Jim Protector profile picture

Jim Protector

Get "shields down" on vinyl @ www.thegarden.no

About Me


Jim Protector have emotion and sensuality running through their sounds like gold dust, and don't need any kind of cool posturing to hold them up further.
-Neil Jones, musicOMH.com, 22 September 2007

Since the modest instrument-fiddling and recording of odd little numbers on the family computer back in 2001, Jim Protector is now seven years down the road with stage appearances and/or recordings with Ken Stringfellow (the posies), Jad Fair (Half Japanese), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), Garth Hudson (The Band), and members of Electric Soft Parade, Goldrush, and Danny And The Champions Of The World. The ever growing fan base is a brick by brick effort, due to the bands charm and at times mesmerizing concerts. Hailed as one of 15 important bands of the Oslo Underground scene, they maintain both feet on the ground, as loyal servants of their love of music.

They're an infectious and noisy indie rock four-piece all the way from Sweden's less trendy neighbour, Norway. These guys like their guitars turned up, way up. Whether they were locking into a post-punk groove or slinging out a bass-heavy dirge, the Protector guys kept it distorted and loud. Not surprisingly, the vocals often ended up buried beneath the wall of noise for most of the performance. They indulged the place in a frenzy of feedback on the finale and went over time, but, hey, they deserved the extra time.
-Chartattack, June 11, 2007

This quartet is a dive into indie-rock eclecticism, and both audience and critics have stated their inability to label the group as one thing over another. The mix of electro-rock, disco, jangle, noise and old school emo brings bands such as the Cure, Dinosaur Jr., New Order, Arab Strap and Velvet underground to mind, making it both a correct and incorrect observation. After releasing a few EP’s during the early days of this century, Jim Protector started working on their first full-length release; ”Shields Down”, in an abandoned smelting-plant in 2004, a DIY-project every step of the way, with the boys serving as musicians as well as engineers and paying for the whole thing by digging deep into student loans and life savings. When bass-player and vocalist Alex Svanberg met Ken Stringfellow before a Posies-show in Trondheim, it would be the start of a beautiful collaboration beginning with Ken laying down a guitar track and backing vocals on the album’s title track, and ending up with him mixing the whole thing in 2 different studios in 2 different corners of the world. Jim Protector chose Living Room studio in Oslo for their first leg and the legendary Soundhouse in Seattle for the second and final leg. With Stringfellow serving as a mad hatter of ideas, he and the protector boys put triple shifts and gallons of espresso into two weeks of no sleep and a lot of tweaking and turning of knobs. Another year would pass, though, before Jim Protector would release the result, with gigs and a poker-funded loan supporting the manufacturing of the CD, but in late May 2007 “Shields Down” had its official release in Norway. It was well received by the few with a leg into the Norwegian underground, and highly overlooked by the rest.

Regardless, with word of mouth serving slowly and steadily, Jim Protector’s abilities as a competent live band brought the attention of Canada’s 1 showcase for new independent music, the NXNE-festival. Of about 500 acts of 2007, only two were from Scandinavia, the other being “The Soundtrack Of Our Lives” from Sweden. After touring The North East of USA and returning home for a set of festival-gigging, one of the largest Glossy magazines in Norway did a full two page interview of Jim Protector, a rather bold move for a celebre-orientated magazine. Jim protector also appeared at the legendary indie-festival “Truck” just outside of Oxford, UK. Recently they have submitted tracks for various compilations, among them an American tribute-album for the posies, and a collection of songs by Norwegian bands targeted for the Chinese market. 2008 will see the birth of a brand new animated Jim Protector music video and the vinyl version of “Shields Down”, both supported by external sources. More touring and work on their follow-up album will prove this band to be the little engine that could…


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Music:

Member Since: 3/24/2005
Band Website: jimprotector.net
Band Members: Alex- vocals, bass, trumpet, synth, organ, drums and other gadgets
Jarle- vocals, guitar, organ, drums
Stein Ove- guitar, organ, synth, drums and other gadgets
Andreas- drums, electronix

Influences: Life's a rollercoaster-ride
Sounds Like: The Cure, Dinasour Jr., Arab Strap, Neutral Milk Hotel, Built To Spill
Record Label: Switch off Records (Nor)
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

VOTE NOW - Gramart Myspace nominated

Hi.Jim Protector has been nominated for the norwegian Gramart Myspace price and the deadline for voting is the 12th of July! We have been on vacation (as you probably are aswell) and didn't realize it...
Posted by Jim Protector on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:41:00 PST

Summer’s here kids...

Summer's here kids... Back in the days the annual tape compilation made by the norwegian postal service marked the start of summer holiday for thousands of kids in Norway. The songs weren't always goo...
Posted by Jim Protector on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:03:00 PST

La Fête...

La Fête... Oslo has already established itself as the center of attention when the Norwegian offspring of La fête de la musique is held on June 7th. However, Trondheim is trying to do their version of...
Posted by Jim Protector on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:17:00 PST

HEAR YE...

I actually wrote a long blog last week, steamy stuff about my growing frustration over all the crap I have to endure whenever I read a newspaper or turn on the radio, a lot of the bands that scream fo...
Posted by Jim Protector on Wed, 21 May 2008 06:20:00 PST

New tune

Finally! A Flicker Of Hope! was recorded a few years back in our old rehersal shed inside an abandoned smelting plant in Trondheim. The tune has now found its true potensial featuring Gary Olson from ...
Posted by Jim Protector on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:18:00 PST

..Lets get physical..: The Posies Tribute song

This weekend Jim protector rented a room at "trikkestallen" and got busy. It was if time had stood still. We haven't even been in the same room together since November, but we clicked right back in...
Posted by Jim Protector on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:26:00 PST

Sweden Rock Festival

Vote for Jim Protector to play at Sweden Rock Festival this summer:...
Posted by Jim Protector on Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:31:00 PST

merry x-mas!

Merry christmas, folks! As a token of our appreciation for being our friends, all of our listed myspace-songs are now downloadable until 2007 becomes 2008. Include them on your new years eve mixtape o...
Posted by Jim Protector on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:36:00 PST

On our way to Oslo ...

It started to snow. The car skid 180 degrees and hit the curb pretty hard. Don´t worry, we´re all right. We were playing a show that very night in Oslo. But got stranded in the middle of nowher...
Posted by Jim Protector on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:17:00 PST

China Compilation CD

Jim Protector will be part of a norwegian rock compilation cd to be distributed in China in October. The CD is part of a project called "Norwegian Wood vol. 2" and will be released in 10.000 copies.Re...
Posted by Jim Protector on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:53:00 PST