Posts Tagged ‘morten harket’

New a-ha interviews

a-ha on stage in Montreux, July 2022

All three a-ha members have done various press interviews in the last few weeks, to promote a new Super Deluxe Edition 6LP vinyl box set of Hunting High and Low. The set was released on 24 February by BMG, under license from Warner Music, and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon Germany.

Although the music content is exactly the same as on the 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition 4CD+DVD set first released in 2015 and reissued as an Expanded Edition 4CD set in 2019, it’s the first time this set has been made available on vinyl.

The new HHAL Super Deluxe vinyl box set

An unboxing video of the new Super Deluxe vinyl set has been posted on YouTube by Paul Sinclair of the SDE website.

Magne and Paul have both been interviewed (separately) for extensive articles in MusicRadar and Rolling Stone Germany, going in-depth about the early days of a-ha and the Hunting High and Low recording process.

Magne has also been interviewed by the website Cryptic Rock.

Meanwhile Morten has talked to UK’s Big Issue magazine, posted online in two different articles here and here, the Sunday Express newspaper, Retropop Magazine and RND in Germany.

Additionally, an interview with Paul appears in the recently published book Dancing to the Drum Machine: How Electronic Percussion Conquered the World, written by Dan LeRoy. The interview (which was done in early 2021) has also been posted online by the author on Substack.

As for what lies ahead, Magne mentioned in an Instagram post on 5 February that he’s working on a new album:
“in other news, i have started working on a new album, and trying to find creative ways of doing it differently this time, so that’s another thing to look backward to this year! plus there are the usual exhibitions, london in april among them, and so on.”

What kind of album Magne is referring to is still unknown, but he did mention in the Classic Pop interview in October 2022 that there may be a new Apparatjik album at some point: “We’ve talked about going into the mountains with acoustic instruments to make a folk album.”

Morten has been working on new songs with Peter Kvint that may end up as a new solo album: “I’ve started to write more lyrics on my own, and feel pretty happy about that”. There is also the possibility of a solo compilation album and a reissue of Wild Seed: “I might pull together a compilation from the totality of everything I’ve done that best represents me. But a reissue of Wild Seed might happen too”, Morten told Classic Pop last year.

Paul continues to be busy in the studio and his long-awaited Waaktaar solo album might see the light of day soon:
“I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s almost there. I had so many songs lying around, and this record will mean that I can sing some of those and have other people sing some, too. There is a lot of freedom to the album, I can say that for sure”, Paul told Classic Pop.

There is also a new Savoy album in the making, for which 12 demos were recorded with drummer Frode Unneland last summer.

More a-ha reissues could also be expected. Both a vinyl box set of the first 5 albums and new deluxe editions of Analogue and Foot Of The Mountain are in the works, according to a-ha manager Harald Wiik last year.

Morten and Magne on BBC Disclosure

Røstvik, Hauge, Harket, Furuholmen

Morten and Magne, along with professor Harald N. Røstvik and environmental activist Frederic Hauge, appeared in an episode of the current affairs series Disclosure that aired on BBC Scotland on 2 November.

In the episode, entitled “Electric Cars – Ready for the Charge?”, reporter Kevin Keane travels to Oslo to interview the four of them about Norway’s electric car revolution. In the first half of 2022, 78% of all new cars sold in Norway were fully electric.

As many will know, Morten and Magne joined Røstvik and Hauge in importing the first electric car to Norway in 1989 and then went on to campaign for special incentives to be introduced, eventually leading to Norway becoming the global leader in electric vehicle adoption.

The segment from Oslo was filmed in late September and has been uploaded to YouTube here. There is also an article about it on BBC.com.

Morten on the climate crisis: “We need to be shook so deep that we don’t dare to not act”

Morten Harket and Harald N. Røstvik in Stavanger, 16 November 2021

Morten visited the University of Stavanger on 16 November, to take part in the previously mentioned screening of The Sunshine Revolution and subsequent discussion together with Professor Harald N. Røstvik.

A video of the whole event is available to watch on YouTube.

The Sunshine Revolution (1991) focused on the enormous potential of solar energy, and how it could play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although there’s been progress in the field since then, Røstvik pointed out that a lot more should have been done, but he’s still optimistic about the future.

Harald: “The sad thing really, watching this film thirty years on, is that we knew then [that] this could be done in a much more practical and better way than what we’ve done over the last thirty years. So we’ve lost a lot of time, that’s the sad thing. But I suppose that’s the process also. I must say though, I felt at the time I was on a loser’s team. Today I feel I’m on a winner’s team. I think there is a completely different attitude to these issues in the world. And anybody can sense the urgency, and the need to act and not just talk. And that’s the big difference from [back] then.”

Morten: “But not through enlightenment. It’s because we’re scared. That’s the main reason why the world is responding. And that’s what it takes, quite simply, because we knew everything that we’re concerned of today [thirty years ago]. And we were not the only ones, there were a lot of people already back then who were involved in the same issues. But that’s what it takes for us to respond. We need to be shook so deep that we don’t dare to not act. And that’s leaving it very late. And costly. And that’s just a fact.”

