(Original on aftenposten.no)
One luxury problem remains before the plan for the European release of Kaizers Orchestra is in the bag: They must decide with which record company they want to work together.Soon control of the continent. Europe smiles at Kaizers Orchestra. After two records and a roaring success in Norway, the next thing is the European release in 2005. The band has good offers from a nice bunch of record companies, both big indie-companies and multi-nationals. According to manager Eivind Brydøy, the choice is now between some companies in the Netherlands and Germany, and a decision can be brought about already next week.
- It's already pretty certain that the band's third record will be released in Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium in fall 2005, he says.
They juggle offers
At the moment, Kaizers Orchestra does not have a record deal neither in Norway nor in Europe, but this is profoundly a luxury problem. The band must decide which record company they want to sign a contract with in Europe, and whether they will maybe release their new record with the same or another company at home in Norway.- We are still in negotiations and are juggling with many good offers, but haven't signed anything yet. I'm not up to date with the latest news, but Eivind is. Actually, all six in the band won't get together before December, so this can mean that physically, we cannot sign the contract before that, says Kaizers singer Janove Ottesen, who hopes for a release in 10-11 countries.
In Waits' top 10
The band has around 30 newly written songs to choose from when they go into the studio in February/March to record their third album - with a solid dose of self-confidence on their backs after good concerts and respectable record sales in Europe.They have also found a big fan in their own big idol, Tom Waits, who chose the debut "Ompa til du dør" among his ten favorite records for the web site Amazon lately - side by side with artists like Frank Sinatra, Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Elvis Costello and Little Richard. "Thinking man's circus music", Waits wrote.
- The situation is fantastic. We have established ourselves in Norway, and we have a hype in Europe. The cirumstances are right to make a good album, and now we only need to find out with whom we most want to work. This needn't necessarily be the offer of the biggest company. We are interested in finding out who has the most interest in Kaizers, and can do the best job for us, Ottesen says.