3-11 Porter - History

History

In 2000, Per Arne met Svein Hansen and a whole new era began. With Per Arne writing and Svein arranging and producing, after only a few months they had recorded almost 20 songs, some of which later featured on their debut album Nurse Me. Tracee Meyn, a Norway-based American singer, joined the band at that time. All three are from very different musical genres. Svein is a musician, as well as a skilled composer and producer, with influences from classical, jazz and international folk music. Electronica and new wave have strongly influenced Per Arne, while Tracee’s background is gospel and soul.

Following a concert at Oslo’s Café Mono in 2003, Nordic Records signed 3-11 Porter, which led to the international release of Nurse Me.

A remix of “Surround Me With Your Love” by Per Martinsen (Mental Overdrive), was included on the Tea Lounge compilation album in Norway, the first of more than 200 compilation albums on which this song appears.

The band’s international breakthrough came in September 2003 when the remix of “Surround Me With Your Love” was included on Hôtel Costes Vol. 6. It proved so popular that it was also included on the Best of Hôtel Costes and the Hôtel Costes box set.

Ragnvald Åheim joined the band on bass later that year, and in 2004, Per Kristian Hilden joined on drums.

In 2004, German record company Drizzly Records released a rare 12" vinyl containing seven remixes of “Surround Me With Your Love”. The cosmetic firm Rimmel used the remix: “Surround Me With Your Love” in 2005, a commercial, starring Kate Moss, which was shown in 63 countries. “Surround Me With Your Love”, the original song and the remix, has also been used by many international TV companies worldwide, including the BBC, TV Globo (Brazil), TV2 Norway, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. The German label Stereo Deluxe signed 3-11 Porter in 2007 and released their second album, Surround Me, in 2008. Guest performers on the album "Surround Me" included David M on “Sunnglases”, “There Is A Place Where I Go” and “The Sleep That I’ll Bring You”; Helge Kvam on marimba on “The Mood Of The Scene”; Ole Jørn Myklebust on trumpet on "On A Dead Sunday Afternoon”, “Vintage” and “Sunglasses”; Javid Afsari Rad on santour on “The Loonliest Night On Earth”; Pejman Hadadi on percussion on “The Loonliest Night On Earth”; Vida Afsari Rad on “The Loonliest Night On Earth”; Maud Forsgren on “The Loonliest Night On Earth”; and Cristina Latini on “The Loonliest Night On Earth”.

In 2008, the original song "Surround Me With Your Love" appeared on the soundtrack of the German language version of the movie Fireflies in the Garden starring Julia Roberts, Willem Dafoe, and Emily Watson. The song was used to promote the film on radio and TV commercials in the German-speaking countries. In the same year, British ITV used both the original song and the remix of “Surround Me With Your Love” for their teen drama series Echo Beach.

In 2009, the original song “Surround Me With Your Love” was used as the main theme tune for one of the leading characters on the Brazilian soap opera Viver a Vida. Viver a Vida has been shown in many countries including Portugal and the USA. Because of this, the album Surround Me was also released in Brazil.

In 2011, MTV chose three songs, “Surround Me With Your Love” (the original version), “Nightlife” and “I Can’t Forget The Girl I Never Met”, for their series Popland. In 2012, 3-11 Porter re-signed to Nordic Records and their new album Electric Velvet is due to be released in the autumn of 2013. The album’s first single “Belly of the Beast” was released in May 2013, and will be followed by a video.

Other 3-11 Porter songs which have been included on numerous international compilation albums are “On A Dead Sunday Afternoon”, “Praying”, “The Loneliest Night On Earth”, “I Can’t Forget The Girl I Never Met”, “Longing”, “Nightlife”, “Vintage” and “Where Love’s Never Been”.