Bridges -

Bridges were a Norwegian art-rock quartet that made the 1980 album Fakkeltog on self-press Våkenatt. Guitarist Paul Waaktaar and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen later teamed with singer Morten Harket in the art-pop trio a-ha.

Members: Magne Furuholmen (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (vocals, guitar), Øystein Jevanord (drums), Viggo Andreas Bondi (bass)

Background

Bridges formed in 1978 in the Oslo area from the partnership of singer-guitarist Pål Waaktaar Gamst and guitarist Magne Furuholmen. Bassist Viggo Bondi joined that year, followed near the start of 1979 by Essens drummer Erik Hagelien as the group settled on the Bridges name.

Waaktaar and Furuholmen grew up as near-neighbors in Manglerud and met around 1974 through a shared interest in rock music. Waaktaar shifted from homemade drums to guitar and played in school band Black Day; Furuholmen played flute and guitar in school groups that included Black Sapphire. Furuholmen grew up around professional music through his father, Bent Sølves Orkester trumpeter Kåre Furuholmen, who died in a 1969 plane crash near Drammen. In 1977, Waaktaar and Furuholmen formed Spider Empire with bassist Harald Ødegård and drummer Jan Erik Ødegård, then played a Constitution Day garden concert in Manglerud.

Furuholmen moved with his family to Vollen in Asker in 1977, and the pair continued their collaboration in the family basement. Bondi, a former tuba player who took up bass in 1975, joined through an Asker acquaintance the following year. The musicians used the name Thala & the Layas Blues Band for a November set at Askerfestivalen, with Jan Erik Ødegård on drums. Bondi brought Hagelien from Essens into the lineup near the start of 1979, and the quartet adopted Bridges. Waaktaar moved Furuholmen from guitar to keyboards as the group concentrated on original material.

Bridges rehearsed four days a week in Vollen and developed a large stock of songs with English lyrics. Neighbor Svein Erichsen lent the group a four-track recorder for demos and helped with recording equipment. Bridges played Venskaben in Asker in February 1979 and entered NM for Rockeband at Chateau Neuf in Oslo the next month. The group returned to Chateau Neuf for an IAB concert in May.

Hagelien left that summer when Waaktaar and Furuholmen asked for a full-time commitment that conflicted with his school plans. Øystein Jevanord, a drummer since age twelve and a 1977 graduate of Sogn Upper Secondary School, answered an Aftenposten advertisement in September and joined the group at Vollen. With Jevanord, Bridges played Asker Gymnasium in December 1979 and Dovrehallen in February 1980 in Oslo. Morten Harket attended the Asker Gymnasium concert and later approached Bondi about the group.

Bridges planned a self-financed album with Erichsen as producer. In summer 1980, the group booked one week at Octocon Studio in Nydalen for the sessions that became Fakkeltog.

Discography: