Free video download
28 August 2010
In anticipation of Absent Elk's next single release 'Let Me Know', the guys will be making their new video available for free download from this site during Sunday 29 August.
Absent Elk at Concorde 2, Brighton
14 August 2010
Absent Elk appear at Concorde 2, Brighton on 24 September, supported by old friends, Hold Fire. Tickets are available from the Concorde Box Office or ring +44(0)1273 673 311, See Tickets and other good ticket vendors.
New single Let Me Know announced
14 August 2010
From their first album, Caught In The Headlights, Absent Elk release Let Me Know as a radio edit through Amazon Records on 12 September 2010. The single will be available for digital download only from the usual sources from that date.
Absent Elk play Norway
5 August 2010
Absent will play Nytelsesfestivalen in Grimstad, Aust-Agder, Norway on 7 August. They will hit the stage around 20:00.
Emily single release
14 February 2010 20:20
Absent Elk's latest single 'Emily' is released digitally on 7 March 2010.
Emily makes Juice playlist
17 March 2010
Absent Elk's latest single, 'Emily,' is included on Brighton's Juice Radio playlist for the week commencing 15 March 2010. See Juice's playlist page
Wossy plays Emily
27 February 2010 20:27
Great to hear Emily played on BBC Radio 2 again this morning, this time on Jonathan Ross's Saturday show when he described it as 'a great sound'. Amusing banter regarding the band's name then followed.
Emily on the BBC
20 February 2010 18:34
The boy's next single, 'Emily', from the 'Caught in the Headlights' album, has been receiving BBC radio plays on Dermot O'Leary and Steve Wright shows this week. Why not send them a text or email on 88291 to request more plays?
Change My World single release
Change My World is released as a single on 30 November 2009.
Absent Elk headline tour
The boys have just come off their first UK Headline Tour, which finished in style, with a sold-out show at London's Islington Academy. Thanks to everybody who came out to support them all over the UK... as Ross put it; "it's great to know we have new friends so far from home!"
Absent Elk pictured at Covent Garden
Fan content
Absent Elk posted a thank you note aimed at the Penguin store in Covent Garden on the band’s official MySpace page – the guys wanted to express gratitude to the store for hosting their single launch performance on this year’s Norwegian Day. From pictures posted on Mike’s Flickr page, it looks as if the release party for the band’s debut, “Sun & Water,” went swimmingly – both fans and band look as if they are having the time of their lives in the photos.
There are several photos of the band performing inside of the store, which looks as if it were a bit of a tight squeeze – but no matter, because Covent Garden is a prime spot for a single release performance.
Besides pictures of the guys playing music (which is what the day was all about), there are pictures of excited fans and people wearing Absent Elk release day slash Norwegian Day t-shirts. It also appears that official Absent Elk balloons were manufactured for the event – the guys seemed to have planned this day out down to the last detail!
Also included in the Flickr photostream are a few pictures from the guys’ Girls Aloud tour that I’d not yet seen – and new pictures are always a welcome treat. Though they were uploaded almost a month ago, it’s great to see more pictorial proof of the great time the guys had performing on tour with the popular girl group
Absent Elk arriving at the O2 - Absent Elk diaries
26 April 2009
Video from the boys' tour bus on their way to The O2 in London for the Girls Aloud tour.
Time Out London recommends Absent Elk, Girls Aloud
Fan content submitted by Jody from Kent
Time Out, the London based entertainment news and event publisher, is listing the Girls Aloud show featuring Absent Elk under its recommended performances for the upcoming weekend, describing Absent Elk as "sweetly titled five-piece offering emotive, epic melodic rock that suggests a blend of Coldplay and Doves". The show will take place at London's O2 Arena, this Sunday April 26 at 6:30 pm. This is to be one of Absent Elk's bigger performances, as the O2 Arena could quite literally be filled with 3.8 billion pints of beer or with the water of 1,100 Olympic swimming pools – it’s spatially that big. Absent Elk may have come to the Girls’ attention by making an acoustic cover and YouTube video of their single “The Loving Kind,” which shot to number one on YouTube the week it was uploaded, with over 50,000 views in a matter of days.
