Tammatoys

Tammatoys
Inkognito, Oslo
Date: Friday 20th October 2000
Audience: approx 50

Sven Eriksen

After a very promising CD issue (see Tarkus no 11), it was with a certain expectation we entered the venue to find out if Tammatoys was an equally good live band.

They opened with Be My Friend from the mentioned CD, and appeared to be a very competent band, but perhaps not a lot more. For the evening, the band consisted of Kjetil Bergseth (vocals/guitars/keyboards), Øystein Utby (bass/vocals), Ragnar Utby (guitar), Thomas Knutzen (drums) and Espen Rui (keyboards).

Their strongest point is that they are clever songwriters, even though they included covers by Rush, Saga, King Crimson and Yes (actually a few original choices, for example People by KC and Does It Really Happen by Yes), it is still their own material that stands out as the most interesting. Their main problem is that they appear too much of a "backing band". The keyboard player, for example, could definitely have been allocated a more extensive job, he is more or less reduced to laying down backing chords, while at the same time the songs literally "screams" for instruments that do something meaningful. The result was that the concert was periodically unengaging.

Well, Tammatoys is a talented band containing a lot of potential, and we look forward to following them. They ended their concert with a new song, the best one of the whole evening. If they manage to fill a set with material of this class, they will definitely be a band to reckon with - and not only in their home town...