“I would like to leave people with a different
vibe at the end”, Paul says.

Paul has some encouraging words for those of us hoping that a-ha will end the December 4th concert with a more appropriate final song than “Take On Me”.

Here are a few quotes from a new interview with Focus.de:

– Why is this the right moment to bring a-ha to an end?
– It’s not the right moment at all, in my view! I’m the one who said that we should record another album instead. It would have been nice to end things with a larger, final statement.

– You didn’t manage to get your will?
– You have to take into account the band chemistry, which provides creative sparks, but which also can be tiringly destructive in the long run. 25 years is a long time. We want to end on a high note. In any case, it will be both fun and strange to meet again a year later, when schedules and business decisions no longer play a part.

– And if the other two want to start up a-ha again?
– Then perhaps I’m the one who doesn’t want to! That’s how it’s always been; one of us is against it. But I think that Morten will continue to perform songs that I have written.
(….)
– What is the last song that a-ha will perform live?
– At least not “Take On Me” – if it’s up to me. I have nothing against the song, but I would like to leave people with a different vibe at the end.

A selection of other recent interviews from Germany:

Video clips:
– Euromaxx (DW-TV, 5 August)
– Breakfast TV (Sat1, 4 August)
– a-ha MySpace page – EPK interview (29 July)
– Brisant (ARD, 28 July)
– Leute Heute (ZDF, 28 July)

Audio clips:
– Radio BR3 (5 Aug) + PDF of questionnaire filled out by Paul here

Other:
– Interview mit den Pop-Giganten (VirtualNights.com)
– Eine lange Popkarriere geht zu Ende Part 1 Part 2 (VIP.de)
– “Ich höre nie Musik” (Welt Online, 1 August)

Oh, and “Butterfly, Butterfly” has entered the German single chart at number 22 in its first week.

There is a German interview with Paul on the Südkurier website today.

Here are a few quotes from the interview, which was done over the phone in Toronto a few weeks back:

Mönchengladbach, 28 May
(Picture by Sandra)

You are currently on your Farewell Tour. But why are you ending the band?
– Well, 25 years is a long time for any band. Although we could have continued for another two – three years, of course. But at this point it felt right to try out new things.

Your last three concerts ever will be held in Oslo in December. They have been sold out for a long time. Is that a symbolic place to end it all?
– Sort of – even though we originally had completely different plans. But it’s fitting. It all started in Norway.

Mönchengladbach, 28 May
(Picture by Sandra)

Which songs are you playing on your Farewell Tour? All of them?
– When you add up all the albums there are around a hundred songs – so it’s quite difficult to choose. The setlist in America will be a bit different than in Europe, where other songs were more popular. We’re trying to see what works, what’s fitting, what we like ourselves. It keeps changing…

You are going to re-release your first album “Hunting High And Low”, among other things?
– Yes, and with added material. We have tried to track down the original masters and the very first versions of our early songs. I like many of those better than the versions that ended up on the albums. And there are still a lot of songs that we have never recorded, because we didn’t have the time. Many of them are really good – they could have turned into great albums.

Read the full interview with Paul in German here.

a-ha will play the first European concert of their Farewell Tour tonight in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

In connection with the German concerts Paul has been interviewed by RTL Radio. An audio clip of the interview can be heard here.

“We’re pretty excited about it. We’re gonna play songs from all the nine albums and there might even be a new song that hasn’t been released yet“, Paul says about what the audience can expect this weekend.

There is an interview with Paul in the Bauru newspaper Jornal da Cidade today. Here are a few quotes:

Buenos Aires, March 4th

JC – What are the expectations of the band regarding the Brazilian public?
Paul – The tours that we remember most are from South America and the times when we were in Brazil are very special to us. It is even a little funny because we always did more shows in Europe and North America, but they started telling us that we were very successful in Brazil and that we should include the country on tour. When we finally visited Brazil, we were impressed with the care, attention and the amount of fans we had here. For me, the first time we played in Brazil was particularly special because it was as if we were playing live for the first time. The audience was different and gave us a new feeling because we had never played in such big and open stadiums. It really changed the way we were performing.

JC – What do you like about Brazil?
Paul – It’s hard to compete with the Brazilian public. You are very passionate, caring and have a unique energy. I remember we were impressed with this concert at Rock in Rio II that I mentioned, because there were people who stood in line for more than nine hours and still had the energy to sing and jump during the show. This is amazing. Brazilians give of themselves completely and I do not find these features anywhere else in the world. Let’s say that each country has a “taste” and the Brazilian “taste” is very striking.

JC – Is there a chance that the band will meet up again in the future?
Paul – “Forever” does not exist. Nothing is eternal. We don’t know what can happen in the future. I won’t say that we will never again be reunited as a-ha, but right now we are saying goodbye, yes.

JC – What do you intend to do from now on?
Paul – I really want to keep writing and working on music, working with new artists. Maybe I’ll form a new band. I have written songs and I’ll see what to do with them. Magne formed another band and they even released an album, but I think none of us have decided exactly what to do in the future because we still have much work to do on this last tour. But surely the music will continue in our lives.

The whole interview in Portuguese can be found on Jornal da Cidade’s website here, or you can read an English translation provided by Google Translate here.