News: What is happening in the world of Madrugada and on this page? I try to stay as updated as possible, and I will try to bring you the latest rumours and facts concerning Madrugada. Of course, you will also be able to read all the interesting stuff about what has been updated or changed on this very webpage.
October 30th 2002 - The page is finally up and running again after almost one and a half week of server problems. The page is currently on a temporary server, and not everything has been put up in full. For example the videos in
Video Downloads will be down until the page moves to a permanent new solution within a week or two. Thanks a lot for your patience.
There have been some changes to the European tour schedule. The first three performances of the tour, in Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Cologne in Germany, have been canceled and re-scheduled at the very end of the tour instead. The tour is now scheduled to start at the Crossing Border Festival in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on November 9th. You can find the full tour schedule in
The Concert Chronology.
October 22nd 2002 - On the program "Stereo" on the Norwegian televison channel NRK2 last evening, there was a four-minute segment about Madrugada recorded at the record release party in Berlin on the 17th and during an interview with the band the day after. Clips of live performances of "Come Back Billy Pilgrim" and "Majesty" were shown. The program was also re-run on NRK1 later in the night. Thanks to our favorite NRK employee for the information.
The Norwegian newspaper Oslopuls put up a rather interesting article about Madrugada, you can read it
here. The band was interviewed in Berlin in co-incidence with the record release party. Thanks to Are Hermansen for the information.
The setlist from the record release party at Silver Wings, Berlin, Germany on October 17th:
1. 7 Seconds
2. Come Back Billy Pilgrim
3. Proxy
4. Majesty
5. Madrugada
6. Lucy One
7. Ready
8. Local Norma Jean
9. Nightly Disease Part II
10. Blood Shot Adult Commitment
11. I'm Not Afraid
12. I Feel Hard
13. Try
Thanks to Jens Hannemann for the information, taken from Robert's setlist. Apparently the Berlin-based radio station Radio 1 taped Madrugada's performance at the record release party, and it might be aired in November.
October 19th 2002 - Madrugada's new album, "Grit," is released as a 'Copy Controlled CD.' This means that you are not supposed to be able to copy it, even for personal use. The kind people who added this copy protection have included the ability to play it on a computer, though, in a smashing quality of 47 kbps. Regular MP3 files are more than twice this quality.
This has got to be the most retarded idea in the history of Madrugada. Do they want people to like their music or what? The musical quality presented by the 47 kbps of the player included on the CD is so poor that old cassette tapes are more of a pleasure to listen to when sitting on the computer than this album is.
Platekompaniet in Norway is having a campaign for "Grit," and the first thirty who buy the album in one of their stores today get a free vinyl single. Have no idea what single this might be, "Ready" would probably be a good guess, though.
The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet have put up a pretty interesting article about Madrugada, read it
here. In addition they have reviewed "Grit," read it
here.
In the fourth issue of the Norwegian music magazine Mute, which is for sale now, Madrugada are featured on the cover. There is also an eight-page feature on the band, including a lot of under-water pictures of Sivert, Robert and Frode inside the magazine. In addition there is a one-page "These Records We Can Not Live Without" where Madrugada choose their ten records which, obviously, they can not live without. Mute have also reviewed the album, giving it a rating of nine out of ten. And last but not least there is a big commercial for "Grit" and some other Universal-records inside the magazine.
October 18th 2002 - Madrugada appeared on the program "Store Studio" on the Norwegian television channel NRK1 and radio channel NRK P2 on Wednesday. During the televised part they performed "Majesty" with a guest-appearance of four violinists, and during the radio part they played "I Don't Fit," "Blood Shot Adult Commitment" and "Ready."
Last night the band had an International record release party for "Grit" at Silver Wings in Berlin, Germany. They performed live, apparently doing most of the songs on the new album, some new songs plus some songs from "The Nightly Disease." Songs known to have been performed are "Ready," "Majesty," and "Blood Shot Adult Commitment."
Here are some links to articles in Norwegian about the release party in Berlin:
Dagsavisen,
Oslopuls and
Dagbladet. Thanks to Are Hermansen for info. Some record reviews for "Grit" have also started popping up, since today is the day when newspaper are finally allowed to publish their reviews. Most of them are positive, better than what they got for "The Nightly Disease." All of the following links are in Norwegian:
Dagsavisen,
VG and
Oslopuls.
Here on this page a preview of "Grit" has been ready to be published for some days now, but it has been postponed until today due to Virgin's rules. Check out
Info About New Album.
As mentioned in the October 7th and 9th updates, Madrugada were supposed to be featured on the music program "Lydverket" on the Norwegian television channel NRK1 on the 9th. Siri from "Lydverket" followed the band when recording the video for "Ready," and they were supposed to air a segment with this, plus the actual music video. But at the last minute, Virgin decided to scrap the finished "Ready" video, and thus the "Lydverket" appearance never got to take place. The "Ready" video will most likely never be shown anywhere, and apparently the band is now making a video for "Majesty" instead. It is unknown if this song will be released as a single. Thanks to Raymond Hauger and the people at "Lydverket" for the info.
In the first Dagsavisen article linked to above, the band reveals that they have plans of releasing an album with unrecorded songs from the last couple of years. Seems like a very good idea, as they have more than enough great unreleased songs to create a record more than worthy of release. Fabulous songs such as "Departure #1", "Ivory Town" and "Local Norma Jean" might finally see a release in the somewhat near future.
