About Yeast.

Danish rock lovers have long been forced to look towards the American West Coast in adoration of heroes

like Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan, Eleven and the music collective Desert Sessions. Danish act

The Hors d’Oeuvres have in the album “Yeast” created a sound that finally manages to move the Danes

towards the “Rock Sanctuary” where they are free to savour the sound of hard, edgy rock and the flavours of

the American desert!

Desert rock with an objective:

The Hors d’Oeuvres (formed in 2002) have worked with Justin Schoening for some time to merge the Danish

rock sound with American desert rock. The objective is obvious – the style needs a Danish representative and

the result can be heard in the songs on “Yeast”. The album is based on a strong and peculiar tune –

well executed and wrapped in long and raw noise sequences. The album also offers a heavy and bone dry

sound with laconic riffs, weighty bass and dreamy vocals.

Especially Lasse Jonsson’s (formerly The Royal Highness) vocals and guitar keeps the heavy bass in check

with his deep, soft and melodic voice. The drums are pounded by Kurt Johansen and the bass guitar is manhandled

by Steffen Kruchov – all together trying to capture the energies of AC/DC, Hendrix and The Stooges.

House guests with “rutting goat shepherd clarinets”…

The Hors d’Oeuvres have received help from the outside from the highly recognised classical guitarist and

Røde Mor member, Lars Trier. Lars Trier contributes on the album’s title song with a so-called “Rutting goat

shepherd clarinet”.

Justin Schoening from the dance project Beat Me Up Baby (which amongst others also counts Alex Puddu),

has contributed with various space guitars and keys on YEAST. He is also the man behind the buttons in the

recording studio and has produced YEAST in cooperation with The Hors d’Oeuvres.

In the spring of 2002, the foundation of The Hors D’oeuvres was laid. The band’s declared goal was to make music that both captured the energy of old Hendrix and Stooges records; that contained the band’s trademark desert factor and that had the melodiousness of Queens of the Stone Age. Cooking up these ingredients, The Hors D’ oeuvres would then ad a fourth flavor: They would play LOUD, LOUD, LOUD.

Songwriter Lasse Jonsson had long been looking for a drummer and a bass player to form a trio that would launch his many songs. Kurt John Johansen and Steffen Kruchov Madsen signed on, and The Hors D’oeuvres was created.

After about 4 months of intense rehearsals, the band recorded their first demo, and approximately two years later, the debut album, “Lemonade”, was cleared for take-off. The album, which was recorded in just a week, bears witness to an energetic and thoroughly consolidated band. The sound is heavy, the style is laid back, and the songs are “classics on acid”.

Though the songwriting technique used by The Hors D’ouevres follows the longstanding tradition of rock ‘n’ roll, the individual songs display a surprising and refreshing amount of self-irony. This, along with the LOUDness flavor, seems to be underlying theme of “Lemonade”.

The album “lemonade” provides ample evidence of this band’s musical capacity, but it should be made perfectly clear that The Hors D’ouevres is first and foremost a live act - A live act that belongs in any concert calendar.