ETC mk1 (1986 - 1987 )

Anders Kjærulff - bass,
Michael Munch-Hansen - vocals, keyboards,
Johnnie McCoy - drums,
Frank Carvalho - guitars
Lars Søgård - flute and saxophone

This is the original Etcetera prog rock band. All of us attended Aarhus Katedralskole, an old high school in Aarhus, and the band grew out of a circle of friends from that school, and that is what it was really all about. Anders and I were old classmates, and had played together for at least a few years as a duo, making accoustic compositions. We also played with a shifting cast of drummers, but when Michael and Johnnie appeared, the band was born.
In the summer of 1986 all of us went to see Jethro Tull play the Ringe Festival, Fyn, Denmark, on June 4th. The concert made a great impression on us all, and we immediately decided to start a permanent band. Rehearsing in Michaels barn in the countryside added to the special atmosphere of this time.
Lots of songs were composed during this period, most of which only made it to cassette, and some even didn't get that far. We also played Enigma of Erses Tree than was... well, a prog song that I had brought along from Epicure.
Some songs I find worth mentioning are 18 Years, Blandede Bolscher, Høstfantasier, Camel, Experience, Dance pt.I and II, Endelave, Erratic Behaviour and The Hunter.
We played a few concerts in the late summer of 1986, and made a demo tape on very short notice in December 1986, in an (unfortunately) inferior sound quality. Then we played a few concerts in April 1987, before we split.

All Songs folder

Demo tape December 1986

Set list:

18 Years (Michael Munch-Hansen)

Camel (Frank Carvalho)

Experience(Frank Carvalho)

Recorded in Tage Lutkens studio in Sondrup Bakker, Denmark in December 1986.
Produced by Etcetera and Engineered by Tage Lutken.
Recorded on TEAC 8-Track with Dbx noise reduction and mastered to ReVox 2-Track.

Used for this recording:Rickenbacker 4001S, Yamaha B100 top 2 times 15" Fender bass cab, Washburn Falcon electric, Kasuga accoustic 6-string, Vox 710 and Vox AC120, Boss Flanger, Overdrive and Stereo Chorus, Korg PolySix, Crumar Multiman-S, Tama drums. Check out my equipment page

The recording was entirely played live, with little mixing afterwards and finished over 2 days.

Tage deserves mention. He is an old man, close to 80 by now, but has always had a youthful spirit. A pensioned electronics engineer, he moved to the countryside in Sondrup Bakker and built a demo studio in his barn, with soundproof walls and all the necessary equipment. But above all, to use Tages studio is to pay him a visit, and he is always a great host. Tages studio has always provided great surroundings for all our demo projects.

Concert in Aarhus, April 21st, 1987

We did everything ourselves, and were not good at getting gigs, though this comes as no surprise in a country where prog rock was never hip. Yet, we managed to arrange a couple of performances in April 1987. We started to work on increasingly complicated arrangements, but disagreed on the general direction of musical style. I wanted to go more progressive, Johnnie was heading more for jazz/rock at the time and Michael wanted to play more accessible material. This created some tension within the band, and we split after the concert occasions on April 21st and 22nd.


Anders Kjærulff and Michael Munch-Hansen	Johnnie McCoy and the neck of Lars Bukdahl

These concerts were fun. One of our friends, writer Lars Bukdahl sat in front of the drum kit through the entire first set, reading a book. In the break he jumped up and started to read some of his own texts, and finally sat down, only to fall backwards to the floor where he remained through the second set. We also acted out small episodes to go along with some of the lyrics sung. Some more instruments were added to the sound such as a real organ/leslie combination, some more basses and guitars.