Lonely Crowd

Lonely Crowd is a Norwegian/British psychedelic rock band.

Biography

After years of touring clubs around Europe, Norwegian/English psychedelic outfit Lonely Crowd started making their mark on the radio and even the charts in 2008, with the single "Aren't You Forgetting Something?". With the three hit singles they have had since, they look set to beat Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in terms of Norwegian hits, when the follow-up to their 2007 debut album, Watching From A Distance, is released. The album The Not-So-Great Britain was due in October 2012.

Lonely Crowd has existed in different forms since 1995, when singer Stig Jakobsen left the wildly eccentric Vampire State Building and immediately formed the band, with former members of De Press and Holy Toy. Full of self-confidence, they brought the Mega Records boss to their first gig, and were signed right away, more because of the phenomenal after-party than their live performance. (The party resulted in the band being forbidden to play in Tromsø ever again).

Lonely Crowd released three EPs on Mega, the second of which (Jesus In The Pub) became a radio hit in Norway, and was given rave reviews (six out of six in both Dagbladet and Panorama). The song featured the opera singer Anne-Lise Berntsen, and later became a mini-hit on XFM in London.

Lonely Crowd moved to London before Mega Records released their debut album. Here they set up a studio, and recorded and toured constantly for the next four years. Three of the original members were replaced by a Norwegian guitarist, Marius Gengenbach, and an English rhythm section consisting of double bass player Floyd Jensen and drummer James Corner (formerly of Back To The Planet and Barry Adamson).

Having made a bit of a name for themselves in England, Lonely Crowd were booked on a European tour and later played support to the Fun Lovin' Criminals at their London concert. The band was in the middle of negotiations with one of the larger indie labels in the UK when Jensen died from a sugar coma. The album material, however, was already completed, and most of it ended up on The Not-So-Great Britain album. An acoustic lineup of Lonely Crowd (with cello player Eirik Roald, Stine Varvin (formerly of Vampire State Building) on vocals and Stig Jakobsen on guitar/vocals) went on a Swiss tour, an England tour and played several shows in Norway during 2008-2009.

Lonely Crowd signed a two-album deal with Karisma Records, and release the three first EPs (plus two new tracks) as an album in November 2007, under the name Watching From a Distance. In July 2008 Lonely Crowd experienced their first summer hit, as they spent five weeks in the Norwegian Charts with the single "Aren't You Forgetting Something?". The release contained the first two songs from The Not So Great Britain album (that was eventually released in November 2012). The feat was repeated in August 2009, when the "She's Not Afraid" single reached number 18 in the Norwegian Chart. In May 2010, Lonely Crowd reached their highest position to this date, when "Cosmologies In The Making" made it to No. 12. They also managed two weeks in the Norwegian chart in the summer of 2011, with a single featuring the Norwegian rapper Vinni of Paperboys - "In The Eyes Of The World", and reached No. 3 in the Billboard Norway Digital Song Chart in March 2013 with "Golden Opportunity". Lonely Crowd have also collaborated with David Bowie guitarist Kevin Armstrong and footballer-cum-actor Vinnie Jones.

Discography

There's No Way Out Of Here [EP] - 1996
Jesus In The Pub [EP] - 1996
Heads Are Gonna Roll [EP] - 1997
Get In The Mixer [EP] - 2001 (UK only release under the name "Godlike Genius," featuring Vinnie Jones on guest vocals)
Watching From A Distance [Album] - November 2007 (The band's three former EPs on one disc, plus a couple of previously unreleased tracks.)
"Aren't You Forgetting Something?" [Single] - June 2008
"She's Not Afraid" [Single] - July 2009
"Cosmologies In The Making" [Single] - May 2010
"When The Dog Woke Up Inside Her" [Single] - January 2011
"In The Eyes Of The World" [Single] - June 2011
"Look The Other Way" [Single] - November 2012
The Not-So-Great Britain [Album] - November 2012
"Golden Opportunity" [Single] - January 2013
"Unrest" [Single] - April 2013

Timeline

ImageSize = width:840 height:auto barincrement:20

PlotArea = left:85 bottom:60 top:0 right:30

Alignbars = justify

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy

Period = from:01/01/1995 till:12/01/2014

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =

id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals

id:bass value:blue legend:Bass

id:guitars value:green legend:Guitars

id:drums value:orange legend:Drums

id:cello value:purple legend:Cello

id:keyboard value:yellow legend:Keyboard

id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums

id:live value:gray(0.85) legend:EPs

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1995

ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1995

LineData =

at:03/08/2007 color:black layer:back

at:11/22/2012 color:black layer:back

at:03/16/1996 color:live layer:back

at:09/07/1996 color:live layer:back

at:06/01/1997 color:live layer:back

at:06/22/2008 color:live layer:back

at:04/23/2009 color:live layer:back

at:11/18/2010 color:live layer:back

at:06/01/2011 color:live layer:back

at:08/01/2012 color:live layer:back

at:02/15/2013 color:live layer:back

at:09/01/2013 color:live layer:back

BarData =

bar:Stig text:Stig Jakobsen

bar:Marius text:Marius Gengenbach

bar:Arthur text:Arthur Holøien

bar:Ola text:Ola Snortheim

bar:Bjørn text:Bjørn Are Rognlid

bar:Nils text:Nils-Arne Øvergård

bar:Eirik text:Eirik Roald

bar:Stine text:Stine Varvin

bar:Rudi text:Rudi Nicolaisen

bar:Aksel text:Aksel Tjora

bar:Floyd text:Floyd Jensen

bar:James text:James Corner

bar:Jørgen text:Jørgen Schyberg

bar:Ole text:Ole Wattne

PlotData=

 width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)

 bar:Stig from:07/01/1995 till:end color:vocals

 bar:Marius from:01/05/1997 till:07/01/2009 color:guitars

 bar:Arthur from:12/01/1995 till:12/01/1998 color:Bass

 bar:Ola from:07/01/1995 till:05/01/1997 color:drums

 bar:Nils from:07/01/1995 till:07/01/1997 color:guitars

 bar:Bjørn from:07/01/1995 till:10/21/1996 color:guitars

 bar:Eirik from:05/12/2002 till:end color:cello

 bar:Rudi from:12/01/2010 till:end color:guitars

 bar:Stine from:12/01/2008 till:end color:vocals

 bar:Aksel from:04/30/2011 till:end color:Drums

 bar:Floyd from:07/01/1999 till:01/02/2002 color:bass

 bar:James from:07/01/1999 till:12/01/2008 color:drums

 bar:Jørgen from:01/01/1997 till:06/10/1998 color:Keyboard

 bar:Ole from:07/01/1997 till:06/01/1998 color:drums

</timeline>

References

"Ukens singleliste - VG-lista. Offisielle hitlister fra og med 1958". Archived from the original on 27 September 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
"Internet Archive's Wayback Machine". 29 June 2011. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
"Ukens singleliste - VG-lista. Offisielle hitlister fra og med 1958". Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
[1]^{[dead link]}

External links

"Karisma Records - Lonely Crowd". Archived from the original on 7 February 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2020.