The CONE story: *************** ......Once upon a time, as the story goes; and quite fitting, as our tale starts in the deep, dark woods of Telemark, Norway: Back in 1998, three enthusiastic youngsters from Flatdal formed a rock band. Ivar Barstad (Holraven), Eystein Haugen and Eivind Aase took on the name "EYE" and had their first rehearsals in December the same year. Two months later, the band joined UKM (Ungdommens Kulturmonstring, a Norwegian national performance & arts contest for people below the age of 19), and won both the town finals in Seljord as well as the county finals. The quick "success" inspired the youngsters to record their first demo CD. Being students, it had to be low budget. This led them to renting a digital 8-track, and doing their first demo by themselves in "Musikkhuset" (simply "the Music House") in Flatdal. The first day went by just to understand the recording process and how the 8-track worked, and only one song was recorded. Nevertheless, 11 tracks were recorded in the following four days and the result was ( at the time ;) ) very satisfying. The total tracknumber was to be thirteen, CD's and covers were manufactured on their home computers and launched for sale to friends and family. "A Moment in Time" saw the light of day! The income from this very first CD project covered both production costs, in addition to a (borrowed) loudspeaker which had bust (?) during rehearsals. After this first minor peak of success came the first downtrip. There was less time for rehearsals, and Eystein was called in for military service. In the summer of 2000, EYE was put on ice. This same summer Holraven started his own Offchart Studios, and by coincident his first studio customer brought along a promising young guitarist, Ole Petter Lindvik. He had just moved to Flatdal from Tonsberg, and had no connections to EYE. However, chemistry proved right, and Holraven and Eivind invited him to join the remnants of the band. The next turning point in the band's history, was when Ole and Eivind had recorded a tune by themselves, entitled "Groove Factory". This recording was a proper kick in the right place to get things moving, and sessions for a new demo CD started at Offchart Studios. "Metagruzzunk" was recorded and launched by April 2001, and the new bandname was "CONE". "Metagruzzunk" was a strange mix of many different styles of music: Folk music, progressive rock, funk and alternative rock. Amongst the tracks are "Ham&Herring" (a further development of "Groove Factory"), "Dry" and "Dead Silence", the latter two new recordings of songs off "A Moment in Time". Once again the music was only sold locally to friends and family. The huge spread in different styles of music and the fact that "Metagruzzunk" was virtually impossible to recreate live by three bandmembers alone, led to another downperiod in CONE's career. At this time, a new band was formed, consisting of the same three band members and five backing girls (the "Chicken Quintet"). "Blaakonglane" (Blue Cones) started playing cover tunes from the 60's and 70's, mainly Rock'n'Roll and Soul. As the band gained reputation and more jobs (and money), more equipment was aquired, and so furher enhanced the performance. 2001 also saw the welcome return of Eystein, who resumed playing not only in CONE, but also in Blaakonglane. Two guitars is thrice as good as one! ;) In early 2002 it was set for new CONE recordings. This time the music was more uniformed, and most importantly arranged with live performance in mind. The basis of all tracks was tried out before they were put to tape, and made the entire feel more complete. "Out of Mind" was chiefly finished by April '02, but it took over a year to finish the mix and cover artwork. In the meantime a music video for "End of Days" was shot at an abandoned, local hotel-in-the-making, and the band members continued playing live with Blaakonglane. But in June 2003, everything was in the clear, and the enhanced CD "Out of Mind" was available for purchase. The CD includes the video "End of Days", as well as twelve tracks; three of these re-recorded tracks off "Metagruzzunk" and one additional track from "A Moment in Time". The bass player, Halvor Strand, joined the band in November 2003. CONE's new album "in silver wrapping" was released on May 15th. 11 brand new tracks have been recorded at Offchart Studios, and the band celebrated this event with a release party at Café Radio, Skien. CONE "in silver wrapping" will be available at CD Baby soon! Current lineup: Holraven: Vocals (1998-) Ole Petter Lindvik: Lead guitar/backing vocals (2000-) Eystein Haugen: Guitar/backing vocals (1998-) Halvor Strand: Bass guitar (2003-) Eivind Aase: Drums (1998-) CONE Management & Booking: Erling Lindvik, ( aka elvix ) elindvik@online.no erling@coneband.com Phone: (47)33341760 Cellphone: (47)97960612 Copyright © 2003 CONE/Offchart Studios. All tracks written by Holraven, except tracks 1 & 11 written by Holraven / Lindvik. All lyrics by Holraven, except track 4 written by Holraven / Dybdahl.