Arabrot is a Norwegian noise-rock band from Haugesund.
Arabrot is named after the city garbage disposal and the local authorities also found ti appropriate to place a school for troubled youths there.
The same way these garbage disposals are a yeasty oasis of scents and liquids that through the years will mutate into indefinable masses, Arabrot is a band that continuously develop into something more raw and intriguing.
Since starting out in 2001 Arabrot’s main core has been Kjetil Nernes (songwriter, guitar and vocals) and Vidar Evensen (drums and visuals). The last years also noise artists Stian Skagen has been a regular on-and-off member of the band. Collaborating with producers such as Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis), Emil Nikolaisen (Serena Maneesh) and Steve Albini (Nirvana, High on Fire) the band has released three full-length albums and a grotesque bouquet of singles and EP’s. 2009 alone produced two critically acclaimed EP’s, AbsoluteNegativism and I Rove, together with a double LP with a side project Nernes / Skagen and last but not least masterpiece The Brother Seed. The latter earning lots of International attention and a Norwegian Grammy nomination.
The stories surrounding Arabrot is many and we won’t waste time summarize them all. But worthy of notice is Arabrot completing a nine-day tour after vocalist Nernes blew his lung the first show. Also that the same Nernes’ riff arm has steel implants after being manhandled by police and dog. Or that the band’s regular female roadie won a pissing contest with David Yow of The Jesus Lizard. No, now we must stop.
Arabrot is about to represent for the young generation what the sum of Melvins, Birthday Party and Swans was to the generation before them; a source of pleasure from both auditory and moral excesses. The band’s foundation is noise-rock, but has strong elements of industrial music and noise.
In Arabrot there is also a dramatic component few other bands in history possess: histories are told and emotions are laid out in a way closer to the compositional techniques of experimental film and theatre than traditional song structure. Last but not least we’re drawn to the lyrics that combine elements of two of the most stimulating works of human kind: The Bible and Pornography.