Morten to speak at the University of Stavanger

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On Tuesday 16 November Morten will join his longtime friend and partner in various renewable energy projects, Professor Harald N. Røstvik, for a special conversation at the University of Stavanger in Norway.

In 1991 they collaborated on a 15-minute film about the potentials of solar energy called The Sunshine Revolution, which was narrated by Morten.

To mark its 30th anniversary the film will be screened at the university event, followed by a half-hour panel discussion with Røstvik and Harket, moderated by Mehdi Torkaman and Helleik Syse. Afterwards 25 minutes have been set aside for questions from the audience. The event and conversation will be in English.

Attendance is free but registration is required. More information about the event is available on the university’s website:

Join us for a live film screening on campus followed by a conversation between Professor Harald N. Røstvik and Morten Harket. Together they will explore what the status of The Sunshine Revolution was 30 years ago, where we are today, and what will happen in the next 30 years. PhD fellow in Environmental Humanities Mehdi Torkaman and coordinator of Future Energy Hub Helleik Syse will introduce the film and moderate the discussion.

Morten: “We have a deep respect for each other”

Morten, February 2021

a-ha: The Movie had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this weekend. The first review (4 out of 5 stars) has been posted on the website Josh at the Movies:

“The fact that I instantly opened my Spotify and downloaded most of A-Ha’s discography as soon as A-Ha: The Movie ended should speak volumes about its overall quality”, Josh Batchelder writes in his review.

“Following their dream from struggling below the poverty line, A-Ha: The Movie is an endearing story of realizing your dreams and believing in them. The documentary feels deep-reaching, a truly honest portrayal of personalities and musical insight. (…) I look forward to exploring more of A-Ha’s incredible body of work, as the ripples of their impact on the music industry can still be felt today.”

Morten himself has been interviewed by Salon.com in connection with the premiere. When asked about his own favorite a-ha songs, he says:

“There could be many. I don’t have a favorite song. I can lean to one song for a period, then to another. But all the songs we’ve done, we’ve had some sort of soft spot for at some point in time, or they wouldn’t be there. And there are a lot of songs in the making that have never gotten through to the point of being recorded and released. There are some cornerstones. On “Memorial Beach” there is a song that most people don’t know, “Cold as Stone,” which I like. A lot of others that are more the darker side of the band. A-ha is a dark band, really. That is where we are coming from. None of us listened to pop music growing up. We would not have listened to A-ha ourselves if we were on the street, because of the image of the band. Because of a number of things. Because of me, for one. [Laughs]”

In the interview, Morten points out how the band in many ways has been more successful since the 2000 comeback than in the first period:

“I feel the documentary fails us a little in the second half, which [chronicles] when we got back together through to today. That is the longest period that we’ve been together, I believe. And it’s our time when we’ve done our best business and touring. We played to many more people in the second half than in the first, and success-wise, that’s a bigger achievement than making it in the first place, I would argue.”

Early reports about the film also suggests that it spends quite some time on the often-reported creative frictions within the band:

“What I do feel is that the focus in the second half of the film is the disagreements and problems. But one has to bear in mind that we’ve been together for all this time and we’ve chosen to get together and get back together over and over again. We have a deep respect for each other and I’m always proud and honored to be associated with them. And we all feel the same. But we are not the same, and that is part of the package. All three of us are completely necessary for the band to become A-ha”, Morten says.

Director Thomas Robsahm has also done several interviews to promote the film recently, including conversations with Cineuropa and Screen Daily, while a video clip from the film, detailing the evolution of “Take On Me”, was published by Rolling Stone.

Next month a-ha: The Movie will be screened in Germany, as part of the Munich International Film Festival on 8 and 9 July. Information in English is available here.

Movie trailer now available

The official trailer for a-ha: The Movie premiered yesterday, via articles posted by Variety in the US and VG in Norway.

It has also been posted by the production company on YouTube:

“I wanted to tell a story about their boyhood dream, and how incredibly difficult it really was to achieve an international breakthrough back then. About the future of a-ha. If there will be more music. I hope you’ll get to know them better as individuals and get a deeper understanding of the mechanisms within the band. This is not just a film about a-ha, but above all a film about Paul, Magne and Morten”, director Thomas Robsahm tells VG.

a-ha: The Movie will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on June 12th – tickets for the outdoor screening are sold out, but streaming access can be purchased here (US only).

Meanwhile, the Norwegian premiere has been pushed back to September 3rd. Theatrical deals are also in place for Japan, Korea, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to Variety.

Morten guest on This Morning

On ‘This Morning’, 1 February 2021

Morten was a guest on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ today, joining in live from Norway, to talk about his time on The Masked Singer. The whole interview can be seen on YouTube.

“I needed to get out of my comfort zone, and this was a good way of doing that”, he said of why he chose to take part.

On the Masked Singer panel not recognizing him, even as he sang “Take On Me”:
“I thought it was blatantly obvious, [even] before then, that it was me.”

On singing inside the costume:
“My personal sound system was failing me, so it was very confusing. That made it harder. It also made it impossible for me to dodge my voice or to play with it in other ways, because I had no center.”

