Founded in Trondheim, Norway in 1989, Motorpsycho is a Norwegian progressive rock band formed by Bent Sæther (bass/vocals), Hans Magnus "Snah" Ryan (guitar/vocals) and Håkon Gebhardt (drums), who was later replaced by Kenneth Kapstad (2007-2016) and Tomas Järmyr (2017-2022). The band’s unique sound was initially inspired by grunge, metal and indie rock with their first double album Demon Box released in 1993, earning a nomination for Best Rock Album at the prestigious Spellemannprisen awards and attracting considerable attention throughout Europe. Motorpsycho’s next four albums Timothy’s Monster (1994), Blissard (1996) Angels and Daemons at Play (1997) charted in the top 10, winning a Spellemannprisen award for Best Hard Rock Album for each. In 2000, the band debuted at number 1 with their jazz-inspired album Let Them Eat Cake, retaining their new style for Phanerothyme (2001) and It’s a Love Cult (2002) peaking at at number 1 and 2 respectively on the charts. Collaborating with keyboardist Ståle Storløkken in 2012, Motorpsycho performed on concept album The Death Defying Unicorn, featuring members of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra on their European tour. The band returned to their progressive roots with Still Life With Eggplant (2013) Behind the Sun (2014) and Here Be Monsters in 2016, and were inducted Norway’s Rockheim Hall of Fame in 2017. Motorpsycho continued to release an album every year, with The Tower (2017), The All Is One (2019) and Kingdom of Oblivion (2020) charting at number 3, with experimental progressive rock album Ancient Astronauts (2022) receiving critical acclaim.
