Paul Waaktaar-Savoy – the incredible songwriter and guitarist in a-ha, Savoy and now Weathervane, the live performer, vocalist, instrument collector, producer and visual artist – can celebrate his 50th birthday today, September 6th.
Happy Birthday, Paul!
(You can post your own birthday greetings to Paul on a-ha.com and on a-ha.com’s Facebook page)
The Rockheim museum
(Picture by Jakob)
Rockheim – the Norwegian museum of popular music in Trondheim – today announced the first five bands/artists to be inducted into the museum’s new “Hall of Fame”.
They are: a-ha, Alf Prøysen, Jokke & Valentinerne, Wenche Myhre and Åge Aleksandersen.
A jury consisting of 88 people from the music business and media held a vote to determine the final five from the inital list of fifteen nominees.
“These five are worthy members [of the Hall of Fame]. They are all equally worthy”, Petter Myhr – the director at Rockheim – said in a comment.
The induction ceremony will be held at the Rockheim museum on November 6th. (Rescheduled from August 21st due to the recent terror attacks).
Paul Stolper, Magne and Hugo Opdal in front of Damien Hirst's butterfly paintings
(Picture from Dagsavisen)
The new gallery Stolper + Friends, which is owned by Paul Stolper, Magne Furuholmen and Hugo Opdal, opens at Tjuvholmen in Oslo tonight with the exhibition “The Souls” by Damien Hirst.
“The reason why I wanted to establish the gallery here, is that Tjuvholmen is a new district still in the making and in constant development. And with the Astrup Fearnley museum opening [next year] and the other galleries already here, I think we’ll get a nice dynamic which will attract many art fans to the area”, Magne told Aftenposten in an interview last week.
Magne’s own exhibition “Futura Plus”, which was supposed to open the gallery but was cancelled after the July 22nd tragedy, will instead be shown in Sweden sometime in November, he tells newspaper Dagsavisen today.
In an article at TheArtNewspaper.com yesterday, Magne said “Futura Plus” features “words including ‘death’ and ‘accident’, painted on blood-stained sheets collected from hospital autopsy-rooms and similar.”
At Stolper + Friends, “The Souls” is on display until October 2nd and will be followed by an exhibition of sculptures.
More pictures from inside the gallery can be seen here.
Single cover
The Danish electro-pop duo Electric Lady Lab released their new single “Touch Me” this week, which uses various samples from “The Sun Always Shines On TV” – including some of Morten’s original vocals.
There have been countless cover versions of a-ha songs over the years, but this is apparently the first time a-ha have officially allowed someone to sample one of their songs.
Danish music website Gaffa.dk reports that Electric Lady Lab members Martin Bøge Pedersen and Stine Hjelm Jacobsen wrote “Touch Me” together with Johan Wohlert (ex-Mew).
Only after recording it did they ask a-ha’s management for permission. And although he personally liked the song, a-ha manager Harald Wiik said it was almost 100 percent certain that they wouldn’t get permission to use the samples. But he would play it for the members of a-ha and get back to them.
After two weeks Wiik sent an e-mail saying that all three a-ha members had approved the song after all. “Touch Me” is available on iTunes now, at least in Scandinavia.
(Thanks to Christian)
According to the website of 140dB Management, UK producer Steve Osborne is “about to start work on a solo album for Morten Harket”.
Exactly when this was posted and how far along they are in the process is not known.
Osborne previously worked with a-ha as a producer, mixer and musician on the Foot Of The Mountain album in 2009. He also did alternate mixes of “Nothing Is Keeping You Here” and, most recently, “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)”.
Update: The solo album info has now been removed from the 140db Management website.
In a message sent out to several fans, 140db Management writes the following:
“Steve is not currently doing any work with Morten. Unfortunately that is an error at this stage and nothing has taken place. One of our interns got over excited and has placed that on a page as he has been updating our website and assumed this project is happening. At this stage nothing has happened or is actually confirmed.
You can definitely pass the word as there is nothing going on at the moment. Of course that may change in the future but our official comment is that nothing is happening at the present time. Steve is currently working on a band from New York called Glint.”
(Thanks to “greeneyedgirl” and Carlos)
On stage at the Amanda Awards
The Weathervane promotion in Norway continues. Today Paul and Jimmy appeared on P4’s morning radio show, where they performed another acoustic version of “Weathervane”.
A shortened MP3 podcast of the show can be downloaded here. The interview starts at 11:45 minutes.
In an interview with newspaper Bergensavisen Paul says that Frode Unneland, who played drums at the Amanda Awards on Saturday, could be joining Weathervane on a more permanent basis:
“Yes, that’s absolutely an option. He’s part of the family, after all. Frode is a fantastic guy, both as a musician and as a person.”
Frode himself wouldn’t mind doing more work with Weathervane:
“That would of course be interesting – it’s always fun to work with Paul”, he tells the newspaper.
He’s also looking forward to more Savoy:
“There will definitely be another Savoy-album, we just need to find time to do it”, Frode says.
