Ashbury Haights

Ashbury Haights is a norwegian rockband inspired by the psychedelic sounds of the 60's.
I made cover design for both their debut album and their second album.

The story of Ashbury Haights

It was on this sunny day in California that the four members of Ashbury Haights were destined to meet up for the first time. It all started when Kim and Eirik left Norway, and disguised as Danish wearhouse employees went to San Fransisco to enbark on a journey to unrawel the mysteries of westcoast music. In order to form a band they needed a bassplayer and a drummer.

As they promenaded down the streets of S.F. their attention was drawn to an outdoor sausage-festival where romours had it that a young Norwegian stallion was in town for the annual Hotdog-eating-championship. After watching him make passionate gastronomic love to eighty-one-and-a-half hotdogs, and in so winning the competition, they decided that he definetively was a suitable guy.

Only minuites later, wrapped around a crooked streetsign on the corner of Haight St and Ashbury St, they saw the notorius post-tour body of Jerry Garcia, currently spooning a skinny but content little drummerboy. After a short struggle, the Norwegians wrestled the Big Greatful Bear, resqued the longhaired boy and named him Jani – after Kims second wife. Since none of them understood English it was easy for the four Norwegians to make conversation.

Then, in a moment of revelation, all four found that the path to the world lay in front of their eyes. On their right they could observe Carole King and Jackson Brown in an intense act of fornication which included two teenagers and a box of Pop-Tarts. And on their right were David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, Crazy Horse and The Who, just arrived from The Monterey Pop Festival, fiddeling about with Crosbys newly arrived South-American import.

Suddenly, in a brief moment of psychedelism, everyone around the corner of Haight-Ashbury instantly melted together in a perfect symbiosis of state and mind, which resulted in the forming of the band Ashbury.

"Eirik Melstrøm"