History
Early years (1995–2004)
In 1998, childhood friends Janove Ottesen and Geir Zahl released their only album by their band gnom called ''Mys''. Of its 1000 copies, only 500 or so were sold the first year. However, they were known well in the area around Stavanger in Norway, having played as the local band Blod, snått & juling, and one of the songs they wrote after ''Mys'' called "Bastard" got good crowd response. A line from "Bastard" (''"A certain Mr. Kaizer took me in/He is the proud owner of the world's heaviest siamese cat"'') and the song's overall crowd response became a source of inspiration for Ottesen, and after gnom dissolved after disappointing record sales, he formed Kaizers Orchestra. In 2000, Kaizers Orchestra recorded the Kaizers Orchestra EP, containing four songs: "Bastard", "Bøn fra helvete", "Katastrofen" and "Dekk bord". During by:Larm, a Norwegian festival focusing on up-and-coming artists, the band's songs were played frequently on the radio. Kaizers Orchestra's sound and creative use of instruments was noticed by the small, Scandinavian label Broilerfarm. Their first album, '' Ompa til du dør'', was released on this label in September 2001. It was critically acclaimed and became a success, first in Norway, later in Denmark and the Netherlands. The album won a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy) for "best rock album", as well as two Alarm-awards (underground version of Spellemannprisen). ''Ompa til du dør'' also made Kaizers Orchestra the highest-selling rock debut to be released in the Norwegian language. The second album, '' Evig pint'', was released in February 2003.''Maestro'', ''Vega'', and a book (2005–2007)
The third album, '' Maestro'', was released on 15 August 2005 in Norway and Europe. In connection with the release of ''Maestro'', Kaizers Orchestra signed an international record deal with''Maskineri'', ''250 Prosent'', and ''Våre Demoner'' (2007–2011)
On September 6, 2006, the band released information about their upcoming fourth album. The album was recorded in Berlin, Germany, assisted by producer-engineer Mark Howard. The audio mixing for the album was done in Los Angeles, California. The album title was revealed to be '' Maskineri'' in December 2007, and around the same time, the first single, "Enden av november", was released. The album was released on February 19, 2008, on Sony BMG. They claimed to have chosen the smaller label instead of working with Universal for more freedom. On 12 December 2007, Kaizers Orchestra received "Bragdprisen" (Achievement Award) from the county of Rogaland, due to their efforts to promote their native Bryne dialect. Helge Risa was the only one available to show up at the award ceremony, as the rest of the band were busy doing the album mixing. In February 2008, the band released their fourth album, and toured to support it, recording the audio of all the concerts. Not long after that, in fall 2008, they released a live album called '' 250 prosent''. The live album consisted of what they thought were the best songs recorded while they were in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The album was released primarily on vinyl, but it was made also available as a digital download through the iTunes Store. They supported the release of that album by a "rarities" tour, playing songs they rarely played live. After that it was believed they were taking a break, for the members to work on their other projects and work on writing songs for the next album, but on 14 February 2009, they revealed that in January they had recorded several songs for a''Violeta Violeta'' and hiatus (2009–2013)
In January 2010, the band performed new material as part of''Dine Gamle Dager Er Nå'' (2022-present)
On October 26, 2022, the band announced that they had discovered boxes of old merchandise, namely T-shirts, and would be donating them to the charitable clothing store Fretex to sell (incidentally the same store where they had bought their stage outfits in 2001). In the following days, fans who had bought the shirts noticed QR codes printed inside, which led to the website dinegamledagererna.no. Those who accessed the website through a QR code received a one-time message telling them they were "one of the 107", while for other visitors the site displayed a music box playing an unknown melody, and allowed people to enter their contanct information for further updates. Some fans that registered on the site later received a physical version of that music box delivered to them, along with a QR code. A complementary Instagram account was also discovered, posting teaser images and stories. After two weeks of cryptic teasers, the website and Instagram published a promo video with the music box theme and full orchestration, ending with cut-out letters showing "7.11.1907, 19:07". These events led to mass speculation that a reunion was imminent, with fans also noting several coincidences: the company behind the website and Instagram (Sesong 1) had previously been responsible