One day in 1995 three girls and a boy got tired of being bored and doing nothing, so they decided to start a band. No one knew how to play, at least not the instruments they wanted to play, and neither did they have any instruments. But this didn’t seem important at the time. They rented a rehearsal space at Blitz, a squat in central Oslo, and borrowed guitars from people they knew who played in a band, or had given up playing in a band. Simple as that, a band was born and they called it Mensen.
The Band-members and their musical background:
Power Plingis:
The strongest of them all and the one with the smallest ego, so naturally she was placed behind the drum kit. Her musical background was attending every punk rock concert in Oslo from the age of sixteen.
Lars Fromage:
The tallest one, and the only one with an instrument, a bass guitar. So he became the bass player. Musical background: played organ in a Mummies cover band.
Christine Sixteen:
She wouldn’t sing and she had as big an ego as Mary Currie, so of course she had to be the lead guitar player. And she had been playing classical guitar as a child. She could play the theme from “The Deer-hunter” and that totally impressed the rest of the band!
Mary Currie:
Big ego - no patience to practice, so she became the singer and rhythm guitar player. She played drums in a band for a year, but was too dominant and got fired.
Mensen’s first 7” came out on Bang! Records, a Spanish label in ’97.
Their second 7” was released on the fabulous Oslo based Hit Me! Records in ’98.
Their first LP, “Delusions Of Grandeur”, was released by the German label Thunderwoman Records in ’98 as well .
Mensen then released three singles, one on Nomad Records (US), one on Wrench Records (UK) and a split single with The Meat Joy on Fandango Records (US).
2000.
Mensen goes on tour for the first time. Five weeks in Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.
They had an awesome time and decided to be on the road as much as possible! This could not be combined with full time studies so Lars left the band to continue his psychology degree.
2001.
Rambling Roy replaces Lars Fromage.
Rambling Roy:
Loved Aerosmith and was a great guitar player. He wanted to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band and had never played bass before and he didn’t have a bass. In other words all the demands on a Mensen-membership fulfilled! He was in!
On his first tour the same year, he had to get permission from his principal at school to go. He was sixteen years old and couldn’t be away from school for four weeks without a valid reason. The three girls in Mensen wrote a letter to the principal promising that they would make sure he didn’t miss out on anything. They managed to make the principal accept the tour as Rambling Roy’s practice period in his music course.
2002.
Mensen’s second album “Oslo City” is released on Mensen Records and Gearhead Records which also by then had released “Delusions Of Grandeur”. Rambling Roy leaves the band to concentrate on his own band, where he sings and plays guitar. He is replaced by a Swede called Krille Faen, who doesn’t stay in the band long enough to get immortalised on record.
Krille Faen:
He actually was a bass player. No one knows where he came from he just fell into the rehearsal room one day . Musical background: unknown.
2003.
Christine Sixteen leaves the band early spring and this is a frustrating time for the band. The three girls have been together from the start. Rambling Roy steps in on guitar on their summer tour and the band is desperately trying to find a replacement for Christine.
Summer 2003.
Mary Currie and Lars Fromage drive to The Quart Festival to see Turbonegro. There they meet a Euroboy look-a-like and his friend who’s a Hank Von Helvete look-a-like. Lars and Mary think this is very funny and starts to talk to them. And to make a short story even shorter The Euroboy look-a-like could play bass and became the new Mensen bass-player that same night. Please welcome Honey le Monde on the bass guitar!!!
Honey le Monde:
When Honey was a child he didn’t roam around the house in a Batman-suit nor did he play violent games on his computer. He was more like Ferdinan the bull who sat under a three and smelled the flowers. Except his three was a chair and he didn’t smell any flowers, he listened to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. His parents heaved a sigh of relief when he began listening to Guns’n’Roses and picked up a bass! Musical background: played T sax in his fathers jazz band and clarinet in the Guards.
But the band still needed a guitar player and they found him in the bar where Power Plingis works. The former guitar player in The Tennessee Beats had no band and Mensen had no guitarist. They tried him out and there was no doubt, Johnny Boogie became Christine Sixteen’s successor!
Johnny B.:
Spent most of his childhood in his room playing with Kiss-dolls and listening to Mötley Crue, Skid Row and Kiss. Bought a Les Paul in ’98. Spend most of his youth in his room playing Kiss songs on his guitar while listening to Mötley Crue, Skid Row and Kiss. . Musical background: Played guitar in Hellraisers and The Tennessee Beats.
The band: Mary Currie, Power Plingis, Honey le Monde and Johnny B. went on tour in Spain and Germany before x-mas 2003 and it was just right! Now the band has put the past behind them and are looking forward to become the greatest band ever! And they just might be. So look out for these girls and boys! You sure will hear more from them in the future!!! I’m lovin’ it!
Enjoy Mensen !!! |
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