Biography
The Disciplines focus on high-energy, no-frills garage rock laced with pop hooks, an approach that could puzzle listeners acquainted with the group’s roots. Their history traces to Briskeby, a Norwegian pop outfit that enjoyed enormous success at home, which recruited Ken Stringfellow—co-founder of the Posies, the American alt-pop heroes, and a frequent collaborator with R.E.M. and Big Star—to help record the band’s third album, 2005’s Jumping on Cars, and to join its ensuing tour. That release turned out to be Briskeby’s last, after which guitarist Bjorn Bergene, bassist Bard Helgeland, and drummer Claus Heiberg Larsen sought a simpler, leaner, and more immediate sound than the polished, electronically oriented pop of their previous work. Stringfellow embraced the same goal and joined the trio as lead singer for the new venture they called the Disciplines. Their debut, Smoking Kills, appeared in early 2009 and was promoted with concerts in Sweden, Norway, and North America; when his bandmates were unavailable, Stringfellow instead toured Asia with a temporary lineup of Disciplines. Late in 2009, Larsen departed and Ralle Vilnes of Emmett Brown took over on drums. The revised lineup entered the studio in mid-2010, resulting in the international release of the second Disciplines album, Virgins of Menace, the following spring.