Turbonegro first came together in Oslo, Norway during the winter of 1988/89. The line up was Thomas Seltzer, Vegard Heskestad, Pal Bottger Kjaernes, Rune Gronn, Pal Erik Carlin and Carlos Churasco. Their first show was at Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in March of 1989. By April Turbonegro played their first show in their hometown of Oslo. In the following weeks they recorded songs for their debut single Route Zero and the Turboloid 12" EP. Both records were released by Thomas Seltzer's own label, Straightjacket Records, which he started in 1983. This first session was recorded at Nesodden Musikkverksted by Christian Calmeyer. Thomas played bass and drums on Route Zero. An initial pressing of 50 copies came with an exclusive demo tape called 'Computech' featuring a cover of The Stooges '1970'. Turboloid was the second and last release by the original line up. Drummer Carlos Carrasco left to play guitar for Anal Babes. Route Zero was reissued by Sympathy For The Record Industry in 1990 with two songs from the Turbloid EP. In September of that year they left Norway to tour the U.S. Rune was beat up in Minneapolis a few hours after their arrival and remained in the hospital. The band forged on without him but the tour was a disaster. Three weeks later Turbonegro returned to Oslo and broke up.
In late March '93 Harald played his last show with Turbonegro at Sentrum Scene in Oslo. He quit due to health reasons and was replaced by Hans Erik Husby aka Hanky who would be their best and final vocalist. With the new singer a decision was made to rename the band Stierkampf (the german word for bullfight). They opened up for Poison Idea in Oslo and Denmark as well as The Ramones in August 1993 at the Oslo Rock Festival. The only release as Stierkampf was the Grunge Whore EP on Sympathy for the Record Industry. All songs on this release would resurface on their next album with the exception of 'Six Pack'(orig. Black Flag). 'Never is Forever' (1994) was recorded by Christian Calmeyer at Nesodden Musikkverksted and was limited to 1200 copies. With the release of this album was their first full European Tour. The tour was nick-named "Nihil Jung" and had 17 shows in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland.
By the winter of 1994-95 Turbonegro was back to the old name but with a new look referred to as the 'Al Jolson schtick', fortunately it didn't last long. Happy-Tom summed it up best with the following anecdote: "so there we were backstage with our black faces and wigs and little hats, smoking pot with our all-time heroes the Bad Brains, and the absurdity just didn't cross our minds. I mean, those guys didn't mention it, they were probably just embarrassed on our behalf." The gag was long gone by May of 1995 when they debuted the denim and moustache look. Happy-Tom stated "We feel that denim out-rocks leather at all levels. Leather is for empty, little people. Denim is for us big guys! And the kids love it!"
With a new look came a new sound. Chris Calmeyer, their engineer at the time, said, "we decided to make things more raw, trying to convey the power of the live performance, if not the sound." The first recordings of the new and improved Turbonegro showed up on the Denim Demon and Bad Mongo singles in spring '95. That summer Turbonegro left for their second attempt at a U.S. tour 'NAMBLIN in the 90's'. They played only eleven shows and in the words of Happy-Tom "at least we didn't get the shit kicked out of us like we did the last time we were in the USA". In fall '95 Bingo and Pal left the band putting Turbonegro on hold. Pal wanted to travel while Bingo didn't like the new musical direction, "less Slayer, more rock'n'roll." Also that year Anthony Martin started his new label Boomba Records so he could release Turbonegro's third album 'Ass Cobra'. It did not come out until the spring of 1996 and by September they were touring Europe again with a new line up. Anders Hornslien from Angst was added as the new drummer, so Thomas went back to playing bass. Pal was replaced by Knut Schreiner, who Thomas had played with in The Vikings. Knut aka Euroboy was a priceless addition to the band in the reshaping of their sound. The 'Prince Of The Rodeo' 7" was his recording debut with Turbonegro and a taste of the greatness to come. Also at this time Pal returned from traveling in Thailand to open his famous 'Pamparius' pizza parlor outside of Oslo in Kolbotn. He decided to rejoin the band as the keyboard player and "dancer". Pal's return would be the final touch in the latest incarnation of the band. The new look, sound and album irritated and fascinated the European underground; people were starting to pay attention to Turbonegro.
In spring '97 Turbonegro had yet another line up change. Christer Engen, aka Chris Summers, from Big Bang took over on drums and they were ready to tour Europe again. This time out they were opening up with a modified version of a Grand Funk song (We are a Norwegian band). Hank was wearing Alice Cooper like make up and lighting roman candles in his ass (referred to as "assrockets"), they were just warming up to their final and greatest album 'Apocalypse Dudes'. Now it was time to take the new and improved Turbonegro back across the Atlantic with the 'Summer of Head' U.S. tour. They were more warmly received this time around but still played only a few shows that were plagued with problems. Nonetheless, after years of stumbling through line up changes, name changes and various shticks, they had finally found themselves.
In the autumn of 1997 their next/last album 'Apocalypse Dudes' was recorded at Endless Sound studios in Oslo with producer Pål Klaastad. When Happy-Tom was asked if their new sound and album has anything to do with Euroboy's entry into the band, he replied, "Yep, he's a genius, and so is our new drummer Chris Summers, The Prince of Drummers. We released the punk album of the millenium with 'Ass Cobra', and didn't want to make an 'Ass Cobra' part twoŠplus we spent two years writing new stuff, so as to make sure that every song is a hit, so we ended up making the rock album of the next millenium." The album was released in March '98 by Boomba Records. However it was released in Norway exclusively by Virgin. It is no coincidence that it was their most successful record and by far their best. Jello Biafra was quoted as saying, "the new Turbonegro record is possibly the most important European record ever." 'Apocalypse Dudes' is all hits all the way through. Turbonegro supported the album playing 24 sold out shows throughout Europe and by that fall they were ready to attack Europe again with 16 dates on the 'Darkness Forever' tour. Unfortunately this tour would be their last and ultimately the end of Turbonegro. According to Happy-Tom "Turbonegro broke up in the waiting room of a psychiatric emergency ward in Milan, Italy." Hank's mental indisposition became a real problem thus the remainder of the tour was cancelled. They bid their farewell December 18, 1998 at Mars in their hometown of Oslo. Turbonegro's last words were "Yeah-Yeah! Yeah-Yeah!"
Source: http://www.turbojugendusa.com/
