A-Ha's Morten Harket
femalefirst.co.uk
28.04.2006
Morten Harket was a poster boy for a generation of screaming girls. Those girls included acne-ridden teenagers right through to blue-rinsed grandmothers who couldn’t resist his fresh-faced charms and silky vocal stylings. Now, 21 years after their first hit, Morten and the other members of A-Ha - Magne Furuholmen and Paal Waaktaar - are back. And again, they are poster boys for a generation, but this time it’s the daughters of those acne-ridden teenagers and blue-rinsed great grandmothers.
Morten, now 47-years-old, is still fresh faced, still has his silky style but now he has a fifth of a century of fond memories after a career that has taken him from Oslo to New York, London to Sesame Street. However, things could have been very different. Morten wanted to be a priest, but stopped his studies at the Theological Faculty in order to practice with a group called Bridges. But in 1983, he teamed up with Magne and Paal, created the group A-Ha. The video for 'Take on Me' took the world by storm and the single went to the top of the US Billboard charts - making them the first Norwegian group to ever achieve that accolade.
However, Morten is not just about music. Over the years he has tried everything from conservation work to film making and painting to orchids. But after years of musical silence, 2005 saw the release of A-Ha’s eighth studio album, ‘Analogue’, and massive worldwide tour.
‘Analogue’ is their most mature album to date, however, they haven’t turned their back on their pop past. On songs like the title track ‘Analogue’ or second single, ‘Cozy Prisons’, plinking synths have been replaced with soaring sophisticated string sequences, but the catchy riffs and addictively sing along choruses are all intact.
Morten confesses: "It feels very different now. We're signed to Universal, it's new to us and that has an effect on a number of things. In a way you get a chance to start all over. Between the three of us, we're in a process of change that we're somewhere in the midst of. There are so many variables between the three of us that are essentially strong assets, but they have to freely come into play."
And he admits he’s even more excited about the future than he was when they were at the peak of the fame in the 80s.
He revealed: "It's been a lot easier for us because we are just who we are today. I like the fact that we are about something a little different. What I find interesting about life is the ever-changing mood, and that nothing really can stay the same, you have to play with it and respond. This can be a very interesting line of work to be in.”
And as Morten tells Simon Thompson when they met up for drinks in London’s trendy Soho, the band have no intention of taking anything for granted, or forgetting why they’re still around.
When you started your comeback, was it a surprise to find out you still had so many fans?
In one sense it was a surprise because you don’t expect that you will. People grow up and start to like different things. It’s very heart warming. We are always making music, so no matter when people find us, they’ll find the same sort of sound. As long as they find us it’s fine. We have picked up a lot of new fans too, but we haven’t changed.
It’s been 20 years since your peak and you’re still having hits. Did you ever think that would happen?
Yes and no. It’s because we’re not a group of people, we’re all individuals who just write, play and sing music. It’s nothing flashy so it doesn’t really date. We have never tried to fit into, or go along with, the trend of the time. If people want to still buy our records 20 years on that’s great. If not, then so be it. We’ve never been entertainers, we’re musicians. Robbie Williams is an entertainer and he’s great at that. We just play music.
Your live shows are very basic. You show up, play your songs and go home.
It’s because that’s who we are and that’s what people want. For us, the shows have to be honest and real. That’s where we’re at. When we got back together - we didn’t plan it. It just happened, we just stumbled across each other and it happened. The music that we do now is not trying to recreate or look back at what we did then in the 80s. People who like what we did then might not like what we do now and vice versa. There is no difference in what we do now and then… we’ve just got a bit older.
Looking back though, what do you think about your first album now?
The first album came out when the three of us hit England and we were picked up by people who, in the industry, saw this band of young men waiting to be marketed like chocolate. Our music was much more affected by outside influences - it was a case of us doing what the record label wanted. The second one was more us, more like an album of demos. So, the first album is one of the most affected albums, but we’re still tremendously proud of it and what it did for us.
If you’d have put out the second album first, do you think things would have turned out differently?
No, I think it would have been the same, but we wouldn’t have exploded onto the scene like we did. It would have been more of a slow burning thing. It would have given us an ability to enter the scene at some level and work it from there. As it happened, we went in at the top and worked hard to stay there.
But the fact you were three good looking guys didn’t hurt your chances of being successful did it?
That’s true, but you don’t have to blow us up into a billboard poster for people to notice A-Ha. We look the way we look. We never wanted to be pin-ups but it happened anyway. We could never say the media created us though - they took what was there and made of it what they did.
Do you resent being marketed as a sex symbol?