Sarah Harding on up and coming Girls Aloud tour with Absent Elk
This fan content was submitted by Claire from London
A recent report from Digital Spy has Sarah Harding confessing to being somewhat “possessed” when she heads out to perform onstage. The Girls Aloud singer told GQ that she sometimes loses control of what she says and does during concerts – and that she sometimes feels like a completely different person when she is up there in front of all of those people.
She told the men’s magazine, “I do get quite possessed when I am onstage. It is embarrassing. Sometimes I don’t even know what I am saying. It is out of my control. I just explode. There are different sides to me. I am an excited puppy or a dead dog. I have big fat bursts of energy and then I can be really moody.” Sarah also informed the magazine that she would be terribly bored if she were forced to do the same thing year after year. She always wants to do something different, and she has plans (or aspirations, at least) to be a part of a costume drama “next.”
As previously announced, Absent Elk will be joining Sarah and the rest of Girls Aloud tour for their upcoming “Out of Control” tour. Frontman Kjetil recently told the Music Magazine that his band will be joining the Girls on tour beginning April 24.
“We’ve gotten eleven dates with them all over the UK,” he said, “so we’re going to get to play to masses of people! Our first single ‘Sun & Water’ is released 18 May and our debut album is expected to be out just over the summer. So we’re hoping to make some firm footprints in the UK charts during this year!”
When asked if he and his bandmates were nervous about playing in front of the massive Girls Aloud following, Kjetil responded that they were only really excited about it. He said: “We really can’t wait for that tour. It’s a massive opportunity for us to get our music out there, so we’re going to grab it with both hands.”
Absent Elk head to Belfast with Girls Aloud
Fan submitted content from Kelly in Manchester
Lurgan Today ran an article April 9 in which they made the announcement that the five piece contemporary rockers Absent Elk would be sweeping into Belfast alongside Girls Aloud for a tour stop in the city. The band will be in Belfast for three nights’ worth of appearances at the end of April.
The band, one-fifth Norwegian and four-fifths out of Brighton, were awarded a supporting role in the Girls Aloud tour after their own cover of “The Loving Kind” became incredibly popular with viewers on YouTube. Indeed, Absent Elk’s version of that song has been widely publicized and mentioned in almost every interview with the band members.
Ross Martin, guitarist and keyboard player, told the Mail: “To be perfectly honest when we were choosing the cover, I said ‘They might see it and take us on tour with them’. I only said it jokingly. I don’t know whether we’ll be doing it on the tour - we’ll have to check with the girls first.”
Girls Aloud and Absent Elk certainly aren’t similar in their respective musical overtones, but that cover is a sort of connection between the two groups, and it’s likely that the same crowd who is into the Girls will also find affinity with the boys, who are incredibly talented in their own right.
Absent Elk are planning on just being their bright and buoyant selves onstage, and playing their set per usual, rather than changing their sound to try and suit the needs of a new audience. This is probably the best strategy, as doing what they do best is what will surely impress the Girls Aloud fans. Though Absent Elk may not sound much like Girls Aloud, what the two groups do have in common are pop driven songs and a healthy dose of ambition.
Absent Elk will be supporting Girls Aloud on tour over the next few weeks - so don't miss out of the chance to see them perform!
Absent Elk's take on Lady Gaga's Pokerface
(This fan content was submitted by Kelly from Birmingham)
Lady Gaga has been something of a mega force on recent pop charts, especially with her singles “Just Dance” and “Pokerface". New band, Absent Elk have now covered Lady Gaga's hit, "Pokerface". Perhaps better than a gigantic single that can be heard on every air wave, headset, and speaker around is the fact that such a song usually inspires other musicians to flood sharing networks, such as YouTube and MySpace, with covers of such a song.
