Point reduction

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Pont Reduction were a Norwegian pop and rock band from Vestvagoy in Lofoten, formed 1983 by Kurt E. Holm, John Arne Markussen, Paal Johansen, Svein Ole Gjerstad and Ole Hammer. The band created and composed their own music. For about three years they were playing around in Lofoten islands, a music best described as a mix between pure pop and progressive rock. The lyrics, written in both Norwegian and English, were a very important part of their music.

Holm wrote the most of the music and the lyrics, but also Roger Olsen, one of the new members of the band, contributed to the composing in some songs. Among other things he wrote "The Angel Dance", a kind of parody on the breakdance of the eighties. However it later turned out to be ten years ahead of its time, as the nineties came with a lot of songs in the style of "The Angel Dance".

The first year members came and went. Ole Hammer left the band after a few months to concentrate on his education, and after two years only Holm and Markussen were left of the first lineup. Then Vidar Lothe, Ernst Tore Svendsen, Anders Pettersen and Roger Olsen joined Point Reduction. They started the rehearsals for "Eternal Journey", a kind of rock-opera written by Holm, with a little help from Olsen. This was a less commercial project than the songs they used to play, but it was well received by both the press and their fans. Still, in 1986 the band broke up and was split into two bands, John Mark Group, and Double Age.

None of the band existed very long, but most of the members went on with their careers around the country. Roger Olsen and Kurt Holm (Double Age) both moved to Oslo, and were working together for years. In 1998 they released the album "Somewhere In Between", together with Knut R. Johansen, as the trio The Session. Vidar Lothe was taking a music education, while Anders Pettersen and John A. Markussen continued to play with local bands up through the years.

And then, in 2005 they were all moving back to Vestvagoy, and suddenly they had a golden opportunity to reunite as Point Reduction. Holm and Lothe sat down and talked about what went wrong all those years ago, the bitterness, the bad vibrations, and decided that this was a closed book from now on. The basis for Point Reduction, twenty years later was still there. They contacted the old bandmembers, and Lothe, Pettersen, Markussen and Holm all wanted to play together again. New members of the band now were Tommy Johansen, guitarist from The Mudslide Bluesband, and Rund Handberg on keyboards. Anders Pettersen left a short time after this to dedicate himself to his other band, Twilight. Instead Trond Ingar Bjornsen joined on bass. During 2006 Point Reduction will play their reunion concert, and release their first album, 23 years after they first started playing together.