HUSH
By Nicky Baldrian
The roots of Norwegian melodic rockers HUSH go back guitarist/keyboardist Kenneth (Keith) Kristiansen was around twelve years of age. He started an acoustic punk band, with Norwegian lyrics and wrote songs about flying elephants and other important stuff... Like the bands hatred towards Women’s liberation & "party political" stuff. The band did lots of lives shows and had a good time wearing bizzare stage costumes such as his mothers BIG BIG!!! Plastic platform shoes.
Ken's mum was a Levi’s model/dancer and live the band did covers such as Zoo version of The Sweet etc.. with make up on and stuff. Ken made himself trousers and a vest, green and pink and yellow zip and took on the role of "ELDORADO PIMP meets HUGGY BEAR from Starsky And Hutch"
The band then went their seperate ways when Ken discovered Survivor and particullay their song called "It doesen`have to be this way"..
"Yea!! This was GREAT! WOW... hmm.. I have to put it on now. Just a sec. Great song!!..." says a cheerful Ken. After this he then got into the likes of Journey, SAGA, Van Halen, Meat Loaf and ZZ Top ..Yea, and KISS and Led Zep. "Of course. I started to play with my brother and we got better and better, and again, this Spinal Tap thing, actually the third drummer we had, was a (laughs). robber, stole cars and stuff, and killed his father. (Some years later that killing). And, hehe, The girls at school, voted my ass as the nicest at that school!! Yea!! ROCK`N ROLL!! So, what else could I do?? It had to be Rock`Roll!!
As the band moved on and became confident they eventually wrote and recorded songs which led to their acclaimed debut reacord "If You Smile", the title possibly inspired by Bad English's "When I See You Smile"
"The reaction was overwheliming" says KK (he likes to be called either Kenneth of Keith) "I did not know that this kind of music still had a following…we sold 740 CD`s each day for more than a week in Japan, got the best reviews you can think all over the planet, and in the famous " Burrrn Mag". (Japan) it was better than Jon B. Jovi, Metallica and others. And we did receive E-Mails from all over the world… Even UK mags and web places did welcome that CD..We even had prime time radio here in Norway, followed by endless interviews.
Then just after the albums release in 1998 the band were asked to play at the legendary English melodic rock festival THE GODS?
"Keith: hehe.. ehem… Yea, we are BACK!! GOD`S 2001! I guess You have heard that story? We did not know when we were on in 98, but it turned out OK. Did it not? ,, eh.. .. That time, we did play in Belgium on Friday, had a plane early on Saturday morning to Manchester, lot off hassle with transport to Wigan, hehe, really expensive cab! And, we went out for some drinks, a visit at the"Fantacy" strip club in Manchester, some drinks, and the bar at the hotel did not close! So, Patrick and I sat there until about 05 30 in the morning! We did not know that we should play that early on Sunday (1430) So our driver woke us up, and said: hey guys, you're on stage in 30 minutes! AAAAAAUuuuUUggggHHH! Patrick and I were sleeping! we went down to the kitchen, had a coffee, jumped into the car, could not find Rod, the drummer, we did not know where he was! We actually met him on our way to Maximes! He did not have any of his gear, no drum sticks, no pedals! We had to borrow everything. Oh my god! A nightmare! I was shaking! Patrick did look like he was going to die every second! I was thinking about him all the time. oohh! Is hi going to collapse soon? Oho that notes will he hit that? For my sake, I had to play a bid safer; my fingers were like pieces of wood! But when I saw the video, I think the second half of our set was good.
We hope we can do some touring to get the Hush II across..We would love to do more than just the GOD`s show in UK. It looks like it will be some gigs in Norway, Germany and Holland. If not a fucking war breaks out".
The new album HUSH II has just hit the streets which is a natural progression from the AOR tastic debut "Patrick wrote more music this time, on "IF U SMILE" I wrote all the music." remembers KK, "Yea, a natural progress. If you like.. hehe. Yea. But we were not sure about where we were going. We did record a lot of trax we did not use, we had like 40 –50 trax, so when we started to mix, we just "killed" some trax. I think "If You Smile" is less melodic than HUSH II but. Yea, but on our new baby it was a natural flow..."
I wanted to know that why after all the respectable sales and reviews of the debut did Point Music/Aor Heaven no take up an option for the new album and how the band ooked up with their new label Frontiers/Now And Then Records, KK replies "You'll have to ask Point about that… Mark from Now and Then took bought us over to play GOD`S in 98, so we asked him first, and he said yea. Mark (Now and Then) mailed me, and wanted us to finish the mixing in Manchester three weeks or so later! He, went quite fast..(Think the reason is that he was getting married, hehe, You know, Englishmen waits until after the marriage. hmm yea. You know so we had to finish fast!!,..hehe.. Yea, he did even sent Pat and me to the other side of the planet.he,he"
As a guitarist KK's favourite guitar players are mainly "Neal Shon, Gary Moore, Gilmore, Billy Gibbons, Ace and that lad from Zep…"
As for the Norwegian melodic rock scene it is growing with exciting new melodic rock bands like Silverspoon (www.mp3.com/silverspoon) appearing, but KK has his views "Everytime something gets promoted, it sells a lot, but the music industry pretends its not there..But on the biggest rados tation plays a lot of melodic rock, like Heart, ZZ top (rough boy), Bryan Adams, Train, Aerosmith, yea and other big names that is not to hard, even HUSH."
