The Vineyards

And then VNRDS were off to the studio again. Just a short trip this time, and not to their own studio. We have a secret deadline, so to speed things up we are packing the van in early May to go to an undisclosed location in the more rural parts of Norway. Just for two days. It may sound a bit contradictory, but when you actually have to pay someone to do something for you, you tend to work a bit faster and harder.

And what are we going to record? Haha! Just wait and see. It might come as a surprise. Or not. It depends.

This is the story of how ridiculously slow and stupid a band can act in certain situations, especially when there are two bands involved, and where the outcome therefore is slim to nothing.

In 2004 we joind forces with the highly esteemed, but now unfortunately deceased, rock orchestra Autotune, to make a split 10″ vinyl. The recordings were done in August/September the same year in Autotank studio, later to be known as Come Again Studios, on analouge tape and a feisty, yet raw sound was secured. The recordings and mixing were taken care of by Håvard and the mastering by Renate Bakke. But one thing remained. The cover art. And that was when the trouble started.

Thomas Røst had done the first demo and Good Rock for Good People, so we decided to go for him one more time.

We gave him rather unlimited say in bringing in ideas for the cover. All we did was to give him the title, and since it was a split release, there shouldn’t be side A and B. The sides should be labeled with different colours. Svein came up with the title «This is Rock. You are Disco», and strangely enough everyone agreed rather quickly.

So, Thomas worked for a few days, and we all gathered for a meeting at the infamous pub Cafe 33 in Oslo.

The meeting went fairly well. Some of us loved Thomas’ suggestions right away, some were a bit indifferent, while some didn´t like it that much. So why not go for it and perhaps make minor alterations? For some democratic reasons why more or less had decided, or at least had the silent idea, that all of us should agree on the final product – no matter what. So when the bands were alone the discussions started on what kind of design we wanted the cover to have. A discussion we might have been better off with taking some time earlier. The moose was in fact a major issue.

Because the end of it was that we left the pub, and had some sporadic talks about what we wanted. The time went by, and suddenly it had taken so long time that Autotune was ready to release their own album, and found that the two releases came to close to each other. So it was clear that the vinyl was dead. All the songs that were supposed to be on the vinyl were re-recorded and ended up on different albums. A fun fact is that the song «Cruise Control» that VNRDS were supposed to put on the vinyl were renamed and the lyrics were rewritten for Hoggin´all the Action. The song ended up as «Sire, it´s the Bell Boy from Hull». And what did the cover art look like? There were suggested other colours as well, but these are the only copies known to have survived:

How did the titles of the VNRDS-albums come about? Did they just present themselves? Were there hot debates and great controversies? As you probably know, The Vineyards has released one EP and two full length albums. This is the stories behind the titles.

Titles for songs often just pops out of someone´s head, but the album titles have been a bit more difficult. The EP was about to be called Schwedenborg. It was close to the deadline for the pressing, so we summoned a meeting at Hans Martin´s flat to pick the best name that had been suggested so far. I had suggested «Schwedenborg». We all had seen the movie Riget, and I had read something about Schwedenborg at the university that I found interesting. However, after a couple of days, it didn´t longer feel quite right, and we knew too little about this enigmatic character, so the aftermath would be a bit uncertain. Then Kjartan suddenly said: «Let´s call it Good Rock for Good People». This had for some reason become some sort of saying within the band in that period, so it suited the EP perfectly.

Then after two years we were on our way to Sweden to record our first full length album. Yet again, we had no title ready, not even a working title. After a week in studio we drove back to Oslo for a break. We arrived in Oslo late at night and on one street we were intercepted by an ambulance with the lights twirling, and out of the blue one of us blurted out: «It´s the Ambulance of Doom!». When you are very tired and giggly some things can be a bit more funny than they in fact really are. So, in the following days we actually thought of naming the album «Ambulance of Doom». I think it was wise not to.

So, how did we end up with Hoggin´all the Action? We did not want to name the album after one of the songs on the album. The opening song on the album is Hoggin´All the Action, I See – a title in fact lent from the video game GTA Vice City – and we thought that just Hoggin´All the Action was a good statement for the first album, and yet not making the opening song a title track. The title was settled during a few phone calls done late at night from where I work.

For some reason we just wanted to call our latest album The Vineyards. We always thought that we should save the self titled album for a sort of defining album. And since we were doing all of the recording ourselves, it seemed like a good idea, and we still think so. However, Hans Martin said a little bit to late that we should give the album a proper name, and I think we all on some level agree – mainly because it is fun to think up names.

This is the VNRDS-catalouge so far, but what about the album that never saw the day of light? What was that name intended? And the cover art? Oh, you will be let in on the secret in due time.

Way back in 2003 The Vineyards went to the now legendary Come Again Studio to record their first demo. The man behind the knobs and reels was the infamous man, now known as Howie B. of Bloodlights, Håvard Lunøe Nielsen, then the even more infamous man of the mighty Autotune.

The demo were pressed in just a few copies, maybe 150 or so. Not many people have got this rare release, hence, not many people have seen the cover art. Yet again, even fewer people have seen what the cover art didn´t turn out to be! The man behind the art work is a guy called Thomas Røst, who later made a few posters for us as well.

So, the first picture shows what made the foundation for the final art work. The next three shows what it didn´t end up to be, and the last picture – yes, that one shows what it almost ended up to be except for a minor detail. Unfortunately I don´t have a picture of the final version at hand. So, if anyone can tell me what this minor detail is you will win a prize! And what is this fabolous prize? A copy of this rare recording! Yes, we still have a handfull left, believe it or not. Send us an email or post a comment bellow and be a winner!

Ahhhh! There is no other way of describing it. Thats why we’d like to share the love with you. Thanks to everybody who came to see us. See you next time around!

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