LifelinesAha.MyForum.ro :: A-ha at Guilfest

Trimis: 26/01/2007 14:34

In 2006 A-ha a participat la Guilfest Festival, un festival independent, nici prea mare, nici prea mic (cum le place celor de pe pagina oficiala sa il numeasca) dar cu o atmosfera foarte prietenoasa...
Locatia: Stoke Park.
Perioada de timp: 14, 15 , 16 iulie 2006.

Participantii se pot bucura pe durata lui de recitaluri live, pigmentate cu glume, spectacole pt copii, street theatre, expozitii de arta si bufete cu mancaruri oferite de firme dintr-o larga varietate de tari. Totul imbracat intr-o atmosfera...festiva!

Pe 15.07.2006 A-ha a sustinut un recital la Guilfest , primit tare bine.
Participarea lor a facut parte din promovarea ultimului album Analogue.

Mai jos gasiti o parte din prestatia lor live :

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MHWDSALX (live at Guilfest)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=623ZJGAD (interviu BB2 + live)

Mai jos aveti si un interviu cu Magne:

Magne Furuholmen of A-HA Interviewed at GuilFest 2006 by Jonathan Mortimer.

JM: Hi to Magne F, founder member and songwriter for A-HA, here to headline tonight at GuilFest 2006. I want to start by saying how good it is to see you guys back headlining a major British Festival with the latest album ‘Analogue’ being so well received and a top ten single! Your efforts have paid off.

MF: Well, yeah – we have come to England on occasion for touring over the last few years but never really had the support of the record label to go with it and so this time around there seemed to be like a groundswell around the band, a lot of credible artists coming out and mentioning the band as an influence as they grew up and there seemed to be this kind of re-evaluation of the band and our record was ready at the right time.

JM: Of course Analogue is the third album in this second stage of the bands career – since you got back together seven years ago. The first being the stunning ‘Minor Earth Major Sky’ – that was well received in quarters that may have previously overlooked A-HA. Is it fair to say that had you not reformed your entry in the great book of rock wouldn’t have done you justice? It’s only now that your peers are publicly airing their admiration – Coldplay, U2 and Keane for example.

MF: I think it’s a reassessment of all the work we have done though, not just the last three albums but I think what the last three albums have brought to us is a different kind of dynamic with a different atmosphere in the band. I think we just brought all the experiences of our solo albums, careers in between, back into the band. None of us came back together to try to make a point of a comeback. It was more that we just felt like making music together again and in the end people relate to whether you’re moving forward as a group or just out there doing it to pay the rent.

JM: Yes because you mentioned all three of you have solo careers, writing with your own co-writers in your case last years debut solo ‘Past Present Future Tense’ which received some good reviews over here. Paul is onto his fifth Savoy album and doubtless Morten is also writing. It is almost that A-HA now are three solo projects that fuse quite nicely - would you say?

MF: Yes, in fact we were just saying that on the BBC a few minutes ago. In fact Morten said ‘Yes, we are always doing solo projects, we just call some of them A-HA,’ which is kind of correct but not completely because as a band unit there is a dynamic in the group where the three of us are always fighting it out. You know it’s a kind of very unchecked set of rules. In a way we sort of, umm – one will always take the opposing view, so its not really clear from the start where we are going with a song. For example if I say no Paul and Morten will say yes. If I start by saying yes they will say no. We change allegiances all the time, I think that’s part of the distinct dynamic of the band – we challenge each other in ways we aren’t when we do something on our own.

MF: As you mentioned my first solo record came out which for me brought a whole new way of writing because the lyrics all of a sudden were something that I had not been focusing on before. Before that the main activity for me solo wise was to visualise. I think what we have now is a situation where everyone writes individually, everybody writes both lyrics and music and when we write for the band or we write for each other there is a kind of expectancy or a challenge in the way that we do things that turns it more towards A-HA– I mean its not a conscious decision its just that something happens when we get together to do a project. Whether we are in the same studio together or not it always happens that it goes through some kind of mental process and ends up being an A-Ha record. I think it also has to do with the fact that you know Morten’s voice is so characteristic that any song that I write that I sing myself is going to sound a long way away from A-Ha, just simply because of the voice. I’ve done tests like that when I’m sort of…..