No. It’s the way it is. I don’t care. It’s a natural part of the scene. I don’t mind it know if people still think that way, but I don’t take it in. It’s flattering but… I just know that we would have had an easier run and a different run if hadn’t been that way. There was so much pressure on not wasting an opportunity. To be honest, the record company didn’t really know how to deal with us because we were so many things and still are so many things but I think that’s another reason why we’ve lasted. It’s played to our advantage. That’s why we can come back and play sell out concerts in the UK without even releasing record. We toured the country in a few years ago when we hadn’t released anything for years - and didn’t plan on releasing anything.
That must have felt good.
It did. We played the Royal Albert Hall after not doing a UK concert for 10 years and there was not a spare seat in the house. It was amazing. There was no record company to back it, no promotion. We weren’t even being played on the radio. It was amazing for us and a very humbling, heart warming thing. We thought it was one off then it was suggested we stay on and played Wembley so we played Wembley. We thought the person was mad but 11,000 people turned up. That doesn’t happen just because a teenager bought a poster and stuck in their room in 1985. It’s something else entirely, and we really appreciate it.
Is there a part of still being famous that you don’t like?
The fuss. It really eats up your time and your personal space. Being fussed over. We just want to please our fans and play our music. There’s no need to be all fancy. I deal with it though. You have to.
What have been the high points and low points of your career?
The only low point is when you feel like you’ve wasted your time or your opportunities… not that I can think of one occasion where we did that, even after over 20 years of doing this. High points are to feel the warmth of strangers, especially on an individual level. Every fan has a story, every person has something they want to take away from a concert or an album or from meeting us. We never just play to a crowd, we try and make it personal, but to get that back is something that I appreciate. I appreciate the fact that the fans appreciate us appreciating it too.
Has a fan ever done anything that you’ve found weird?
Weird is relative but there this one guy that I met when I was in the thick of the Amazon in a gold mining village. He had groomed himself to look like me in every aspect, EVERY aspect. It didn’t stop there either because when he met me he freaked out! He ran off in the jungle. Anyway, he came back and we had a chat in his bar where he invited myself and friend in for a evening of free drinks - although he did eventually send us a bill at a later date! He kept telling me, ‘You are the greatest. You are the greatest.’ He’d pause in the middle of every sentence and just keep saying that to me over and over again. His English was terrible because he’d learnt to speak the language from old A-Ha songs on the radio, so his whole vocabulary came from our lyrics. He also had this girlfriend who was a huge fan of mine and she was only with him because he’d made himself look just like me. Then she left him and he got another girlfriend who was also a big fan of A-Ha… but she was blind… so could never see what he’d done to himself. They eventually got married. It was all very bizarre.
So is there one song or one album that you’re most proud of?
No, not really. They all have stories behind them, they all have their high points and low points, some lived up to their potential and other didn’t but it doesn’t mean we’re any less happy with them. Each album and song seems to have come into it’s own at some point in our career, they’ve all had their time to shine, so to pick one song or album is impossible really.
You did ‘The Living Daylights’, but if you were asked to do another Bond theme song, would you do it?
We would love to but we would have to be clearer about what was expected of us. Last time, the filmmakers expected us to be in London for the film’s premiere but we never really told that and so we were all off doing other things at the time - I think we were on a big tour in Japan - so we couldn’t make it over to London. They couldn’t believe that we would not show up and so it turned into a bit of a circus with everybody wondering why the band who did the theme tune weren’t at the opening of the movie. Some people said that we didn’t care - but that wasn’t true. We would have been there and wanted to be there but our conscience wouldn’t let us cancel our shows in Japan and disappoint all those people. That wouldn’t have been right. But we would love to do another Bond theme definitely. It would be an honour.
by Simon Thompson
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/170382004-2.htm
Interview - A-Ha's Morten Harket - femalefirst.co.uk 28.04.06
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Ich hab das Doppelte gelöscht!
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Hatten wir das schon? Habe ich dann nicht gesehen Sorry
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Den Part fand ich übrigens wirklich super :-P...
Zitat
Has a fan ever done anything that you’ve found weird?
Weird is relative but there this one guy that I met when I was in the thick of the Amazon in a gold mining village. He had groomed himself to look like me in every aspect, EVERY aspect. It didn’t stop there either because when he met me he freaked out! He ran off in the jungle. Anyway, he came back and we had a chat in his bar where he invited myself and friend in for a evening of free drinks - although he did eventually send us a bill at a later date! He kept telling me, ‘You are the greatest. You are the greatest.’ He’d pause in the middle of every sentence and just keep saying that to me over and over again. His English was terrible because he’d learnt to speak the language from old A-Ha songs on the radio, so his whole vocabulary came from our lyrics. He also had this girlfriend who was a huge fan of mine and she was only with him because he’d made himself look just like me. Then she left him and he got another girlfriend who was also a big fan of A-Ha… but she was blind… so could never see what he’d done to himself. They eventually got married. It was all very bizarre.Was es nicht für Leute gibt...
