A fun update on a-ha.com today:
We sometimes hear from fans who would like to have a chance to remix an a-ha or solo track, using audio stem files – most recently, a fan named Carlos asked Paul this very question in his Q&A with a-ha.com.
Paul is interested to hear your mixes of his new song ‘Manmade Lake’, and he has made the stem files available here on a-ha.com!
Head over to a-ha.com to download the stem files and read all the details.
Morten with Terry Wogan
(Picture by BBC Radio 2)
Morten is now in the UK to promote his new album. This morning he was a guest on Weekend Wogan on BBC Radio 2, where he did two acoustic songs together with Dan Sunhordvik; “Do You Remember Me” and – as a tribute to Phil Everly – “Let It Be Me”. The performance is available here. More pictures here and here.
Later on he was a guest on Gaby Roslin’s show on BBC Radio London, where he did two more songs together with Dan; “Do You Remember Me” and “Safe With Me”. He also talked openly about being bullied as a child. The show can be heard here (for 7 days). Pictures here and here.
He also met Maajid Nawaz today, whose book Radical was a source of inspiration for the lyrics in “Brother”. “Just met A-Ha lead singer @mortenharket to thank him for writing new album-track “Brother” based on my memoir Radical”, Nawaz said in a message on Twitter.
The UK promo continues tomorrow with more radio interviews, plus a TV-appearance on ITV’s Lorraine. Check out mortenharket.com for the details.
Before going to London, Morten and Dan did another acoustic session for Radio Norge in Oslo on Friday. But I don’t know if it was broadcast live or recorded for later. Pat Sharp, who was also a guest, posted a selfie with Morten on Twitter. Additional pictures here and here.
Album cover
“Better Without You”, the third single from Linnea Dale’s upcoming album, premiered on Norwegian radio a few days ago. This is one of the songs that she’s done together with Paul in New York.
In an interview on NRK P1’s Nitimen, Linnea talked about the experience of working with Paul:
“It was fabulous. I have enormous respect for him as a songwriter, so it was great to go over there. We started out with a pre-production session here in Oslo where we tested out some ideas, and then I flew over to New York and spent a week there a while later.”
It was Warner Music that brought Paul into the process. He has been busy moving to a new house recently:
“[The Waaktaar-Savoys] had just moved from Soho to a brownstone house in Brooklyn, so we were working in an improvised studio on the top floor. We had to stop recording every time a plane flew over head, as it wasn’t soundproof.”
Her upcoming album Good Goodbyes (April 25th) will also include two other songs written with Paul: “Sweet Life” and “With Eyes Closed”. Another song Paul mentioned in the a-ha.com Q&A, “Better Days”, must have been left out – unless the song title has changed.
“Better Without You” can be heard here (at 1:44:50).
From Studio 1
Morten’s Studio 1 concert, which was taped in Oslo on February 24th, aired on NRK1 in Norway last night.
Six of the seven songs performed were included in the TV broadcast, which can be viewed online at tv.nrk.no: Whispering Heart / Brother / Do You Remember Me / Spanish Steps / A Kind Of Christmas Card / There Is A Place.
An additional song, Safe With Me, is available as a bonus video here.
Morten was joined on stage by Per Lindvall (drums), Christer Karlsson (keyboard), Peter Kvint (guitar) and Lars Danielsson (bass).
The concert will be repeated April 9th on NRK2.
Frode, Lauren and Paul in 2007.
The second part of the Q&A with Paul is now up on a-ha.com.
Not only is he working on the first Waaktaar album, there is also a new Savoy album to look forward to, Paul says:
“There is indeed a Savoy album in the works. We have lots of new songs recorded and we will finalize the album with our drummer, Frode, this summer. I also would like to release the whole Savoy catalogue on iTunes and Spotify as well as vinyl. So far, they’ve only been released on CD.”
He says his main focus will always be on releasing full albums:
“The album concept seems to be a bit washed out these days, but that’s what I grew up with so I’ll always have that as the main focus. However, it is fun to release a track like “Manmade Lake” and get an immediate reaction. I definitely want to do more of that.”
He also repeats what he’s said in the past, about how the idea to end a-ha felt like a business decision:
“The idea to end the band was forced. Not natural. It felt like a business decision to me. Just someone’s bright idea.
We can still play, still sing, we still have tons of songs to record.
And we still have a huge loving audience!
…crazy.”
Read all of his answers, including info about the cover image of “Manmade Lake”, what he’s been listening to lately and his thoughts on songwriting, over on a-ha.com.
For more updates from Paul, follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Soundcloud.
