Band Line Up 2014

Shining was created in 1999 as an acoustic instrumental jazz quartet consisting of Munkeby, Lofthus, pianist Morten Qvenild, and double bassist Aslak Hartberg. They released their first albums Where the Ragged People Go and Sweet Shanghai Devil in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Their 2005 album In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster leaded the band into a more avant-garde, electric, rock-oriented sound, with Qvenild now playing synthesizers and other electronic keyboards, and Hartberg mostly using bass guitar instead of double bass.

Qvenild and Hartberg both left the band before or following the release of the album, being remplaced in 2005 by Andreas Hessen Schei and Morten Strøm respectively. Under this line-up, Shining released Grindstone in 2007, an album going into a heavier direction and distancing itself more from jazz, incorporating elements from progressive rock, pop, as well as 19th and 20th century classical music.[6] On the following years, Schei was replaced by Andreas Ulvo who was himself later replaced by Moen, while Kreken replaced Strøm on bass guitar, and in addition the band included guitarist Even Helte Hermansen as a new member in 2010, expanding into a quintet.

The release of their fifth album Blackjazz in 2010 saw Shining turn into an extreme avant-garde metal band, with the use of growled vocals from Munkeby. The same year, Hermansen was replaced by Sagen. Their first live album Live Blackjazz and their latest album to date, One One One, released in 2013, follow the musical direction initiated in Blackjazz. Shining's metal-oriented album were received with much acclaim from both jazz, heavy metal, and more mainstream critics.