We
had published this interview (with STREET LEGAL’s
guitarplayer Ken) a couple of weeks ago for the first time and
some of you might have read it already. But hey, in the meantime
we tracked down lead vocalist / bassist Björn Boge as well and
he gave us some additional answers to our questions. So, here it
is – an even more detailed feature on STREET LEGAL...
Your
vocalist / bassplayer Björn Boge used to be a member of the AOR
act DA VINCI in the late 80‘s... For all those who didn’t
know this band, could you maybe give us a brief inside look on
their career and describe the music in comparison to STREET LEGAL’s stuff?!
Ken:
"To be honest I didn't follow that band at all. I mean, I
sort of knew the guys, but at the same time we were sort of...
rivals. I used to play in a band called LIMELIGHT at that time,
and we did a tour with Norwegian rockers TNT. Both TNT,DA VINCI
and LIMELIGHT were
on Polygram Records and for one thing...I know DA VINCI wanted that tour. Anyways, they released, I think, 3
albums and were pretty huge in Norway for a while. Their music style was more AOR than Rock, sort of like EUROPE meets TOTO. I
guess that's why I didn't enjoy it that much. At that time I was
into VAN HALEN and GARY MOORE... more
ballsy stuff, hehe."
Björn: "DA VINCI had several #1
songs on national radio in Norway, and nearly went gold with the
first album. We enjoyed massive success as a live act with sold
out houses everywhere in Norway. When the second album "Back
In Business" hit the streets the whole wave of melody
Hardrock was fading out. It sold half as much as the first album and live the band also suffered from the trend. DA VINCI was a
phenomal live band on a sober night. In a drunken haze it was
nothing but a disaster. Conflict over this issue, and some heavy
fights over songwriting credits lead to my departure after a while. 6 months later the band was history. After some years I
was approached by a Japanese record company, the late ZERO CORPORATION. They released both albums in Japan with a pleasant result. At this point there were talks about a reunion.(What
– SPINAL TAP???). This didn‘t happen, and then - a few
weeks ago our mates RETURN released a "Greatest Hits"
collection that went straight to #1 on the sales charts, selling
60.000 copies (double gold) in four weeks. Our old manager, also
managing RETURN, then approached me for a possible reunion and
"Best Of" collection with DA VINCI. With our former
A&R man from Polygram, now as managing director of Universal
Music in Norway, this is not unlikely to happen! (We are now in
the «flogging a dead horse» department) But money talks... (yeah, and bullshit walks, hehe! – Frank) If all the
original members are willing to co-operate, and participate, then
we might end up laughing all the way to the bank.(Last time we
were crying...) There´s a lot of things to be sorted out, but
-never say die... A few sober reunion gigs could provide a
pleasant musical experience for both the band and the audience! Enough said. STREET LEGAL is, and will be my main focus
regardless of the DA VINCI situation. Musically I find STREET
LEGAL more pleasing (judging you just by
"Thunderdome" I totally agree here! – Frank)
because of the blend of melody, balls and brains. 
I´ve always been
a heavy rocker, and when they send me to the nursing home I
will bring my VAN HALEN CD‘s and crank up the volume till my
teeth fall out! And when I die I´ll make them play "Diary Of A Madman" (OZZY) in my funeral (or maybe "Running
With The Devil", ha,ha...) And my old mates will tap their walking sticks and say to each other: Yeah, those where the days,
way back then! On the other hand I´ve always been some kind of outcast ´cause I also listen to a lot of "non-heavy" music and I´ve never been afraid of incorporating these
influences into my music harmonically. With DA VINCI there were certain boundaries and I sometimes felt a little
restricted.In
the future I thinkyoucan expect even more diverse records fom
STREET LEGAL. It´s cool tohear how a band like LED ZEPPELIN
simply gave a shit about "styles" and still managed to
make music with a very strong identity regardless of the format
of the song. Impressing. I´m not saying that STREET LEGAL is the
next ZEPPELIN or something, but there is definetly a lesson to be
learned from those cats. THIN LIZZY also had this enourmous
"bandwidth" in their music. There´s quite a distance
from Fats ("Renegade") to "Thunder And
Lightning"!"
