Gnags

60 Years with Gnags

I have just been to a concert with Gnags, Denmark’s oldest rock band, at the Herning Rocker Festival. They are currently on their Sommer of Love tour, which in 2026 is taking them to venues and festivals across Denmark.

I can report that Peter A.G. is still very much alive and kicking. He founded Gnags in 1966 together with his brother Jens on drums and Jacob Riis on guitar. Peter was only 13 or 14 years old, and the others were not much older.

I come from the same area and first heard them in Videbæk in 1967 or 1968. They came from the neighbouring town of Skjern. Back then they were called Those Gnags and sang in English.

I remember seeing them at a school patrol party where Peter broke a bass string but simply kept playing.

As a long-haired teenager, I heard them many times, often together with the band Alrune Rod. It was hippie music, and their concerts smelled strongly of hashish. I especially remember a concert in Skjernhallen with beer crates and candles serving as stage decorations. They were always happy to talk with us after the concerts.

I started at Vestjysk Gymnasium in Tarm in 1972. The members of Gnags had graduated the year before, moved into a commune in Aarhus and recruited Ivan Oehlenschlæger on keyboards.

Their sister Elisabeth was one year below me at school. She wore self-made hippie clothes, and we called her “Lisbeth Gnags.” At one point I was close to moving into a commune with her, but my parents managed to prevent it.

I had Jacob’s father as my music teacher in high school.

Throughout the 1970s I attended many of their concerts. They were a fantastic live band and practically brought down the house at the Roskilde Festival several times.

After a couple of long journeys, I moved to Aarhus. I worked at the grain mill but never joined the strikes. When I started university, I lived close to Vestergade and often staggered down that street after a cheerful night out in town.

Today I once again live close to Vestergade, and I still take a few staggering steps whenever I walk there.

In the mid-1980s, Mads Michelsen joined the band and helped give Gnags a new world-music-inspired sound together with Per Frost, who sadly passed away far too early.

Mads was also on stage in Herning, together with saxophonist Niels Mathiasen, another of the old playmates from the early days. Around them stood a new generation of young musicians, delivering Gnags with energy and conviction.

“Are you there, Herning?” shouted Peter.

That has become almost his trademark call.

And yes, we were. Just as audiences have been for decades.

Gnags helped ignite Aarhus’ music scene through the Genlyd record label and the Feedback Studio on Haraldsvej. Even the Crown Prince visited. They had come a long way from the days in Skjern. Along the way, they also helped create opportunities for new artists such as Aarhus’ own king of pop and rock, Thomas Helmig, who is still going strong.

I attended fewer concerts as the years passed. Family and career demanded more attention. But I bought the records and listened to the music. In Denmark during the 1980s and 1990s, it was almost impossible not to.

Gnags are living Danish rock history. There is even a musical based on their songs, The Wild Rabbits.

Peter A.G. is the songwriter with the endless stream of inventive phrases and linguistic twists. He praises and criticises in equal measure. He is also the sound of Aarhus itself, with foghorns, New Year’s fireworks, Bartels and Grete.

When I look out over the Botanical Gardens from my balcony, I still see wild rabbits with very long ears. And Gellerup, too, is Denmark.

Their first album was called On the Road (På Vej). We analysed it in music class with Jacob’s father. He thought Peter was showing off when he sang.

But that is exactly what he is supposed to do.

After all, he is Mr. Swing King.

And Gnags are still on the road, now with their Sommer of Love tour and the new song of the same name.

Peter still has many years ahead of him. He is only 73—almost ten years younger than Macca.

So find a place where they are playing this summer and experience Danish rock history at its very best. It is not just a concert.

It is 60 years of our shared history.