Egil Brækken of American Suitcase  toured in Norway with the band as a support act for Scottish BMX Bandits. That same year they participated in a national battle of the bands contest (Zoom) arranged by the state broadcasting company and went all the way to the final (ended 4th). For the most of 1998 the band was down, due to relocating to Oslo. The highlight of ‘99 was setting up their own recording studio and starting on the new album Bluefoot.

Egil writes:

I first discovered Gene Clark,  as a solo artist on a LP released by the best fanzine in the world 'Bucketfull of Brains'. I think that must have been in 1990. The song was a totally brilliant version of Gypsy Rider. I guess this song still is my fave, together with Radio Song, One in a hundred and a couple of others. At that time I was working for a collage radio in Trondheim, and we played that song (i.e. Gypsy Rider) over and over again.

Every time with tears in my eyes. At this point a friend of mine had been a raving Gene fan for a long time, and when we discussed Gene Clark he always got very upset, blaming Roger Mcguinn for gradually kicking Gene out of the Byrds. He was very convinced that Gene was the true genius of the Byrds. In one of these discussions I decided that if I ever got able to write a song I would write a 'tribute song' to Gene Clark. This was a long time before I started to write songs, so I was pretty sure it never would happen.

At this point I also read a comprehensive article about him and especially the story about 8 miles high was sort of upsetting.  

A couple of years later (I had then bought his solo records and the one with Gene and Carla Olson) I attended a Carla Olson concert, and because I still was working for the collage radio I was allowed to get back-stage and interview her. We talked a lot about Gene and the Byrds. She never said straight out that McGuinn was the reason for Gene quitting the Byrds, but I thought it was quite clear which party she sympathized with. I guess she must have been a little bit pissed, because I just asked about Gene and her relationship with him, but she just smiled and was really, really nice.

In 96 I started to play in a band called American Suitcase (I had played in a couple of crapy band before that..). After about 6 months in American Suitcase I wrote The Ballad of Gene Clark. I was a bit unsure about writing the song, because Teenage Fanclub (which people always used to compare AmCase with - fair enough) had released a song called Gene Clark a couple of years earlier. We recorded the song in October 96 and released in March 97 on our debut EP. At this point we where not very skilled musicians and had to pay all costs related to the release ourselves, so I like to think we could have done it a lot better today, but I still like what we did.

Regarding McGuinn I must say that I today love him almost as much as I love Gene. It is not easy being young and successful.  

- Egil & American Suitcase