On the Norwegian singles chart list, VG Topp 20, the "Ready" single fell from a third place to a ninth place in its second week on the list. Last Friday, Madrugada performed "Ready" live on the television part of VG Topp 20, on the television channel NRK1. That broadcast was also aired on last Saturday. Today they also showed almost the entire live performance, the program will be re-aired tomorrow and hopefully the Madrugada part will not be cut from this version, as the re-broadcast is usually a bit shorter so something has to be cut out.
October 10th 2002 - New addition to this page today, a
Guestbook. Feel free to post your messages to the band or voice your opinion on matters concerning this fan page. This new section will be added to the oudated and messy menu on the main page some time soon, this will be done as soon as time permits. Do not expect this page to be re-designed to fit the new Madrugada style, it most likely will not happen. I like the current style of the page very much, and I plan on keeping it looking this way for as long as I still like it. Plus I could not come up with anything creative using the new artwork, so the page stays this way for now.
October 9th 2002 - Important notice regarding "Lydverket" on NRK1 tonight: Madrugada will not appear on the show, as opposed to what was reported on about this on this page two days ago. Certain things did not work out, and therefore the band's appearance has been postponed. More information on the new date of appearance to be posted at a later date.
On the Norwegian singles chart list, "VG Lista Topp 20," Madrugada's "Ready" single and EP debuted on an impressive third spot. Hopefully "Grit" will do even better in its first week on the album chart, the album is released on October 21st and can end up as Madrugada's third album in a row to debut on the number one spot of the Norwegian album chart.
October 7th 2002 - Apparently there will be a Madrugada feature on the program "Lydverket" on the Norwegian television channel NRK1 this week. The program airs on Wednesday the 9th at 22:30, and lasts for half an hour. I have no idea what will be aired, but getting the VCR up and running should be a good idea. Thanks to our favorite NRK employee for this information.
October 6th 2002 - The official Madrugada webpage at
madrugada.net has been updated. Nothing to wet ones pants over, though, there is basically nothing of interest there except for an updated biography and European tour dates. "Videos, galleries, track previews and more" are promised, if they keep up the steady flow of updates that we have seen over the years, these additions to the page should be expected in mid-2003.
Speaking of the biography on the official page, that one is a nice read but it is easily the most offensive text on Madrugada I have ever read. It goes through the entire career of the band, describing the 'intense frontman' Sivert, 'groovy bassist' Frode and 'fiery guitarist' Robert in great detail. Former drummer Jon, who only co-started the band and played in it for ten years, is mentioned once in the entire text, a mere comment of his leaving in a paragraph about the losses of being a touring band. New drummer Simen, who is only the fourth band member and only played on the entire new album, is apparently not found worth mentioning at all.
Now onto what, unlike the official band page and the new official biography, is not a joke:
The
Discography has been updated with information on the "Ready" EP and "Grit." Thanks to
Virgin Norway for the information. On the Virgin page it also says that a video for "Ready" is being produced by the same people who did "Eple" for Röyksopp, and that it will be "exploding boundaries." Also thanks to Raymond Hauger for info on the video.
Also, a little bit of information has been added to
The Concert Chronology. Thanks to Raymond Hauger, and to Roger at Klubb Alternativ for the information.
October 3rd 2002 - For some reason, there has been a lot of wrong information being spread regarding the song titles on "Grit." Even Virgin Germany have been operating with titles that are wrong, here is a one hundred percent accurate list of song titles on the "Grit," taken from the cover of a promo version of the album:
|
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
+
|
Blood Shot Adult Commitment
Ready
I Don't Fit
Madrugada
7 Seconds
Proxy
Come Back Billy Pilgrim
Get Back In Line
Majesty
Try
Got You (feat. Neil McNasty)
Love's Institution
|
4:56
2:52
4:21
5:14
3:35
5:19
3:54
4:11
4:22
4:51
4:51
5:42
|
"Love's Institution" is a hidden bonus track, thanks to drummer Simen Vangen for the information. Also thanks to Joost van Ginkel for clearing this up. Also, it seems like the official release date for the album, for all of Europe including Norway and excluding England, has been set to October 21st.
In addition, the tracklist for the "Ready" EP that has been reported by
CDon.com is totally inaccurate. The correct tracklisting for the four-track version of the EP is "Ready," "Zebra," "I Feel Hard" and "Movin' Up." There is no song called "Zebra Vs. Leopard" nor "Moving Up Now." When it comes to the two-track single-version of "Ready" it is still unknown to me what the second track is. Thanks to Raymond Hauger for information.
Simen Vangen also confirmed information that was included in an article in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet on September 29th. Read it
here. Madrugada will have a release-party plus a concert in the Kreuzberg-area of Berlin on October 17th and 18th.
Madrugada will appear on the program "Store Studio" on the Norwegian television channel NRK1 on October 16th. The televised part of the program lasts for half an hour, then it continues for half an hour on the radio channel NRK P2. The band will perform three or four songs live, most likely one will be done during the televised part and the others on the radio, and there might be an interview with the band. Thanks to Raymond Hauger.
Older News: Most of the older news pages are also being stored and are available from this page. These news pages are no longer updated, so some of the links might be outdated.
