CAVEMEN

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Booking/contact - Jan Rude Bjørke, mailto: jr@bjorke.com, phone +4798232897

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We are a Blues Band from Bergen, a town on the Norwegian west coast. We have a sound that can be described as a combination of American South Sate Rock and Chicago Blues, using today's technology when playing music from the 60’s  & 70’s.

Links - Historical information - Where to meet us - Poster - Demo

January 1967

December 1967

The Background Storry, by Jan Rude Bjørke

The idea to start the band came up when a couple of kids from Bergen were singing Beatles songs. “Kjellien”, one of the kids, was playing in the school bras band, as an "expert", helped out to add a second and a third voice on “Yea, yea, yea” in the Beatles song "She loves you". When we sang the result, we were completely intrigued! Rolf could play acoustic guitar, and after a while, Henning and I started to get the hang of it to. Soon we considered ourselves as "professionals".

We were greatly inspired by the first Bergen Beat bands like “The Stringers”, “Davy Dean and The Young Ones”, “The Hooligans”, “The Quarter Masters” and not to forget “The Hart Beats”, “The Roosters” and “The Apaches”. I remember, while others flirted with the girls, we were deeply concentrated, in front of the stage, observing how the bands played, trying to learn as much as possible from the older musicians. I still remember the unforgettable moments when “Davy Dean and The Young Ones” played tunes like "Shaking all over" or "Lucile" and the entire audience were participating by trampling the rhythm!

Equipment

We did not get any far, sharing only one acoustic guitar. After a period of severe carpentering, we were able to put together self-built guitars. That was all we could afford in the beginning.

But something was missing! We had to have amplifiers! To fund the music adventure, we took jobs, delivering different local newspapers. This led eventually to day when we could buy a used amplifier from a guy who worked in a music store. He had built the amplifier himself and used it when he played his electric accordion. Speakers were bought in a music store. We installed them in huge, self made, wooden boxes! We became experts in cabinet carpentry, use of soldering iron and solder! I dismantled an old radio, found in the attic, took out the amplifier and the speakers and built them into a wooden cabinet!

As the band got jobs, we reinvest the money in new equipment. Soon we were able to buy new equipment in the music store. However, the equipment was very expensive and we could only afford to pay the cash amount. After we had got our parents to sign on credit contracts, we had our pockets filled with monthly postal cheque paying-in forms.

Development

In the beginning we named ourselves The Silence (as a contrast to all the noise when we played). We had a varied crew during this period. I'm not sure if I remember all, but in addition to myself on the bass guitar, I remember:

• Henning Bødtker, lead guitar
• Erling Mehl, rythm guitar
• Bengt Bergesen, drums
• Tom Harry Halvorsen, keyboard
• Jonny on vocal (Jonny where are your?)

Svein Otto Amble worked as a lorry driver, and transported us to our first jobs with his company car. The first job was a midsummer dance party at “Nordre Haugland”, on Askøy. We did not have many tunes in our repertoire. But, by playing The Rolling Stones song "Everybody Need Somebody to Love" for more then half an hour, we managed to stretch it a bit.

We did not get many jobs with The Silenece. But we kept on rehearsing almost every day in different locations. For a while we were rehearsing in the basement of the home of Erling in Svartediksveien. Later in Nygård Skole. As time went by, musicians came and went.

Cavemen originated in 1966

Henning Bødtker and I were left in The Silence. We came into talks with Einar Tvedt. who lived in a neighbouring street, and it turned out that he had a good voice. Henning had god a full day job where he got in contact with Magne Lunde, who wanted to start playing drums. He had never played with a band before, so we had to teach him, but he took it really easy! We also came in contact with Odd Arne Kjøsnes. We had heard him playing lead guitar in another band. Henning came also in contact with Bernhard Nesheim, he could not play nor sing, but should perform as combined road manager and manager.

