Tor Dybdahl (vocals, guitars, synths, piano, programming) and Geir Sinding (synths, guitar, programming) were old pals, and lived not far from each other in 1985. Although Sinding knew that Dybdahl was a musician, they had known each other for years before Sinding suddenly bought a lot of musical equipment, set up a home studio and surprised Dybdahl with having a talent for songwriting. Generally speaking, Sinding would play his instrumental demos to Dybdahl, and Dybdahl would reassemble, structure, augment and add vocals. Their first demos were mostly recorded with two guitars and a drum machine, but the duo moved towards a synth sound as Sinding learned to use his electronic equipment.

Dybdahl had been making music since childhood, enjoying some success with his other band Clockwork Orange. Possibly on the strength of Clockwork Orange’s relative success, Downers also receoved some attention from the press and recorded a radio session for Harald Are Lund (the ‘Norwegian John Peel’).which was broadcast on State Radio (NRK).

The duo wrote lots of songs within a few months, and soon the two were chosing tracks for a 7” EP to be released on Dybdahls own Temptation Records label. In the end, ‘December Rain’ was chosen as a-side, with “Two Bicycles in Summertime” and “Run Away” on the b-side. Recording sessions were completed in September 1985, with Erik Avnskog helping out on guitar and synth on the b-side. 

When the single returned from the pressing plant, Dybdahl decided that the a-side had a strange, out-of-tune sound to it, either due to a pressing mistake or simply overheard during recording. Rather than letting the public hear inferior recordings, Tor scratched out the a-side of all thousand copies, making this disc the first “half-single” in Norway... A precious few copies, probably around a dozen, were saved from the scratching process; these almost never turn up for sale, and go for upwards of 100 euros.  The scratching lead to the single selling poorly, and with no live work scheduled the duo soon disbanded.

Sinding has not made records since. Dybdahl, however, started a new band, Horsemen, releasing a single, again on Temptation Records and touring extensively.

Releases

"Sensation Boys/ Spellbound"; 7", Tempation Records Tempt 001, 1985

Known demos/ Unreleased material

"Sensation Boys", demo version. Played on radio, 1985.

"Like Old Swiss Clockwork", instrumental. Recorded at Clan studio, Halden, March 1985.

Several promotional cassettes exist on Temptation records. However, it's difficult to say if the songs are by Clockwork Orange, Downers, Horsemen, Tor Dybdahl solo, or other related bands.

Related projects

Clockwork Orange

Kid Death & The Nightshades 

Horsemen