The festival dates keep coming; Morten was confirmed for Elvefestivalen in Drammen today, where he will perform on August 22nd. The Ylvis brothers will also appear at the festival. The ticket sale starts via Billettservice on April 7th.
“More music is on the way”, Paul says.
(Picture by Jakob)
The first part of the Q&A with Paul was posted on a-ha.com today.
After the release of “Manmade Lake”, many fans have been wondering if we can expect a Waaktaar album at some point. And Paul can now confirm that he is indeed working on a full album:
“I’m working on an album to be released under “Waaktaar”. It should be ready shortly after the summer. Hopefully I’ll be able to upload some individual tracks long before that.”
He also provides some background info on “Manmade Lake”:
“It’s been a favorite of mine for a while. It was written around the overdriven guitar riff in the outro and I’ve been looking for a way to present it. The voice is run through a guitar amp which I thought strengthened the mood and related to the words, particularly in the second verse. Sort of like a ground-to-air type voice.”
Moreover, Paul mentions that he’s working on two additional albums, and that he’s hoping to include the song used in last year’s Scent of a Woman trailer on the next Savoy album.
Please visit a-ha.com to read the full Q&A.
SWR3 Latenight, March 28th
Morten and Dan Sunhordvik’s acoustic performance of “Brother” on the talkshow SWR3 Latenight aired in Germany last night. The performance, which was taped in Baden-Baden on Wednesday, can be seen here (starts at 24:30 minutes).
Apparently Morten’s in-ear monitor couldn’t be used, so the odd-looking thing on his cheek was an improvised solution.
Contest winner Bettina gets vocal coaching from Morten
(Picture from ffn.de)
Morten was in Hannover today, on the fifth day of his German promo tour for the upcoming Brother album.
On the radio station FFN another contest winner, Bettina, had the chance to get vocal coaching from Morten as she sang a duet with him on “Brother”. Two different video reports from the visit have been posted on ffn.de and sat1regional.de. He was also interviewed for several FFN shows, and there are extensive photo galleries on haz.de and ffn.de. While at the radio studio he also met this fan.
Morten also visited the studio of HR1 for more interviews. The HR1 website has posted a video clip of Morten speaking in German, inviting people to come to his concert in Offenbach in May. There is also a photo gallery.
In addition, more interview clips and acoustic songs were broadcast on both SWR1 Baden-Württemberg and SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz tonight. Here is an acoustic version of “Safe With Me”, recorded in Stuttgart on Tuesday:
And here’s another Instagram photo from the visit to Baden-Baden on Wednesday.
Acoustic session on SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz, March 27th
(Picture from swr.de)
Morten continued his promotional tour of Germany today. In Mainz he visited the studios of SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz, where he was interviewed for two different shows. He also did another acoustic session together with Dan Sunhordvik. A photo gallery and a few interview clips have been posted on swr.de.
In Ludwigshafen he was interviewed by RPR1, where a lucky contest winner had the chance to ask him some questions. She asked if he’s going to play more solo songs on this tour, instead of a-ha songs, to which he replied: “More of me”. A picture with RPR1 host Inge Meyer has been posted on Facebook.
He also visited Radio Regenbogen in Mannheim, where he was met by a group of fans. A photo gallery can be found at regenbogen.de. Update: A video clip from the interview has been posted on YouTube.
Meanwhile on SWR1 Baden-Württemberg, another part of Barbara Scherrer’s interview with Morten was broadcast this evening. She asked him if he’s figured out the live versions of the songs yet:
“I’m not there yet, but I’m looking forward to warming up with the band and really starting to gel with the band. They’re very good actually, it’s a brilliant band.”
Even though he’s going on the road with a new backing band, Morten says that he’s hoping to play with Dan, Erik and Karl Oluf at some point as well:
“Dan Sunhordvik was part of the band that I had last time around, when I toured after Out Of My Hands. And that was also a great band, I was very happy with that band. Something else has happened this time around. The drummer that I played with on the Wild Seed album in 95, his name is Per Lindvall, he did sessions for this album, Brother, and he got so excited about the material that he said ‘I’m gonna play this. I’m gonna come with you live.’ And then he brought with him a couple of other guys. And that has been a tough decision for me, a difficult one. Because I want to play with both teams – and maybe I will. I’m kind of hoping I will. But this time around it’s with Per and a Swedish bunch. One guy is Danish – no, two actually. They’re two now.”
Oh, and here’s another acoustic version from SWR1 Baden-Württemberg – “Brother” performed with Dan Sunhordvik:
As for why “Did I Leave You Behind” was left off the album, Morten has told a German fan that it was because they only wanted to have 10 songs on the album, and it didn’t quite fit in with the others.