We got access to new rehearsal facility in an air-raid shelter cave in “Christinegården”, in Bergen. After a while, peoples in the neighbourhood started to call us for cavemen. There we had our name, Cavemen! Later, some people started to organize dancing parties in the cave where we were rehearsing. The dancing parties got bigger and bigger, soon multiple bands were entertaining. I remember one particular time we played there together with The Human Beings and The Rhythmic Six, we ended up with our picture in the local newspaper!

We had now acquired proper instruments, and our music started to sound ok, we thought! In order to manage credit payments, we had to take jobs in local restaurants like the old “Teaterkafeen”, and, when the NATO fleet visited the town, on the “Fregatten” restaurant. This way we played every night, week after week. Our school homework did not go so well, but our musical skills reached new heights!

One evening, when ships from the U.S. Navy visited Bergen and we played in the “Fregatten” restaurant, a bunch of marines came up to the stage and asked if they could play in the break. They said they were from Chicago. They played tunes that we never had heard before, and we stood gazing! They called it the Blues. This was very impressing! Later, we came across John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers from UK, and soon we went 100% Blues!

Now we found ourselves in a situation where almost no one in our geographical area, Western Norway, knew of blues music. They did know Rock, Beat, Rhythm & Blues and Soul, but the Blues was something new. We realized eventually that the audience on our own age or younger, did like what we played, while the older audience did not.

Should we survive as a band, we had to learn how to moderate ourselves, and give the audience what they wanted. There, however, we had a major problem!

Via various impresarios, the band got more and more jobs. Often we drove around and played in several locations on the same evening, together with the other bands from Bergen! The Hart Beats, The Human Being, The Rhythmic Six, Within & Beneath, The Spiders, The Colours, The Diamonds, The Missing Links, The Rags, The Rooster, Max Miseries, The Hitch Hikers, The Dots & Dashes, The Kjell Christians, The Green Onions and The Decent People. Now we were in the golden age of live music in Bergen!

It was especially great for us when we bought our first band car. It was a well-used, burgundy coloured Volkswagen station wagon. We had our name, CAVEMEN, written with big white letters across the windshield. We felt great! But the car was in a rather bad shape.

One time, after having done a job near Voss, we decided to wash our car before we drove home, but ended up as wet crows. We pulled a cord around the car and hang our clothes out to dry, while we drove back to Bergen. However, the brakes were bad, so in order to reduce speed, we had to do a lot of pumping on the break pedal. As we drove, the breaks went worse and by the time we reached the city traffic, we had almost lost them. I can still imaging the situation when , six teenagers in their underwear, with their clothes hanging out to dry around the car. The driver was pumping the break pedal like mad. But the car did not stop. The police officer, conducting the traffic, gave us a stop sign, but the car would not stop. Just as the car reached the intersection, the police officer turned his attention towards us and gave us clear signal. That was a close one.

Each time the car  was stopped for technical controls, we lost our car licence plates and did not get them back until we managed to fix the problems. I remember one time, in Oslo, 500 kilometers from home. Just as we were heading home for Bergen, we were stopped in a technical control, and, as usual, we lost our car license plates at the site. Almost all our money had been spent, buying gasoline for our car. We only had a few kroner left for the ferry boat across the Hardanger fjord. It took a long time before we managed to collect money to take the train home and it even took longer time until we managed to get back our car. It had to be sent by train to from Oslo to Bergen.

Cavemen went to sleep in 1968

The drummer made up his mind to quit for another band. We tried out other drummers, but it was never the same. Next our rhythm guitar player was drafted by the army. Soon it was “game over” and Cavemen went to sleep.

Part of the reason was our bad economy, playing Blues. Equipment costs were high and the need of live music disappeared as the DJ’s a took over.

After doing my military service, I started working in the IT business, but still played for some time with Odd Arne Kjøsnes in various other bands. After having played bass for some years in Salty Dog, I gave up playing as a live band musician in 1983, when I moved with my family from Bergen to Nesodden, outside Oslo. Odd Arne played with several bands before he gave up. Magne Lunde however, was the only one of us who made himself a career as a professional musician!