What
happened to DA VINCI? Is the band still around these days after
Björn left?
Ken: "No. They did continue for a little while
with a Swedish bass player; Ken... something, he used to play
with ALIEN, later SWEDISH EROTICA... anyway they split shortly after."
According
to your infosheet, your drummer Bol had been playing in national
bands like TYRANT, ARENA and 7-40-7 previously, so would you like
to give us some information about the musical style of those acts
and if they ever recorded / released anything?
Ken:
"They never released anything. Just a lot of demo's floating
around. All those bands was more "direct" in their
approach. I would compare them with KROKUS, DOKKEN and stuff like that."
Björn: "Bol did play with those bands for several
years. They had a common wibe to them. Very big sounding riff
oriented music in the style of DOKKEN,
RATT and VAN HALEN. They did some touring, but there was always some airhead that blew the
situation when things
seemed to go their way. Being rather tired
with this both of us, we decided to start working together as I
had been filling in on
bass for a few gigs in my DA VINCI days
for one of these bands. We decided to create STREET LEGAL as our
ultimate musical vehicle after spending too much time with
unfocused people in the past! We spent months and years only the
two of us playing together in our rehearsal room. It´s a bit
like swimming or riding a bike. In the end you just do it, you
don´t think. It´s in your spine, not your brain. (So, we can
leave our brains at home when we go on tour...Cool, huh ?)"
When
and how did Björn hook up with Bol then?
Ken: "Well, I think (I might be wrong here), but
they started playing with each other around late 80's, sharing
the same rehearsal room and just playing together as a bass &
drums thing. But we all knew each other from the early days. Oslo
is not a big city and not many bands, so we all knew what the
neighbourhood guys were doing."
Both
of them then teamed up with singer / producer Ole Evenrude in the
band EVENRUDE. What can you tell us about this co-operation? Why
did it not work out in the end?
Ken: "This is a rather funny story. You see, I first
played with EVENRUDE and we did a couple of tours. Late in the
eighties Ole told us all in the band that, ‘Sorry this is
it... I don't wanna do this no more. I'm to old for this shit.
From now on I'll concentrate on producing others.’ So he moved to Sweden and started that career. Anyway, a few months
after this, he got an offer to do a tour with STATUS QUO in the
UK. His band was
spread all over the place, so he needed a band
that was already up and running. He contacted DA VINCI and they
joined him on the tour. Now I think after that, Bol and some other musicians joined in, but I'm not sure, it could have been
before I was in the band. Sorry, we haven't really sat down and
talked about this."
Björn: "Just before I was kicked out of DA VINCI, Ole
offered me the job as musical director for his band. We had been
doing a tour in England supporting STATUS QUO in 1989 with DA VINCI as his backing band. Being roommates for the whole tour we
realized that we shared a lot of attitudes and values. At this
stage Ole was building a career as a songwriter and producer in Sweden, selling a lot of records. He needed the band for
financial reasons after Arista decided not to release "One
Size Fits All" worldwide. We kept the band running as a touring unit for two years, and then Ole decided not to work as
an artist anymore. Ole had been a national celebrity for more
than a decade and I guess he felt like leaving the limelight for
a while. He still is well known and enjoys a lot of success as a
producer these days."
Was
the bandname STREET LEGAL inspired by the RACER X album "Street
Lethal" in any way?
Ken: "No. I know the name is from an album of a
band, but I can't recall which one. I joined the band after they
picked the name."
Björn: "No. We just wanted a down to earth sounding
name. Later when the internet arrived I realized that you have
huge thing with «street legal» in car racing!"
It
seems that Björn and Bol are somehow the driving forces when it
comes to the musical direction of STREET LEGAL, considering the
fact that SUNWHEELS (Björn‘s early band in the late 70‘s
/ early 80‘s) was already sounding a lot like THIN LIZZY, he
furthermore fronted the THIN LIZZY coverband BAD HABITZ and Bol
is a fan of BLUE MURDER... So, was that the direction you wanted
to go straight from the start?
