The Art Of Not Blending In by Burnshee Thornside

A funky number with the now quite famous lyrics (well, at least in some places on the internet :-) "Make the most of your ambition, show your ass on television." Then enters the song "Lamborghino", which could have been written by Michael Franks (but it isn't, we promise). Slow groovy smooth jazz about a monday morning in a very carefree and rich persons life (it's not biographical, unfortunately). Then there's "In the 60's (love was cool)", a little song making fun of the 60's (it's time somebody did, isn't it?). Not forgetting the songs the Elvis Presley would have loved to sing (especially in his black leather suit): "Chevrolet".

Well, and there's 10 more tracks! We hope you will enjoy it! Have a listen.

For those of you who want the full story, please continue reading. But first, a true story from the very very beginning:

When Thornside was in his mid twenties, he worked at McDonalds. Believe it or not, he came so far as to being a "white shirt", bossing around. But of course Thornside had a boss over him, a crazy but nice man from Iran. When he heard that Thornside sang and played the trumpet, he immediately insisted (or "decided" is probably the right word) that Thornside should play for the guests between four and five every Tuesday. Thornside called his old friend Burnshee, with whom he was playing in different bands, and asked him to play with him. They formed a duo, performing jazz standards and some dixie, in the corner of the McDonalds restaurant at Kungsgatan in Stockholm, Sweden. Thornside singing, playing trumpet and banjo, and Thornside playing the guitar. Two hundred Swedish kronor and a free meal was the deal. And the start of what 15 years later would be Burnshee Thornside, the funky jazzy whacky duo from Sweden. (What the guests thought at the moment is not very clear. One thing is for sure: they did not come only to hear Thornside and Burnshee.)

It started in the early 80's

Johan Nilsson and Jens Henriksson - Burnshee Thornside - met in their teens and formed many bands playing mostly funk. It was the days of the "slapping bass" so you had to get hold of a good bassplayer, who knew how to use his thumb. Compared to the rock bands, you also had to have horns, and you had to know how to arrange for horns. Trumpets, saxophones, trombones. Thornside, being also a trumpet player, knew that, so we had great horn arrangements from day one. We made a lot of our own music, played many gigs, and we listened to Earth Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang, Steely Dan, Koinonia, Gino Vanelli, Chaka Khan, Rufus, James Brown, jazz and blues, Zappa, Weather Report... Sometimes Burnshee and Thornside would meet up in the rehearsal studio to record together, on their own. A little pleasure they had, together with the 4-track Fostex Cassette Recorder. It sounded very Motown...

The year 2003

After pursuing different careers (IT, Advertising, computers), of course neither Thornside or Burnshee made a living out of music, altough it gave some good extra money, Burnshee finally made one of his dreams come true: his own studio in the basement. Based around a Mac G4 and Logic. All of a sudden Burnshee and Thornside were back were it all started. Recording, making music, composing, arranging. They looked at each other and decided to start all over. But first they had to get rid of their Swedish sounding names - Johan Nilsson and Jens Henriksson - so they named themselves Burnshee Thornside and their first recording in the new studio was of their old song "Hey Hey Hey" (which now appears on the Burnshee Thornside Album Blues and misc.) After that they composed 14 brand new songs and invited the magic musician Tomas Bergquist in to play drums and bass (he is still with us). The releasing of "The Art Of Not Blending In" was quite successful, there being no record label behind it. We got some airtime on a small radiostation in Oregon, and Australia, and we sold some albums via magnatune.com who supported us from the start. Everybody said it sounded like Steely Dan and Michael McDonald, mostly thanks to Thornside's voice, we guess, but also due to the fact that the music is kind of Rhythm & Blues. With a jazzy feeling. And then a bit funky. And with horns. The lyrics, that's quite another story. They are not only about love. They can be about anything...

A BIG hand to the musicians who was involved in the making of "The Art Of Not Blending In": the magic groove machine Tomas Bergquist, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion. Lilling Palmeklint, beautiful voice on "Borderline" (lead) and groovy background vocals on most of the songs, Monica Hultén, vocals on "One at a time", and some really nice wailing on "Lamborhghino", and Lars Lundell piano solo on Lamborghino. Thanks also to Asa Wettermark, trombone, Kia Wedin, vocals, Soren Svedestig soprano saxophone and Hans Olovsson, baryton and alto sax. You're the best!

The years 2004 and 2005

In 2004 Burnshee Thornside released "Blues & misc.", and, as the title reveals, it was an album with a lot of blues, but also funky jazzy surprises. All and all 12 tracks. Some of them are very cruel ?, like "You can't dance", "Not the one blues" and "You are too expensive for me". But there's also some happy moments: "Happy Blues" and "Ha Keem" (instrumental go lucky) makes you wanna smile. The record is maybe a bit more simple than the first, but still groovy and also a bit more "back to basic". Not as many horn arrangements. Not as many background vocals performed by great sounding female singers. But still very Burnshee Thornside. (Some regard "Blues and misc." as better than "The Art Of Not Blending In".)

And then, in 2005, came "Rock This Moon". 15 new tracks, back to more horns and more background vocals, back to 70's jazzy/funky Steely Dan-ish. With fun, intriguing and whacky lyrics. Have you ever wondered what really happened to Errol Flynn? Have you ever wondered what it's like to be on a routine mission in space, the year 2150? Have you ever wondered why you can't write lyrics like Bob Dylan, or why "doodelido" is the best love-poem ever written? Well, the record Rock This Moon has all the answers. And then there's "In your loop", a funky number about a person who can't get the DJ:s attention. And "Bad Bad Luck", about the hazards of hazard. And of course, the traditonal soul-ballad "Miss your love forever".

Is this only the beginning? Yes, we think so! And maybe, just maybe, one day people will come to McDonalds only because they want to listen to Burnshee Thornside playing in the sound system ?

Check us out on our own website: www.burnsheethornside.com

/Burnshee Thornside

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