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Oder so...
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Zitat von sandra1203
A-Ha's Morten Harket
femalefirst.co.uk
28.04.2006
Morten Harket was a poster boy for a generation of screaming girls. Those girls included acne-ridden teenagers right through to blue-rinsed grandmothers who couldn’t resist his fresh-faced charms and silky vocal stylings. Now, 21 years after their first hit, Morten and the other members of A-Ha - Magne Furuholmen and Paal Waaktaar - are back. And again, they are poster boys for a generation, but this time it’s the daughters of those acne-ridden teenagers and blue-rinsed great grandmothers.
Morten, now 47-years-old, is still fresh faced, still has his silky style but now he has a fifth of a century of fond memories after a career that has taken him from Oslo to New York, London to Sesame Street. However, things could have been very different. Morten wanted to be a priest, but stopped his studies at the Theological Faculty in order to practice with a group called Bridges. But in 1983, he teamed up with Magne and Paal, created the group A-Ha. The video for 'Take on Me' took the world by storm and the single went to the top of the US Billboard charts - making them the first Norwegian group to ever achieve that accolade.
However, Morten is not just about music. Over the years he has tried everything from conservation work to film making and painting to orchids. But after years of musical silence, 2005 saw the release of A-Ha’s eighth studio album, ‘Analogue’, and massive worldwide tour.
‘Analogue’ is their most mature album to date, however, they haven’t turned their back on their pop past. On songs like the title track ‘Analogue’ or second single, ‘Cozy Prisons’, plinking synths have been replaced with soaring sophisticated string sequences, but the catchy riffs and addictively sing along choruses are all intact.
Morten confesses: "It feels very different now. We're signed to Universal, it's new to us and that has an effect on a number of things. In a way you get a chance to start all over. Between the three of us, we're in a process of change that we're somewhere in the midst of. There are so many variables between the three of us that are essentially strong assets, but they have to freely come into play."
And he admits he’s even more excited about the future than he was when they were at the peak of the fame in the 80s.
He revealed: "It's been a lot easier for us because we are just who we are today. I like the fact that we are about something a little different. What I find interesting about life is the ever-changing mood, and that nothing really can stay the same, you have to play with it and respond. This can be a very interesting line of work to be in.”
And as Morten tells Simon Thompson when they met up for drinks in London’s trendy Soho, the band have no intention of taking anything for granted, or forgetting why they’re still around.
When you started your comeback, was it a surprise to find out you still had so many fans?
In one sense it was a surprise because you don’t expect that you will. People grow up and start to like different things. It’s very heart warming. We are always making music, so no matter when people find us, they’ll find the same sort of sound. As long as they find us it’s fine. We have picked up a lot of new fans too, but we haven’t changed.
It’s been 20 years since your peak and you’re still having hits. Did you ever think that would happen?
Yes and no. It’s because we’re not a group of people, we’re all individuals who just write, play and sing music. It’s nothing flashy so it doesn’t really date. We have never tried to fit into, or go along with, the trend of the time. If people want to still buy our records 20 years on that’s great. If not, then so be it. We’ve never been entertainers, we’re musicians. Robbie Williams is an entertainer and he’s great at that. We just play music.
Your live shows are very basic. You show up, play your songs and go home.
It’s because that’s who we are and that’s what people want. For us, the shows have to be honest and real. That’s where we’re at. When we got back together - we didn’t plan it. It just happened, we just stumbled across each other and it happened. The music that we do now is not trying to recreate or look back at what we did then in the 80s. People who like what we did then might not like what we do now and vice versa. There is no difference in what we do now and then… we’ve just got a bit older.
Looking back though, what do you think about your first album now?
The first album came out when the three of us hit England and we were picked up by people who, in the industry, saw this band of young men waiting to be marketed like chocolate. Our music was much more affected by outside influences - it was a case of us doing what the record label wanted. The second one was more us, more like an album of demos. So, the first album is one of the most affected albums, but we’re still tremendously proud of it and what it did for us.
If you’d have put out the second album first, do you think things would have turned out differently?
No, I think it would have been the same, but we wouldn’t have exploded onto the scene like we did. It would have been more of a slow burning thing. It would have given us an ability to enter the scene at some level and work it from there. As it happened, we went in at the top and worked hard to stay there.
