Keep Of Kalessin @ Buddys in Drammen

On Thursday I got on yet another plane (I’m looking forward to a month with no travelling), this time to Oslo, from which I caught the train to the capital of Buskerud, Drammen. Drammen’s one of the smaller cities in Norway, and although I’d passed through it many times before, I’d never actually stopped to have a look at it. I didn’t do much looking this time either, to be honest, because it was snowing like hell and I’d kind of hoped I’d put that kind of weather behind me for just now. I’m glad I didn’t go to university in Oslo – east country weather/temperatures suck. By the time I’d trudged from my hotel to the place where Keep Of Kalessin were playing I’d turned into the abominable snowwoman. It was even lying on my face and not melting, which I didn’t think could happen.

Now, I’ve seen Keep Of Kalessin play in some of the smallest, darkest, dingiest venues know to man, but this was really taking the biscuit. The fact that it was above ground level and had windows was a small mercy. However, this meant that I spent a brilliant evening getting a little more up close and personal with the band than I had initially intended.

Over the course of the evening, I was continuously whacked in the face by their hair, not to mention once by the pointy ends of a guitar and a microphone respectively. At one point I even managed to hit guitarist Arnt in the face with my own hair – an inch closer and I would have probably headbutted him. And I ended up so close to vocalist Torbjørn’s face at one point I could not only smell his breathe but taste it (beer, ew), which to be quite honest was borderline weird. It may please some of you to know I resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks. Just. He takes a horrendous photo, but in reality I swear he’s just adorable.

Arnt Grønbech, purveyor of extremely pointy guitar necks

Vyl aka Vegar Larsen, drummer extraordinaire

Torbjørn Schei, in another fabulous elbow shot (gonna stand the other side next time)

It was an amazing gig, but I felt rather short. I think they played about 10 songs. They were having problems with their backing track for the newer songs, which meant we got treated to more old material than they’d initially planned, but I think it might also have been the reason for them being finished quite early. I’m going to see them in Bergen next week, so I hope everything’ll be all fixed by then.

Drammen never struck me as being a particularly industrial town, and maybe it’s not, but that’s certainly the feeling I got from it when I was walking home from the gig. And the light pollution was eerie as hell, but also kind of beautiful in a I-shouldn’t-find-this-so-fascinating sort of way.

View from a bridge which connects the two halves of the city – light pollution abound!

Drammen train tracks running under the bridge