For Free Activity - a house for creative and alternative youth in Trondheim - I might have to cover the place a little bit more in detail later), which was right across the road from Rosendal and where DumDum Boys had spent much of their formative years under the name Wannskrækk (Hydrophobia). I don't remember any other questions - but I do remember that I got him to record a promo for us that we used extensively in the months to follow.

When it was time for the concert, I had a problem. Minimum age was 18. I had my press card with me, which really was a homemade little thing that our managing editor, my very good friend Svein Ola, had provided for me. It looked good, but it wasn't really all that official. I was under the impression that I already had been cleared for it, but that was not the case. The bouncer finally let me in, but with the warning that if he every caught me with a glass of beer in my hands... He left the end of the sentence dangle the same way I was convinced my teeth would hold on to my gums if I tested his mettle. However, he need not have worried - I was not drinking at all at this age, even though I really was the exception among most of my friends.

So I was let in, and I got to experience the frantic beast that is DumDum Boys for the very first time. And man, what an insane show. I was blown away. Prepple Houmb, the lead singer, is a man possessed on stage. Piercing eyes that bulge out of his forehead - he had the audience eating from the palm of his hand from the time he stepped on stage. The rhythm section, with Sola Jonsen on drums and Persi Iveland on bass, was incredibly steady - and there aren't many who write guitar riffs and lyrics like Kjartan Kristiansen, whose guitar sound dominated the sonic landscape. DumDum Boys was THE Norwegian rock band in the late 80s and through the first half of the 90s. People also talk about Raga Rockers, DeLillos, and Jokke & Valentinerne from this era, but none of them ever touched DumDum Boys in my opinion (and I liked all four bands). The monster riff that starts Splitter Pine was one of many highlights of this concert - but it is one that I clearly remember.

So this concert set the stage for the year. The song was repeated again on the 17th birthday party of my good friend Sissel, who now is an established archeologist in Trondheim - I couldn't be happier for her - as DumDum Boys played on the grounds of Trondheim Katedralskole (the oldest high school in Trondheim, linked to the Nidaros Cathedral). We, as in a group of friends, had gathered at her place first to warm up, then headed downtown to "Marinen", a strip of land adjacent to Nidelven and the cathedral, where youth traditionally gather on May 16th, the evening before Norway's national holiday. When it was time for the concert, we found our way there, and for some strange reason, my evening really was complete when the blue light bathed the stage as the lyrics to OppNed went, in slightly free translation, "The moon is plugged in tonight, casting off electric blue light". And then Splitter Pine started again.

The summer was no different. For the first time, I went to the national convention/summer camp of DNTU, a Norwegian youth organization dedicated to reducing alcohol consumption - and requiring its members to abstain from all use of alcohol and drugs. I had already made that choice and was a member of a rival youth organization, NGU, but Jon Inge convinced me that nothing was quite like DNTU, so I decided to go to the summer camp, which this year was in Grimstad, in the southern part of Norway. Every night, there was a dj playing and people dancing, and the song that got everyone moving was once again Splitter Pine. It was indeed the song of the year.

So, for those of you who wonder what the heck Splitter Pine means, the answer is simply nothing. By itself, it really has no meaning. However, if you add the word gal at the end, it means stark raving mad, so I guess my best translation is stark raving... Persi is the guy in a top hat - and this was before we had heard of Slash and Guns'n'Roses in Trondheim. Also, Splitter Pine is not the ultimate DumDum Boys song, as that is Tyven Tyven, which came out of a tragedy about 5 years later - but more about that in a later post. Just enjoy Splitter Pine.