Although established since the summer of 1985 as a code word for going out on the town and behaving like pop stars, the actual band Dog Age was started in 1986/87 by Jon Anders Strand and Jørn Smedslund. A vague notion of playing depressive industrial synthesized pop was quickly abandoned for the somewhat more ethereal folk-pop psychedelia one finds in songs such as "Sweet Scent of Life" and "The Sun". The latter was also the reason why Jørn one fine spring day in 1988 was asked to return a call to the newly established record company Voices of Wonder. They had through Trygve Mathiesen, leader of Ym-stammen, another Norwegian group, heard a recording of this tribute to the glory of summer, recorded at Strømmen's Studio Staal a few weeks previously. By this time two members of Ym-stammen (where Jon Anders was the bass-player), Christian Thorleif Refsum og Jan Harald Beckstrøm, had been drafted into what was verging on becoming a "real" band. The recording of their first album continued throughout the spring of 1988, and the Contract with VoW was signed on the 24th of June the same year. After this, the recording sessions were moved to the more suitably equipped Red Light Studio in central Oslo and Eystein Hopland from Sister Rain was brought in to produce the album.
It was released in the autumn of 1989 as "Good Day", the references to the summer of 1967 and the Beatles, as well as Norway's former PM Kåre Willoch were clear, while the closest you get to a title track would be the political advert "Party", with the line "never felt as good as today".
The sleeve, based on one of Jon Anders' more creative dreams, was photographed on Bygdøy (by Paul Paiewonsky), and hand coloured and designed by Marius Renberg.
The album's reception was fairly mixed, the reviews abounded with comparisons to another, contemporary Norwegian band Matchstick Sun, not usually to Dog Age's advantage, the feeling of 60's nostalgia and retrospectivity in a group of fairly young musicians annoyed some critics who thought music should mirror its times, that one should be in touch with society, that innovation is the essential aspect of pop music and that bands have a responsibility to create the "soundtrack" of, in this case, 1988. And all that. Oh, well.
Quite inexplicably Norway's largest tabloid, VG, handed out a "five" on a scale of one to six (where six was the best).
The same year Dog Age, now with the addition of Thomas Widerberg on keyboards, played their first ever gig at Oslo's Rockefeller scene at a Radio Nova-concert. This was broadcast live on radio, so there should be a recording of it lying around somewhere.
The follow-up was supposed to have been a 7- EP, but Vow wanted to front the potential hit "Freda's Married", so "Free" and "Gathering Round" were put on hold until the second album, while "Violent" ended up as the b-side (however, the sleeve was already printed, so the lyrics to the two songs left out are still, confusingly enough, for all to see on the flip-side of the cover). This record (which despite of the changes kept its original title "Outdated Yeah!" as the sleeve was already printed) was released sometime in the spring of 1990.
"Freda's Married" was a somewhat heavier tune than what one was accustomed to after "Good Day", especially Jon Anders' opening guitar riff made one think more of the early seventies than the innocent (and completely imaginary) 60's which permeated the first album. The experienced Norwegian pop critic Willy B. is supposed to have exclaimed that it was "the best I have heard in twenty years!" Nye Takter's Asbjørn Bakke preferred the b-side "Violent" "with its paradoxical lyrics".
This single is meant to have sold an unusual number of copies for a Dog Age release, though not, of course, so much that the band received any royalties from it. The receiving of filthy lucre was, however, never of any interest to these young idealists.
Christian Refsum left the band after the recording of the four songs that were supposed to have been on "Outdated Yeah!", and was temporarily replaced by the drummer from Sketsjen Kveler (and an uncompromising defender for the top notch Norwegian football club "Hordene" ), Geirr Thoresen, partly because there were serious plans of making a much heavier second album, a virtual necessity when entering Svein Solberg's Warehouse Studio.
The recording of the remaining material was executed during the summer of 1990, but the record was not released until the following year due to the usual delays one has come to expect whenever Dog Age are involved in something. In the meantime they managed to put in some more gigs also outside Oslo, so that audiences in Trondheim (who were few) and Bø i Telemark (who were drunk) had the opportunity to discover that live gigs at this time perhaps did not flatter Dog Age unduly.
Album number 2, "Sigh No More", had found its title in a line from the song "Lullaby", an old folk song from the days of Autistiske Barn (with the lyric picked up from Tolkien's "The Hobbitt"). This album was darker and heavier, and VG's Børre Haugstad went down from a "5" to a "2", taking the rather puzzling view that this album sounded too much like early Pink Floyd. Mode Steinkjer, writing for the Norwegian music paper Puls was of the opinion that this was a good record (possibly caused by a bad conscience after having done three interviews with the band, neither of which were ever printed), even if the somewhat cryptic headline posed the question "Why do we need the sixties?". The sleeve, designed by Simon Oldani, was less playful and friendly-looking than "Good Day" had been, its best feature probably the excellent fake "sleeve-notes", provided by an unusually obliging Tables CEO, Bartleby (under the nom de plume of Jonathan C. Byrd, a resident of Happy Hills Sanatorium).
A big release concert at Månefisken (with The Time Lodgers headlining) was pleasant, but commercial success once again eluded them. The sales figures, this time unaided by the "debut album effect" were impressively low. On the positive side, the band felt that they had made a very good album, and one or two of the gigs (especially the one at Hulen in Bergen) actually sounded fairly decent. By this time Øystein Jevanord had replaced Geirr Thoresen behind the drums, and a new guitar player, Ola Erik Sørlie from Chris Eriksens Orkester had also joined the band.
After this relatively hectic period it was decided to slow down the pace even more, adjusting to the inherent lazy inertia of the band as well as such unavoidable side tracks as jobs, studies, moving to Moss and the extensive experimentation with the effects of lager upon the human body. It therefore took some time (and a letter from Bad Honnef, Germany) until the next release saw the light of day in 1996. In the meantime some 4-track recordings were being done as well as a few gigs and a contribution ("Harm") to favourite hang out Last Train's 10th anniversary CD.
Then appeared on the scene one Norbert Schilling and his record company Magical Jack Records (apparently through Dog Age's guardian angel Mick Dillingham). He wanted to release Dog Age, initially on a compilation album, but when he heard that they were without a recording contract, also on a separate 7' vinyl record. "Makes You Wonder" appeared on the compilation "Hi Jack" in 1995, and the following year came the EP "Puddle" (called this as it is round, small and not very deep). Two of the songs later appeared on CD, those only to be found on this record are Jon Anders' "Loathsong" and Jørn's "Bird", both, for some reason, furnished with a most strikingly dated 80's sound. 1998: "As It Were", release concert at Mir, first national TV appearance, sales figures hit rock bottom (fantastically few copies sold! The band blame it on the TV), first ever gig without Harald (Tamara), "best record so far" according to Mick Dillingham. "Very Bad" is a summer hit in the world inhabited by Johan Schlanbusch. 2001: Dog Age begin recording a new record. June: Jon Anders is off to Australia to find a wife, obviously inspired by Jørn's similar successful trip to Rome earlier that year! 2002: "When the Fish are Down", with a sleeve by T.B. Hansen, is released (on May 6), in the conspicuous absence of Jon Anders! A one-off gig to mark the release was held at Blue Monk on May 11, featuring the poet Oddvar Karlsmyr and eccentric folk singer Haakon (Ellingsen). 2007: The Band sign to Rainbow Quartz and "Reefy Seadragon" with a sleeve by Mick Dillingham is released. The Band play in Liverpool, England at the IPO.
by: Mick Dillingham
