Prudence for Prog Folk

Added.Thanks, ClemofNazarath!

Oh, and btw, Bob, I tried to send you a PM, but it said you couldn't receive any more PMs 'cause your inbox was full.

God! Has it really been 10 months since I said I would write their bio!?

Oh well, here it is at least, finally. Just let me know if it needs any kind of changing.

PRUDENCE

PRUDENCE was one the most important bands on the Norwegian prog scene in the '70's, which included the likes of AUNT MARY, JUNIPHER GREENE, TITANIC, POPOL VUH (ACE), RUPHUS, FOLQUE and HØST. They fused rock with old party/dance music from Trøndelag and (on their last album) sang in their local dialect, and thereby created a rock style dubbed "Trønderrock".

Hailing from Namsos, a small town in Nord-Trøndelag county in Middle Norway, their roots can be traced back to 1967 and the band THE TUNES, later named WHOOPEE CHOOP. At the time the band consisted of Kaare SKEVIK jr. (drums), Per Erik "Prikken" WALLUM (vocals and, later, also flute), Sturla HUSTAD (keyboards), Per FORMO, Hans Jacob BUSCH (both guitar) and Terje TYSLAND (bass), who left to work as a sailor and was replaced by Kjell Ove "Nille" RISETH (bass) shortly before Åge ALEKSANDERSEN (vocals and guitar) joined in October of '68, .

BUSCH left the band in the summer of '69. The following fall the band changed it's name again, this time to PRUDENCE, after the THE BEATLES track "Dear Prudence", and shortly after they agreed to be the tour band of Stein INGEBRIGTSEN, a local hero from Namsos and up and coming popstar, a role they would hold up for some time thereafter. More member changes followed in the spring of 1970. HUSTAD left first, followed by FORMO, who was replaced by Jan Erik MOE (guitar).

In 1970 they released their first of three singles on the newly started label, Experience Records. Side A was a cover of DEEP PURPLE's "Into the Fire", while side B was their own composition, "Kom, bli med til København" (Come with to Copenhagen), a song about having fun with drugs in the Danish capital, which was prohibited from radio airplay.

William HAKKVÅG (guitar and vocals) replaced MOE in October 1970, but left the band in March the following year. A month later the band was joined by Johan TANGEN (mandolin and congas) shortly after Terje TYSLAND (now on guitar, accordion and vocals, later also piano) had re-joined after returning from sea. Both would prove to be important to the band's development of their own sound, a crossbreed of progressive rock and the sound of the Norwegian countryside.

PRUDENCE's sound was created from three equal approaches. ALEKSANDERSEN mostly listened to Bob DYLAN and American rock, TYSLAND had a strong relationship with jazz, gammaldans and the music of Jimi HENDRIX, while WALLUM was obsessed with JETHRO TULL and British folkrock. Other significant influnces were THE BEATLES, BLACK SABBATH, BLODWYN PIG, KING CRIMSON and DEEP PURPLE. This mix made their sound unique and something not heard before in and from Norway.

Two new singles were released on Experience - "Small Things in Life"/"Happy Fairies" and "My New Day"/"The Sky Gets Blue" - before the band signed with Polydor and released their first LP - "Tomorrow May Be Vanished", cryptically subtitled "Victoria "Så bærre pass dæ!"" (Victoria "So just watch out!") - in 1972. The album received great reviews, in which the band was compared to greats as JETHRO TULL and THE BAND.

The album hit the market the week after PRUDENCE's majorly successful performance at The Kalvøya Festival, where they, according to Paul KARLSEN, the man behind the festival, "went on stage as total unknowns and left it half an hour later as Norways most popular band", upstaging the headlining act, FAMILY, in the process.

In 1973 they released their second LP - "Drunk and Happy" - which opened doors for the band in Denmark, where the band was a great succes at The Roskilde Festival of that year. There were talks of launching the band in Europe, but instead of getting rich and famous, PRUDENCE ended up disappointed, and also broke, because they were always investing in the newest equipment available, even though success outside of Scandinavia eluded them.

