Wobbler: Musical Evergreens

Imagine an idyllic pool of water nestled amidst a forest of giant spruce and snow-covered mountains. A cool, gentle breeze touches your shoulder as you gaze into the icy reflective pool below. Ready to be baptized in its spirits, you briefly consider dipping your toe in the frigid pond, but instead decide to plunge in headfirst. Prepare to have your breath taken away…

Welcome to the hinterlands, and to Hinterland.

This is the world of Wobbler, the young progressive rock band hailing from the nether reaches of Norway, where snow-crested spires spill shadows on sweeping ridges of evergreen, where dramatic waterfalls are a short walk from serene glacier-cut fjords. This is the land of the midnight sun that inspired the symphonies of Grieg, the plays of Ibsen, and the paintings of Munch.

It is also a place of antiquity, a fact not lost upon young musicians who are well versed in their country’s heritage.

“An old Viking helmet was found a couple of hundreds meters from where we’ve rehearsed,” said Lars Fredrik Froislie, Wobbler’s keyboardist extraordinaire.

Wobbler is the brainchild of Froislie – also a member of White Willow, as is flute player Ketil Einarsen. Together with band mates Morten Andreas Eriksen (electric and acoustic guitars), Kristian Karl Hultgen (bass and sax), Tony Johannessen (vocals), and Martin Nordrum Kneppen (drums and percussion), they gathered in the scenic countryside near Honefoss, Norway, to craft elaborate musical compositions evoking the early 1970s.

Like his fellow musicians, Froislie looks like he could have stepped off an ancient Norse vessel. His Viking-length tresses accentuate a beard grown for protection from the frigid winter blasts of his motherland.

If the members of Wobbler look like they’ve emerged from a time warp, it is only appropriate, given that their chosen style of music reflects an unyielding devotion to the past. Acknowledging their debt to the giants of progressive rock, they rattle off a list of influences: Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, ELP, Gentle Giant, Museo Rosenbach, Van der Graaf Generator, PFM, Il Balletto di Bronzo, and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, to name a few.

It was their intent to create, in their words, “a fundamentalist ‘70s band.” To them, this meant symphonic progressive rock, underscored by the playing of only vintage instruments. “No samples,” Froislie said. “No compromises,” added Einarsen.

In a music world where bands strive to be the next big thing, Wobbler is content to look backward. Its interest lies in capturing the sounds that drew members to music in the first place.

“I don’t know if I’m speaking for everyone, but I’m not interested in creating new stuff,” Einarsen explained. “I don’t care if it’s groundbreaking or anything like that. There exists only two kinds of music, good and bad, and I only want to create good music.”

Music often is an expression of one’s environment. Consider the influence of Ireland on U2, Germany on Tangerine Dream, or California on the Beach Boys. In the case of Wobbler, there is no dismissing the fact that the band’s music alludes to the ambiance and aura of its hibernal home.

A nation of contrasts, Norway’s changing seasons and disparate landscapes provide a stunning combination of serenity and complexity that charms and captivates. During the songwriting stage for Hinterland, Wobbler’s debut album on the Laser’s Edge label, Froislie often strolled into the woods near his farm to find his muse. “Sometimes I would have to run back to the house and try to remember,” he said.

A spectacular setting yielded sensational results.

“It is incredibly beautiful,” said Einarsen, acknowledging the allure of the band’s native land. “It is frighteningly quiet. It’s so quiet, I can hear my tinnitus!”

Einarsen was a relative latecomer to the Hinterland project, joining the group of schoolmates who shared a common ambition to honor the touchstones of progressive rock.

“Rick Wakeman was my favorite player in elementary school, but I also remember seeing the Isle of Wight video documentary from the festival back in 1970, with ELP, Froislie said. “When I rewind to that part, you can’t see it anymore because I played it so many times.”

Einarsen was classically trained, but, like Froislie, he couldn’t resist the pull of prog. “I was a (orchestral) band geek and I was brainwashed by a prog fan at the age of 14,” he recalled. “He gave me four Jethro Tull CDs and I was sold the moment I heard ‘Bourée.’ It really changed my life.”

Other members cite Anglagard, Gryphon, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, The Strawbs, Univers Zero, and Cathedral as influences. To recreate the authentic sound of these bands and others, Wobbler decided the only appropriate answer was to employ the vintage instruments used on the original recordings.

A dedicated keyboard enthusiast, Froislie began a two-year quest to build the battery of instruments that would help define the Wobbler sound. He searched the Internet, scoured eBay auctions, and virtually traveled halfway across the globe in his obsessive quest.

This included two trips to Germany, once to get a Hammond organ from a church, another time to retrieve a second mellotron. In Texas, he found a Chamberlin, complete with a creepy surprise.

Vintage keyboards often bring unique challenges, typically in the form of blown fuses, curling tapes, or dried out machinery in urgent need of oiling. But Froislie found something unexpected in his Chamberlin. “It was a huge spider and there were several huge nests,” he said, still shuddering at the memory.

While software samples of these instruments are readily accessible to musicians in his position, Froislie steadfastly refused to go that route. “We could have played with samples, but it wouldn’t be the same,” he said. “To me, there’s a huge difference.”

“This is one of the reasons the band stands out,” Einarsen added. “I had not been involved in the creative process during the early stages of the band, so I was very surprised and shocked to see how much energy was being put into simple details.”

The band was unafraid to confront its ghosts. Rather than reproduce the sound of, say, Genesis in general terms, Wobbler’s aims were more specific. “I might say, ‘Lets use the third percussion on the Hammond solo from ‘Supper’s Ready,’ or something like that,” Froislie said.

