Culture & entertainment, Stephan Groth

Before the concerts with Lund Commission and Piston Damp were to begin – a man stepped onto the stage.

In the very dim light, the audience could make out a man partially hidden behind a rack of modular synths.

The artist was Stephan Groth. The brother of Jonas and the founder of Apoptygma Berzerk. Stephan is an international legend in electronica – especially in the genre of electronic Gothic Rock, where he is considered a pioneer.

– It’s been a long time since I played in Sarpsborg and it’s not often that me and Jonas are on the same stage either, says Stephan Groth after he has come out into the light.

– I am in an experimental phase now.

– It was good to use the opportunity to try out quite a few new things, when Jonas and Truls (Sønsterud journ.anm.) were to do a Piston Damp concert, says Stephan.

– I’m testing out a lot of new things now. It will hopefully result in something very different from my side, reveals Stephan Groth.

– A feature of electronic music is that most of the artists are based on the same electronics. That makes a lot of things sound the same.

If you are going to do something else, you have to do something with “hardware” – do something with the electronics.

Modular synth

– I am probably the only person in the world who sits on a modular synthesizer where I can vary the composition of the modules myself and in that way create unique soundscapes, explains Stephan Groth who, according to his younger brother Jonas, is a perfectionist in what he does.

The two brothers complement and also play with each other.

Truls Sønsterud – the other half of Piston Damp – is also a techno freak in his genre.

Gruppa Piston Damp was established by Jonas Groth as far back as 24 years ago. It happened as a direct result of Stephan Groth being out on the road with Apoptygma Berzerk’s “Welcome to Earth” tour.

This meant that little brother Jonas and his friend Truls had full access to Stephan’s advanced sound studio. It resulted in creative experimentation within synthpop and electronica.

– We were inspired by Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and New Order from the 1980s, recalls Jonas Groth.

Piston Steam in Germany and Sweden

The project lay dormant until 2020. Then Piston Damp appeared and with it the record “Something in Me”.

It has over 80,000 plays on Spotify.

Piston Damp today has several record recordings and concerts behind them.

Jonas Groth and Truls Sønstrud come straight from a gig and a full house in Jönköping, Sweden. They have played in Leipzig and in Swedish Helsingborg – both last year and this year.

In the future, gigs await in Oslo.

During the concert, we registered several Swedes who had traveled to Norway to listen to the Sarpsborg duo who play energetic and swelling synthpop.

The first band of the evening also impressed the audience as usual.

Lund Commission

The powerpop/indiepop group with the very telling name “The Lund Commission” is a very good live band.

With suggestive, intense chords, they enchant the audience.

The band only consists of Sarpsborg boys who are all very experienced musicians.

Bassist and vocalist Kim Kølbek literally plays with his whole body.

The other two vocalists and guitarists – Ole Henrik Lund and Vegard Johansen reinforce the energetic soundscape, even though the two are much quieter on stage. On drums we find Ted Skogmann and the important synth is handled by Magne Svendsen.

The group has been at it for three years and came out with the album “10-11” in 2021. The following year saw three releases; “Right Sound Wrong Vision”, “Wasting no more time” and “Remove and add it back again”.

The day before the concert at Glenghuse they launched – “Breaking the Cycle”.