Bio
Bigbang is a rockband who play retro-rock, in ’70s style, but also acoustic folk ballads such as Chocolate Factory or Old People, all sung in English.
The album Clouds Rolling By from 2000 was the beginning of their commercial success, thanks to the hit Girl In Oslo, released in many compilations by that time.
Øystein’s father, Thor S. Greni was performer in the Undertakers Circus 1960/70s soul band. The songs were sung in Norwegian except two Curtis Mayfield covers included in the debut album.
Young Greni grew up with the intimate conviction that “[he] was born to do that”, he was influenced not only by his own father’s work but also by other 60/70s Norwegian bands as well as British and American artists like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Eric Clapton’s Blind Faith cult band. As a skateboarder he was into Punk rock energetic music like The Jam, Dinosaur Jr. or Hüsker Dü and American 80s alternative, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Tom Petty. He was also into Bob Dylan and Neil Young’s folk-rock though, hence a sounding resemblance with acts such as Pearl Jam (To the Mountains) or R.E.M. (Spiritual Heart Surgery).
Bigbang’s classic Long Distance Man is actually the English adaptation (with totally different lyrics) of a Norwegian sung Undertakers Circus 1973 tune. The band often covers their favourite tracks on stage, including almost all previously mentioned bands and even an instrumental partial cover of James Brown’s ‘There Was A Time’.
In 2002 Bigbang released Frontside Rock’n'Roll. The album features the song Frontside Rock’n'Roll, which is a song Øystein Greni dedicated to two skaters that passed away. The name of the song is in fact one of the most difficult, but beautiful tricks one can do with a skateboard.
Bigbang was formed in 1992 by Øystein Greni, Erik Tresselt and Christer Engen (Turbonegro). Throughout the years the band’s line-up has changed several times. The following persons have entered and left the band:
* Nikolai Eilertsen
* Karim Sayed
* Stig Morten Sørheim
* Lasse Weeden
* Kristian Syvertsen
* Martin Horntveth
* Erik Tresselt
As of 2007, the band consists of Øystein Greni, Olaf Olsen and Lasse Weeden. Øystein Greni is the only person who has always been a member of the band, and he is also commonly seen as the band’s front figure, as he writes almost all the songs as well as being the lead vocalist and guitarist.
Shortly after the release of the 2005 EP, Erik Tresselt left the band, and was replaced by Jarle Bernhoft (former guitarist & vocalist of the Norwegian punk/rock band Span). The line-up seemed somewhat unsure at this stage, as Bernhoft only did one concert in Norway with the band. On the acoustic tour they did in early 2006, former bass and piano player Nikolai Eilertsen joined the band. He also played at a couple of electric shows in April and Norwegian Wood in June. During the concerts of this summer, it was Lasse Weeden who played the bass.
For their March 2007 album, Too Much Yang (2007), the line-up consisted of Øystein Greni, Lasse Weeden and Olaf Olsen. Weeden was replaced by Øyvind Storli Hoel in June 2007. The band moved to Los Angeles, California in September.
In September 2008 they released the album “From Azid to Zen”, their ninth album. The album was only released in the American marked. It consist mainly of previously released material, but has two new songs and new recordings of “Wild Bird” and “Where the world comes to an end.” The album was very well received and resulted in great reviews among others from Rolling Stone Magazine’s Editor David Fricke:
“It’s a shotgun buffet, like those early U.S. LPs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that combined album tracks and singles from unrelated sessions, and it succeeds the same way: like an instant greatest-hits record. Singer-guitarist-songwriter Øystein Greni has the right history in his genes — his dad sang in a Norwegian band that opened for Led Zeppelin in 1968 — and he grounds songs like “Early December,” “Hurricane Boy” and the brilliantly titled “From Acid to Zen” in the eternal power-chord charge and fish-hook riffs of the Stones and the Who. But Greni also has a knack for wringing fresh excitement from the familiar: the country-angel harmonies and ice-Byrds guitar in the new version of “Wild Bird,” the improbable dream of Badfinger and Hüsker Dü in “The One.” – ..David Fricke, Rolling Stone Magazine
