Street Legal

Unconditional love of melodic hard rock, thousands of live shows and hard-earned pop star experiences from the insane ‘80s. Meet Street Legal. One of the best classic rock bands in the galaxy.

Street Legal consists of brothers Bjørn Boge (writer/singer/bass player/producer) and Øystein Boge (drums). Joined by leading classic rock musicians they have made Bite The Bullet. An album which is released nine years after the debut Thunderdome hit the streets and a whole 19 years after the first Street Legal riffs were carved out in 1990. Chinese Democracy tendencies aside, the long intermezzo has nothing to do with laziness or acting like prima donnas. Quite on the contrary.

Bjørn Boge has been a professional musician since the age of 17 and has done almost 2000 gigs with projects as different as Thin Lizzy, Trine Rein and Ole Evenrud (Evenrude). And then he’s played in Da Vinci.

The band who set a Norwegian record in bad reviews for the albums Da Vinci and Back In Business in the ‘80s, but got a panegyric reception in the foreign press. They produced big audience favourites in the shape of «Forever In My Heart» and «Tarquina», and did a legendary performance at Spellemansprisen (the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy awards) in ’87, before the band dissolved in a cloud of alcohol and infighting in 1990.

Younger brother Øystein is certainly not a novice within the rock ‘n’ roll circus himself, and like his big brother he has rocked his way through thousands of gigs, with big artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Stephen Ackles, Wig Wam and Vestlandsfanden. So the brothers have been continually busy playing.

But how does Street Legal sound in 2009? Like a Polaroid shot from a bygone age, where high hair, pastel coloured riffs and enormous refrains are fighting for the spotlight? Well, yes and no. Street Legal is primarily a blues based hard rock band.

This means that Thin Lizzy (Bjørn Boge filled in for current singer John Sykes when he became ill before a concert in Norway in 2008), Whitesnake, KISS, Journey and such goodies are apparent role models.

But Bjørn Boge the song writer is in no way trying to hide from his past in Da Vinci, and you can definitely hear hints of pastel and shamelessness here and there. The sum of this is a steaming rock ‘n’ roll brew, with focus on melodies and compact refrains.

Street Legal is one of the most stable live acts in the business, and will do everything in their power to make you drink heavily and sing loud. Whether in a small pub in rural Norway or in a packed club on the Continent, the band will put the pedal to the metal and deliver heavy rock shocks, hammering out a mix of their own material and tastefully chosen covers. The focus is on making sure everyone’s having a great time. If you are in show business, you are in show business…