Some
background
I remember the nineties, when trousers were baggy enough to swallow you whole and appointments were not easily moved around. I remember going into several record stores, only to stay there for hours. I remember them as minutes ago. And the only screened information we got was the one-way dialogue coming from the tube. Yes, I remember them days, and they came with a slight smile. I remember them well particularly because I got to pick up my first guitar, with which I made some deliciously unsettling tones. And soon I'd have built myself a right arsenal including a silly drum machine, the fattest keys among the FM bunch and a downright evil tape recorder that went under the malicious name of Footy. In a frentic symbioses of flesh and mother boards songs were created. And I feel lucky, right up to this day, to have experienced first-hand that less is more, or little can do much, and so on...
The longest commitment in pre-Romans days was the Wallpaper Silhouettes era. They were fun times, and bad! In 2006 however I suddenly found myself on the bum after "dissolving" Wallpaper Silhouettes. We had eventually become four members and were two acclaimed albums richer by the end. Loads of gigs attracted some and scared away others, a road documentary was screened in cinema, a local paper decided on more cultural coverage after only 10 people had come to see us. The gig however hammered in a full-blown page and five stars. And Mike Scott of The Waterboys fame wrote in his tour diary that he'd met a couple of lads from Wallpaper Silhouettes, "a New-Wave band". The band's core members were Tony Jacobsen and myself. We were best friends prior to forming the band, OK friends towards the end, and the best of friends again after we split.
Nowadays Tony is enjoying his creative freedom with We Are Monsters, as much as I'm enjoying mine. Wallpaper Silhouettes still have a myspace page though.
Painted Romans
After the split I saw my chance to pick up the many loose threads from the past, and began working on a solo project. Solo mainly because I knew so few musicians! That I did for almost two years, although I had been talking to former WS members about putting on a gig, and by the end of 2007 I was joined by a couple to do so. Then 'Evil Wigs And Bedroom Moments' was completed and released on 1st of October 2008 to critical acclaim, followed by three very successful shows, recordings of which can be downloaded free from this page.
2009 saw music from 'Evil Wigs And Bedroom Moments' getting exposure on European radio stations, and the album was ranked among the Top 10 by the highly respected independent music reviewer Jonathan Leonard (The Weblog of Leonard's Lair). Also in 2009 a song from the same album was featured on Series Two Records' Compilation Vol. 18. Series Two is quickly becoming one of the major DIY labels and is run by a man whose enthusiasm could easily fill the entire universe!
Photo by Kari Bergliot Tyvoll
Painted Romans is and always was a diary, a place to put down so called poems and ideas about love and hope and lust and desire and aims and struggle and pain, most aspects in life. .. And indeed with a song archive as extensive as the one sitting in boxes scattered around in my living room, I can honestly say that each song represent a page in the book. .. of days gone by. .. and they're sometimes taken out of their boxes and brought to places where there may be people. ..
Up until now we have more or less appeared on relatively small and intimate places, several times on art exhibitions. For some reason the music seems to blend well with visuals. .. And as for 2010 Painted Romans is again included on a Series Two Records compilation, this time on the Retrospective Compilation #2 which is released in May 2010 and comes bundled with volumes 1-5.
2010 will also see the release of a new album!