Tiebreak

Tiebreak was a norwegian straight edge hardcore band from 1996 - 1999. They formed in September 1996 by William Øberg  on vocals, Vegard Holthe on bass, Kim Amundsen on drums and Philip Kvalbein Hauge on guitar.

Tiebreak was one of serveral norwegian bands that draw their influences from American Hardcore from 1981 until 1990. The hardcore aesthetics and sound reached its peak in New York in 1988. Many norwegian bands at the time adopted this specific sound. Tiebreak besides Oslo Veterans Onward, Sportswear and Rectify were keyfigures for building a strong hardcore scene in Norway. While Sportswear, Onward and Rectify came from Oslo City, Tiebreak (except for Kim) came from Kongsberg. The band helped to establish a hardcore community in their hometown, the so-called K-Town Crew.

Tiebreak was started with the desire to play old school hardcore with elements of punk and thrash. This direction was soon abandoned in favor of a stronger approach to classic straight edge hardcore but a distinctive thrash character was preserved. In Good Intention #1, a hardcore fanzine from Kongsberg, Tiebreak described their sound as "Heavy Metal played fast" and "Hardcore with lots of fast riffs and dance parts".

After six weeks they sent a rehearsal tape to Crucial Response Records. Peter agreed to put out a 7" but before the band prioritize to put out the "A Better Tomorrow" demo, to spread out their music on their own first. The first print run of the demo was 88 copies (the number referring to the important year of 1988, see above). The demo was sold out in one day. A remixed version of the demo came out with the second edition (97 copies made).

The debut at the Victoria Civic in Drammen was a success, the demo had already reached most of the hardcore kids in the winter of 1997 and the audience sung the lyrics by heart. The next year a dozen concerts in Norway and Sweden followed. Most shows were set up by people within the hardcore community.

A few months before Tiebreak played their first show, the band recorded their tracks for the Stand Hard 7" in December 1997 by Pål Johnsen in Påsan Punk Palace in Oslo.

The Stand Hard 7" was well received even by people who claimed that hardcore and straight edge had become reactionary. Heart Attack a more politically oriented punk fanzines wrote: "Their use of tempo changes beyond the obvious ones save this record from the monotony that plagues others in this genre." Good Intention fanzine praised Tiebreak the best band from Europe ever in a review. Tiebreak was more open minded than the comtemporary hardcore bands at the time especially when it came to homosexuality.

Tiebreak played their last show in 1999. Ammundsen continued to play in Team Spirit and Øberg played in Fair Fuck, a band that was inspired by early 80's hardcore.

Related bands:
Rectify, Sportswear