Badger is a 5-piece pop’n’roll combo based in the vibrant arctic city of Tromsø, Norway. Their second full length album, C’mon girls! is now in stores.

If the outdoor climate is cold and harsh in Tromsø, Badgers new album is the total opposite. C’mon girls! is an energetic, warm and extremely likable collections of songs, driven by jangly guitars, sweet vocal harmonies and killer hooks. Who would imagine such sunny songs could appear from such a cold, remote place on earth....

From L to R: Håvard Stangnes, Isak Måseide, Inge Frederiksen, Børge Figenschau and Kim Karlsen.

A short bio

The band came together under the name Badger in 1997, but has existed with its present line-up since summer 2002: Håvard Stangnes (vocals, guitar), Isak Måseide (bass, vocals), Børge Figenschau (guitar), Inge Frederiksen (guitar, vocals) and Kim Karlsen (drums). Isak, Børge and Inge are the only survivors from the original line-up.

Badger recorded a mini-album, later referred to as The Badger EP, with 4 songs in 1998, but it was never officially released. The “real” recording debut came in 2000 and the 5-song EP Faster Days, which received plenty of good reviews after its release. The band played the “by:Larm” festival (Norwegian equivalent to US SXSW and UK In the city) two consecutive years (2000 and 2001).
Summer 2001 Badger took their first trip to the US, to join the International Pop Overthrow festival in Los Angeles, California. They also played the IPO festival in New York December 2001.
In January 2002 Badger’s debut album Every Other Sunday was released in Scandinavia and the US. The album was applauded by critics – and also got to play a part in political life. The mayor of Tromsø decided to by 1500 copies of the album to use as representation gifts, something which caused a major political rumble in the local media and political scene. “When did pop music become worthy spending the tax payers money on?” the mayors’ opponents of course asked. The band, on their hand, was impressed with the mayors impeccable taste in music...

Until this point Gunnar Hammer had been the singer in Badger, but decided to leave the band to work as a journalist for NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Company). Håvard Stangnes filled in for Gunnar for a few gigs in March 2002, and shortly after joined the band with full membership. A few months later drummer Sindre Helmersen – seduced by capitalism and the free market – also decided to quit to go and start his own deli (where the band now often meet to enjoy a cup of Tromsø’s best coffee). In august 2002 new drummer Kim Karlsen joined the band, and by that completed the present Badger line-up.

In March 2003 the band went into Brygga Studio in Trondheim to record the follow-up to Every Other Sunday. The following summer Badger once again travelled to Los Angeles to join the International Pop Overthrow festival, and promote the new album C’mon girls! In November 2003 C’mon girls! were released in Norway and was very well received among the critics.