The Seigmen story
The Seigmen story started in the fall of 1989. They were called "Klisne Seigmenn" at the time and made a big impression at the first "Christmas Rock" in their small home town of Tønsberg. Totally unexpected, indecent and incompetent, but definetly memorable. Journalists have often wondered how five guys from the kind, gentle and sunny southern coast of Norway could project so much aggression. But we knew. How the goalkeeper at the local football club Teie freaked out and screamed about "Mye Dritt" (loads of shit), or how two of the local cabdrivers' sons suddenly had become heroes for the kids in Mohawks and pink boots who banged their heads from the first chord "Klisne Seigmenn" ever played live. They were on the verge of Grunge. The New Wave suits, the hair gel, the equipment from the Pink Floyd period and the impossible sounds of synthpop were all gone. It was do or die, and "Klisne Seigmenn" laid their sticky fingers on what was going on in the rest of the western world, and shamelessly staked their claim. Triple guitar riffs, synchronised jumping, deathmetalvocal and punk attitude made "Klisne Seigmenn" every youthclub's dream.
After a few years under the sea at the soon to be legendary Submarine dock in Tønsberg, the time was ripe. Everyone who had ever stepped on a fuzzbox started performing, the free spirit of post-grunge ruled, and "Klisne Seigmenn" supported big names from Oslo like "Anal Babes" and "Astroburger". Having sold all 45 cassettes of the first demo and made their name more international, Seigmen released the EP "Pluto" on their own label Ikon. An overpotent, raw, almost punkish and metalcloned collection of strike-a-pose-songs.
Under the headline "The Revelation", the music magazine "Puls" wrote "They are five, and have made a frighteningly good debut. A debut that shows, not a sacrificed lamb, but divine musical creatures that deserve worship". Seigmen suddenly became the long awaited hope for Norwegian rock. They were young, credible and independently financed, good looking, had a great drummer and a clever manager. As soon as they started touring, the kids flocked around the subtle uprising.
Just about to release their first album, still independently financed, Seigmen caught the attention of the corporate sharks of Sony Music Norway. The world's leading producer of portable electronic gadgets had started a label for young innovative bands and, smelling blood, opened their wallet to get Seigmen on the roster. 1:70, as the label was called, may only have been Sony's cultural alibi, but it actually seemed to work. "Ameneon" was released in 1993 on a major label with minor marketing. Seigmen opened their mouth, flecked their teeth and did their best to steamroll Norway, but they still lived their life in the underground. It was only the serious hardcore fans who were able to go beneath the skin of the glossy monster of shiny riffs, cloak and dagger, whiplashinducing meterchanges and smashing impact. Kim Ljung's prophecies of doom and damnation in the mouth of the devil himself, vocalist Alex Møklebust, was a tad too much for your more sensitive rock'n roll fan.
Even with blood, semen, sweat, festival gigs and extensive touring as their weapon, Seigmen still wasn't able to slay the big dragon. That probably worried the beancounters at Sony Music much more than the bandmembers. The beast was, however, killed, skinned and gutted with the EP "Hjernen er alene". A paranoid angstridden version of the classic song by Norwegian popsters deLillos opened the door into Seigmen's dark allegoric universe. The title track is probably one of the most unlikely hits in the history of Norwegian radio and sales charts. "Hjernen er alene" sold gold, and spread Seigmen's gospel to the masses.
"Total" was released a couple of months later. Recorded in Studio Nova and produced by Sylvia Massy (Tool, Skunk Anansie), the album proved a turning point for Seigmen's approach to recording and songwriting. By far the most massive Norwegian rock album in years on a major label, and on the heels of the success of "Hjernen er alene", "Total" sold Seigmen out of the bastions in the bigger cities and into the hearts of the average Norwegian student and rock'n'roll fan. The songs that had been roaming the dimly lit curving ribbons of wet concrete in Kim's head suddenly found their way onto tape. Caveman vocals became polished brass inserted into your ears with surgical precision, the arrangements were sophisticated beyond any expectations in their own monotonous way and you could even sing along to "Döderlein" and "Lament" without proper introduction. Seigmen was starting to grow out of the role as cult heroes and into the position of rock gods for the new Norwegian generation.
The "Total" period ended at the Roskilde Festival in June 1995. The concert was a tearsoaked climax for anyone who had seen Seigmen at the submarine docks in Tønsberg 3-4 years before, or followed the band's ascent into stardom and out of reach. They had started out as a punk band with no ambitions but administering shock treatment to a select few, and was now possessing the stage, using heavy ammunition on the masses.
Even though it felt like Seigmen had gone as far as they could go, what they really had been doing was paving the road to Metropolis. L.A. is among the more logical choices to record such an album and Grandmaster Recorders saw the band in seventies sex surroundings, once again with Sylvia Massy behind the console. The result was "Metropolis" which propelled the band all the way to the mainstream audience. The core fans with Pluto on the shelf accepted the new product reluctantly, finding comfort in songs like "Nemesis" and "The man with the golden helmet". For teenage kicks, however, it had the perfect blend of pop appeal and dark mystique. The album entered the Norwegian album charts at number one and the first single became the biggest selling Norwegian rock song ever. "Give" was the kind of hit that is so popular that it gets annoying. It was covered by three different bands within 9 months of its release and was scorned and praised in equal amounts. Highly acclaimed Norwegian film director Marius Holst made the video for "Give". Seigmen received the Norwegian grammy for "Best Rock Record -95", toured Norway to the tune of sold out shows and screaming audiences containing anything from your average teenage girl to old punk rockers. And that shows some of the ambiguity of the "Metropolis" phenomenon. The album was more pop than "Total", but by no means a sell-out. It had the bittersweet taste of success. It was the least prepared record Seigmen had ever made, but may have looked like a record executive's wet dream.
Just as the echoes from "Metropolis" had faded, new signals engulfed the autumngrey beaches of Tønsberg. A tape from Dr. Lorentz H. Ryan containing live radiowaves he had recorded at his receiver in Aas. The "Radiowaves" concept was grounded and given it's own frequency in the state of Seigmen. Lyricist and maker of melodic skeletons Kim Ljung once again ventured into the deep forests of Indochina to breathe life into new lyric mantras and chant some fresh melodies. After tremendously long demo sessions and some serious editing and processing work on the waves, Seigmen went to London to record the album in Britannia Row studios.
One Norwegian critic wrote that "Radiowaves" was Seigmen's therapy session after the strain of "Metropolis". That is, at best, only part of the truth. The album is probably their darkest to date, Sylvia's supersonics were not only replaced by noisy old synthesizers and echo machines, but also saturated by static. It is also Seigmen's first album in English only. "Metropolis" was made bilingually and no one was tempted to repeat that experiment. "Radiowaves" also entered the charts at number one, but was clearly too dark and inaccessible for the teenagers that had jumped on the train at the station in Metropolis. The Pluto owner sighed in relief.
Radiowaves proved to be Seigmens first real passport to the rest of the world. With a proper english album in their pockets, they went on their maiden voyage in Europe, and left journalists wondering about why they hadn't discovered this beast earlier. That is the story so far. The awareness of Seigmens dark secret is growing outside the Norwegian borders. Always on the move, the band has now left the realms of Radiowaves and is busy nesting a new offspring down in Tønsberg.
Based on a manuscript by Harald Rosenløw Eeg
Can also be found on the official website.