Kim Ljung (born 17 October 1971) is a musician from

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He is best known as the bassist in Norwegian alternative rock band Seigmen and industrial band

Zeromancer Zeromancer is a Norwegian industrial rock band formed in 1999 by members of the band Seigmen. The current lineup is Alex Møklebust (vocals), Kim Ljung (bass guitar/backup vocals), Noralf Ronthi (drums), Lorry Kristiansen (programming) and Per- ...

. He also appeared as guest vocalist on SubGud's Time Machine.

Early career

Kim Ljung started his musical career as bass player and songsmith in the band Klisne Seigmenn in 1989. In addition to Kim, the band consisted of his kindergarten buddy Marius Roth Christensen on guitar, singer Alex Møklebust, drummer Noralf Ronthi and guitarist Sverre Økshoff. In the beginning, the band viewed it more as fun than as a serious outlet for their musical and artistic inspirations, playing a punkish style of rock but that changed rapidly.

Seigmen

In 1992, the band changed its name to Seigmen and released its first official album – the dark and unpolished ''Pluto'' – which took both the musical underground and many journalists by storm. On it they combined dark

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

elements with

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

, heavy metal and perhaps a little

Gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

. During the summer and fall, the CD was reissued in several editions to satisfy the growing number of fans. Combined with a powerful and memorable stage act, the band soon turned into a household name in the underground music scene. In the mid-1990s, with albums such as ''Ameneon'' (1993) and ''Total'' (1994), the band cemented its position as one of the most important and innovative in Norwegian music history and the number of fans swelled well beyond underground status. The apex of commercial success was reached with the album ''Metropolis'' in 1995. It made its debut, in week 44, at the number 1 spot on the VG Album Charts. Within a few days it sold to Gold (25,000 copies) and didn't stop until it had passed 50,000. This is a good figure for any artist in a small country like

. The second half of the decade saw the band move in a more electronic direction with ''Radiowaves'', their last proper studio album, in 1997. In 1999, by the time their greatest hits album, ''Monument 1989–1999'', was released, Sverre had decided to leave the band to focus on his family. An old agreement among the members was that if one of them left, they should disband Seigmen. And that is what happened after their final concert at Rockefeller concert hall in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

on March 6, 1999. Seigmen played live at the 2012 Slottsfjell festival in Tønsberg, which was a celebrating its 10th anniversary. In 2015 Seigmen released a new album "Enola".

Zeromancer

With the departure of Sverre the other members were free to form new constellations. Somehow, Marius got left out so he went on to take an education in classical music and has since appeared on both TV and radio as lead singer for choirs. The remaining three - Kim, Alex and Noralf - formed the industrial group

with former Vampire State Building keyboard-player Erik Lunggren and the American Chris Schleyer.

never managed to reach the same heights, neither with respect to musical innovation nor in popularity, as Seigmen had. But they've toured extensively both in Europe and America, and they seem to have grown fairly popular in Germany with their take on industrial metal. So far the band has released six albums, ''Clone Your Lover'' in 2000, ''Eurotrash'' in 2001, ''ZZYZX'' in 2003, ''Sinners International'' in 2009, ''The Death Of Romance'' in 2010, ''Bye-Bye Borderline'' in 2013, and ''Orchestra of Knives'' in 2021.

Ljungblut

Kim Ljung has also been active on his own. Over the years material that didn't fit in with

has gathered weight until at some point in 2004 he felt compelled to collect some of the songs and release his first solo album. And due to the number of songs it turned out to be a double album! The double CD, ''The other side of all things'', was released on Pleasuredisc Records on February 26, 2005 under the alias Ljungblut. The sound is a lot more acoustic and melancholic than what we ever heard from Seigmen, but the melodies and lyrics are strong and personal and this is certainly a contender for the title Best Norwegian Album of the Year.

The future

Ljungblut and Zeromancer are both scheduled for new releases next year. As well as a Seigmen DVD containing the reunion show, videos, interviews, and a documentary with unreleased material. Different members are actively pursuing their own side projects; Alex has been working as producer for a few Norwegian artists - such as

Gåte (; ) is a band from Trøndelag, Norway playing Norwegian folk music bred with metal and electronica. Their style has been referred to as progressive folk-rock. The band was put together by Sveinung Sundli (violin, keyboards) in 2000 and ori ...

and Don Juan Dracula, Erik has lent his keyboard and computer skills out to such various artists as the Swiss electro band Undergod and Norwegian black metal acts

Satyricon The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifi ...

. Even Seigmen may still have a future, though all the members deny it, because they agreed to do "one last" concert during the UKA-festival in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

on October 20, 2005. Six years after disbanding the band they stood on stage together again, in front of an audience of more than 5000 people. After this success they went on a small tour in Norway in the summer of 2006.

Full Kim Discography

''Seigmen'' # Det Finnes Alltid En Utvei

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

(1990) # Pluto P(1992) # Ameneon lbum(1993) # Monsun ingle(1993) # Total lbum(1994) # Hjernen er Alene ingle(1994) # Döderlein ingle(1994) # Lament ingle(1994) # Metropolis lbum(1995) # Metropolis ingle(1995) # Slaver av Solen ingle(1995) # Metropolis - The Grandmaster Recordings lbum(1995) # Radiowaves lbum(1997) # The First Wave ingle(1997) # The Next Wave ingle(1997) # The Opera For The Crying Machinery

romo Romantic Modernism, more commonly known as Romo, was a musical and nightclubbing movement, of glam/style pop lineage, in the UK circa 1995–1997, centred on the twin homes of Camden-based clubnight Club Skinny and its West End clone Arcad ...

(1997) # Mørkets Øy ingle1997) # Monument lbum1999) # Rockefeller lbum(2006) # Döderlein ive single(2006) # Enola lbum(2015) ''DVD'' # Fra x til døden (2006) ''Zeromancer'' #

Clone Your Lover ''Clone Your Lover'' is the first studio album of the Norwegian industrial rock band Zeromancer. Track listing All tracks composed by Kim Ljung. # "Clone Your Lover" – 3:50 # "Flirt (With Me)" – 3:59 # "Something for the Pain" – 3:32 # " ...

lbum(2000) # Clone Your Lover

(2000) # Eurotrash lbum(2001) # Eurotrash

(2001) # Doctor Online ingle(2001) # Need You Like A Drug

(2001) # Zzyzx lbum2003) # Famous Last Words

(2003) # Famous Last Words ingle(2003) # Erotic Saints

(2003) # Eurotrash VD(2004) # Doppelganger I love you

(2007) # I'm yours to lose ingle(2007) # Sinners International lbum(2009) # It Sounds Like Love (But It Looks Like Sex) P(2009) # The Death of Romance lbum(2010) # Bye-Bye Borderline lbum(2013) # Something for the Pain – Best of lbum(2013) # Orchestra of Knives lbum(2021) ''Ljungblut'' # Family Album