Katzenjammer is currently back in the studio recording Demon Kitty Rag for an international release. The vocal charmer God's Great Dust Storm is also being recorded.

Before we left for SXSW we had been on tour all over Norway. We were getting a bit tired of the cold and were really looking forward to the warm weather in Austin, TX. After 14 hours of travel, it was heavenly to arrive in Austin, peel off our clothes and stretch our toes.

Our first show was at Maria's Texmex Express. What a strange and fun time that was playing the tiny outdoor stage with...some AV gear...and a piano that was about to collapse. But no worries! We had the sun, mexican beer and wonderful people around to help. We think Maria and her crew liked us cause after our first performance the beer was on the house and the tip-jar was full! That's where it started and we didn't stop until a week later.

In addition to the official shows, we played for hours on the street. We don't know if anyone could hear us amongst all the other concerts going on on 6th street, but we kept our happy vibe about us and it seemed to lure some music fans to our improv street-show. We had 4 great shows at Maria's TM, Threadgill's, The Rio and Lean's Backyard. The latter was a private backyard belonging to a really cool hippie-gal, who lived in a really cool, old hippie-house...with lots of cool hippie-friends. Everyone was so welcoming and nice. A perfect ending to our stay in Austin...at least...that was supposed to me the ending.

The next day (the day we were travelling back to Norway), National Geographic wanted us to play in their studio followed by an interview. They did not need to ask us twice.

All the backyard-partiers from the day before were invited, and lots of them came. It turned into a very unique experience where we gave every ounce of energy we had in us. The energy in the room was moving and the contact between us and the crowd was indescribable. I think we all almost got religious at some point. It sounds crazy...and it was!

We finally headed home with many new experiences, friends and lots of small, cute gifts in our luggage. This was most definately NOT the last time we will be in Austin. See you soon!!

It's a shame that no one of us has ever been further north than Bodø. Finally, this last week, we've seen and experienced a lot in the far north of Norway.

KIRKENES
The first weekend we went to Kirkenes to play at Barents Spetakel, a music-festival starring bands from the south, north and east. One of the artists, the fabulous Ida Maria and her band, also played at the festival. And we had a blast time with these guys during the trip - that was both entertaining and good fun.

Before our concert we went with Ida & co out to the snow hotel, an amazing art-project. Every year they build and carve this hotel out of ice and snow. We lived in another hotel since I believe it's a fairly cold experience to have a sleepover here. But they had their own little fantastic restaurant (in an own house beside the hotel - it's not easy to cook a warm meal in a kitchen made out of ice..) where we had a fine dinner. A native lap in his spectacular outfit opened the door and showed us into the fire where we got a reindeer-hotdog on a spear to barbecue. In addition to that we got several dishes made out of local food. Very exotic for a bunch of people from the south.

Back at the festival there were a group of Russians, also playing. They couldn't speak a word english nor norwegian, and we had to use our arms and legs to communicate - which didn't always work out as we intended. But eventually we found something that everybody understood; Russian Vodka! A russian girl (who actually spoke a little english) came into our backstage after our gig to show that she liked our show. She knocked at the door and said, " Hi, I'm from Russia, I've got vodka.." and she didn't have to say anything more about that.

Despite this, we went to bed fairly early since we had to get up at 8 o'clock the day after to get home.

I have to mention the stewardess we met on our flight from Kirkenes to Tromsø. It's not a secret that a couple of the girls in Katzenjammer are afraid of flying. Every time we get on a plane we try to inform the cabin-crew about this and sometimes there aren't too much help to get from them. But this time we met the sweetest, most caring stewardess named Tove from Widerøe. She gave us water, chocolate, blankets and comforting words. If it hadn't been for her, this flight could have been much more traumatic (a lot of turbulence!!) than it turned out to be. So thank you Tove, everybody should use you as the perfect example!

TROMSø
A week later we got on the plain again heading towards Tromsø. The venue" Driv" is runned by students. A couple of the students in charge of the place met us at the airport to pick us up. I'm sure that if it had been an award called "the most positive guys through the ages" they would've won it. They had arranged a fantastic backstage room for us with candles, flowers, wine, chocolate and more good stuff - every ingredient that makes us girls melt inside. Good food, good gig, an ill Jørgen (our sound engineer), but all in all a good night! Had to get to bed early, cause the day after we were going to Polarjazz at SVALBARD!

SVALBARD
We have been looking forward to this trip ever since we booked this gig at least 6 months ago. At the airport in Longyearbyen Ola from Polarjazz met us with champagne and big, warm outdoor suits. They had to keep us warm 'cause we were going to be flown in a chopper to the russian town, Barentsburg. Every year, the festival sends one of their artists over to this city to play a concert. This year we got the honor of doin' so. The pilot Trond met us in the hangar, probably the worlds coolest chopper pilot ever, and guided us to our seats. That trip must be one of the most unbelievable, hysterical and extraordinary things I have ever done. An extreme roller coaster with a view over the high mountains of Svalbard and the light is something like none of us has ever seen before. And the best part was, this was only the beginning of the trip..

When we arrived at Barentsburg we felt that a time machine had brought us back several decades. The bus looked like an old tractor in the front and the windows were framed by worn, orange velvet curtains. As in Kirkenes, it was hard to communicate with the inhabitants, luckily we brought an interpreter, Anastasia, who tried to teach us a few russian phrases. But we mostly used the two words "da"= yes and "spasiba" - thank you. The city had a distinctly russian look with regulated blockhouses and streets. And in the middle of it all, twinkling neon lights. We were surprised that it looked so extremely different from Longyearbyen, just a few miles away. The venue had an old Soviet look and the standard on the sound-equipment demanded a certain creativity to make it work - but it did eventually. Before the concert we were invited to a quick lunch. It turned out to be a 4 dish lunch with fish, soup, pork meat and dessert. Every time we tried to excuse ourselves and leave the table because we were running out of time, a strict women in a long white robe commanded us to sit down. And no one dared to argue with her. This was probably a gesture that was important for them to make. Very generous, strict , but friendly people.

That was a concert I think everyone of us will remember - it was weird to be unable to speak to the audience between the songs. I tried to say a few words Anastasia had taught me, but it wasn't until Solveig grabbed Børge the bass balalaika and said the word "Balalaika" ,that everybody understood. And after that they were all convinced that she was russian!

Afterwards we got a 3 dish meal with tons of russian vodka and beer. The russians even sang a couple of songs and gave us a scarf each as a present and a thank you for the concert. With big smiles we flew back to Longyearbyen and eventually got to bed.

The day after we were supposed to go out on an excursion, either on snow-scooters or dog sleighing. Instead we ordered a taxi to drive us around the city on a sightseeing. We got beautiful pictures of the nature, visited a husky dog farm and went to the museum. Then suddenly it was time to prepare ourself for the concert.

The concert was wild! The audience sang and jumped so hard that we heard rumors that someone almost got seasick during the show. And even though it was 15-20 C outside it must have been over +50 C inside. We stayed up a bit longer than usual after the concert because of the good vibe in the venue. AND we even joined the jam session with a couple of tunes. Good fun!

The morning after we went home, a little tired after the long night, but excited about the hole experience. I highly recommend everybody to go to Svalbard - it's worth the money!!