Cavemen re-originated in 2005!

In connection with a longer job assignment in Bergen, in autumn 2005, I decided to get in contact with my childhood buddies from Cavemen. I managed to reach Henning Bødtker, who still had contact with Einar Tvedt. Finally I got hold of Odd Arne Kjøsnes and we all agreed on joining up for a Thursday dinner at Bergen restaurant called “Bryggeloftet”. And there, out of nowhere, Magne Lunde came too! After dinner we went down in the Bergen Beat Club, and before the end of the evening, we had agreed to start rehearsing again. Our common goal was a reunion concert in the Club, one a spring day in 2006, and so we did!

Cavemen 2006 reunion:

• Solo - Odd Arne Kjøsnes
• Bass - Jan Rude Bjørke
• Vocal - Einar Tvedt
• Stand-in drums - Willy Korneliussen
• Rytmegitar - Henning Bødtker

Fine Vintage

Source: Translated from Bygdanytt, 11. April, 2006

A late autumn restaurant evening on Bryggeloftet, brought back together the old musician buddys of Cavemen. After 38 years they decided, once again, to blow life back into their old band.

Reminisce wave of live band music has reached Bergen. Remains of beat bands from the sixty and the seventies, frequently decides to recycle their old bands to new heights. For a couple of weeks ago, Saft and Human Being's had their reunion concert in Grieghallen, cheered with great enthusiasm by their old fans. Now, Cavemen with lead vocal Einar Tvedt, was next in line.

The concert was held in the BBC (Bergen Beat Club) at the end of last week. Nobody had ever dreamed of the acceptance the band got from the audience. The basement of Rick's restaurant was filled to the limit, almost boiling over by enthusiasm, as the old, well known, Cavemen tunes roamed throughout the venue. The band had not lost the magic from 38 years ago. Tunes like “Sensitive Kind” and “Black Magic Woman” went straight home by the audience.

1966

"We started up in 1966 as an ordinary dance band. We had our first job in Strusshamn on Askøy. In those days there were lots of jobs for musicians, as live music was preferred all over. Cavemen played a lot in the restaurants named Fregatten  and Teaterkafeen(later renamed as Willie's) " says the lead singer Einar Tvedt.

In everydaylife the agronomists educated lead singer runs a 4H-farm in Garnes, where the band also have their weekly rehearsals in the old storehouse.

"The special thing about Cavemen was perhaps that we soon broke with the music that was the trend in the mid Sixties. After a fairly long time with traditional beat, some of us began to move in the direction of a little more tough music" explains bass player Jan Bjørke. "We settled quickly in the new blues wave. In our repertoire we had tunes ranging from Fleetwood Mac and John Mayal to Santana and Van Morrison. This was significantly tougher than the beat and pop music from the first half of the Sixties", emphasizes bass player.

BN hits the buddies on BBC just before they are entering the stage to perform their reunion concert. The mood is perhaps a little tensed. Will the audience still love their music after all these years?

But the audience shows up. In good time before the concert start, most of the seats are occupied. People are mingling around the premises, to and from the bar. Old musician friends meet each other again, and chat goes lively around the tables before it literally brakes loose.

1968

"In the original crew, Magne Lunde was playing drums. But he has unfortunately not been able to participate in the reunion, instead we have got Willy Corneliussen on drums ", explains Tvedt. "Cavemen were only together for about two years. Most of us have for various reasons had little contact since that time. When we met again last fall, it was actually 38 years since I had seen the bass player Jan Bjørke", told Einar Tvedt.

2006

After the reunion the band has spent a lot of time in Arna. Once a week they meet for rehearsal on the 4H-farm in Garnes, using their brand new and modern equipment.

