Matchstick Sun was founded in 1984, as the Diamond Dogs by four key players of the Oslo post punk scene. Their drummer Bulle had been in the punk group, Betong Hysteria, and the art/ska band, Løver og tigre. The vocalist, Eidem, and the bassist Annaniassen had both been in the last edition of The Cut. The guitarist, and main songwriter, Rolf Recknagel had for a short while been in De Press.
Going overground
By the spring of 1988, the band's reputation had grown and, just prior to releasing their first record, a three-song single on the independent record label Temptation, they renamed themselves Matchstick Sun, after the title of one of their own songs. They signed to BMG Ariola the following year, and they and their record producer, Knut Bohn, headed for Silence, a residential recording studio. The founder and house engineer, Anders Lind, worked well with Bohn and Matchstick Sun, and managed to get their mellotron in working order. In June 1989, Matchstick Sun attended the New Music Seminar in Manhattan, New York, United States, and some attention in the Norwegian press. Their debut album, Flowerground, was released in August 1989. Their efforts were rewarded with a Norwegian Grammy for Best New Act.
''Itchy Bitchy''
Matchstick Sun’s second album, Itchy Bitchy, was released in 1990. The critics were again enthusiastic, but both airplay and sales were disappointing compared to the first album. Matchstick Sun was invited to the annual EBU Rock Festival: a three-day event organized by the European Broadcasting Union in Cork in Ireland and aired by public serviceradio stations all over Europe. However, their drummer, Bulle, quit in January 1991, and the group quickly disbanded. Bulle kept on playing with The Lust-O-Rama, the garage rock band he had started with vocalist Arne Thelin from The Cosmic Dropouts after they met at the New Music Seminar in New York in 1989. Their only album, Twenty-Six Screams, was released in 1990. Guitarist and songwriter Rolf Recknagel quickly put together a new band called Yeahlove Swans. Their only album, Lovetech, was released by Polygram in 1992. Bass player Rune Annaniassen joined Sister Rain in 1992, which disbanded shortly after having released The Neptun Tapes in 1993. He later joined Merchants of Venus whose one album Wish Across the Land was released by WEA in 1994. Vocalist Ivar Eidem released his one solo album Missions of a Clown in 1996 on Oh Yeah!, and was awarded the Norwegian Grammy for Best Male Artist.
