a-ha performing in Cologne tonight
a-ha performed “Foot Of The Mountain” at the big finale of “Germany’s Next Top Model” tonight, in front of 15.000 people in the audience at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne.
The show, hosted by Heidi Klum, was also watched live on TV by millions.
Several clips of a-ha’s performance are now up on YouTube.
(Thanks to the uploaders!)
A press release posted on Bandweblogs.com reveals that the upcoming album Foot Of The Mountain will be released in the UK on 13 July. And the single gets a UK release the week before, July 6.
Paul says about the single lyrics:
“It’s the dilemma of loving a city life, yet secretly wondering if we’d be happier being surrounded by open fields and sweeping mountains.“
Producer Mark Saunders provides some info about the new album on the blog of Beat360 Studios:
“Late last year Mark worked on A-Ha’s eagerly anticipated next record ‘Foot of the mountain’ at both Water Music studios in Hoboken, Jersey as well as our own BEAT360 facility in Manhattan. This last week it has been confirmed that Mark is credited producer on four of the album tracks. ‘Riding the crest’ ‘Real Meaning’ ‘What there is’ and ‘Sunny Mystery’. The record is to be released sometime in June and the guys play a number of arena tours throughout Europe later in the year.”
Some additional info about the album:
Paul has written 4 of the songs, while Magne and Paul have co-written 5 songs.
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Here is the Foot of the Mountain album tracklist, as posted on a-ha.com:
1. The Bandstand
2. Riding The Crest
3. What There Is
4. Foot Of The Mountain
5. Real Meaning
6. Shadowside
7. Nothing Is Keeping You Here
8. Mother Nature Goes To Heaven
9. Sunny Mystery
10. Start The Simulator
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a-ha were interviewed on Sat1’s “Frühstücksfernsehen” (Breakfast TV) this morning.
The interview was actually taped yesterday, followed by interviews for the “Foot Of The Mountain” EPK-package and the Berlin-part of the music video shoot, which lasted all through the night.
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Magne about the music video:
“It’s gonna be just a kind of an abstract take on the song, spliced together between two parts. One has a kind of more urban outlook, and one has a kind of longing for more open space. And I think it’s nice to incorporate that into the video. And it will sort of strengthen the two elements of the music.”
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Paul about the new album:
“We’ve sort of taken a different approach from the last two albums. A little bit…picking up some of our earlier electronic dabblings. So I think it’s a pretty good collection of music.”
Thanks to Verni on the German forum, the 3-part interview is now up on YouTube:
Part 1 Part 2 Part3
A report from the music video shoot will be shown on the entertainment news show “Brisant” on Friday, May 22. The show airs on Das Erste/ARD.
Today the guys went to Cologne to start preparing for tomorrows performance on “Germany’s Next Top Model” at the Lanxess Arena.
Be sure to check a-ha’s updates on Twitter. One recent message says that the album master and artwork were delivered to the record company today. And the album tracklist is coming soon…
Morten, Olaf Heine and crew members taking a break.
a-ha are shooting the music video for “Foot Of The Mountain” in Germany today and tomorrow, with the German director Olaf Heine.
Today they were on the East coast, where updates and pictures from the video shoot appeared on a-ha’s Twitter page.
Tomorrow they will continue working on the video in Berlin.
And some new promotional pictures are now being published. They were taken in Brazil back in March by Stian Andersen:
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The week continues with TV-promotion:
– 20 May: “Frühstücksfernsehen” (Breakfast TV – broadcast on Sat1)
– 21 May: “Germany’s Next Top Model”, Lanxess Arena, Cologne (broadcast live on Pro7)
– 22 May: “The Dome”, Munich (broadcast 30 May on RTL 2)
Morten performing at EVS 24
Stavanger Aftenblad has a video clip where you can see Morten performing “A Change Is Gonna Come” as part of EVS 24 at Stavanger Forum earlier today.
Among the audience were Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway and Prince Albert of Monaco.
Morten recorded his own version of this Sam Cooke-classic back in 1995, and has performed it live a few times since then.
From the TV-ad
A new TV-ad for “Foot Of The Mountain” is being shown on German TV at the moment. There isn’t any new footage in the ad, but it’s good to see some promotion going on. The TV-ad can be seen here.
Universal Germany has also set up a new official site in connection with the new album:
www.footofthemountain.de
“I’m interested in all kinds of new environmental technology”,
Morten says. Here with Harald Røstvik at StatoilHydro’s stand.
Morten is currently at EVS 24 (a world congress and exhibition for electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles), which is being held in Stavanger, Norway this year.
As previously reported, he is scheduled to do a short live performance tomorrow morning. But he will also do a longer set tonight, according to Stavanger Aftenblad.
VG talked to Morten earlier today, as he was given a private tour of the exhibition area to see new environmental technology.
“Our society is so slow. The environmental problems that we’re concerned about today are more or less the same things we already knew about 25 years ago. We could have taken the necessary measures back then“, Morten told VG.
In 1989, Morten together with Magne Furuholmen, Harald Røstvik and the environmental foundation Bellona, brought the first electric car to Norway.
But he feels that there hasn’t been enough development happening since then.
“Things are still not sufficiently facilitated [for electric cars]. What matters is what the rest of the world and Norway does. There needs to be a pressure from the government which can lead to better environmental technology in cars.”
In other news, some of you have been wondering if there will be a music video for “Foot Of The Mountain”. It has now been confirmed that they will be shooting the video next week in Germany.
Morten and Pia Tjelta on stage, May 7th
Morten and actress Pia Tjelta, accompanied by Kjetil Bjerkestrand on piano, performed the Everly Brothers song “Let It Be Me” at the opening of Eger shopping center in Oslo tonight.
Morten told Dagbladet that they had recently performed the song together at a private party, and when Pia later sent him a text message and asked if he wanted to perform it again at tonight’s opening he was impressed by her initiative.
Morten and Pia
“Pia is easy to work with and eager to accomplish things. She is curious in a good way“, Morten said of his duet partner.
Morten has performed “Let It Be Me” alone and together with others many times before.
When asked today why this particular tune was chosen, Morten said:
“The guitar I’m playing was a gift from Phil Everly. I sometimes use that as an explanation [for playing “Let It Be Me”]. And this is an Everly Brothers classic. It’s actually an even older French song. But they made it famous. And it’s always been a good song.”
Videos of the performance and video interviews with Morten and Pia can be seen at VG.no and Dagbladet.no.
