VAMPIRE WEEKEND (US) / ULVER (N) / TROND ANDREASSEN (N) / COCKTAIL SLIPPERS (N) / JOHNOSSI (SE) / AURA NOIR (N) / SMOKE MOHAWK (N) / TELLUSALIE (N) / FJORDEN BABY (N)

This year’s Øya bill is now complete, and if you ask us, this is the greatest Øya bill of all time! The line-up includes four packed days in the Medieval Park, and we’re very proud of the width and diversity of the bill – from bull’s eye bookings like Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors to brutal metal with Satyricon and Municipal Waste to ska-o-rama with Madness to the Norwegian cult band Ulver to raw punk with The Bronx to hip hop with Asher Roth and Amanda Blank to jazz with Atomic to one of Britain’s biggest acts, Arctic Monkeys, to soul with Noora Noor to symphony music with KORK to afrobeat with Seun Kuti to the mysterious Fever Ray to dubstep stars Skream and Benga of Magnetic Man … and lest we forget Wilco and Glasvegas and Mew, as well as Lily Allen and Beirut. We quite simply recommend the entire festival! See ARTISTS A-Z for a complete overview. The list of quality acts simply goes on and on! Others apparently also appreciate this year’s bookings, as proven by the amazing ticket sales. Never before in the history of Øya have we sold this many tickets to the Medieval Park so early on.

Today we release the final batch of acts for the park segment of this year’s Øya Festival. All confirmed bands and artists have now been assigned to dates. We’ve kept a couple of slots open, though, to see what acts we might stumble upon and take a liking to during National Music Day in Oslo this weekend. The final names on the bill will therefore be new and exciting Norwegian bands. The program in the Medieval Park is comprised of all the concerts taking place on our four stages during the four days of the festival. All in all, 80 bands and artists will perform on our four main stages, and in addition you can also get acquainted with new and exciting acts in the Camp Indie tent.

As previously mentioned, this year’s Øya bill is the strongest ever, with a fine mix of acts Norwegian and foreign, large and small, eccentric and accessible. We’re proud of the fact that we’re presenting a large number of bands that have never appeared at our festival before, that have rarely or never performed in Norway before, and that will most certainly offer exclusive and memorable concerts. An entire 27 out of the Norwegian acts have never played in the Medieval Park before, while all the international acts on the 2009 bill – with the exception of Band of Horses – will be appearing at Øya for the first time. For as many as 40 among the international acts, the Øya Festival will be the only performance in Norway this summer. Almost half of those will be playing their first gig on Norwegian soil at the Øya Festival.

Prior to the Øya Festival new releases will be out from Dirty Projectors, Madness, Wilco , Mew (EP), Amanda Blank, Datarock and others. Among the bands that will release new albums just after the Øya Festival we find Arctic Monkeys, Mew, Band of Horses, Municipal Waste and many more. In addition you will – as always – have a good chance of discovering new Norwegian and international faves.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND (US) – Wednesday Aug. 12
This New York-based act was formed in 2006, and shortly after rumors started spreading that there was a new and extraordinarily exciting quartet in town. They released their debut album year and a half ago, and it took the world of rock by storm. The album rocketed onto the Top 20 both in the US and the UK. In other words, Vampire Weekend was one of the big newcomers last year. They were especially noticed because they mixed fresh rock with i.a. inspiration from African music. The result is a band with a distinct stamp playing a slightly different kind of party rock. A new album is on the way, and at Øya you shouldn’t be surprised if you get some samples from the new material in between hits like A-Punk, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Oxford Comma. The sun is definitely going to shine when Vampire Weekend hits the stage in the Medieval Park.
MYSPACE

ULVER (N) – Wednesday Aug. 12
We were very happy when we learned a short while back that Ulver were planning to perform live again, and we got even happier when they agreed to appear at the Øya Festival. For more than 15 years Kristoffer Rygg has moved through and on the side of genres like rock, ambient, black metal, electronica and avant-garde. For the past decade, Jørn H. Sværen and Tore Ylwisaker have been part of the line-up. Ulver cultivate a dark and stirring sound, and are one of few bands we know of that has been ambitious enough to make a two-hour tribute album to the poet William Blake. We’re looking forward to seeing this band in the Medieval Park, and we also feel that it is only fitting to recommend that you do the same. In a Pitchfork interview in 2007, Kristoffer Rygg stated that Ulver would not be playing live again, but here they are nevertheless. This gig is guaranteed to draw people from all over the world to the Øya Festival.
MYSPACE