The following year they released their third LP simply called "No. 3", which was a great success in Denmark, but with increasing debt the band had to tour nonstop all around the country, and some of the members also had to get sidejobs to make a living. This would end in tragedy for the bassist, RISETH, who lost three fingers, and injured a fourth, on his left hand in an accident at one of the sawmills in Namsos where he and TANGEN worked. When RISETH left, PRUDENCE lost a part of their identity and much of their spark.

The rough life on the road, RISETH's tragedy and the fact that the label wasn't going to launch the band in Europe after all, were the most important reasons for the band deciding to break up, but not before releasing a fourth album, with Norwegian lyrics this time, and going on a farewell tour. Frode VIKEN (later a member of the popular "trønderrock" band D.D.E.) had a short period in the band as bassist, before RISETH was permanently replaced by Jan DEVIK.

Their fourth and last studio album, released in 1975, "Takk te dokk" (Thank You) included the hit "Æ e trønder æ" (I am Trønder - meaning someone who's from Trøndelag), which was a reaction to the ridicule of their dialect, and Trønders in general, that had come after actor Rolf WESENLUND's parodic performance as a Trønder in the film "Bør Børson jr.".

The last tour was a triumph where ever they went. Their last concert, at Studentersamfunnet in Trondheim, 11. December 1975, was recorded, with Jahn TEIGEN (of POPOL ACE and, later, one of Norways most popular pop artists) as producer, and released as a double LP.

In February '76, after the band had split up, they won Spellemannsprisen (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammys) for best pop/rock album with "Takk te dokk", and had to reunite for a TV-recorded performance. The award was presented by a reluctent actor WESENLUND, which made for an awkward moment and infuriated the band to the extent that they afterwards did a blazing, though not their best, performance of "Æ e trønder æ". The, now legendary, performance made the whole country suddenly aware of this fenomenale band, but then it was too late.

They all went their seperate ways after that, but came back together for some brief reunions: in 1980 (the "Takk te dokk"-line up), in 1996 (ALEKSANDERSEN, TYSLAND, SKEVIK, TANGEN and RISETH playing together for the first time after Per Erik WALLUM's passing (died of cancer) in 1990), in 2010 (TANGEN, ALEKSANDERSEN and RISETH, with WALLUM's two kids, Stian and Kine WALLUM)) and in 2011 (RISETH, ALEKSANDERSEN, SKEVIK, TANGEN and TYSLAND, again with Stian and Kine WALLUM).

After the band broke up in '75 Åge ALEKSANDERSEN has had a long and successful career as a solo artist, and he's been called both "Norway's King of Rock" and "The Grandfather of Norwegian Rock".


Main sources:
- Prudence's page on Åge Aleksandersen's website, www.levvalivet.no
- Ole Jabob Hoel's biography about Åge Aleksandersen, "Åge - Historien om Norges største rocker"



Official website, well, sort of...Prudence's page on Åge Aleksandersen's website (the best I could find).

Band picture:


I would be happy to add all of their discography once the band's added to the site. I promise it won't take me another 10 months.

Edited by The Bearded Bard - July 31 2013 at 13:59

^David's talking about another band there, Steve, not Prudence. The question about moving Gåte, a band that's already on the site, from Heavy to PF has come up as an off-topic in this thread. 

ClemofNazareth wrote: I think we all agree Prudence belongs here somewhere.

I have a biography about the band's singer, Åge Aleksandersen, I would like to use some stuff from, but I'm on the move and between flats ATM, so I don't know exactly where it is, but I'll try to find it and write the bio on Prudence by the end of next week.

Edited by The Bearded Bard - September 13 2012 at 13:01

she is very pretty 

^Thanks for the info, David

Edited by The Bearded Bard - September 13 2012 at 10:55

Can't seem to find them on Eclectic's chart at Progfreak. Are Eclectic really considering them?

Just to be clear - Prog Folk passed on these guys but I thought they were being considered by Eclectic, so I assume any response you're looking for will come from that team.

Any news on these Norwegian 70's prog/folk/rock pioneers?

any news about this or is it on the shelf