In 2010 the Norwegian impro-trio BOL started working with Hans Magnus ”Snah” Ryan (Motorpsycho) for a festival project, also including norwegian guitarist Stian Westerhus. This happy cooperation resulted in the cd ”Numb, number” (Gigafon) in 2012, and from 2013 the project continued as BOL&SNAH. SNAH is completing BOL in a magical way: rock- esthetics and open musical sceneries can meet and merge with great dynamics and total energy.
The album ”So? Now? ” was released in october 2015. (Gigafon).The music was recorded at Øra Studio, Trondheim, and mixed by wonderful Jørgen Træen at Duper studio, Bergen.
BOL started as a quartet in 1995. The first idea was to play standards in a new way, ment to be acoustic. Just after one rehearsal Ståle brought the Mini-Moog and BOL started their long and sometimes winding road looking for their own music and expressions. Their first record ”bol” was released spring 2001.
In August 2003 the saxophonist Tor Yttredal left the group, and BOL continued as a trio. They continued working in the landscape of composing, improvising and soundscaping, moving towards a more modern, open and improvised expression, with more focus on sound- experimenting. They released their second album, “Silver Sun”; in 2005, after among others several collaborations with the chamber orchestra Trondheimsolistene, with music composed by Ståle. The third cd “Skylab” was released autumn 2007. “Skylab Audiovision”, their audiovisual project with Light designer Sivert Lundstrøm was performed for the first time at Trondheim Matchmaking, festival for art and new tecnology, in Trondheim october 2008, and toured Norway autumn 2009.In 2010 BOL collaborated with Guitarists Hans Magnus Ryan and Stian Westerhus in a project for Jazzfest, Trondheim. This project resulted in further collaboration, an the recording of the cd “Numb, number”, released on “Gigafon” in 2012. This project has been touring in Europe in 2013 and 2014. Autumn 2011 BOL also presented a new kind of concert, “Nature is not beautiful”, with texts by Siri Gjære and scenography by artist Anne Helga Henning. This performance is based on the texts and visuals as a form and frame for both compositions and improvisation. For several years, BOL has been granted by the Art Council Norway.
MEMBERS OF THE BAND
BOL&Snah is a musical meeting between four improvising musicians with experience and influences from a lot of different settings;
Tone Åse has besides BOL- a long time background as member of the modern a capella group Kvitretten and later in TrondheimVoices , Livemariaband, Marilyn Mazur’s Future Song and Åse/Strønens Voxpheria where she has explored both “bel-canto”, voice-experimentation and free improvisation, and not at least the fields in between. She is exploring and extending her instumental area with electronic processing on her voice and the use of sampling/loops.
Ståle Storløkken has experimented with sounds and soundscapes mainly by use of “synthezizers from the past” as his trademark, in settings as the band Supersilent and Elephant 9, the duo Humcrush , with Thomas Strønen, and Terje Rypdal’s Skywards. As a composer, he is often writing “improvised chamber music”; for BOL and string quartet he composed ”Interference harmony ” presented at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival 2003, later re-arranged for a BOL and Trondheimsolistene, performed in 2006.
Tor Haugerud has since the early 90’s been developing his strong expression and trying out different kinds of drum “set-ups” through among others working with the “power-ethno”-group Transjoik, the free jazzgroup Gibrish, his surrealistic music-perfomance-project misterYtor, and of course his many different projects with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.
Hans Magnus ” Snah” Ryan is known for many as the guitarist,vocalist and composer in the legendary Norwegian band Motorpsycho, a band that through the years have explored a wide range of styles within and beyond the wide field of rock music. His approach to music is, as of the other members in BOL, an improvisational one, which makes this musical meeting full of possibilities for the unexpected. Together with his capacity as a soloist, his creative work with soundscape is adding a (very welcome) rock- esthetique to this constellation.