Posts Tagged ‘savoy’

More Weathervane promotion

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.”

Jimmy Gnecco interview

Jimmy Gnecco - The Heart

The cover of Jimmy Gnecco’s first solo album
The Heart, released earlier this year.

The support act in Amsterdam was Paul’s good friend and collaborator from New York, Jimmy Gnecco, who will open for a-ha at another five concerts this week.

Gnecco, who did the lead vocals on “The Breakers” and backing vocals on “Shooting Spree” for Savoy’s self-titled album in 2004, revealed in a recent interview with uberrock.co.uk that Paul actually asked him to join the band at one point – an idea that was shot down by Savoy’s record company:

So how did you get to know Paul Savoy?

I met him in ’96. My friend was playing with Savoy and I met him then. And then I got my deal. It was weird because I’m a huge fan of a-ha and Savoy’s first record [‘Mary Is Coming’]. I mean I like a lot of his records but the first one I’m such a huge fan of. And then I started making records and he genuinely became a fan and he called me – he loved ‘Precious’ – he asked me if I wanted to sing on anything I said: “in a second!” then I went down and I sang on a bunch of songs and then he asked me to join the band and I said: “sure” – I’d be like an honorary member you know.

Then they went back and talked to their record company and the record company was like: “we like your voices that’s why we signed you” – they didn’t really want me to do it. They didn’t know me. I’m sure they liked it but…I’m hoping to do something with Paul in the future.

Interview with Frode

Lauren, Bjørn Ivar Tysse and Frode in Bergen, 2007. (Picture from Bergensavisen)

Lauren, Bjørn Ivar Tysse and Frode in Bergen, 2007.
(Picture from Bergensavisen)

Savoy drummer Frode Unneland was recently interviewed in Bergensavisen’s paper edition, in connection with the release of the West Side Tennis Club album.

The album is only available digitally at the moment, which he admits is a bit strange:

For me, who’s been in this game for so long, it’s strange to release the album exclusively online and not physically in a record store. But the world has changed and we have to use the methods that are available.

We had a lot of response from abroad to the songs that we had posted online. And then one of the songs was used in the TV-series “Himmelblå”, so we decided it was time to release the album. We got a deal with Geir Luedy and Your Favorite Music, who distributes albums via Sonet. And they release everything digitally first, apparently.

The links to Savoy and a-ha gives us a chance to promote West Side Tennis Club through their network as well. That has given the music a lot of attention.”

– Will there be a CD release as well?

“I don’t know. I hope we can release something in the fall, either on CD or vinyl. But that depends on the response we’ll get this summer.”

– The album has been ready for a while?

“I guess the oldest songs are from 2004. We are both very busy, so we’ve never found the right time [to release it]. But now I’m really happy that it’s out there.

Frode and Bjørn Ivar Tysse play and sing everything themselves on the album, with one exception;

Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy came over to Bergen and wrote a song for us that she and I sing as a duet.

– What will happen with Savoy, now that a-ha are retiring?

“We have plans to enter the studio and record a new album. We’re often talking with each other and writing new music, but at the moment a-ha are very busy, so that means Savoy is lying a bit dormant.”

West Side Tennis Club releases debut album

Album cover

Album cover

Savoy-drummer Frode Unneland’s side-project West Side Tennis Club (WSTC) have now released their first album.

Frode and producer Bjørn Ivar Tysse, who played together in Chocolate Overdose back in the day, have been working on WSTC on and off since the late 90s. And now, in late June, their self-titled debut album was finally released.

The album, which is available digitally from Amazon.com, Play.com and 7digital (among others), includes the song “In The Waters Glow”, which has been written by Lauren Savoy and also features her on vocals.

That song, as well as several others from the album, can be heard on WSTC’s Urørt page.

We’re hoping to do some live gigs with WSTC. Either alone or with a band“, Frode told me last year. In April 2010 they did a support gig at Kvarteret in Bergen, but further concerts have not yet been announced.

In 2007, Frode and Lauren worked on some new Savoy material in Bergen with Bjørn Ivar Tysse producing. An article about this can be found on savoy-news.com.

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