The Things January 19, 2008

The Things are a Baltimore-based punk-psychedelic band. Coming from a musical family of six sisters and brothers, and a father who played the organ, he started to play piano and guitar at an early age. He switched over to the bass guitar, playing in a gospel choir in his hometown when he was 12. At 18 he moved to norwegian city Trondheim, where he picked up the acoustic bass, and decided he wanted to study at the music academy there, a school that has shaped many of the influental figureheads of the norwegian contemporary scene today. In 1992 he got into the school, and studied there for three years with bassplayer Odd Magne Gridseth, saxophonist Jon-Paal Inderberg and pianist Erling Aksdal. Mats Gustafsson is a saxophonist.