On Friday 25th of September 98 at 8 pm the Danish pop/rock
band TV-2 will perform for the first time in UK at Shepherds
Bush Empire in London.
Since 1981 TV-2 has developed into one of most loved Scandinavian
bands with 14 released albums, more than 2 mio sold albums and
several awards.
TV-2's recent album Yndlingsbabe (Favourite Babe) released in Februar this year by EMI/Medley went platinum after one month and right now the band is on a sold out tour through Denmark.
TV-2 has always been at the top of the newest musical and technical developments and has always been able to combine good song writing with modern pop and rock. Their singer and songwriter Steffen Brandt is one of Denmark's most under-playing and at the same time effective performers.
At the London concert the band will be supported by the Danish brass-section The Aarhus Horns and the keyboard player Henrik Nilsson.
Shepherds Bush Empire at Shepherds Bush Green is an old theater-style venue with a capacity of 2000 and has been voted the best concert venue in London a couple of years ago. There are no seats at the floor and numbered seats at the balcony at higher ticket-prizes. TV-2 will play two sets and will be followed by different djs.
Ticket-information on 171 435 7232
Steffen Brandt: vocals, guitar and keyboards
Hans Erik Lerchenfeld: guitar
Georg Olesen: bass
Sven Gaul: drums
For more information see the attached band story or drop by at tv-2's awarded homepage on www.tv-2.dk which includes sound and video clips from the latest release, downloadable press photos in high resolution and news about TV-2's live-internetconcert in june 98.
Management: Aarhus Musikkontor -(0045)86127722- www.aamk.com
TV-2s e-mail address: tv-2@tv-2.dk
The band was formed in the winter of 1980/81 in Aarhus, Denmark.
Steffen Brandt , vocals, keyboards, guitar; Hans Erik Lerchenfeld , guitar; Georg Olesen , bass; Sven Gaul , drums.
1981: Fantastiske Toyota (CBS).
1982: Verden er vidunderlig (CBS).
1983: Beat (CBS).
1984: Nutidens unge (CBS).
1985: Rigtige mænd gider ikke høre mere
vrøvl (CBS).
1987: En dejlig torsdag (CBS); Fri som fuglen,
dobbelt-live (CBS).
1988: Nærmest lykkelig (CBS).
1990: Vi bli'r alligevel aldrig voksne
(PladeCompagniet).
1991: Slaraffenland (PladeCompagniet).
1992: De unge år - Greatest Hits
(PladeCompagniet, 2cd).
1994: Verdens lykkeligste mand
(PladeCompagniet).
1996: Kys bruden (EMI/Medley).
1998: Yndlingsbabe (EMI/Medley)
From its beginnings playing eighties-style minimalist new rock TV-2 has, through the past 18 years, developed into one of the most-loved Danish bands with 14 releases and sales of more than 2 mio. records. Their style is characterized by ambiguity, irony and self-irony with a well-developed knack of seeing right through the trends of the moment. They call themselves "Denmark's most boring band". Their singer and songwriter Steffen Brandt is one of Denmark's most under-playing and at the same time effective performers.
After the break-up of the Aarhus symphonic-rock band "Taurus" in
1979, TV-2 was formed at the New Year 1980/81.
The debut album "Fantastiske Toyota" (Fantastic Toyota) was
engineered and mixed by Cy Nicklin, and it cost 30,000 Danish Kroner
(3000 GBP), which they had borrowed, with no recording contract. Five
record companies were interested however, and it was the then A &
R boss at the Danish department of CBS, Stig Kreutzfeldt, who won the
battle. It was Jan Degner, Kreutzfeldt's successor, who was assigned
to sell the new concept in partnership with TV-2 and it became
something of a milestone in Danish promotion campaigns - including
the widespread use of such new technology as fax! The press puritans
thought that the campaign was a bit exaggerated but a journalist from
the daily newspaper "Børsen" (a very serious business and
finance newspaper) turned up at the press reception. He was not the
only one who believed that it was the launching of the second Danish
TV channel (TV2), which would not occur for a few years.
At the Roskilde Festival later the same year the band's performance
was a visual bombardment - white boiler-suits, blue neon, white
Venetian blinds, and TV monitors. It was concept art that was really
going places, but not many people had a clue where it was going.
The following two years and two albums were used by TV-2 to perfect
the concept - the rapid tempo, the melodic tunes, the pop-rock style,
use of synthesizers, drum machines - and, of course, the lyrics.
