Interview with Anna and Proxy of Old School Booking 2009

By Bradley Smith

Can you tell me how you two (Anna and Proxy) came to found Old School Booking and how did you come up with the name, Old School Booking?  When was it formed and what is the driving force behind OSB?  What are your goals for it?

Well, as our press letter clearly states we where simply sick of the same shitty bands doing the same shitty shows over and over… And let’s not forget the Norwegian Black Metal Scene totally taking over.. Get us right, you might find black metal bands on our poster at one time, but then we are talking dirty OLD black metal!!! We where actually for some stupid reason struggling with the name of the agency.. we where sitting talking: bla…bla…bla..hmm what should we call us that clearly states what we represent… hmm… yeah we only will book the old school bands.. And then SUDDENLY a light-bulb went on: OLD SCHOOL BOOKING – Off course!!! It couldn’t have been anything else really. Oh… And we started the company according to our papers April, 2009.

Old School Booking is sponsoring the Raise the Dead fest, how is it going and what are some other prominent musical events you have booked?  What was your favourite gig you have sponsored?

Hmm..if you mean by sponsoring skipping a meal or two then you are right. We do these shows out of our own pocket. We actually do everything; booking, promotion, bringers of beer, stage-security… Off course at our festival we have a lot of volunteers working for us that we seriously couldn’t do without. Since we only book bands that we our self are fans of, it is hard to single out one band. What I can say is that we are proud for bringing bands that haven’t played in Oslo before and also NEVER having gigs where we just put on a shitty support act to fill up the bill.

Sometimes of course we get contacted by promoters that has a band we like on tour and they are bringing their own support, but that is the only time that will happen… We aim for Quality over quantity from beginning to end…

Can you walk me through the process of booking a tour package?  How do you go about selecting what bands you want to book?  What cuts does everyone get from the evening’s earnings?

We don’t do tours. We only do single shows (and the fest) in Oslo and are looking now into Stockholm, Sweden as well… That is more than enough for the time being.

When you are hosting a concert what are your monetary goals?  What happens if the show is not profitable?

Our goals is always that everything goes smoothly for the bands so they can concentrate on giving the audience one hell of a show!!! If the show is not profitable we postpone rent and eat pasta for a month... I kid ya not! But we are looking into sponsors so that we have some more back-up... SO any sponsors lurking around, get in touch.

If a band you booked had a bad attitude would that ever change your view towards their music?  I mean if they were real unreasonable and had a bad attitude would you start to dislike albums you previously thought highly of?  Has this ever happened to you?

This I have to say has never happened to us. All the bands we had over with our agency and me with my at my past one have been simply great! We have the opposite problem – we hate to see them leave..however the cute ones we love to watch go ;)..hehe.

I had a bad episode with W.A.S.P in Stockholm when I went to a show at a metal-boat there. I am a huuuuge fan and had been driving for hours and was totally sober as I didn’t want to miss anything. Stood front row and screamed to all the songs when after five songs the public went nuts so I got thrown to the stage. Blackie actually kicked me in the face, twice! And I was nooo where near any instruments/monitors… But still it ended up great – guitar player found me later on, said sorry and gave me shitloads of cool plecters... haha... However I have since then promised that I will NEVER see them live again, since I want to still be a fan.

When I met you two at the Whiplash/Agent Steel gig I noticed instantly that you were old schoolers to the bone.  When did you first discover your love for metal and what bands got you into metal?  What are some of your favourite bands?

AnnaConda: I was pretty young… Had an older brother that listened to 80s heavy and also my mom, an old hippie introduced me early to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin… Me and Petter (bass player of Audiopain) grew up together since our parents where childhood friends. We used to save our allowance and send out to bands for promos... Since we couldn’t afford them all, we used to split the bands between us and then make copies of the tapes...hehe. Worked like a charm!

There are so many amazing bands out there, but one of my biggest favourites is Sodom! But I could go on forever. Just take a look at the bands we have booked and you will find them there!!

Proxy : My friend had a insanely good looking big brother who played Sepultura`s “Schizophrenia” for me the first time  back in `89.. The interest was then established. And I had some metalheads in my class (Bjørn Hinkel – our current sound dude) to trade info with. We hung out at the old Hot Records after school. Then in `93 I met Czral/Aggressor who was a big influence on my development in music taste. But I have always had a broad music taste which includes everything from classical too crappy 80`s ballads.

I don`t have any particular favourite bands. It all depends on my mood and the setting. Except for Rush, that works during sex-acts as well as doing dishes.

If you could book any band that is either broken up or active but doesn’t play live for a one-off show, which band would it be and why would you choose them?  Where would you want the show and why?

WITCHFINDER GENERAL!!! And we where soooo close. Also I would have loved to be young in Germany and see Violent Force live in Velbert at the metal club there!! I have seen the video’s my good friend Atomic Steiff has at his house and the atmosphere seems crazy and magic!! I get chills when I watch those videos…

Witchfinder would have to be at Parkteateret due to the great sound and atmosphere!

I would say that you two appear to live the metal lifestyle.  But what does the Metal-lifestyle mean to you?  And how does a person live by this metallic code and what metal personality do you think best exemplify METAL?  (Say BALOFF!!!, heh heh)

It means to be poor.. Often I open my wallet and I can swear it is laughing straight in my face, but then I look at  my collection of vinyl’s and remember what I spent it on..

But I think this so-called metal lifestyle thing is retarded. What does it mean really? I just do what feels right by me, for my own personal well-being. I party and travel to shows all over the world, but I also have my “normal” life with my two dogs which I train regularly by driving the sled, go running, up and down mountains etc…

And Proxy has a 10 year old son so she is living the  hard core metal lifestyle at home with her knitting and domestic shores.

What are some upcoming music projects that Old School Booking is involved with?  Will it be harder to coordinate and collaborate on these events since Anna is moving to Sweden?

Our next show is with the legendary Doom band Saint Vitus. They are having a re-union tour next year and will be stopping by Oslo in February. As support we have booked a great band from Uppsala, Sweden called In Solitude – I would highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t already!!! There will be a 3^rd band as well, but this is so far not confirmed.

To keep yourself updated on our plans for the future, we have a newsletter you can sign up to at our website: www.oldschoolbooking.no

We have discovered this really modern thing called train – it is quit genius. The train-ride is approx 6 hours so whenever I need to be in Norway for a gig I just train-ride my ass over the border. Also, most booking stuff we take over the internet anyways. Looking into doing some shows at venues in Stockholm as well, but this is so far just on paper.

I’ll leave any Final Thoughts to you, and remember Death Is Certain, Life is NOT! (At least according to Dark Angel)

And one should obey (not only the law) but also Dark Angel!!!

Never become so Old School that you truly only are narrow-minded... There actually are some new bands popping up that are capturing the true sound of the old days. They don’t have to be geriatric in order to play good metal…

- Annaconda Chickenkiller!   (*haunting from the bed – hungover beyond belief* - Nekromamma Proxy)