 "Well, if we are going to play in a band, the equipment has to be up to date. Already a week after we had agreed on taking up the thread again, a brand new PA system turns up in my living room on Garnes, "chuckles the gentle agronomist.

 "Moss doesn’t grow fat on a rolling stone," sings Don McLean. It is an expression that fits well on the guys in Cavemen, they don’t think to stop here:

 "It has been very positive to find back to each other again in this way. If all goes as we hope, this will not be our last performance", the vocalist is promising. And even if Cavemen never had a chance to record any music back in the sixties, this can easily be changed now, 40 years later. "It might be fun to make some recordings with the band. I have a son, running a sound studio".

  And who knows? Maybe the Norwegian top ten?

 Georg Kayser (text and photo)

 Cavemen 2007

Photo BBC. From left: Lead guitar - Odd Arne Kjøsnes, bass - Jan Rude Bjørke, vocals - Einar Tvedt, stand-in on drums - Willy Korneliussen and rhythm guitar - Henning Bødtker

Geir Titland

2007 was the year when cavemen again got a steady drummer! Ever since Magne Lunde left - back in the Sixties - we have had to borrow the drummers from other bands. That period is now definitely past. Geir entered the band like a fresh breeze and has shown that he is both steady and very skilled, behind the drums. We feel that he is lifting our music to a new, higher level. We are starting to talk about to go in the studio to make a demo.

 We would also like to thank Willy Korneliussen for helping us out until now, with several great stand-in jobs!

Cavemen 2008

Top from left: Drums - Geir Titland, vocals - Einar Tvedt, rhythm guitar - Henning Bødtker, bottom from left: lead guitar - Odd Arne Kjøsnes, bass - Jan Rude Bjørke

From left: Vocal - Einar Tvedt, drums - Geir Titland

Photo BBC. From left: Lead guitar - Odd Arne Kjøsnes, bass - Jan Rude Bjørke and rhythm guitar - Henning Bødtker

Cavemen Easter 2008 Studio

The studio is named - Soundsurf - with Kristian Fanavoll Tvedt behind the virtual rods. We used the new digital section of the studio, no mixer or tape drives, just computers and flat screens!. Kristian is the son of Einar and it turned soon out that apples do not fall far from the tree. Kristian was absolutely the right man for this studio! It was the first time that Cavemen were in a studio, and we were eager to see how we would take it. After half an hour, we felt at home. It seemed as if we had not done anything else in our entire lives.

The first song is a good warm-up and it still hits like a bullet, “Call Me the Breeze” - Lynyrd Skynyrd - This band was started as a school band Jacksonville, FL, in 1965. We observed that Henning still enjoyed playing US South State Rock. We have created our own layout on this tune as we try to make it sound as live as possible.

Now we were fit for some blues, the next song is called “Juniors Waling” - Steam Hammer - This is an English band from the early 60’s, they despaired during the 70’s, but their music still lives in bands like AXIS and Armageddon. In this song, I finally got the opportunity to play slide bass on my new bass guitar, given to me as a present on my 60 years birthday, from my wife. It is a Musicman, Stingray Five, fretless. It felt awesome to slide on the deep H string during the intro!

When we played the next song, “Dancing in the Moonlight” - Thin Lizzy - Kristian was chuckling when his dad was singing. When the guitar solo came, Odd Arne really got to use the speed in his finger technique! This group was formed early in the 70s, and came out with their first LP record in April 1971, Gary Moore played here for many years. This was a group we all appreciated in the period when Cavemen were to sleep.

Last tune is named “Pretty Woman”, there is a blues tune we played a lot as early as 1967. The first time I heard this tune by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers – it went straight home!

Cavemen 2009

From the left: Lead guitar - Odd Arne Kjøsnes, bass - Jan Rude Bjørke, vocals - Einar Tvedt, drums - Odd Magne Johansen and rhythm guitar - Henning Bødtker

Action from Bergen Beat Club March 2009

Action from Bluescruise with Drøbak BluesClub, july 2009.

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