Norwegian progressive rock band THE WINDMILL have more than 20 years of band history. They started in 2001 just for the fun of it, as a side project next to various other bands that the members at that time were involved in. The background for both the band and the name is a “revelation” Keyboardist Jean Robert Viita had somewhere in Germany in the early 90s. Above a hilltop, a wind mill farm appeared, and Jeanni discovered that the rotors in the windmills seemed to rotate in time with Camel’s Moonmadness playing on the car stereo. There and then the seed of The Windmill was sown! Founding members were Jean R. Viita (keyboards, vocals), Morten Clason (sax, flutes, guitars, vocals, keyboards) and Arnfinn Isaksen (bass). Bent Jensen (guitars), Vidar Kleivane (drums) and Erik Borgen (guitars, vocals) were later added to the line-up and for the next few years the band was actively writing material and performing live when possible.
Work on their debut album To Be Continued started already in 2005. At the time the band began to take shape as a proper band and not just a side project, and regular rehearsals were introduced, parallel to the studio work. It took the band several years to finish work on their debut album, a time where the band also had to face challenges with band members leaving and coming. Nevertheless, To Be Continued was finally released in May 2010.
In 2011, The Windmill got the chance to bring their music out to a larger audience, when a gratifying number of gigs appeared after the CD release: Nordkappfestivalen, Honningsvåg, warm-up for Fish in Drammen, and for The Watch at John Dee, Oslo , Norway and the Art Rock Festival in Lidköping, Sweden should be mentioned. The band became a well-known act in the Scandinavian prog scene.
Their second album The Continuation was released in 2013. The years 2010-2016 offered several pleasant tours and concerts at home and abroad. In particular, it was incredibly nice to play on the main stage at the Cambridge Rock Festival in 2014 and 2016, Haugaland Progrock Festival in Haugesund, with e.g. Junipher Greene, in 2015 and the concert with Adventure and Fish in Kimen cultural center in Stjørdal, also in 2015, just to name a few.
Before their third album Tribus was released, THE WINDMILL had to face another loss: Their drummer Sammi Nøland had contracted cancer. Although he managed to record his parts for the album, he sadly dies before the album’s release. Tribus was officially released in November 2018 in connection with the release gig at Belleville in Oslo, where drummer Kristoffer Utby took over the drums. Once again, the reviews were fantastic, both in Norway and abroad. In the wake of Tribus there was extensive gig activity in 2019, where the highlights must be said to be the Night Of The Prog festival in Loreley, Germany in July, and the Summers End festival in Wales in October.
COVID also had an impact on THE WINDMILL with less activity between 2020 and 2022, but they eventually started working on album number 4 in August 2022.
THE WINDMILL will perform on Sunday, 21 July 2024 during the Final Night Of The Prog Festival on the Loreley!
Tickets for the Final Night Of The Prog Festival 2024 are available in the WiV Ticket Shop.
THE WINDMILL Links:
Official website
Spotify
Facebook