Nicklin also produced "Verden er Vidunderlig" (The world is
wonderful), and Brandt was still quite concise and observant and the
music had a similar style to the first record. But "Beat", released
in 1983, accelerated the development. TV-2 had not yet captured the
attention of a large record-buying audience but modernising an old
operetta melody was the breakthrough! Steffen Brandt rapped his way
through "The Admiral's Song" from "Pinafore" (Gilbert & Sullivan
operetta), with the title changed to "Popmusikerens vise" (The Pop
Singer's Song), released as a single. In the slipstream of this
single "Beat" sold 50,000 copies and the following tour was sold
out.
The next three albums confirmed TV-2's position which was first
defined in 1983. "Nutidens unge" (The youth of today) doubled album
sales, and the subsequent tour ".. just wouldn't end." The album was
produced by Michael Bruun from "Tøsedrengene" who, with his
sense of melody, made TV-2 accessible to an even larger audience, and
with the englishman, Greg Walsh (Heaven 17, Tina Turner, Pavarotti)
as producer the concept was firmly established when "Rigtige
Mænd..." (Real Men...) was released with several hits including
the title track. Phrases from TV-2 songs began to appear as news
headlines and in everyday language. "En Dejlig Torsdag" (A Wonderful
Thursday) confirmed the band's status.
Brandt had begun to set new standards for Danish lyricists and had
developed his lyrical universe to include direct references to
everyday language among young people. Ironical, sarcastic, lovingly
critical but also speculative, sometimes almost giving up, he
observed the genders, the times, the generations and their changes.
Adults shown as being bitter and negative, the lives of young people
shown in contrast to those of their parents who had been young in the
sixties. The empty but fascinating café life does not leave
you with much hope, but there is still a little, in there, "behind
misty windows" - (Bag duggede ruder) which is considered by many to
be one of Danish pop-rock's most beautiful ballads. "Rigtige
Mænd..." sold more than 250,000 copies, but it was
controversial because not everybody had the same sense of irony as
Brandt. The album could be - and was - used to confirm or deny the
opinions and prejudices of any man - or woman!
At the same time the prizes and awards poured in. Readers of the
trend-setting music magazine at that time, MM, voted the band "Name
of the Year", and the album "Album of the Year", and it also won the
award for "Cover of the Year". Brandt was voted "Singer of the Year"
and songwriter too! Two Danish Grammies were also awarded, for "Album
of the Year" and "Singer of the Year". TV-2 were naturally the
top-billed name on Europes biggest out-door event, the "Grøn
Koncert 86" (Green Concert) tour. They were also top billed on this
prestigious tour again in 1997.
As a natural consequence of the status which the group had attained
on the concert stage, "En Dejlig Torsdag" (Lovely thursday) was
followed by "Fri som Fuglen" (free as a bird), a live double album,
which gave great satisfaction to the band's "live" fans. In 1988
"Nærmest Lykkelig" (Almost happy) was released, produced by,
among others, Michael Bruun and Søren Wolff. The press
pronounced it the group's best album to date. It had the character of
a Steffen Brandt solo album with very personal lyrics, almost
"roman-à-clef"-like. The title track and the Shadows-like "Alt
Hvad Hun Ville Var At Danse" (All she wanted to do was dance) were
great hits. The subsequent tour was called "Guffelhorn på
græs" (Guffelhorn on grass) - A "Guffelhorn" is a grass
harvesting machine which resembles an animal horn, actually called a
"grønthøster" in Danish. The scenography on this tour
included a whole family of "guffelhorns" - father, mother and
children. One of the unsurpassed Danish rock tour symbols.
When Degner left CBS to start his own company, PladeCompagniet , TV-2
followed him. The songs on "Vi Bli'r Alligevel Aldrig Voksne" (We'll
never grow up anyway) was produced by, among others, Anders Glenmark
from Sweden, Greg Walsh, the classical conductor and composer Bo
Holten, Thomas Helmig and also Lars Overgaard, Søren Wolff and
Michael Bruun. The title gave Steffen Brandt rich opportunity to both
play and seriously satirize the world's unbelievable ability never to
learn. It was the band's fifth platinum album in a row and on
midsummer's evening 1990 TV-2 gave a concert in the ruined castle,
Hammershus Slot on the Danish island of Bornholm. It was transmitted
live on Danish TV2.
The group celebrated their 10 year anniversary in 1991 with
"Slaraffenland" (Land of milk and honey, or El Dorado) where TV-2
wanted to once again play with the music and give "The Århus
Horns" their recording debut. "The Århus Horns", the horn
section, were Niels Hoppe - saxophones, Knud Erik Nørgaard -
trumpet, and Anders Christensen - trombone. The band call
"Slaraffenland", which they produced themselves, a "catharsis", "a
necessary album" but the audience were not particularly impressed.
