The Grand is a Norwegian

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band, formed in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in 2006. The group consists of former blues guitar wunderkind and lead singer

Amund Maarud Amund Maarud (born 7 April 1981 in Nes, Akershus, Norway) is a Norwegian blues/rock musician (guitar, vocals) and composer, known as a solo artist and as frontman of rock bands The Grand (2005-2010) and the duo «Morudes» (2010 -) with his brot ...

, his younger brother

Henrik Maarud Henrik Maarud (born 4 April 1983 in Nes, Norway) is a Norwegian drummer. He plays in the blues rock band The Grand together with his older brother, the guitarist and vocalist Amund Maarud. Career Together with his brother Amund, he started ...

on drums, bassist

Per Tobro Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...

and keyboardist/percussionist Eirik Tovsrud Knutsen. The Grand gave their first performance in April 2007, before releasing their debut EP (The Grand Recordings/

Sonet Records Sonet Records was a jazz, pop and rock record label operating as an imprint of Universal Music Sweden. It was founded in Sweden in 1956. Sonet Records was established by Sven Lindholm and Gunnar Bergström, who managed the label into the 1980s ...

) the same month. Lead singer

is also starring in the forthcoming movie «

Norwegian Ninja ''Norwegian Ninja'' ( no, Kommandør Treholt & ninjatroppen) is a 2010 Norwegian Action comedy film, action comedy film, directed by Thomas Cappelen Malling. The film, based on a 2006 book, presents real-life espionage-convicted Arne Treholt as th ...

» ( Kommandør Treholt og Ninjatroppen), due August 2010.

History

Formation

By 2006, lead singer and guitarist Amund Maarud had already made a strong name for himself on the Norwegian blues scene, with the release of two albums (''Ripped, Stripped and Southern Fried'' (2003) and ''Commotion'' (2004)) the first of which was nominated for the 2004 Norwegian Grammy Awards (

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizat ...

). After a brief period where bassist Per Tobro and keyboardist Eirik Knutsen joined the Maarud-brothers as a traditional blues band, the group evolved into an alternative rock band, influenced by the early punk sounds of

MC5 MC5, also commonly called The MC5, is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The original line-up consisted of Rob Tyner (vocals) Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred "Sonic" Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), and Dennis ...

as well as the psychedelic sound of

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and

13th Floor Elevators The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States, formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland. The band was together from 1965 to 1969, ...

Debut EP

The Grand recorded their four-song debut EP during the first months of 2007, which was released on the group's own independent label, The Grand Recordings/

, in April 2007. The EP was recorded and mixed in Athletic Sound Studio in Halden, Norway, engineered by

Sven Olsen Sven Olsen (14 June 1922 – 24 July 2001) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. From 1971 to January 1972, during the first cabinet Bratteli, Olsen was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries. He left along with Minis ...

( Motorpsycho, Madgrugada etc.) and Kai Andersen. The song «Traveling Bound» from the EP was picked up and played extensively by Oslo's independent radio stations.

Self-titled album

The Grand's first full-length studio album was recorded in the Maarud-brothers own studio, Snaxville during the summer of 2007, and released on the Grand Recordings/

label in October 2007. The self-titled album was produced by the group as a collective effort, and mixed and co-produced by Sven Olsen, who also engineered their debut EP. The album was met with excellent reviews by the Norwegian music press. The single «Lust to Win» was A-listed by nationwide pop music radio station

NRK P3 NRK P3 is a nationwide digital radio channel operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It was established as NRK's third radio channel in 1993, and was the result of the NRK radio channel reform initiated in 1992 by radio dir ...

for seven weeks, and B-listed for five weeks, and thus given extensive airplay. The Grand played several major Norwegian and European festivals during 2007, including the Øya-festival (

Øyafestivalen Øyafestivalen is an annual Norwegian music festival held in the Tøyen Park, Oslo. It has grown quickly since its modest start in 1999 and has become one of Norway's biggest and most important music festival The festival has previously feat ...

) in Oslo and

PopKomm Popkomm was an international trade show for the music and entertainment business during the 1990s and 2000s, and also integrated a congress and festival. It was held in Cologne for most of its existence, later moved to Berlin with entries from at ...

in Berlin, as well as debarking on an extensive tour of the major Norwegian venues to promote the album. During 2008, The Grand also performed at Norway's Storåsfestivalen and Trænafestivalen, Denmark's Roskilde Festival and Holland's

Eurosonic Eurosonic Noorderslag is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, Netherlands. The first three days of the festival (Eurosonic) feature artists from all over Europe, the last day of the festival (N ...

Noorderslag Eurosonic Noorderslag is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, Netherlands. The first three days of the festival (Eurosonic) feature artists from all over Europe, the last day of the festival (No ...

, among others. In November and December 2008, The Grand's performance at the

Crossroads Festival Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

in Bonn, Germany was broadcast by the legendary TV-show

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...

on German TV-station WDR. The group was also scheduled to play the 2008

Quart Festival The Quart Festival was an annual popular music festival that took place in Kristiansand, Norway in the beginning of July, from 1991 to 2008. It was the most visited music festival in Norway. It was first named ''Qvadradurmusivalen'' in 1991, but ...

, another one of Norway's major music festivals, but the festival was cancelled due to bankruptcy the same year.

Second studio album

The Grand is currently working on their second studio album, due 2010.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grand (Norwegian Alternative Rock Band) Norwegian alternative rock groups 2006 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Oslo Musical groups established in 2006