JM: Can I just say that on the Analogue album, as a listener I found it quite difficult at one or two points to differentiate between your and Morten’s vocal which may say more about my ears than the music – but it was particularly interesting on the closer ‘Summers of Our Youth’.

MF: Really, well that’s flattering because in Norway when I released my solo record that was the big thing – I was being compared to Morten and obviously falling short on the kind of vocal acrobatics which is something I was not aiming for anyway but that’s beside the point. A-Ha is always going to be part of the luggage whatever we do but I think you know it has opened up in the sense that, for instance on the song you mentioned it started off with me singing it and then showing it to Morten and him singing it and then I realized that I thought he sung it better with me doing the verses and him doing the high bits because he really added to that and I didn’t feel like he added much to the bits that I did. So it was kind of like, shall we do it as a duet and that’s how it ended up.

JM: It works very well. I want to ask a big question – at least a big one to fans I think. Do you think the story of A-HA so far would have been much different had you started out with a rock producer – Alan Tarney was obviously an excellent pop producer – or was the marketing machine surrounding you too set in stone?

MF: Ummm.
JM: I remember reviews of both the fourth and fifth albums (East of the Sun, West of the Moon – 1990 / Memorial Beach – 1993,) saying now A-HA were making some of their most accomplished music much of their audience had moved on – really because with your look and sound a large part of that audience was always going to be young and somewhat transient. Could a producer like Steve Lillywhite, Mark Wallis or Daniel Lanois have altered your audience from day one? I think it may have.

MF: I think you are right. Our history is one where we left our home country without any promise of anything and went to England to you know, stubbornly kind of champion our talent saying we are a band that should be heard by the world. We’re not just a Norwegian band; we don’t ever want to be. So we didn’t have a normal kind of plan in our career where we sort of went through the motions of small successes and small failures and live shows and getting better and I think what happened in our case was that we kind of frantically embraced every opportunity that came our way and so we sort of lived on the promise all the time whether it was some small publishing company who liked what we were doing, then we thought OK, we’re hitting the big time, to getting free studio time in a dingy demo studio in South London – every time something positive happened we always kind of embraced it and said this is our chance and obviously when we finally then got to the point where we were signed by a major label that made you believe in the band’s abilities, made you believe to our surprise in the marketability of the band. That was something we hadn’t even considered, we didn’t have an image, we didn’t know – we weren’t wise to the side effects of instant fame. We just grabbed it with both hands and I think the most problematic was not necessarily the production of the record but how we as a band filled a gap in the kind of pin up poster cycle of pop. So I think when you have such a defining moment where your career speeds up to such a degree, right from the outset, you don’t really have, you are not savvy to what its going to do to your career. We actually naively thought we’re as talented as the ****** Beatles, we can make our pop records, we can change over time and to a certain degree, you know, we are certainly not, no where near – I wouldn’t make that (Beatles) comparison today, but certainly as kids that was the belief we had in ourselves. I think that to a certain degree it is happening but its happening much slower than we thought and we were fighting a lot more on the way with our own success and had we made music that was less accessible in the beginning maybe we would have grown into commercial success, your point, in a more gradual way and we would have been smarter about how we made the band beat the scene. Having said that there is something quite dodgy about smartness anyway. To a certain degree if you look at what’s being picked up again from the eighties it was more the kind of corny out of place stuff than the smart really strategically wise – you know what I mean?

JM: Yes, very much. Now, you’ve had enormous success all over the world – do you want America back?

MF: It used to be an obsession just because everyone in the music industry is so obsessed by America because it is such a big market. Certainly we had been hugely influenced by American artists as well as British artists and it sort of took us on a journey towards a lot more of an American band sounding situation. You mentioned ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’ and ‘Memorial Beach’ – much more American orientated in their approach but I don’t think for me now - I know what its going to take and I don’t think we would ever really get it back. I mean there’re people lining up to get it and that’s why I’m happy just to make the music we’re making and going where you are appreciated. It is not so important.

JM: I think there are one or two other bands in a similar state of mind.

MF: Yeah, I mean in a way it sounds terrible because of course you care about reaching as many people as you can and if you are popular in America a lot of other places fall into place as well. There’s Australia, Asia, there’s a bleeding affects onto other places but in the end it’s just that the business there is so controlled. I’d rather be a little bit freer and able to do whatever quirky things you want and I accept that. I don’t think our music is necessarily just for Europeans but you know it’s not going to be one of those situations where you move to America to try to make it. That’s not an ambition anymore.