for the Kaizervirus marketing for Violeta Violeta vol. III, both Geir Zahl and Janove Ottesen had just finished major solo releases, Terje Winterstø Røthings' band Skambankt had recently completed their farewell tour, and some fans even discovered that the kindergarten where Helge Risa taught had a job listing for his position. Following weeks of speculation and teasers, the video ''Dine gamle dager er nå'' premiered on the official Kaizers Orchestra YouTube channel on Monday, November 7, at 19:07, the exact time teased previously. Two days later, the band officially confirmed that they had reunited and would be commencing a 24-date Norwegian tour in the fall of 2023, with tickets being made available soon after. After selling out within two hours, sixteen further concerts were added to the schedule later the same day. In the press release confirming their reunion, the band stated that the comeback had been in the works planned for years, after drummer Rune Solheim had posed the question in 2019, at one of the members' annual Christmas dinners, and that the concert venues had been booked two years in advance.Style and lyrical themes
Musically, Kaizers Orchestra have explored many different genres of music, the most prominent being fast-paced gypsy rock and "Balkan brass". They are regarded as one of Europe's best live acts, with their 2002 Performance at Roskilde earning them several "Concert of the Year" awards, as well as "Concert of Roskilde 2002". For the most part, lyrics and music is written by Janove Ottesen, although Geir Zahl has also contributed many compositions. By the release of Violeta Violeta Volume 2 Geir has written 18 songs, of which three of them are co-written with Janove. He performs the vocal on seven of his songs on both the albums and live recordings. The lyrics vary from album to album, and many of the songs' storylines are intertwined, with recurring characters being explored during the course of several songs. This led to the musical ''Sonny'' in November 2011, which is based on their first three albums. The lyrics of '' Ompa til du dør'' consist of stories of a handful of characters involving war, the resistance, and the mafia. Their second album, '' Evig Pint'', consists of fewer characters and more focused, darker themes: life, death, betrayal, drugs, and once again, the mafia. Their third album, '' Maestro'', focuses on things happening in a mental institution and the corruption involved. For their fourth album, '' Maskineri'', they attempted to break their tradition and made none of the songs connected; they also stopped using characters. The songs were still stories, but they had no connection with each other or their other albums. After the release of this album they decided to release their compilation album '' Våre demoner'', which consisted of many older songs that were cleaned up, so the lyrical content of that was similar to their first three albums. After ''Våre demoner'', Kaizers Orchestra released the '' Violeta Violeta'' trilogy. The lyrics of which are based around five characters: a crazy mother, Beatrice; her daughter, Violeta; her father, Kenneth; Kenneth's brother; and the girlfriend of Kenneth's brother (an old friend of Beatrice and the maid of honor at Kenneth's/Beatrice's wedding), Cecilia. Violeta was taken from her mother, by her father, and the only way they can see each other is in their dreams. Janove has explained the lyrics are magic realism and they are similar to a Tim Burton film.Band members
* Janove Ottesen ("Jackal Kaizer") – lead vocals, guitars, percussions (2000–2013, 2022-) * Geir Zahl ("Hellraizer Kaizer") – guitars, vocals, backing vocals, oil barrel (2000–2013, 2022-) * Terje Winterstø Røthing ("Killmaster Kaizer") – guitars, backing vocals, oil barrel (2000–2013, 2022-) * Helge Risa ("Omen Kaizer") – organ, piano, accordion, backing vocals (2000–2013, 2022-) * Rune Solheim ("Mink Kaizer") – drums, percussion (2000–2013, 2022-) *Timeline
Discography
Albums
* '' Ompa til du dør'' (2001) * '' Evig pint'' (2003) * '' Maestro'' (2005) * '' Maskineri'' (2008) * '' Våre demoner'' (2009) * '' Violeta Violeta Vol. I'' (2011) * '' Violeta Violeta Vol. II'' (2011) * '' Violeta Violeta Vol. III'' (2012)EPs
* '' Kaizers Orchestra EP'' aka ''Gul EP'' (2000, digitally re-released 2022) * ''Død manns tango'' (2002) * ''Mann mot mann'' (2002) * '' Maestro'' (2005) * '' Maestro Bonus CD'' (2005) * ''En for orgelet, en for meg'' (2011)Compilations
* ''Greatest Hits'' (2022)Live recordings
* ''The Gypsy Finale'' (EP, 2004) * '' Live at Vega'' (2006) * '' Viva La Vega'' (DVD, 2006) * '' 250 prosent'' (2008) * '' Live i Oslo Spektrum'' (DVD/Blu-ray & CD, 2011) * ''En Aften i Operaen'' (DVD/Blu-ray & CD, 2013) * ''Siste Dans'' (2014)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaizers Orchestra Norwegian alternative rock groups Spellemannprisen winners Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Bryne Sony BMG artists Universal Music Group artists Norwegian rock music groups