Baroque guitars captured the sound of PFM’s "Appeno un Po.” Harpsichord bits recalled Il Balleto di Bronzo. Hultgen reached for a classic Rickenbacker sound on bass and delivered a perfect mix of Cathedral’s “Stained Glass Stories” and Yes’ “Heart of the Sunrise.”

Eriksen used several guitars, all with a unique sound. The directives to him were typically precise. “A bit more Steve Hackett in that passage, slightly more Bob Fripp right there, but with a hunch of Steve Howe as we enter the next section,” recalled Froislie, who tested his vintage stereo spring reverb and found Museo Rosenbach.

Wobbler was well aware that some might see them as retro resurrectionists or, worse, the equivalent of musical grave robbers. But the band members make no apologies for digging up the honored progressive past. “We’re not afraid to use references from the ‘70s,” Einarsen said.

Their efforts were not in vain. Wobbler’s music, according to Einarsen, is the embodiment of a ‘hyper-‘70s’ sound. “In some ways, it’s even more ‘70s than the ‘70s,” he claimed.

The initial recordings were impressive. The band produced two demo tracks, “Imperial Winter White Dwarf” and “Leprechaun Behind the Door,” which created quite a buzz in prog forums on the Internet. If nothing else, the demos revealed a band basking in a magnificent, multi-layered retro sound. “We tried to present the music in the best ‘70s style and sound,” Kneppen said.

Getting the right sounds did not come easily. Froislie, for one, was forever tinkering with his instruments, fiddling with the presets and wires to get just the right note. “He’s very caring about his instruments – he’s always cleaning them,” Kneppen said. “He’s like the overprotective father,” added Einarsen.

The recording process for Hinterland took several months and was painstaking, to say the least. “I almost went insane,” said Froislie, who was in the studio every day from December 2004 to February 2005, with the exception of only three days. “He even slept there,” Einarsen said.

But Froislie was not alone in his devotion to the music. The recording studio became like a second home to the entire band. In an era when it’s common practice for musicians to record their parts independently, the members of Wobbler often shared the soundstage. “I think this is one of the most democratic bands I’ve seen,” Einarsen said.

Finding a creative consensus was not difficult. Their common love of symphonic prog kept them focused and the petty arguments that can tear a band apart were avoided.

“The one thing we all have in common is that the first time we listened to prog, we all felt like we had come home,” Einarsen said, describing the small musical “subculture” that exists in Norway.

“Other than small festivals or fairs for vinyl freaks (record shows), there aren’t many places for prog in Norway,” he said. “But we all have older friends who actually remember the ‘70s.”

It’s easy to forget that Wobbler is a young band. Other than Einarsen, who isn’t even 30 – “I was born the year that the music died in 1977,” he said – all of the members are in their early twenties. In fact, much of the music on the debut disc was written when they were only 77 or 18 years old.

That naïveté might explain why the band felt compelled to leave those original demos off Hinterland. “We felt like we’d already done that,” Froislie said. “It was more fun to record new material,” adds Einarsen.

Providing paternal advice through the process was close friend Jacob Holm-Lupo, leader of White Willow, who assisted in both recording and production. Oystein Vesaas, engineer for White Willow, co-produced.

“They gave examples of how to do things and suggested new things to try,” Kneppen said. Much of their advice consisted of “more of this, less of that,” according to Froislie. “Basically, they were ‘fresh ears’ to the process.”

Meanwhile, hype was building on the Internet, helped along by the publicity efforts of Ken Golden, who had signed the band to his label, Laser’s Edge.

“Wobbler’s debut channels the holy spirits of the ancient gods of progressive rock,” Golden wrote. “Epic in scope and purely uncompromising, Hinterland offers elaborate compositions filled with thunderous vintage keyboards, delicate flute work, searing guitar and dynamic rhythmic intensity.”

The band knew expectations would be high. The hype was “scary,” Einarsen admitted, but acknowledged that “it’s all good publicity.” The only downside was that such lofty praise led some prog fans to anticipate the second coming of those “ancient gods,” when all Wobbler wanted to do was evoke some fond memories.

And so, given the opportunity to appear in the opening slot at last year’s North East Art-Rock Festival (NEARfest) in Bethlehem, Pa., the band was a bit apprehensive. “It wasn’t like we were trying to appeal to a reviewer without a face in a Norwegian newspaper. These are our prog brethren,” said Froislie.

The band responded to the challenge with a dynamic performance. Following the show, the appreciate festival crowd snapped up pre-sale copies of the band’s discs at Golden’s table like manna from heaven.

“We came to NEARfest as a relatively unknown band, with no CDs and very few concerts behind us, so we are incredibly grateful to (event co-founders) Chad (Hutchinson) and Rob (LaDuca) for letting a small Norwegian band like us play,” said Einarsen, who had appeared at the festival in 2001 with a pre-Froislie White Willow.

When Wobbler formed in 1999 – the name, incidentally, is a reference to the warble of a mini-Moog keyboard, not a fishing lure – the group had two goals: make an album and play at NEARfest. Having achieved both, the band is setting new goals.

“We hope to make many more records,” Kneppen said.

Will the band change? Will they abandon the old school progressive rock sound and ditch the classical composition and instrumental virtuosity in favor of becoming more popular? Will they pull a Genesis?

Unlikely. “We could have played in pop bands and made money, but it’s not about money,” Einarsen said. “The songs we play are just a reflection of the musical tastes of this band.”

Wobbler has been rehearsing new material since last November. While it’s still too early to tell which direction the music will take, it’s safe to say they probably won’t be sounding like Radiohead anytime soon. But anything is possible.

“Who knows?” Einarsen said. “Maybe we’ll go further backwards in time.”