Ken: "Yeah. I guess you're right on the money
here. This is the album that Björn wanted to listen to when he
was 15. Although I don't agree with you on the SUNWHEELS
comment... that didn't sound like LIZZY to me." (well, I was just referring to your info
– unfortunately I never heard that band myself, so I don’t
know... – Frank)
Björn: "From the beginning it was clear that we wanted
to be loud and big sounding. We both shared the same influences:
Hardrock from the late 70‘s and early 80‘s. This was the kind of music we grew up with and we
simply decided to play
the music we knew better than anything else! So there is no "calculation" involved here. Personally I am just as
influenced by Steve Perry, Don Henley and Jon Waite, as I am from
Phil
Lynott. I also admire Sting a lot, another singing
bassplayer! Steve Harris was also my "basshero" because
he fronted the band with very cool lines. Two other bassplayers I
would like to mention though,
are Mike Anthony of VAN HALEN and
Bob Daisley (OZZY, RAINBOW, GARY MOORE, DIO). Both of these guys
have a style that really appeals to me. Simple, but earthshaking
lines that blends perfectly with the songs!"
But
listening to your album, I would most of all compare you to BLUE
MURDER, not only because of the overall songwriting, but
especially because of the drums, the bass sound and Björn’s
type of vocal performance. Would you agree to this?
Ken: "Yeah to a certain degree. I think Björn
sounds more like Lynott, than Sykes though, but some songs remind
me of BLUE MURDER, while others make me think of VAN HALEN,
LIZZY, UFO etc. So I think it's a mixture and our way to tribute
the good ol' heros of classic Hardrock."
Björn: "If there is a link I think you can track it
down in our influences. The songs are melody driven, not so much
riff based, and there simply hasn´t been that many Hardrock bands doing this kind of thing. And when you take away the
traditional highpitched lead vocals from Heavyrock, it is hard
not ending up in the UFO / LIZZY department. As for the typical
AOR sounding stuff you have a whole tradition in the US with this
kind of music: JOURNEY, BOSTON, SURVIVOR etc. What I hope is that
STREET LEGAL‘s music provides some kind of a "missing
link" between AOR and Heavy Metal."
Whatever
happened to BAD HABITZ after the album came out? Did you ever
think about a follow-up?
Ken: "I have no idea, ask Björn."
(I
did - so, here's his answer... - Frank)
Björn: "I joined BAD HABITZ after the album. We do some
gigs just for fun from time to time, and there was someone
talking about a record with more obscure LIZZY tracks, but so far
nothing has happened. It´s not my ship. I´m just a member of
the crew!"
The
track ‘Stranger In The Night’ on "Thunderdome" already
dates back to 1984 and even appeared on a movie soundtrack...
Could you tell us more about that and why you decided to
re-record it with STREET LEGAL?
Ken: "Whoops......you've been digging... Ask
Björn..."
Björn: "That track was written and recorded by our band
CHRIS CANDY for a movie called "Hard As Falt". It‘s
a movie about a girl who´s on heroin and live on the streets as
a prostitute. I simply felt that the song could use some more
balls than the original recording, and Bol did agree so we gave
it a shot."
Between
1992 and 1995 Björn was also a member of the Blues / Rock’n’Roll
band TEXAS TWISTERS and even recorded a live album with them.
What is the reason for that? Is STREET LEGAL not challenging
enough for him or is he just doing stuff besides to be able to
live off the music?
Ken: "If you enjoy playing live, you need more
than one band to gig in Norway. It's really not that many places
to play. Also, if you're a creative musician, you have ideas
you'd like to try out that doesn't fit in some bands. I know
Björn got a lot of live experience doing that band, and he a
also gotten used to sing in front of an audience."
Björn: "This was at the early stage of STREET LEGAL. We
did some gigs as a coverband incorporating some of our own songs.
We blew peoples heads off, and we realized that 
it was a bit
early for a band like STREET LEGAL to work as a live band in
Norway. This was the Grunge era, and
it was impossible to get
gigs unless you cut your hair, pierced a ring in your penis, grew
a silly beard and cut your trousers! We never wanted to do that thing. (AlthoughI´m a bit suspicious about Bol‘s beard.
