BANNLYST: how we made the new EP – the tape

Written by: Trond Sættem/CEASE FIRE!

OK! About time to let this rabid cat out of the bag! We didn’t mean to let you wait this long, but the covers were kinda slow. But here it is: Bannlyst’s final – almost forgotten and assumed long lost – 1985 session. Along with the contemporary “Terrorstyre” and “40.000 Døde Barn”, which is a newly unearthed take from the 1992 gig at Blitz.

While doing digging and research for the MOLDEPUNX compilation, we found a Bannlyst 1984/1985 4-track cassette tape. It contained songs already released, either on the split tape w/ Angor Wat or on the “La dem ikke lure deg” 7” EP. I met up with bass player Per Arne with my own mono mix versions of “Herrene” and “Warning…” on my old iPod. Dismissing the tracks as a bit too sloppy for release, he started mumbling about “there were some more (unreleased) tracks”, and even “they might exist, but…”

He was not even sure if they had recorded these last songs before the band broke up. Per Arne must have regretted his mumbling about this, because this started another two years of me regularly pestering him about getting up in the attic looking for a plastic bag of old tapes that might or might not exist. From what I heard – this house was a spacious farmhouse, containing all kinds of amps, cabinets and electrical artifacts – and not very tidy. So, a needle-in-a-haystack kind of project indeed.

Then, one day, it was his turn to call. “I might have found that bag of cassettes” he said. “But I don’t know anyone with a cassette player. I may have an old one in the baseme…”. “STOP! HOLD YOUR HORSES! No old cassette player to ruin this tape!!!” – I already had one good reason to drive 500 km to Oslo. I try to always have two reasons to go there, and this was way more than two! I brought a fresh tape player and soon hit the road.

Next day, he’s strolling towards me – cigarette in one hand and a wrinkled, old Sparmat plastic bag in the other. We literally unearthed cassettes from the bag, as they were accompanied by residue from a pack of rolling tobacco, old pieces of Lego™ from one of his children (Per Arne is now a granddad – that’s how long they were in the bag) and a fermented tube of antifungal foot cream. Oh well.

One of the tapes grabbed our attention as it had a plastic tray. (Takk Gud I himmelen og helvete!) On the label it said “Bannlyst 19/6 85”. I almost fell over when we played the tape, but held on, just awaiting an eventual catastrophic damage to the tape. That – as you can hear – never came. But as “Hvit Natt” faded out in the intro, it took the edge off some of the euphoria in the room. There is probably a good reason for this though – further investigation for the original source remained fruitless. All in all it was a fantastic find – now for you all to enjoy.

As this was something that would naturally fit Florian’s Bannlyst discography on Norwegian Leather, we decided to do a split effort between our labels. Florian taking care of pressing the vinyl and doing cover design – me doing the digitizing of the tape, designing labels and the insert sheet. The band’s ex-members were strongly involved in the mastering of the songs, and they had to sit down several times, trying to recall lyrics and interpret Finn Erik´s growling sounds. That done: Per Arne wrote it all down neatly by hand – just as he did it for the “La dem ikke lure deg” EP 37 years ago.

Some of you brighter heads out there will recognize the song structure of “Bare en Slave“ and also some lyrics. THIS though, is the original shit. And nothing can beat this. We hope you dig this as much as we do!

Written:                                                               -Molde, January 31, 2023, by Trond Sættem