Ole Børud

Arnold B. Family

Børud started his musical career at the age of five years as a singer in his family's Christian pop group Børud-gjengen, later renamed Arnold B. Family. Highly popular within Norway, Arnold B. Family participated three times in the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest, landing in the top ten all three times. The group took second place in 1995 for its song "La oss feire livet" ("Let Us Celebrate Life").

Heavy metal and hard rock career

In the 1990s, Børud ventured into heavy metal, teaming up in 1995 with Peter Dalbackk to form a short-lived doom metal project called Schaliach, for which he played guitar, bass and drums. The group released one album, Sonrise, in 1995, and was noted for its "huge" sound, Metallica-influenced guitar style, and strong classical influences, which were likened to a "metal symphony". He joined Extol in 1996, where he played guitar and bass and provided background signing. Extol performed a highly technical mixture of death metal and progressive metal, incorporating other extreme metal styles as well as hardcore punk, orchestral music, jazz, and folk music. After recording two albums with the group, Burial, Undeceived, he left to further pursue his solo career in 2001, but briefly rejoined the group to record its third album, Synergy. He has rejoined the group, which reformed as a trio in 2012, and helped record its fifth, self-titled release. In the early 2000s, he also served for a brief period as a guitarist for the hardcore punk band Selfmindead. On February 12, 2016, Peter Espevoll of Extol announced that Børud had formed a new side-project, Fleshkiller, with his former Schaliach band-mate Dalbackk. Børud himself later announced that drummer Andreas Skorpe Sjøen also joined the band. In January 2017, it was announced that Peter Dalbakk left the band and was replaced by Elisha Mullins.

Solo albums

As a solo artist, he has released several studio recordings, Chi-Rho (2002), Shakin' the Ground (2008), Keep Movin' (2011), Someday at Christmas (2012, a collaboration with Samuel Ljungbland), and Stepping Up (2014). Chi-Rho featured a pop rock sound and consisted of covers of various Christian music performers such as Whiteheart, Dogs of Peace, and Rebecca St. James. However, Børud considers his subsequent release, Shakin' the Ground, his true solo debut, as it was the first featuring original music. On this and subsequent releases, Børud adopted a Westcoast funk, r&b, and soul style, and his latest release, Stepping Up, is described as jazz pop in the vein of Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder. Other noted influences include Quincy Jones, George Duke, Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince and Toto. Børud himself stated in one interview that his influences "could be a lot. Anything from Death to Yes to Steely Dan to Jason Falkner and so forth." Per Albrigtsen of Østlands-Posten called Børud one of the foremost artists in the funk and soul genres. Børud has also performed for Torun Eriksen and Sofian, and collaborated with Larvik Stroband and the Oslo Gospel Choir.

Discography