But the fact you were three good looking guys didn’t hurt your chances of being successful did it?
That’s true, but you don’t have to blow us up into a billboard poster for people to notice A-Ha. We look the way we look. We never wanted to be pin-ups but it happened anyway. We could never say the media created us though - they took what was there and made of it what they did.
Do you resent being marketed as a sex symbol?
No. It’s the way it is. I don’t care. It’s a natural part of the scene. I don’t mind it know if people still think that way, but I don’t take it in. It’s flattering but… I just know that we would have had an easier run and a different run if hadn’t been that way. There was so much pressure on not wasting an opportunity. To be honest, the record company didn’t really know how to deal with us because we were so many things and still are so many things but I think that’s another reason why we’ve lasted. It’s played to our advantage. That’s why we can come back and play sell out concerts in the UK without even releasing record. We toured the country in a few years ago when we hadn’t released anything for years - and didn’t plan on releasing anything.
That must have felt good.
It did. We played the Royal Albert Hall after not doing a UK concert for 10 years and there was not a spare seat in the house. It was amazing. There was no record company to back it, no promotion. We weren’t even being played on the radio. It was amazing for us and a very humbling, heart warming thing. We thought it was one off then it was suggested we stay on and played Wembley so we played Wembley. We thought the person was mad but 11,000 people turned up. That doesn’t happen just because a teenager bought a poster and stuck in their room in 1985. It’s something else entirely, and we really appreciate it.
Is there a part of still being famous that you don’t like?
The fuss. It really eats up your time and your personal space. Being fussed over. We just want to please our fans and play our music. There’s no need to be all fancy. I deal with it though. You have to.
What have been the high points and low points of your career?
The only low point is when you feel like you’ve wasted your time or your opportunities… not that I can think of one occasion where we did that, even after over 20 years of doing this. High points are to feel the warmth of strangers, especially on an individual level. Every fan has a story, every person has something they want to take away from a concert or an album or from meeting us. We never just play to a crowd, we try and make it personal, but to get that back is something that I appreciate. I appreciate the fact that the fans appreciate us appreciating it too.
Has a fan ever done anything that you’ve found weird?
Weird is relative but there this one guy that I met when I was in the thick of the Amazon in a gold mining village. He had groomed himself to look like me in every aspect, EVERY aspect. It didn’t stop there either because when he met me he freaked out! He ran off in the jungle. Anyway, he came back and we had a chat in his bar where he invited myself and friend in for a evening of free drinks - although he did eventually send us a bill at a later date! He kept telling me, ‘You are the greatest. You are the greatest.’ He’d pause in the middle of every sentence and just keep saying that to me over and over again. His English was terrible because he’d learnt to speak the language from old A-Ha songs on the radio, so his whole vocabulary came from our lyrics. He also had this girlfriend who was a huge fan of mine and she was only with him because he’d made himself look just like me. Then she left him and he got another girlfriend who was also a big fan of A-Ha… but she was blind… so could never see what he’d done to himself. They eventually got married. It was all very bizarre.
So is there one song or one album that you’re most proud of?
No, not really. They all have stories behind them, they all have their high points and low points, some lived up to their potential and other didn’t but it doesn’t mean we’re any less happy with them. Each album and song seems to have come into it’s own at some point in our career, they’ve all had their time to shine, so to pick one song or album is impossible really.
You did ‘The Living Daylights’, but if you were asked to do another Bond theme song, would you do it?
We would love to but we would have to be clearer about what was expected of us. Last time, the filmmakers expected us to be in London for the film’s premiere but we never really told that and so we were all off doing other things at the time - I think we were on a big tour in Japan - so we couldn’t make it over to London. They couldn’t believe that we would not show up and so it turned into a bit of a circus with everybody wondering why the band who did the theme tune weren’t at the opening of the movie. Some people said that we didn’t care - but that wasn’t true. We would have been there and wanted to be there but our conscience wouldn’t let us cancel our shows in Japan and disappoint all those people. That wouldn’t have been right. But we would love to do another Bond theme definitely. It would be an honour.
by Simon Thompson
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/170382004-2.htm
Kann Das Jemand auf deutsch übersetzen???? -
Ich mache mich in den nächsten Tagen mal daran
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It feels very different now. We're signed to Universal, it's new to us and that has an effect on a number of things. In a way you get a chance to start all over. Between the three of us, we're in a process of change that we're somewhere in the midst of. There are so many variables between the three of us that are essentially strong assets, but they have to freely come into play????
waleeed