Absent Elk have taken a similar route concerning Lady Gaga’s latest, “Pokerface.” Lady Gaga’s original version of the tune is already something of a spectacle on the pop charts... but Absent Elk manage to give the song the soul it lacked in the hands of Lady Gaga.
Admittedly, Absent Elk’s version of “Pokerface” has a tongue in cheek side to it, a bit like their cover of Girls Aloud’s song “The Loving Kind.” Much like the last cover video the band made (which featured them playing the song live in a living room), this one is also a production effort on the part of the band and appears to be much what one would expect from a low-budget or DIY music video. The band’s efforts certainly don’t go unnoticed – the video is entirely charming and has a bit of a retro feel (perhaps stemming from the DIY theme).
Absent Elk set to support Girls Aloud on tour
(This fan content was submitted by Sally from Leeds)
Absent Elk will support Girls Aloud on their UK tour. The tour starts on April 24th in Manchester. Absent Elk were chosen for the tour after Girls Aloud spotted their home made cover version of Girls Aloud’s song ‘The Loving Kind’.
Absent Elk are also set to release their debut single on May 18th. The single, ‘Sun And Water’ is released on RCA. The boys have already covered a Girls Aloud track but the chance to support girls could see the guys win a whole new set of fans.
Absent Elk on tour with Girls Aloud:
April
Fri 24 Manchester Evening News Arena
Sat 25 Sheffield Arena
Sun 26 London O2 Arena
Tue 28 Belfast Odyssey Arena
Wed 29 Belfast Odyssey Arena
Thu 30 Belfast Odyssey Arena
May
Tue 5 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Wed 6 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Fri 8 Glasgow SECC & Clyde Auditorium
Absent Elk on Dermot O'Leary on YouTube
Fan content
Absent Elk posted a link on their MySpace blog to a BBC Radio 2 interview the band gave to Dermot O’Leary over the weekend. If you copy and paste the address into your browser it will take you right to another link where you can then click on the iPlayer Radio Console (just make sure you have Real Player in order to hear the interview).
Better still, if you don’t feel like downloading Real Player in order to hear the Absent Elk interview on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio 2 show then fear not because you can enjoy watching the band play their live set on YouTube! Absent Elk went on O’Leary’s show this past weekend, where they briefly discussed their upcoming tour with Girls Aloud and joked around with O’Leary who attempted to chat with Kjetil in his native Norwegian tongue, but didn’t seem to quite get it.
There are two videos up on the site. In the first the band is seen playing future single release ‘Sun & Water’, filmed on what seemed like a little camcorder, which gave the session a bit of a DIY feel. The guys gave a powerful emotional performance of this song, which sounded great over the radio, but has an amazing effect when you hear it alongside the video footage!
In the second part of the session, Dermot accidentally reveals that Absent Elk will be touring with none other than girl group Girls Aloud, and – appropriately – the band delves into their rendition of Girls Aloud’s ‘The Loving Kind’. Personally I much prefer Absent Elk’s version of the song – it seems sweeter and sounds very genuine coming from them. If Girls Aloud’s song is glamorous and upbeat, Absent Elk give a delicate and tenderer rendition of it. Listening to it, it’s as if you rediscover the song when you hear the lyrics in such a new light (assuming of course that you’ve first heard the version from Girls Aloud).
After the song Dermot O’Leary exclaims, “That was beautiful!” and it’s incredibly difficult not to agree with him.
“And what happens now, guys? When do you start touring with Girls Aloud?” O’Leary asks. The last thing you hear in the video is the answer, “End of April.”
See the Dermot O'Leary show videos.
Who are Absent Elk?
Absent Elk frontman Kjetil is from Norway, an emigration which gave the band their unusual name and influences much of the lyrical content. The rest of the band are from Brighton, and have been writing music together in various formats for many years before finding the right man to complete the lineup. Within three weeks of meeting Kjetil, Absent Elk played their first live show to a few thousand festival-goers, having written an entire new set together...
© Absent Elk 2010