An unexpected meeting; Morten and Jimmy Page

Budstikka had an interview with Morten yesterday, in connection with his upcoming concert at Hvalstrandfestivalen in August. Ten of the twelve concerts he’s doing in Norway this summer are festivals, which he feels is a healthy change:

“I like the idea of going on stage in front of a more general audience who haven’t necessarily come to see just me. It’ll be good for me to perform for an initially disinterested audience. There’s something healthy about it.”

He also tells the story of how he first met one of his teenage heroes:

“I was at a garden centre somewhere in England and was standing in line to pay. Suddenly I hear a voice saying “Hey Morten” and I’m thinking ‘oh great’, now I’ll have to turn around and face some guy I don’t recognize and that’s never any fun. Instead I’m staring straight at Jimmy Page, standing there with his hand stretched out and saying “Jimmy. Jimmy Page”. And I just say: “Yes you are, aren’t you”. It was quite unexpected”, he says with a laugh. Later they’ve met each other several times.

“He’s a really great guy. I was surprised by how well he knew a-ha’s music. And just like me he collected butterflies and insects, but he had a considerably larger guitar collection than me”, Harket says with a smile.