John Snow

When Martin Marker, Bass player of Norwegian rock band John Snow talks about their new self entitled EP, he beams with excitement and great anticipation. ?

"First of all, we would have not believed a year ago just how far we could have come in such a short space of time" Martin points out, laughing. "We formed in a Prague McDonalds in the summer of 2008, our dream was to play in our home town"?

The band who hail from Skien in the Telemark region of Norway are made up of Petter Tordal (lead Vocals), Ole Henrik Dyrseth (Guitars), Vetle Gundersen (Guitars), Martin Marker (Bass), Christer Gundersen (Drums) and Bjornar Christiansen (Keys) ?

"From dreaming of playing in Skien" the bands focus has grown over the past 6 months with the group's emergence from a local competition to signing a management contract to an EP project in Ireland. ?

Their EP project is being overseen by Tre Sheppard, After 12 years as the frontman of the rock n roll adventure that was onehundredhours who toured and supported Daniel Bedingfield, Tre now works as a songwriter, producer, and mix engineer from his private studio, zero hour, based on the north coast of Northern Ireland. Tre is signed to EMI publishing and has written with Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen), Graham Kendrick, Kathryn Scott, Nathan Dantzler and many others and is well known in the UK and beyond for his unique blend of "faith, hope and rock n roll." ?

"The journey to finding the right songs for the EP seemed to be one that was a little longer and more difficult for some reason," explains drummer Christer Gundersen. "Part of that was a really busy schedule leading up to recording within our day to day lives. Sometimes it doesn't allow much time for writing. However the end result, of the songs reflect things we as a band individually have been going through and that makes it feel like more of a project that is 'ours'. We have explored some different sounds and styles and had a lot of fun doing it." Says Bjornar Christiansen (Keys)?

"We wanted to make an important debut EP, Petter Tordal emphasizes. "You get the sense that maybe something really big is going to happen soon, that maybe the way we enjoy things isn't always going to be that way We had that in mind as we wrote songs like Good enough for me and Supersonic; we want to write songs that are up to date, no matter how things are going."?

The guys, whose friendship and collaboration stems from school, are speaking now enthusiastically, each reflecting the other's commitment as well as the entire band's resolution to take John Snow to a higher level in especially challenging times. Their resolution as musicians, like their commitment to each other, only endures and grows with time. The sentiment is echoed by the band's guitarists Ole Henrick Dyrseth and Vetle Gundersen It is out of sheer conviction and love of the music that we find the strength and determination to press on, pursuing excellence in all that we do. As A-ha, perhaps Norway's finest musical export call it a day, new blood is emerging. John Snow have secured a support slot with Norwegian chart topping band "Donkeyboy" in December 2009 at Grenland's Winter Festival. Then on 18th November 2009 they play in "Smuget" one of Oslo's known music clubs. ?

With interest growing daily and an expanding fan base through the social networking sites John Snow is a band to watch out for.