On the a-ha tour being postponed:
“We had to pull the plug on a big tour, because of the pandemic, like a lot of my peers have had to do. The fortunate thing for people like myself is that you would use this period as a hiatus and that means you can write songs and do other things that we would have been doing in off-times anyway.”

Morten was also a guest on Heart Breakfast today. A video clip of that interview is available here.

There were also additional comments in interviews with RadioTimes and Mirror.

Morten is unmasked on The Masked Singer

This viking has broken records and forged his own way.

After appearing in four episodes of The Masked Singer UK, tonight it was time for Viking to take off his mask. And as most people had guessed for weeks, it turned out to be Morten Harket under the helmet.

The song he performed tonight was “The Scientist” by Coldplay, but he received the fewest votes from the studio audience and had to be unmasked.
Here is the moment when his identity is finally revealed:

 
“My main reason for joining was that I knew how much I would be exposed to performing conditions of which I would have very little control. It’s the complete opposite of my usual mindset. Knowing I would hate that, was an excellent reason”, Morten says in an interview with a-ha.com.

He admits that performing inside the viking costume was quite challenging:

“It was decidedly uncomfortable to navigate, especially as my sound system was getting wonky… that and the confines of the helmet sometimes reaching my elbows. At times I kind of felt like a drunk trying to cross the M4. To be inside the costume made my movements even clumsier than my usual standard :)”

Morten was also interviewed by Will Njobvu on Unmasked on ITV Hub.

Before the unmasking, one of the additional clues on tonight’s episode was Viking quoting a lyric from one of Morten’s solo songs: “I cannot take what you cannot give” from “I’m The One” (2012).

Viking sings “Take On Me”

Viking on The Masked Singer, 23 January

The viking was back for his third appearance on The Masked Singer on ITV yesterday, as all eight remaining singers competed against each other for the first time. This time, each song would be a clue to the singer’s identity.

In a surprising move, Viking got on stage and performed the acoustic version of “Take On Me”, perhaps the most obvious clue ever presented on The Masked Singer.

Anyone with functioning ears would by now have worked out that Morten is behind the mask – apart from the show’s panel, consisting of Mo Gilligan, Davina McCall, Rita Ora and Jonathan Ross. They keep coming up with entirely random and bizarre guesses.

As Viking himself puts it: “One thing’s for sure; this panel has no clue as to who I am”. But much of their dialogue is obviously scripted, so they have probably been asked to keep the suspense by not naming Morten.

New clues from Viking on this episode:
“Vikings might have been around for millennia, but my career has been one of billions. It was over a billion people who watched me do my thing” = “Take On Me” reached a billion views on YouTube last year.
“As a viking I rely on tools I was born with and tools I can create. Like my sword for example, which was forged in the silver mines of my homeland” = the “sword” is his voice, which he was born with in Kongsberg, a town known for its silver mines.
“As precious metals go, steel has proved rather useful in my career” = a-ha’s last studioalbum was Cast In Steel (2015).

This time Morten was among those chosen to go directly to the next episode, so he will be back on 30 January for a new performance.
Meanwhile, Bush Baby was unmasked and turned out to be actor/comedian John Thomson. The complete episode from yesterday can be seen here.

Two new songs by Viking on The Masked Singer

The Viking’s movements on stage are familiarly sparse.

Anyone who may still have had the tiniest amount of doubt that Morten is behind the Viking mask on The Masked Singer UK, would have been convinced yesterday – as we were presented with two different songs performed in his unmistakable voice.

First up was Harry Styles’ hit single “Watermelon Sugar” from 2019, which may not have been the best choice for Morten to sing, as he didn’t sound entirely comfortable. Morten is known to be extremely sensitive to the acoustics surrounding him and needing constant adjustments to his in-ear-monitors, so singing live with a big mask on is clearly a challenge. It also makes his vocals sound somewhat muffled.

New clues to the Viking’s identity included him waving an American flag, which would point to “Take On Me” topping the Billboard chart in 1985. The Viking throwing away sheet music hints to the fact that Morten took piano lessons for a number of years as a child, but never learnt to read music, instead preferring to discover music on his own. Breaking records would include a-ha setting a world record for the largest paying concert audience in 1991 and Morten setting a record for the longest note held in a pop song with “Summer Moved On” in 2000. He is also the “proud owner of a Blue Peter badge”, which he got when he was a guest on the show in 1986.

Other masked singers in this episode included Grandfather Clock, Harlequin, Bush Baby and Blob. At the end Viking and Grandfather Clock were the singers with the least amount of votes, so they had to do a sing-off.

Morten chose Seal’s “Crazy” from 1990 as his second song, in which he also appeared to be struggling to maintain the right pitch. But luckily for Morten it turned out he was only up against a former football player and manager, as the Grandfather Clock had to take off his mask and reveal himself to be Glenn Hoddle. So Morten is on to the next episode, to air Saturday 23 January, when he’ll compete against all the seven other masked singers who remain in the contest.

The whole episode from yesterday can be seen here.

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