JM: You still have a fan base there of course because you did a show recently and it sold out incredibly quickly.

MF: That is one of the really good things about America in terms of being in the entertainment industry and their fascination with it. They never forget you, you know, if you had a hit, you were big and you are part of there tapestry you can see that. I mean ‘Take On Me’ is still being played massively every year on the radio there.

JM: I like the new version of that song you do live. It’s different again from Oslo in 2000. Do you change the arrangements to keep yourself amused?

MF: Yeah, well you have to in a way. Its not a very serious statement, its always been just a kind of positive, ‘vibey’, up tempo good time song so you treat it as such. I think that’s one of the things people found a bit hard to deal with, with A-ha. We demanded all of it. We demanded, you know, easily digestible pop songs on the one hand and we also demanded the ‘Manhattan Skylines’ and the ‘Scoundrel Days’ to be, if not equally commercially successful at least to be a big part of the band. I think we were a difficult band to read because certainly from the record industry’s point of view they could never figure us out. On the one hand we were doing stuff that was commercially very successful and viable and on the other hand we were doing stuff that was a lot more radical, a lot more progressive and we wouldn’t let go of either one of the strands, we just kept on doing both. For most people it was just, well, what are they exactly? Are they this cartoony commercial band or are they progressive and rocky – make up your mind. I mean clarity in the music business has always been rewarded. If you’re very clear about what you want. At the same time a lot of intriguing artistry is being done by people who are not so easily pigeonholed and so easily placed.

JM: Very true. Now, a fun question. If this was your festival and you could have any line up at all, including those no longer with us, whom would you have playing?

MF: Ahh. Well as an old hippy I would recreate Woodstock as much as I can. That was the ultimate festival in my mind. What I like about festivals, literally, is there is a kind of mix that you wouldn’t see elsewhere. I’m not familiar with all the artists here but there is a mix of things – a lot of these people I do recognise from when we were active years ago like Gary Numan and Hugh Cornwell as well – a person I’ve met on occasion a few times and greatly respect. So its tough to make up a definitive list of live and dead, but some of my sixties heroes, some I wish I’d seen in festivals would definitely be Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Janice Joplin, you know. Those festivals were really kind of homogenous in a different way because all the music was about that generation, you could never really see – well occasionally you did get blue artists but it was generally very much orientated around that particular time. Festivals these days tend to try to span back and pick up three or four generations of music listeners which is exciting in a different way.

JM: GuilFest is famous for that I think!
MF: Yes and it creates a whole different vibe out there. It affects the bands I think. Most people can take an hour of Gary Numan whether they like him or not. Most people can take an hour and a half of A-Ha whether or not they are our big fans so there’s kind of pluralism out there that is a good thing. I think for us, for a band, for us to do this now it is the right time. I think a lot of people will recognise a lot more songs from our catalogue than they were aware they knew.

JM: Yep, I think so. Now I’m after a Spinal Tap moment from your career, perhaps a grave dodging clipă that isn’t too tough to recall.

MF: Well, Spinal Tap is the kind of benchmark of all rock bands and who ever you meet, colleagues, if you veer the conversation toward Spinal Tap you are always on safe ground because you can always kind of relate!

Just had one there – Morten climbing up and down outside.

JM: Yeah, I keep seeing the rest of A-Ha falling past the window quite literally.

(Strangely, very strangely, a Spinal Tap ocazie was about to occur.)

MF: There are plenty of situations.

JM: Have you ever arrived at the wrong gig?
MF: No, no I don’t think so – well I’m sure Morten has. There were a few years though where we seemed to be doing the war stricken nations of the world and remember specifically doing this show in Lebanon with huge grenade damage – tragically of course these days to be talking about Lebanon and grenade holes – but there was this huge slab of concrete just hanging over the stage, with iron mesh, just hanging right above us while we were on stage, just waiting for it to fall.

JM: That’s bizarre. Gary Numan was telling me about a similar experience.

MF: It’s a virus.
JM: Changing tack, I wondered if there was a particular composition you were proud of, perhaps not such a famous one.

MF: There are songs that you feel should have had much more recognition, things I thought were great that got a little bit lost on the records. Then there are songs you are happy with because the version is particularly good. I don’t know, from the old records for me Scoundrel Days is the ultimate A-Ha album and actually I think the one album that got the hardest rap was ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’ – the lost A-Ha album for many people. (JM noted it did actually sell quite well but less so in the UK.) there’s a lot of stuff on there that never got the exposure we hoped it would.

