Biography
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Years Active
1994 – present (30 years)
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Founded In
Oslo, Norway
- Formed in 1994 by Ulph (Ulf Nygaard), folk&røvere’s first offering was a demo tape selected «demo of the year» by national radio station NRK P3.
- Summer 1995 folk&røvere signed to Sonet/PolyGram, and was linked with producer Ola Haampland – at this point also singer in one of Norway’s hottest bands, Happy Campers.
- The debut album was finished by christmas 1995. On the first two albums folk&røvere were Ulph with singer Beate Slettevoll Lech. The debut single «Astronaut» must have been the first real trip hop single in Norwegian. The debut album, «Vi Som Ikke Har Opplevd Krigen» («We Who Didn’t Experience the War») was released in May 1996, and received raving reviews, but only made a few weeks on National Top 40 album chart.
- Second album «kaustisksoda» («Caustic Sodium») was recorded in London, again produced by Ola Haampland – who at the time also were working with people like Arthur Baker and Joe Strummer, had a 12” on Ninja Tunes and worked in the studio locations next door to drum’n’bass legend Goldie’s Metalheadz label). The album produced a big radio hit, «fru Hagen» («Mrs. Hagen», named after the most famous Oslo DJ café of the 90’s), and sold three times as much as the debut.
- Beate Slettevoll Lech left for a solo career with Beady Belle (http://www.beadybelle.com) after the kaustisksoda tour of late 1998, yet still 1999 produced the first big selling folk&røvere hit. The summer song «Yess!» charted for more than a dozen weeks, and has since been voted all time summer hit in Norway on more than one occation. The following album, though, was more or less a flop. It was named «Oslo», produced by the jazz duo Sjur Miljeteig and Peder Kjellsby and released by Universal Music in September 1999. At this point, folk&røvere was more or less Ulph with guests.
- The 2000 album «It’s A Baby, Baby I Luv You Thing» had even more guests, and again produced a summer radio hit, «Dust» (not dust in English, it means more or less «Twat» or «Fool»). It was released by Ulph’s own label So Happy,inc. After being ditched by Universal Music. The album itself did not chart.
- The following year only produced a single, again sung by Ulph it was a minor radio hit in the early summer of 2001 – called «Ihvertfall Litt» («Something, At Least»). It was the first real collaboration with guitarist Jo Bakke, now Ulph’s partner both in folk&røvere and their English spoken band Flunk (http://www.flunkmusic.com) (made their debut album in spring 2002).
- The autumn of 2002 saw the release of the first single off folk&røvere’s fifth album, «Bagateller» («Things of Minor Importance») – released by classic Norwegian independent label Voices of Wonder (http://www.vme.no). Not much happened until January 2003, when the song hit the charts after the video made it a massive hit on music television channels. The track, «Utadæsjælåpplevelse» («Out of the Body Experience»), was featuring new rapper Ravi, and went on to platinum sales and charted for 18 weeks, peaking at number two. It continued to be a massive party hit all of 2003, and was nominated both single of the year and video of the year in the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy awards.
- The first months of 2004 Jo and Ulph were still touring Norway with rapper Ravi, and they also released antoher Flunk album. A compilation album from folk&røvere was released in January 2004.
- The first single off the 7th folk&røvere album was released in August 2005, featuring Norway’s most famous football TV commentator, Arne Scheie. By September it was in the charts. The album was released the same month, called «Ting Vi Skal Gjøre Før Vi Dør» («Things To Do Before We Die»).
Copied from http://www.sohappy.no/
Contact:
folk&røvere
Voices of Wonder
Boks 2010, 0505 Oslo,
Phone: +47 23 22 66 66
Fax: +47 23 22 66 67
A&R: Dag Krogsvold
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