Maybe
he is an undercover agent for the Grunge or something? We´ll have to torture him with Techno music to make him tell the
truth !!)At this point I was the founder and manager of a
rehearsal / preproduction and recording place called "The
Rock Factory"in Oslo. As I´ve always been a
"live-
addict" I simply couldn´t resist when an old
friend offered me the gig only as bassplayer in TEXAS TWISTERS.
No administration, no booking, just playing!The band enjoyed a
lot of success as a live act and suddenly we did almost a hundred
gigs a year, and I simply had to leave, or work
myself to death
as I also had a full time day job. This also was a bit
frustrating for the rest of the guys ´cause it slowed down the
process with STREET LEGAL. But on the other hand did TEXAS
TWISTERS give me a fabulous opportunity to work on my vocal
abilities as there were no real "singer" in TEXAS
TWISTERS. Only the four of us trying to sound as
cool as we could
!! From the start I made it very clear that TEXAS TWISTERS wasn´t my main priority. So when I left that band there were no
hard feelings. I still play some gigs when their bassplayer is
busy with other things, and we have a good time tellin´old
jokes! I guess that‘s what Rock´n Roll is all about for me:
Having a good time!"
You
used to be a member of LIMELIGHT, RAGS and SPEED in the past and (among others) produced / engineered bands / people like TNT,
RONNIE LE TEKRO and ARCTURUS (just to name the better known). So,
what made you join STREET LEGAL as a guitarist in early 1998?
Ken: "First of all because I enjoyed the songs.
And I also liked the idea of (for once) just be a guitar player,
because in all my previous bands I've done the writing, the
producing and pretty much everything, but this time I could
concentrate on guitar playing."
Who
was the band’s guitarplayer before you stepped into the picture?
Ken: "His name is Tore Moren. I think he's with
THE SNAKES now."
I really liked the SPEED album, which kind of reminded me on Canada’s
VON GROOVE. Was that intentional or pure coincidence? By the way,
is SPEED still around?
Ken: "I've never heard (or heard of) VON GROOVE,
but maybe I should check it out. (yep, you certainly
should! – Frank) SPEED is currently not doing
anything, but it's not impossible that we pick it up again and do
another album. Time will show. We still see each other every week
as friends."
Considering
the fact that your roots are in Rock / Hardrock, I was wondering whether it was a problem for you or not to work with a completely
different sounding band such as ARCTURUS?
Ken: "To be honest, ARCTURUS was a problem for me
to work with. They had totally different ideas on how things
should sound than I do. I actually enjoy better to work on pure
Pop acts than Black Metal acts, but all Hardrock / Heavy Metal
acts seem to come my way, hehe."
All
of you also play in a coverband called BAD SNEAKERS... What kind
of covertunes do you perform with them?
Ken: "I must correct; we used to do. Nowadays we
only do STREET LEGAL gigs. We stopped doing BAD SNEAKERS gigs in
December ‘99. Here's some of the songs we played; ’Stormbringer’
(DEEP PURPLE), ‘Just Like Paradise’ (DAVID LEE ROTH), ‘Separate Ways’ (JOURNEY), ‘Might Just Take Your
Life’ (WHITESNAKE), ‘Massacre’ (THIN LIZZY),
‘Rebell Yell’ (BILLY IDOL) and a LOT of other songs."
"Thunderdome"
is out in Japan now and as usual the CD features an exclusive bonus track. Will your European fans get that track as well later
on?
Ken: "Maybe on our homepage
http://streetlegal.no
but I don't know yet.
There will be another bonus track for the rest of the world
though, called "Follytown", that I think is a cooler
song. It's a sort of EXTREME meets SAGA kind of song (yeah, I
know that sounds weird, but check it out). There will also be a
live video clip on that release. Red Light District recorded the
night we opened up for THIN LIZZY in Oslo."
As
there’s also a European release in the making (it is out
now! - Frank) it seems the time is right for STREET LEGAL after
all. So, will you also be touring in support of the European release?
Ken: "Yeah, hopefully a lot, but that’s up
the audience to decide in the end. First of all we'll do a tour
in BeNeLux in May supporting THIN LIZZY and we'll do a few gigs
on our own. I also know there's been some talk about UK, so we'll see."
Frank
Stöver