Turbonegro join Queens of The Stone Age for US tour
Norway’s undisputed kings of deathpunk, Turbonegro are back after a five year hiatus. This year will see the now legendary band release their Scandinavian Leather album, headline festivals as well as support stoner-kings Queens of The Stone Age on their upcoming spring US tour.
Few Scandinavian bands have achieved the same legendary status as veterans Tubonegro. A string of legendary albums, equally legendary live-shows and an appearance matched by almost no-one have secured a world-wide fanatical fan-base for Turbonegro. A unique phenomenon can be found among those counting themselves as loyal Turbonegro fans. All over the world, fan bases gathered in so-called Turbojugens – mimicking the band’s homo-erotic, denim-clad appearance. The Turbojugend sub-culture includes all paraphernalia associated with devoted fan-bases: bootleg swapping, fanatic fan-sites, uniform clothing, and total admiration. So far Turbojugend chapters can be found from Tromsø in the north of Norway to Santiago in Chile with divisions in most of the world’s major cities. Germany has proved to be one of Turbonegro’s strongest territories with no less than eight ‘Jugend chapters.
To the dismay of the Turbojugends, 1998 saw the band on a hiatus as internal dispute and less-than-fortunate drug-related events called for a halt to their Darkness Forever European tour. In the wake of the band’s split, a prestigious posse of some of rock’s biggest names contributed to produce the 2001 tribute album Alpha Motherfuckers. Among the bands covering Turbonegro on this album one can find such internationally known bands as Queens of The Stone Age and Therapy? plus respected Norwegian acts Motorpsycho, Amulet and Satyricon.
2002 marked the band’s return to the limelight with a much hyped reunion gig at Norway’s biggest festival – Quart. It soon became evident that their reunion concert wasn’t a one-off event and late autumn last year it was announced that the band was to release a new album on April 28 2003. Turbonegro’s upcoming album is titled Scandinavian Leather and will be released on Swedish label Burning Heart - home of International Noise Conspiracy, Millencolin, Refused, Division of Laura Lee and until recently the Hives. Joe Baresi, whose resume includes Queens of The Stone Age, Hole and Satyricon albums is the Scandinavian Leather producer and the sessions take place in Sweden’s legendary Polar Studios.
The band’s list of celebrity fans include names such as The Hives, Supersuckers, Satyricon, Placebo and Beastie Boys. Queens of The Stone Age have been loyal fans since Turbonegro’s last US tour in 1997. Turbonegro left a lasting impression on QOTSA front-men Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri and the two have for years sought to join the Norwegians for some live co-operation. Says Turbonegro ideologist Thomas “Happy-Tom” to Norwegian daily Dagbladet on their relation with one of current rock’s biggest acts: We first met Homme and Oliveri backstage after one of their shows. When they saw us they immediately hugged us wildly. It was evident that they had an emotional relation to our band - they went wild when they saw us. Our two bands are closely related – both have the same musical foundation: the US eighties punk-scene and it’s just natural that we team up.
QOTSA and Turbonegro’s US tour kick off in New Orleans on March 13 and continues with ten shows in Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. Following their US tour, Turbonegro will embark on a European tour from April 29 to May 25 in support of their upcoming album. Next on the tour itinerary is a Norwegian tour playing large halls in the country’s biggest cities. Turbonegro will also headline several festivals including the Øya Festival.
For more info on Turbonegro, go to the band’s site.
Tour dates for Turbonegro can be found here or at MIC’s calendar.
Want to read more on QOTSA – go to the band’s site.
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