Protégé : 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 yearsearlier, 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 spotwhere Sonic Youth noise meets Hawkwind psych and Hüsker Dü songwriting with a60s 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 inhis 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 chaapter 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). In February 2025 Motorpsycho delivered another big, epic chunk of Motorpsychodelia, it’s 11 songs clocking in at over 80 minutes, spanning progressive ‘works’, acoustic tunes, big rock songs and total musical immersion like only they know how to do. Motorpsycho has no plans to stop working any time soon!

Label

Rune Arkiv

Territory

France

NATIONALITY

Norway

Agent

Yves Tattevin

VIDEOS

AUDIO

<a href="https://motorpsycho.bandcamp.com/album/the-gaia-ii-space-corps">The Gaia II Space Corps de Motorpsycho</a>

NEXT.SHOWS

soon

Persona Grata.