KK thinks like the reast of us that melodic rock does seem to be improving, but will we ever see bands selling Gold Records aagain mate? "Train from Australia has sold more than three mill. Albums! Bon Jovi are selling a lot, so are Aerosmith.. And that is AOR! As I have said over the last 3 years, I just think it will have a new kind of wrapping.. And, as everything else, If no one knows about it, no one buys it. You have to get it across to the right person, the buyer..And the production needs to be good, listen to Aerosmith, B.Jovi, Train.. Good songs, great sound, big production. But, as this point, a lot of AOR bands are normal 9 to 5 working people, and to do something "BIG", you just can’t do that. It takes a lot more.
I asked the band to tell me about their new record HUSH II : -
Patrick Simonsen (vocals):
"GOOD ENOUGH" is the first song written for the new Hush album. I was staying in a motel on Sunset Boulevard and I was listening to a sketch of a song that Kenneth gave me. The music was already recorded, not complete, but close. I had a big time hangover and a lot of thoughts and ideas for the new album. A lot of questions came to mind like: Will this album be good enough? Will it be everything people wanted it to be? And I just took it from there.
KK The music arrangement is a bit strange, I was told that there was no way those pieces will ever go together! When I wrote it, I started out with just the drum loop in the beginning. Its a bit Prince type of stuff, I wanted it 2 B a bit mellow, but I found no chorus, hehe so I just "pasted" in some pieces from an another song, and there I had the chorus! And, then the rest just came by it selves. We did really like that the dynamics of the song was that huge. From the peaceful verse 2 the rocking chorus. Actually, it was strings (violins) on it 2. The version that is on I thinks "POWERPLAY" (an UK mag with samp.cd)
Patrick:
"TIL WE BECOME THE SUN" is a song written in the same motel in L.A. almost a year later. It's a song about finding your sun and the inner peace in your life and your relationship, and about working on this 'til it become the sun and the guidance in your life.
KK:
It is a midtempo Aerosmith type of song. Patrick had nearly all of it written when he gave me it, Then I started working on guitar arrangements, string arrangements and stuff. When I recorded the solo, I had a kind of Led Zep type of feeling… I really like that…it just flows… No thinking… hehe…
"IN MY DREAMS"
KK:
Is a faster, different kind of song, starts out with some "Adam and the ants" type of drums. And then the guitar kix inn (I think the cowboy guitar in the beginning is Mr.Titz idea.). And it got some really cool organ licks.
Patrick:
Song I kind of finished in my sleep. It's a song I had been working on for a long time and I was really stuck.
One morning I woke up and it was completely finished in my head. I went down to the studio and recorded it and everything sounded just like I wanted it to. That's what the song is about to, how fascinating dreams really are...
KK:
"THE RESTLESS ONE'S"
Patrick:
Is a song about, still wanting to have fun, still wanting to play Rock 'n' Roll and still not being ready to settle down
Although you've passed 25...It's also about how strange it is to bump in to old friends from school and see how mature and boring they have become, it's like meeting old friends of our parents...
KK:
Yea, right! I know that situation, but I got a house! hehe, and Kids.. But I feel the same.. hehe. "Restless"is an uptempo song, reminds me of a song from Meat Loaf (that I love! No, not the food, but the music) I don’t remember, but around 1985 ore something.. The drum pattern is a bit like "final countdown… hehe Patrick loves that song..
"THE REAL THING"
Patrick:
Is a Rock 'n' Roll song about drinking, partying, having fun and picking up girls at the seven eleven...
KK:
hehe.. Yea, Pat`s hobby!! He lives next 2 7 eleven.. hehe… hmm the music is a bit,, ehem old Van Halen rocking..
"LIKE LOVE" Patrick:
Is just a tribute song to love, and how beautiful and important this really it to us.
KK
The music is more acoustic, like "hard luck women"
"ANOTHER GIRL" Patrick:
It’s a song about how sleazy and sweet talking boys really can be just to get a girl home. We promise a girl the world, and the next day we're just swimming off with all the other sweettalking, viscous fishes in the sea...
KK; now girls, U know everything about Pat! This is also a bit acoustic guitar driven… but rocking…with a typical AOR guitarhook.
"DON'T SAY GOODNIGHT" Patrick:
Is just a love song about missing someone, and when you are together how you never, ever want it to end?
KK:
Oh? Is it? OK, but it is not a ballad! It’s quite fast! The drums in the intro. Is so cool!! This is a Rock tune!!
"DON'T TURN AROUND" Patrick:
Is a song about two people meeting each other, having a relationship and then going their separate ways.
KK: WoW ! Is it really? Hehe, When I gave Patrick the song half finished lyrics, hehe, I did never tell him about what it was about, hehe, but <I guess that is best! When I started on it, it was about being adopted by aliens! Hehe… The music is more like Heart or J.W. `s "Missing you".
"FOREVER" Patrick:
Is one of the last songs that was written for the new Hush album it’s a song about how hard it is to always find a reason for everything in life. And if you just give it a little time, the answers will hopefully turn out pretty good...
KK:This is my favourite song! A slow tune but quite ruff, a cross between Pink Floyd and Led Zep..The solo on this song, is the best I ever played. The mid part builds so nice, loads of "violins" and stuff. Like a movie sound track… feels soooo goood!
Finally is there anything else you would like to say?
KK "Yea! Make love…I did read somewhere that you Brit's folks don't make enough love. So, girls, I will be over for the gods….
And, seriously, Hope you enjoy our music, we do put a lot into it, it is nothing we just throw out, and it does come from our hearts. We just love it…Take care.Peace KK
KK has just started his own label he's working on HUSH III and working on a solo project "I work in one of the best studios in Norway as engineer/producer, got my own studio called "CABO" and run my own prod. Company"
HTTP://HOME.ONLINE.NO/~HUSH
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