Paul tells Bergensavisen that his unused a-ha songs could turn into Weathervane songs instead:
“I always have a bunch of material lying around and I may end up using the songs intended for a-ha in Weathervane. We have already tested out some stuff in the studio.”
He also hopes to do something with Weathervane in the US:
“That would have been really interesting. All of Jimmy’s contracts have been signed in the US and he has his whole network of contacts over there. For him it’s actually very exotic to be here in Norway.”
Picture from side2.no
Paul and Jimmy have continued promoting Weathervane in Norway this week.
Yesterday they were interviewed by NTB, Side 2 and Dagsavisen.
And this morning they were guests on NRK P3’s morning radio show, where they were interviewed, answered questions from the listeners and did an acoustic version of “Weathervane”.
The whole radio show can be downloaded as an MP3 podcast here. The interview (in English) starts at 29:30 minutes and lasts until 48:00 minutes. (The acoustic performance starts at 37:45).
Below are a selection of quotes from the various interviews:
Jimmy on the Amanda Awards performance:
“It was really exciting. When we stepped up there to do soundcheck, it felt like we’d been doing it for years together. It felt really natural. And I just looked to the side and felt like I was standing next to my brother, and we really had been doing it forever. I had to find my footing at first, when we started, but once we locked into it I felt really good.”
Paul:
“With Weathervane there is no pressure, no plans. It’s like resetting yourself and starting all over. A new spring – springtime in Paris! I’ve been there before and know the feeling.”
Jimmy on being compared to Morten:
“There are bound to be comparisons. I have always been a big fan of Morten. It’s flattering to be compared to him, but our voices are different.”
Picture: Universal promo
Paul on the song lyrics in “Weathervane”:
“We don’t have to analyze our own lyrics. But it’s actually a very domestic story about Lauren wanting to go to London for a week to spend some time alone.”
Paul on their international ambitions:
“The movie’s been sold to so many countries that now it’s just up to us how far we can take it”.
Jimmy on working with Paul:
“It feels really natural. I don’t know what it is, if it’s because of similar influences that we both had growing up, or that I’ve been influenced by Paul’s music as well, why it feels so natural to me. It’s like working on my own songs, it’s just the same. I feel completely at home with it, and connected to it all.”
Paul on Jimmy:
“Jimmy has a fantastic voice. It’s incredibe to hear when he starts the song and what he can do with it.”
Paul on future plans for Weathervane:
“Ideally we would love to have an album out around Christmas time, or after Christmas. You know, on stage in Haugesund I was like ‘Oh, this could actually be really cool’. I think we would both like to do festivals or something next year.”
“We’ll take one step at a time. We can easily put out three-four singles before the album is released. I like that kind of build-up.”
Paul on a-ha’s performance at the National Memorial Ceremony:
“Being asked to participate was a great honour. We said yes at once. It turned out to be a completely heartbreaking experience. I find it hard to describe with words. For me, music is what brings the most comfort.”
a-ha performed “Stay On These Roads” together with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra as part of the National Memorial Ceremony at Oslo Spektrum today, to remember the victims of the July 22nd attacks.
With them on stage they also had Karl Oluf Wennerberg on drums and Erik Ljunggren on keyboard. The song was arranged for orchestra by Kjetil Bjerkestrand.
If you missed the live broadcast, a-ha’s performance can be seen here. The whole 2-hour ceremony is available at nrk.no.
Weathervane did their first ever performance at the Amanda Film Awards in Haugesund last night. The award show is held in connection with the city’s annual international film festival.
Paul and Jimmy Gnecco were backed by three Savoy-musicians on stage; Frode Unneland on drums, Preben Grieg-Halvorsen on keyboard and Hågen Rørmark on bass.
The performance itself was all playback, except for Jimmy’s vocals, and the music video for the song was shown on a screen behind them.
The movie Hodejegerne, in which “Weathervane” is used, has its Norwegian premiere at the festival on Tuesday the 23rd.
Update: The performance is now up on YouTube here.
Morten and various family members singing at the Haydom fundraiser in 2007. His father Reidar by the piano.
Morten was in Vennesla in Southern Norway on Sunday, August 14th, to sing Christian hymns together with Harket Mannssangforening (The Harket Men’s Choir) at the annual fundraiser meeting to support Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania.
Morten has performed at this event a number of times in recent years (see August 10th, 2009 news update). He first joined the choir in 2003, after his uncle Kjell passed away.
“This choir is a continuation of a quartet that my father and other relatives had many years ago. Now we have taken this up again. Our only scheduled appearance is singing at this Haydom fundraiser”, Morten told newspaper Vårt Land when he performed at the same event in 2007.
“The history of Haydom is a story about an impressive effort done by idealistic people. With limited means they have managed to build a hospital that’s become important to a lot of people. If I, with my voice, can do something to support this work, I’m there”, he added.
No reports or pictures from this year’s event have appeared in the local press so far.