JM: I agree. Tracks like ‘Rolling Thunder’ and ‘Waiting For Her’ perhaps?
MF: Yeah, actually its really funny you should mention that because Paul and I were discussing using that song, (‘Waiting for Her’) and I actually also thought – I mean it’s a song that keeps popping up in your mind cause I don’t think I’m very happy with the version of it but I think the song has great potential. Its kind of strange people haven’t dug further into our material for covers because I think everyone knows the hits.

JM: Is there a current artist who has emerged recently who you are impressed with?

MF: Yeah, Richard Hawley – ‘Coles Corner’. I knew him before that album and I was just happy to see him make it in such a big way. I’m a big fan of Sigur Ros. Also I love Radiohead – I just got Thom Yorke’s new album. I’m not sure its one of my all time favourites. There are lots of new and exciting bands.

Queue Spinal Tap Moment. A-Ha’s esteemed drummer Per Lindvall, having already enjoyed a successful early career as Abba’s sticksman took his life in his own hands, jumped off the roof of the dressing room where he had been watching Gary Numan and crashed straight through the table he was aiming for. Luckily he survived to do the show. They all found it very funny.

JM: Good time to wind up with this final question. Is there anybody you would like to collaborate with on your next solo record?

MF: Lots of people. A lot of them are dead unfortunately. There are lots of exciting people around. I think for my next record – I mean I like the way it happened last time, things just kind of fell into place. I’d like to see that happen again and not be too pre planned. Unless it happens spontaneously things tend to get a little stilted – you’d never try and force collaboration. There are some producers I’d like to work with, some artists I’d like to work with. We’ll see how it goes. There’s not one in particular but it would be good to work with a contrasting voice to my own. That would be something I’ll be aiming for.

JM: Your vocal is actually quite similar to Chris Martin’s at times.

MF: Well, that’s another compliment. I wish I’d had these compliments when I was making the record! I just made a record - singing it, straight out – Past Present Future Tense, (last year’s solo release,) was the first time I’d been singing and I didn’t want to be precious about it. So I think the similarities and that - with Chris (Martin) or Morten – there’s a range I have to work within. I mean when I write for Morten his range just keeps on going – a strong falsetto without a breaking point! I wanted it to come out as if I was just writing it naturally and singing it fluidly and correctly and I see now that there’s much room for improvement but at the same time there’s a nerve in there that I don’t want to lose. I don’t want to doctor things or polish them up with too many effects. It’s about finding a voice over time.

JM: Magne, thank you very much.

Jonathan Mortimer was talking to Magne Furuholmen at GuilFest 2006.

Trimis: 26/01/2007 14:47

De pe www.rockbeast.com, un scurt obiect despre prestatia A-ha la Guilfest:

AHA

AHA
Sitting down amongst several thousand people felt pretty strange. AHA had a beautiful evening to set the scene for their soft rock touch. This was a truly mellow expression of the eighties music scene and good retrospect of how things have changed. The keys create the dream like melodies that weave with the gentle vocals in perfect ease. Having heard ‘Embrace’ the night before, its clear the mark that AHA have left behind them in the last few decades. The pitch of vocals is complimented by a pulsating bass bouncing off a steady drum beat that holds the sound in place.

The lapped up the applause and vowed to play until they were cut off and fifteen minutes after curfew they left the stage to an enormous explosion of appause. That must have left the band and audience on a real high."

Atasez si cateva fotografii din momentul prestatiei...

A-ha at Guilfest A-ha at Guilfest

Trimis: 26/01/2007 15:12

thanks, Mete :flowers:

! great pics of Paul! :wub:

Trimis: 27/01/2007 20:20

Multumim Mete!
Pozele cu Paul intr'adevar sunt grozave Nicole! ;-)

, iar interviul cu Magne foarte interesant . Mai ales ca Magne nu se invarte dupa copac ca de exemplu Morten in majoritatea interviurilor . Numai eu am impresia ca unele din interviurile cu Morten au ceva "surreal" in ele? :lol:

Iti trebuie o usoara doza de tacaneala ca sa prinzi esenta. :-P

Trimis: 29/01/2007 09:36

Multumim, Mete!