Katzenjammer (Official Thread)

[Cosmic Harmony]

Marianne Sveen, Solveig Heilo, Anne Marit Bergheim, and Turid Jørgensen


Katzenjammer - Official Website
Katzenjammer - Wikipedia Page


Discography
* Le Pop (2008)
* A Kiss Before You Go (2011)


These four beautiful and colorful ladies are Katzenjammer. Based out of Oslo, Norway they prove that not only terrifying metal bands can come from Norway.

Katzenjammer was formed in 2005 with a boat load of instruments found in the attic of their college, which the band members alternate between during live shows. Some of the instruments they use are trumpet, acoustic guitar, accordion, piano, kazoo, melodica, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, glockenspiel, drums, and their instantly recognizable cat faced balalaika, which they originally got in the back of a very dirty pub they used to play at.





Overall the band makes use of nearly 30 different instruments and are always looking to incorporate new instruments into their music. Each member is also an accomplished singer though lead vocals are usually from Sol (the most traditionally pretty sounding singer in the group), Turid (who has a bit more of a raspy tone), and Marianne (who is by far the wackiest and most versitile singer in the group) while Anne Marit usually sticks just to backing vocals (though there are of course exceptions to that).

Since the release of their debut album "Le Pop" in late 2008 (which I have fallen in love with over the last couple months) the band has been building a very strong following all over the world and have developed an increasingly good reputation for their live shows. They even earned nominations for "Best Debut Album" and "Best New Artist" at the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammys, mainly from the buzz around their breakthrough single "A Bar In Amsterdam".





Musically Katzenjammer is a difficult to define since they mix so many genres and influences together but I think the best way to describe their sound would be traditional European folk music channeled through a pop filter with elements of rock, country, and carnival music that is being played by Norwegian cartoon characters who sing in English.


First a couple accessible things:

Silly and fun

(This was the band's second single and it has a GREAT music video)


Norwegian country flare

(This was the band's debut single)



And a couple faves of mine in their great live formats:

​

 

[LOU/REALM]

Wow ! What a colorful and beautiful group.....highly talented . Im impressed...love to see KATZENJAMMER Live!

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I'm glad you liked them, Lou. I know that I'd love to see them live but they're so busy touring in Asia, Europe, Australia and all over the place they don't have time to hit the States for any shows. As far as I know they've only done one tour in the US and it was a short one.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

Wow, that first song is crazy! I definitely see where you're going with the European folk description. This is pretty interesting and definitely not like anything I've seen on the forum before Harm.

Funny they play the balalaika... I know most people see one and think "What the hell is that?", and I didn't even know what it was until John Paul Jones.

They're pretty creative I must say. The third vid didn't work for me though.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Oh yes, Katzenjammer is certainly something unique. When people say that "everything has been done" it's bands like this that make me know that they are wrong.

I love the balalaika. It has a more smooth tone than normal basses do and I would LOVE to play one.

You need to watch "Play My Darling Play" on Youtube rather than in the embedded video because of silly copyright stuff.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

How did they fare here in the States with their tour Harm? I'm not sure how well they would hit it off here with their style but then again I could be wrong.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Well the beautiful thing is that there is an audience for the kind of music that Katzenjammer makes. Unfortunately that audience is stretched very far, at least in the US. I believe Katzenjammer has a fair number of fans in the States but there isn't a high enough of a concentration of them anywhere for them to do many shows over here. Outside of the States people seems to be more willing to embrace something like this that the more narrow minded US audiences would just write off as "weird".

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

Perhaps if they secured a gig on SNL or Letterman or something that would give them that exposure more Americans would come to appreciate their stuff. Actually, I could see them performin more so on the latter as those late night shows have more obscure groups along these lines (they had Shiny Toy Guns on Leno and they were on the small venue circuit at the time). I'd definitely go to one of their shows they seem very energetic and fun. I could see them opening for a big pop act like Lady Gaga or something. Hey, they do have those pop undertones and weird outfits, right?

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I think if they were given some kind of opportunity then they could do well for themselves but I think they would need the kind of audience of SNL or the Grammys. Not every person that would see them perform would fall in love with them so they would need a large audience in order to snag a good size percent. Also, while I could see them opening for Gaga I wouldn't want them to because I'd like to see them without having to pay the extra $200 for having Gaga on the same bill.

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

I thought you liked Gaga!