JOHNOSSI (SE) – Friday Aug. 14
After years of recurring requests on our web forum, the two guys in Johnossi are now finally ready to make their Øya debut. They’re packing their self-entitled debut album and the follow-up All They Ever Wanted, and you should come prepared for some high voltage duo rock. These guys will give us a power demonstration of just how great an acoustic guitar and a small drum kit can sound together. Fresh riffs, energetic shows and melodies that stick in your brain have become Johnossi’s trademark. The boys have made a name for themselves in large parts of Europe by constantly being on the road. In Oslo they’ve climbed the ladder from Mono and Last Train to Rockefeller and now finally the Øya Festival. These two lads from Stockholm will definitely convince you that the stage needn’t be packed with musicians in order to make that massive and wicked festival sound. Johnossi has been granted the honor of opening the festival on Friday – and here, dancing, singing along and generally getting a little carried away will in no way be frowned upon.
MYSPACE

TROND ANDREASSEN (N) – Saturday Aug. 15
Rumors have been going around for a long time that Trond Andreassen has both a new album and a new band in the works. A few weeks back we were allowed a pre-listen to the first songs from the album, and hearing the material really made us happy. The band name hasn’t been quite decided upon yet, so for now we’ll just write Trond Andreassen. For several years and through three albums, Trond was the singer and main songwriter in the amazing Norwegian band Ricochets. People have been waiting a long time to hear what this guy has been up to since the band was put on hold. The album is planned for release in the fall, but prior to that you can get acquainted with Andreassen’s new material on the last day of the Øya Festival. This will be a premiere not likely to be forgotten anytime soon; one of Øya’s all-time favorite songwriters is finally back in the saddle!

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS (N) – Saturday Aug. 15
After a few years as a partially well-kept secret of the Oslo garage pop and 60s scene, Cocktail Slippers have now finally gained international attention. That is due in part to the fact that Little Steven has taken a liking to the band and will be releasing the album Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre on his label Wicked Cool Records. Put on your finest dancing shoes on Saturday, because Cocktail Slippers will be there to dish out some catchy and light sunshine rock that’ll put a grin on your face and a spring in your step.
MYSPACE

AURA NOIR (N) – Friday Aug. 14
The Øya Festival is proud to present a band that all too rarely performs live on Norwegian stages. For more than 15 years Aura Noir has been dealing in evil, dirty and raw extreme metal, gathering inspiration from big names like Slayer and Venom. Appropriately enough they released an album entitled Black Thrash Attack back in 1996, a title which has become a kind of slogan for the trio. We should also probably mention that the guys refer to themselves as “the ugliest band in the world.” Last year, their latest album so far, Hades Rise, came out, proving that Aura Noir still is capable of conjuring up dark moods and filthy aggression. The band’s founder, Aggressor, is unfortunately unable to perform live due to serious injuries sustained a few years back. The live line-up therefore currently consists of Blasphemer, Apollyon and Jehmod, otherwise known from bands like Cadaver and Mayhem.
MYSPACE

TELLUSALIE (N) – Saturday Aug. 15
One of the best kept secrets from the Norwegian city of Fredrikstad is the band Tellusalie. For several years they have been dealing in 70s-inspired pop and rock. Alert reviewers have pointed to Neil Young, Grant Lee Buffalo and Magnolia Electric Co. The band recorded their third album earlier this year, this time with none other than Knut Schreiner as producer. The Øya booking crew has been allowed a few pre-tastes of the material, and they bode very well indeed. We’re excited, and you should be too, because this is music that’ll prolong the summer until December. Get ready for a solid dose of summertime rock.
MYSPACE

SMOKE MOHAWK (N) – Wednesday Aug. 12
Smoke Mohawk started out as an unceremonious cover band and has members with a background from Astroburger, Gluecifer, My Midnight Creeps. Lust-o-Rama and We. Lately, however, Rolf Yngve Uggen, Danny Young, Thomas Felberg and Raymond Jensen have started making their own songs, and at Øya in August they’ll present these goodies to a large audience for the first time. In other words, a new rock monster has arisen in our capital, a hairy beast that’ll knock the wind right out of you. The combination between an experienced, mature crew and energy rediscovered and renewed has rarely worked better. Their list of inspirational sources includes The Faces, Sun Ra, Nick Lowe and ZZ Top. Need we say more? Well, we should perhaps include their own description: “Pub rock played somewhere f*****g far off in deep space – feet on the ground, but the head’s gone.”
MYSPACE

FJORDEN BABY (N) – Thursday Aug. 13
Fjorden Baby is perhaps the most talked about act from Bergen this past year. Now they’ll be coming across the mountains to kickstart the Øya Festival on Thursday. They’ve gotten a lot of airtime on Norwegian radio with the hit Karoline. They’ve also been the prime representatives of the so-called Loddefjord scene, together with John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen, among others. Norwegian national newspaper Aftenposten liked their self-entitled debut album so much that they wrote: " … the album contains highly potent dub rock, with slightly surreal and desperate lyrics that couldn’t be better." Their toying around with the dub, punk and new wave genres sound fresher than any rock sung in Norwegian has for many years.
MYSPACE