Through the album trilogy Misanthropical House, Algorithm and Blues and Research and Destroy, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY have limped their way through midlife crises and pubescent antics. Loud-mouthed and bitter, we have embraced our fate as mediocre losers on the narrow and winding Scandirock path.
Haunted by a constant bad conscience over the outcome of our miserable lives, which in addition to bitterness, have resulted in substance abuse, pettiness, greed, spiritual lethargy, bastard offspring, excessive self-confidence, understated self-awareness, and of course – bodily decay. In breif; A urinal without a drain.
The question has always been nagging: Why us? Why have we, since the dawn of time, been made to curse the day we were born?
So how is life? Still wallowing in a blissful stew of self-loathing and prejudice, wondering why life hasn’t turned out better? Fear not—THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY are back with the quick fix you need.May 23rd is the date, “New Kids on the Blockchain” is the track.
On a cold and damp autumn night, hurdled in front of the numbing and glorious glow of the television, one of GBZ’s members were licking his wounds.
A brutal round of antibiotics for yet another raging chlamydia infection had left our hero in rough shape, nearly choking on a piece of long-marinated, slow-braised chicken tender when the screen of endless opportunities presented its newest solution!
In deep conversation with the smooth-spoken TV-host, a saviour had risen to the occasion. Flaunting a brand-new hairline and gleaming pearly whites, sat this gonzo economist – a capitalist rogue. This true king of the underdogs had built a fat fortune through all kinds of speculation, both at home and abroad. And now, he came bearing urgent advice:
“Do not let yourself get stuck in the past. The train to the future is leaving the station, and the time to invest in cryptocurrency is NOW!”
The scorned November boy stared back at a life stripped of ambitions, shaped by poor choices and bad investments, and thought:
“No more! I’ll break the curse. This time, I’ll dare to win! From now on, it’s time to pump and dump, for indoor sunglasses, a brand new MAGA hat, and to start crypto farming in grandma’s basement.
Hang on to my coat-tails, I’m the New Kid on the Blockchain!”
The Good the Bad and the Zugly – Live
Festivals – summer 2025
Valo Rock, 30 mai – Vadsø Trondheim Rocks, 5 juni – Trondheim Sweden Rock, 7 juni, – SE Mablissfestivalen, 20 juni – Stavanger Tons of Rock, 26 juni – Oslo Måkeskrik, 11 juli – Kr.sand Livestock, 12 juli – Alvdal Fjellparkfestivalen, 18 juli – Flekkefjord NO & SE tour – fall 2025:
05 sep. 25 – Parkbiografen, Skien 06 sep. 25 – Foynhagen, Tønsberg 03 oct. 25 – USF, Bergen 11 oct. 25 – Rockefeller, Oslo 22 oct .25 – Blårock, Tromsø 23 oct. 25 – Blårock, Tromsø 24 oct. 25 – Beddingen kulturhus, Bodø 31 oct. 25. – Plan B, Malmö 01 nov. 25 – Pustervik, Gøteborg – SE 07 nov. 25 – Debaser, Stockholm – SE 08 nov. 25 – Nöjesfabriken, Karlstad – SE More dates TBA.
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY have released a new song ‘How to Do Nothing’, the first single from their upcoming album.
The moist and clammy hand of techno-determinism is tightening its grip on the ever-growing horde of mouth-taped, health obsessed and marathon-running middle managers.
Most recently in the form of smart watches offering to analyze stress, activity levels, and productivity.
Indeed, even you performance in bed can now be coached by wristwatches equipped with artificial intelligence. “You can do better,” they tell us. Whilst “Don’t blame it on being born in November,” ticks across the innocent little display.
This is nothing less than a call for rebellion against Silicon Valley’s chokehold on your attention. With Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing” as our manifest, we now seek to tear the whole damn thing apart and grow a new spiritual scrotum—one where productivity is redefined, boredom is encouraged, and doing nothing is the path to salvation.
Alas! After 6 scarce months mired in alcoholic dementia, dirty diapers and rough sorting of wood cuts, GBZ is back again. We haven’t seen this much slander and swearing from modest region of Hadeland since the Viking King Halvdan Svarte walked through the ice on the Randsfjorden in 840.
But while King Halvdan lived a short and heroic life, the exact opposite can be said of the mediocre outcast in the Good the Bad and the Zugly.
Going on 15 years, they have served aggressive, condemning, and sullen songs commenting on the dire state of themselves, and of the kingdom of Norway – completely devoid of self-awareness and dignity.
And here they are trying to squeeze the last pennies out of some old tracks that has been stored on an old and dusty computer up at Børge’s place in Grindvold.
And what the hell, all these songs that never made the cut and thus failed to become part of any of GBZ epic releases, they’re not all that bad. They’ve just been sweetly brooding up there in Børge’s valley collecting viruses and a nice touch of nostalgia.
So here we are serving you up the delightfully corrupting “Decade of Regression» where the whining reaches new heights. Or is it possible, that this time around, GBZ is actually asking life’s big questions?
Does everything and everyone have to communicate all the time? Do the punks really need to be so goddamn DIY? Why is legendary Euroboy prioritizing urban planning over his Gibson SG? Why is the king of rock, Biff Malibu, neglecting his majestic voice in favor of political analysis? Has Happy Tom started wearing glasses? Why does AC/DC, the band that only sings about fucking, never say fuck? And what the hell is wrong with having Velcro shoes?
These are some of the subjects listening to Decade of Regression won’t shed any new light on.
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE ZUGLY have been delivering premium class, antiquated rock for almost 15 years straight.
They’ve always been the real deal. True heroes of the Armageddon.
Whenever responsibility came knocking at the door they stuck to their guns and kept living the rock life to the fullest. Their contemptuous look at everything and everyone who doesn’t fit into their world view has always been prominent in their sound, and their musical and lyrical expression has stayed uncompromised.
No one has yet dared to confront their satirical know-it-all attitude, but recently water has started to seep through their seemingly waterproof façade.
Band members have on several occasions been observed at the Oslo’s local shopping malls wearing reading glasses, down jackets, and sensible footwear, pushing strollers filled with blaring, chocolate devouring children. With wistful eyes they’re seen pushing strollers through to the suburbs, far away from dirty dens credible dark nooks and shitty toilets.
To mend this rapidly declining rock image they´ve decided to release what they consider to be their worst album so far: A collection of B-songs that have never made the list when assembling the list of Norwegian Grammy nominated classics.
This upcoming album is nothing less of a wonderful bouquet of contemptuous elegies who haven’t yet found a place on the big, dark web.
Truth be told the opinionated armor GBZ has been hiding behind was mostly for show, they’ve always beat around the bush – or as we say in Norwegian: had a walk around the porridge.
And as such, it seems fit to present the soon-to-be hit “Walk Around the Porridge”.
It seems evident that family life in the suburbs has left the self-proclaimed inland misanthropes with somewhat of a setback. Never have a Norwegian band manage to fit so much whining into one song.
The full album will be out April 5th, you may pre-order it from today Feb. 15th.
GBZ IS: Lars Kristian Gulbrandsen – Bass Ivar Nikolaisen – Vocals Eirik Melstrøm – Guitar Kim Skaug – Guitar Magne Vannebo – Drums
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