Frode Unneland

Savoy drummer Frode Unneland was the main guest on the Norwegian radio show Stjernepose on NRK P13 this week, to talk about the new Savoy album Under.

Below are some translated quotes from the conversation.

On the album:
“We are very satisfied with it. It was an easy recording process and it’s a very structured and cohesive album. To us there’s a common thread throughout the concept that is ‘Under’. Paul has said that many of the songs were written during Covid lockdowns. His lyrics are personal, but I can relate to the loneliness that he describes. Walking down empty streets and so on.”

Starting the recording process:
“a-ha had finished their [2022] tour and Paul was staying for a week in Oslo, alone in their house. He called me up and asked if I wanted to come over, drink some wine and listen to some new songs he’d made.

When I entered his home studio he had put up a large sheet of paper with 13 songs on it, and we just started at the top of the list. He had already recorded some rough demos that I played along to, and then I was able to add my own drumming style to that. It was really fun to play on this album, because things started to gel really fast. We did all the songs in around three days.”

Old and new:
“On this album there’s one song that we’ve recorded a few times before, but never made the cut because we weren’t quite happy with it. But this time we suddenly figured it out. But Paul is constantly writing new material, and sometimes he’s amassed a lot of songs that he needs to release – or at least record.”

Across the Atlantic:
“So we did the initial recordings very quickly, but then he went home to the US and continued working from there. He’s in California, I’m in Norway, but he’ll send me video clips from the studio of things he’s working on, like a new keyboard part or guitar part. And he’s eager to get my feedback.”

Recording his own vocals:
“All my own vocal tracks were recorded in the bedroom of our house [in Bergen], and that worked really well. It’s the first time that I’ve recorded something without Paul being present. But I don’t know much about using computers to record things, so I enlisted the help of my youngest son Filip. So on the cover it says “engineered by Filip Unneland” and that’s really cool. And Paul really loved how it sounded, so he gifted him a black Ludwig drum kit and lots of compressors and microphones.”

Why Savoy rarely play live:
“The [2018] concert [in Oslo] was incredibly fun. After the show everyone were like “we need to do this again!”. But then another a-ha tour got in the way. That’s what happens. (…) There’s also the challenge of hiring new backing musicians and rehearsing extensively – yet again. Although Paul knows that I’d do it in a heartbeat. But we do get lots of offers to play live, here and there. Paul’s latest suggestion was that perhaps I could put together a Savoy cover band, that would have been much easier! [laughs]”