| Background: | group_or_band |
| Madrugada | |
| Origin: | Stokmarknes, Norway |
| Years Active: | 1993–2008, 2018–present |
| Label: | EMI/Virgin |
| Current Members: |
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| Past Members: |
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Madrugada is a Norwegian alternative rock band formed in the town of Stokmarknes in 1993. Its key members have included Sivert Høyem (vocals), Robert Burås (guitar), and Frode Jacobsen (bass). After Burås' death on 12 July 2007, Høyem and Jacobsen decided to finish recording what was to be their final album in the original lineup.[1] On 21 January 2008, the band released Madrugada and announced that they would split after one last tour. They performed their final concert on 15 November 2008.[2]
In June 2018, it was announced that Høyem, Jacobsen, and Lauvland Pettersen had reformed the band for a series of shows in 2019.
According to Anders Kaasen of Allmusic, the band was noted for "its bareboned blues-inspired alt-rock" at the end of the 1990s.[3]
The word madrugada means "the period of time between midnight and sunrise" in Portuguese and Spanish.
The group of musicians that would go on to become Madrugada formed in the town of Stokmarknes in 1993 under the name Abbeys Adoption. The band members at this time included Jon Lauvland Pettersen (drums), Frode Jacobsen (bass), Sivert Høyem (vocals), and Marius 'Wah Wah' Johansen (guitar). In 1995, they were joined by guitarist Robert Burås and made the decision to move to Oslo, after which Johansen departed. By 1998, the band had been signed to a six-album deal by Virgin Music Norway, and after a chance meeting with Norwegian author and poet Øystein Wingaard Wolf in a bar, changed their name to Madrugada.[2]
Their debut album, Industrial Silence, was released on 30 August 1999 to critical acclaim and was followed by The Nightly Disease, in 2001.
After personal relations became fraught, Pettersen left the band in early 2002 and was replaced by Simen Vangen. Soon afterwards, work began on a third album, Grit.
Madrugada finished working on their fourth album, The Deep End, in late 2004. Recorded at Sound City in Los Angeles with producer George Drakoulias, it was released on 28 February 2005 in Norway, on 31 March in the rest of Europe, and finally in the US on 11 April.[4] The lead single "The Kids Are on High Street" was released for domestic radio play on 14 January, and a music video was filmed in London. Vangen announced his departure in early 2005, stating that he wished to focus on various jazz-related projects, leaving the band without a permanent drummer.[1]
On 14 December 2005, Madrugada released the album Live at Tralfamadore, (named after the fictional home planet of aliens from several novels by American author Kurt Vonnegut).[2] By the end of 2005 and less than a month after its release, it became the highest-selling album in Norway for that year, with The Deep End as the runner-up. The year was capped off with Madrugada winning three awards at the annual Spellemannprisen—the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammys. They won in the Best Rock Album, Best Song, and Spellemann of the Year categories.
Following this successful period, the band members focused on various side projects. Høyem released his second solo album, Exiles, in 2006, while Burås and his band My Midnight Creeps released their second album, Histamin, in March 2007.
The band reconvened in the spring of 2007 with Industrial Silence, Nightly Disease, and Histamin producer John Agnello to begin work on their fifth album, but on 12 July 2007, Robert Burås was found dead in his Oslo apartment; he was 31 years old.[1] [5]
Following the release of the new single "Look Away Lucifer", on 10 December 2007, the band's final, self-titled album was eventually published on 21 January 2008. The majority of guitar tracks had been recorded before Burås' death.
In the spring of 2008, joined by My Midnight Creeps guitarist Alex Kloster-Jensen and friend of the band Cato Thomassen, Madrugada embarked on a tour throughout Europe.
In 2010, a career spanning double album was released, entitled The Best of Madrugada. It included one new track, "All This Wanting to Be Free".
On 15 June 2018, it was announced via the band's Facebook page that Madrugada had reunited with original drummer Jon Lauvland Pettersen, and a 2019 European tour was planned.[6]
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