TV-2 took a break, interrupted in November 1992 by a Greatest Hits
collection, "De unge år" (The young years), which created space
for a new chapter in the band's career. A chapter that was written in
big headlines when the group achieved double
platinum sales of "Verdens Lykkeligste Mand" (The happiest man in the
world) in 1994. Steffen Brandt sang "It's society's fault", and
whether you agreed or not you were convinced, again, by a band who
had come back to stay. A unanimous press welcomed the newly-sharpened
Brandt pencil and the band which was in top form and had treated
itself to a collection of tunes which were fun to play.
The stage was set for yet another national tour of triumph and
preparations for the 13th album, "Kys bruden" (kiss the bride), which
was also their first album for EMI-Medley, produced by Greg Walsh,
Michael Bruun and last, but by no means least, Halfdan E. The title
song, "Kom Lad Us Brokke Os" (Let's have a good moan) and
"Sån't Er Livet" (That's life) became great hits. After the
release of "Kys Bruden" in February 1996 TV-2 toured until August of
that year, a tour which was divided into a club tour and the
obligatory main-venue tour.
Februar 1998 TV-2 released their 14th album "Yndlingsbabe" (Favourite
Babe) which went platinum after 1 month. In april the very first
Danish live-internetconcert was transmitted from the bands appearance
in their hometown Århus. TV-2 is on tour most of this year.
TV-2 has developed a special relationship with Greenland. They
were there for the first time in 1988 in connection with a charity
concert for Cancer Research. They performed with the Greenlandic
group Sume at a televised concert at the Nuuk hall. During the same
visit they recorded the video for "En sommerdag for alt for
længe siden" (A summer day, far too long ago) way out on the
inland ice-cap, interrupted by a snowstorm! The following year they
had their first tour to "The land of the people". On this occasion
they wrote and recorded the two new songs "Tikkiluaritsi" and
"Takuss", which both were later released by the Greenlandic company
ULO. "Tikkiluaritsi" is also included on the "Vi blir alligevel
aldrig voksne" CD. On the "Verdens lykkeligste mand" CD there is a
song called "Hundene over Jacobshavn" (The dogs above Jacobshavn),
and "Sæler, hvaler og solskin" (Seals, whales and sunshine) is
not released yet. In 1994 they completed the most comprehensive tour
that a Danish band has ever made of Greenland.
In 1982 TV-2 released an album under the pseudonym "The Beautifuls".
It was called "Om Sommeren Er Alting Anderledes" (In the summer
everything is different), which was released on Have a Cigar Records.
As the group explained "We did it as an attempt to take the sting out
of what we considered to be a rather exaggerated indignation of the
politically correct section of the pop press. An indignation because
we changed our name from Taurus to TV-2 and changed our appearance
and our playing style. We thought that we would "make our point" if
the following year we changed our name, appearance and style of
playing .... again! So we did. The confusion was entirely on our part
but we felt that we established a sort of understanding that our mode
of expression was inextricably connected to a particular and not
entirely healthy sense of humour."
In 1990 TV-2 released the single "The Whole World's Gonna Speak
German Again.." produced by Greg Walsh and inspired by the events
surrounding the fall of the Berlin wall. "We heard disquieting
reports about Germans who, in an intoxication of enthusiasm, saw
themselves and the re-united Germany back in the role of being a
major power. It needed to be commented upon".
There have been many opportunities to see TV-2 on television. Among
the most striking occasions was their first performance for Her
Majesty Queen Margrethe at the inauguration of the Århus
Concert Hall in 1981.
Apart from this the group has made a point of not simply delivering
the stereotype video product on TV. "Nærmest lykkelig - live",
a concert and road-movie recorded on tour. "De kom lige forbi" (1990)
(They just dropped in), a report from Greenland, which they
themselves described as ".. a sort of travel letter from a touring
rock band with social, political and cultural perspectives." "10
år der rystede verden," (10 years that rocked the world) .. a
simulated documentary based on the history of a pop band with the
general emphasis on delivering rock and roll, but creating havoc in
particular. It was screened in 1991.
In 1994 TV-2 received a pat on the back from their colleagues in the
form of the Danish Musicians Union's Award (30.000 Danish Kroner -
3000 GBP). Steffen Brandt received a particularly special award - the
Dan Turéll award, in 1996. The song "Kom Lad Os Brokke Os" was
used as an essay subject in a Danish examination at Danish elementary
schools in 1997.
TV-2 on the internet: www.tv-2.dk
Management: Aarhus Musikkontor (+45 86127722) www.aamk.com
TV-2s e-mail address: tv-2@tv-2.dk