Erlend Øye

Bergen

Erlend Øye was born on 21 November 1975 in Bergen. Having grown up listening to Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Suzanne Vega and The Smiths, during high school in the early-mid 1990s, he and some of his friends formed the band Skog ("forest" in Norwegian), taking inspiration from the famous song "A Forest" by The Cure. In 1996 he joined the band Peachfuzz as electric guitarist, playing several times in London between 1996 and 1998.

In 2008 he started to collaborate on a project with Mikal Telle of Tellé Records and they created the independent label Opplett with the aim of producing young talent from Bergen and the surrounding area. The label Opplett published three projects: the album Opplett 2008 that contains seven songs by seven different artists (as Lars Vaular, John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen and Razika, 2008); the first single of Indie rock band Razika called Love is All About the Timing; and the first album of the band Fjorden Baby! (2009).

London

In 1998 he moved to London and then in 1999 to Manchester. When he was back home in Bergen for vacations he jammed with Eirik Glambek Bøe, his former high school and Skog mate. The duo formed Kings of Convenience in 1998 and released the debut record, Quiet is the New Loud, in 2001.

Berlin

In the same period, he collaborated with the electronic Norwegian duo Röyksopp, lending his voice for the song Poor Leno and Remind Me on the record Melody A.M.. As a result, he became interested in electronic music and spent the next years in Berlin from 2002 to 2006 or travelling around the world, recording his solo album Unrest in ten different cities with ten different electronic artists. He toured as a DJ, singing along with the records that he played and released a remix record for the DJ Kicks series in 2004. In the same year, Kings of Convenience released the second record Riot on an Empty Street. Meanwhile, he founded another project in Berlin, The Whitest Boy Alive. The band originally started as an electronic band, but slowly developed into a band with no electronic elements, releasing the debut record Dreams in 2006, while the latest record entitled Rules was released in 2009. Both the records were released by Bubbles Records, the independent label founded by Erlend Øye and Marcin Öz in 2006. In 2006, he appeared in the Italian movie Shooting Silvio acting as DJ during a house party. In 2009, Kings of Convenience released the third record Declaration of Dependence. In 2011 and 2013, he produced the records Hest and Six months is a long time by fellow Bergen band Kakkmaddafakka.

Sicily

In 2012, during a small concert organized in a vernissage in Ortigia in Sicily, he publicly stated that he had bought a house in the city of Syracuse to move there with his mother. In 2013, he released a new single, entitled La Prima Estate, sung in Italian and inspired by his time living in Italy, which is accompanied by a videoclip shot in Syracuse. He is currently working on more songs in Italian, which will be made into an album. In 2014, The Whitest Boy Alive announced the end of the project. On 3 October 2014, he released his second solo album Legao, recorded in Reykjavík with Hjálmar, a reggae group from Iceland, which was anticipated by the single Garota with a videoclip shot in Seoul. Despite currently living in Sicily, he is still involved in the Bergen music scene, promoting local bands and assisting the organization of the annual Traena Music Festival.

Albums

Singles

Mixes

Productions

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Compilations

Videoclips

Covers

Erlend Øye often performs reworked versions of other bands' songs during his concerts. Among the most played covers, Thirteen by Big Star, Blowin' in the Wind and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right by Bob Dylan, Redemption Song by Bob Marley, E la chiamano estate by Bruno Martino, Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Sapore di sale by Gino Paoli, Til þín by Hjálmar, Una ragazza in due by I Giganti, These Days by Jackson Browne, Tram No. 7 to Heaven by Jens Lekman, Happy Xmas and Jealous Guy by John Lennon, No Train To Stockholm by Lee Hazlewood, E la luna bussò by Loredana Berté, Grande grande grande by Mina, Wonderwall by Oasis, You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon, Se a vida é by Pet Shop Boys, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, Ignition by R. Kelly, (They Long to Be) Close to You by Richard Chamberlain, Norwegian Wood by The Beatles, Ask, Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths, Boys Don't Cry by The Cure, Last Christmas by Wham!.

Albums

EPs

Singles

Videoclips

Albums

Singles

Videoclips

EP

Compilations

Bands

Filmography