Posts Tagged ‘Toproom Studio’
New Borknagar drummer announced
February 22, 2012 | Author Jens F. Ryland
Yes, the rumours are true, the new Borknagar drummer is Baard Kolstad.
Borknagar - Baard Kolstad
Baard was also presented as the new ICS Vortex drummer just last week and I already saw some speculations drawing the correct lines in here.
Baard is a bit younger then the rest of us geezers, but his entry into the music scene is quite amazing. Baard was “discovered” by Mr Vortex himself in the spring 2011 while recording in Toproom Studio with a band. Just after this both Borknagar and ICS Vortex were asked to participate in the anniversary recording of Metallica’s Black Album, and as Asgeir Mickelson was unavailable, Vortex called up Baard and asked him to play on the song.
Baard has a very well visited Youtube channel which I don’t think needs any explanation, just enter and have a look for yourself; Baard Kolstad Youtube
Borknagar - Baard Kolstad
The last achievement Baard did was to win the World Championship in v-drums arranged by Roland in January 2012, have a look at this video:
And you can watch his winning performance here:
You can Baard’s Facebook page and chat to the man himself if you like. Later on there will be a post up on the Borknagar website with some comments from Øystein and Baard.
————Jens
Borknagar in studio
November 6, 2011 | Author Jens F. Ryland
Sometimes we can’t live up to all our plans and promises, that’s just the way it is. This weekend, Øystein and ICS Vortex has been in studio recording bass, and I was supposed to be there parts of the time. But I have not been feeling well and chose to stay home, and with that all my plans to show pictures and maybe make some video is out the window. To add to the problems Øystein hasn’t been able to update the Borknagar Twitter account like he wanted to. At least he sent me a couple of pictures:
Borknagar studio- ICS Vortex
Borknagar studio- Børge Finstad
Borknagar studio- Øystein G. Brun
I guess Øystein will make another update with more pictures on the Borknagar website
The past week started with Halloween and a nice present from Century Media, a free compilation for downloading, among these; “A Free ICS Vortex song”
Then Asgeir made a his own compilation, this time of Youtube- videos showing “Star Wars in TV- commercials“, and to make the variation nice and spread he also had series of photos from when he was “Hunting Pigeons” with his brother.
The most popular post this week was not doubt the announcement of another “Arcturus gig“, they are always popular. And when Asgeir saw that “Commodore 64 has made a new model” he simply had to make a retro post about it he he.
And that’s about it.
————-Jens
Signs of war
October 16, 2011 | Author Jens F. Ryland
Sundays!
Borknagar- Jens F. Ryland in studio
Seems I forgot to do the regular Sunday-post last weekend. I was in studio with Borknagar all weekend and very late home, you can read about it in Øysteins post:”Another session in studio” over on the Borknagar HQ.
This week you could read about Asgeirs fishing-trip into the mountains of Fagernes A good combination of leisure, fishing and poker. Good stuff!
Asgeir also revealed another of his Influences, this time “Metal Church”
The most important post of the week was no doubt “For Jonas“. If you didn’t see this one yet, go have a look.
Dragonage and Opeth
I told you about my “Weekend entertainment” slaying dragons while listening to Opeth. I also told you the outrageous story called “Wargames on TV” about how British ITV have used footage from the PC-game “ArmA” claiming it to be real footage of IRA shooting down a helicopter in the eighties.
And this brings us into the headline, video-games 
“We have some disturbing reports incoming from Balmora, there are Signs of War”
Media speculates this to be the biggest game-launch ever. It’s Lucas Arts remember?! And release for Europe pushed two days closer, oh my. Christmas comes early this year!
————–Jens
Live/Wire in concert
October 8, 2011 | Author Jens F. Ryland
Øystein and me are in Toproom studio this weekend to record some guitars for the upcoming Borknagar album. Yesterday we did five songs already and after a long day we went to see Børge’s band Live/Wire play a concert nearby, Børge is the owner of Toproom studio. Live/Wire is an AC/DC coverband, which again explains Børge’s outfit;
Live/Wire-Live at Toten
Live/Wire-Live at Toten
Børge “Angus Young! Finstad spent most of his time in the audience.
Live/Wire-Live at Toten
Live/Wire-Live at Toten
Live/Wire-Live at Toten
Being an old AC/DC fan I really enjoyed the show, and after the mandatory strip-show (which I have on video Børge he he) the show got even more sweaty!
—————-Jens
What’s on my mind?
October 2, 2011 | Author Jens F. Ryland
Hei there.
I almost have to introduce myself again now, haven’t made a post all week! But I still have plenty on my mind, let me blurb some thoughts I’ve had during the week:
I’m glad that our fan interviews are being welcomed so good. We already have another one ready for you, the Sarke-fan interview is up next week.
The coming weekend I’m heading into Toproom studio with Øystein and ICS Vortex to do some more work on the Borknagar album. It’s looking very good already, got some classics there I would say 
Battlefield 3 open beta has begun and I’m there. I am using JFRyland as my game-tag on the beta, was a bit fast there I think. I usually use “Fear” as tag in fps and I use “Baro” or “Borx” playing mmo’s. Using my real name as tag feels a bit wrong, what do you think about this? Should I change to my “gunslinger-pseudo” or is it easier to find me with JFRyland?
I’ve spent too little time in there to give a proper impression, I know Asgeir’s not very impressed, although he’s a sworn CoD-fanboy anyway he he. BF3 has a different feel then the previous ones, and I need to get the grip. I see the forums are raging, trolling and crying, which can be both a good and bad sign.
And I also want to comment on one aspect about Social Media. It seems like a whole lot of bands need a course in how to use Facebook and Twitter. Too many band-accounts are managed 100% by a label- representative who use it only to spam concert dates and release-news. It’s a bit sad to see although I guess it’s better then to not be present at all like some are. How do you guys feel about this? Do you follow a band no matter who handles the news-feed?
But I have to admit the upcoming “arrival” is dominating my head these days, only 3 more weeks now and the family is increasing again :O We don’t even know yet if it’s a boy or a girl he he. Today we bought another gadget, a chair like the one above. We should be all set at least, now only the last wait…
Let’s have a look at the past week then:
Tuesday September 27th it was 25 years since Cliff Burton died and Asgeir marked that with the story: “The day I met Cliff Burton”
We could also reveal that “ICS Vortex reveals debut gig“ that Asgeir followed up with his “Drumcam ICS Vortex-Flaskeskipper“. This weekend also saw this years edition of the festival “Til Dovre Faller” and Asgeir went on a trip back into ancient days of gaming with “Old Games: Rage Racer“.
Ok, time to get the kids to bed and test out some more BF3
——————Jens
