gnom was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 folk music band, the third band started by Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen

Janove Ottesen is a Norwegian musician, born at Bryne, Rogaland, Norway. He specializes in vocals, guitar and barrels, and is a leading member of the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra.-History:...

 and Geir Zahl

Geir Zahl

Geir Zahl is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra. The band was founded by Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen who had both played together in some other bands, namely Blod, snått & juling and gnom...

. Despite being relatively obsolete on the Norwegian musical scene, it is an important part of the creation of Kaizers Orchestra

Kaizers Orchestra

Kaizers Orchestra is a Norwegian alternative rock group formed on January 1, 2000. The two leading members, vocalist Janove Ottesen and guitarist Geir Zahl, had known each other for years, and first played together in a band called Blod, Snått & Juling in 1989.Kaizers Orchestra are notable for...

.

History

After Ottesen and Zahl's previous band, Blod Snått & Juling, dissolved, Janove joined the army, where he wrote some songs that were recorded on a demo (known to fans as Janoves Soloprosjekt). Some of these songs wound up being recorded on the acoustic demo for the new band Janove and Geir started when they were together again, namely, gnom. Janove and Geir were soon joined by Helge Risa on pump organ, and Rune Solheim on drums (the two would later continue on as members of Kaizers Orchestra) and Rolf Prestø, known as "Bestefar", (grandpa) on bass. gnom's first, and only, release was Mys (1997), of which there were made 1000 copies, less than half of which were sold in the first year of its release.

The band had to struggle to obtain any performance spots, and if one was available, the spectators were about 20, average. However, after the release of Mys, Janove wrote a song called "Bastard", which had a very Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

-esque sound to it, and for which the band utilized oil barrels as percussion. However, the band quickly began to dissolve due to lack of gigs and success. However, Ottesen decided to write songs in the same vein as "Bastard", and as a result, he and Geir created a new band, known as Kaizers Orchestra.

Today, an original copy of Mys is a rare collector's item, coveted by the fans of Kaizers Orchestra.

External links

• Video of Geir Zahl
  Geir Zahl
  Geir Zahl is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra. The band was founded by Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen who had both played together in some other bands, namely Blod, snått & juling and gnom...
  
   and Janove Ottesen
  Janove Ottesen
  Janove Ottesen is a Norwegian musician, born at Bryne, Rogaland, Norway. He specializes in vocals, guitar and barrels, and is a leading member of the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra.-History:...
  
  playing Hysj from Mys