Ahead of the release of their new album, Last Look At Eden, and their headline slot at this year’s Bloodstock Festival, Planet Loud caught up with Joey Tempest of Swedish hard-rockers Europe to find out what’s been going on with the band.
Planet Loud – Hey Joey, how’s it going?
Europe – It’s good, the sun is shining in London, everything is good.
Planet Loud – After Bloodstock when are we going to be seeing Europe back in the UK?
Europe – Well, we’re planning a tour for next year but nothing is confirmed yet.
Planet Loud – It’s been very quiet in the UK on the Europe front, why is that?
Europe – To be honest, since the comeback album, we’ve toured the UK on every album. I think the problem has been that the interest has not been as exciting as this time. I don’t know why that is. I think we have been building it up slowly and, when we started getting good reviews on the last album, we started to notice the interest was returning. I think England is starting to get behind the band again. I’m doing a lot of big interviews whereas before they would maybe just mention that we have an album out and that’s it. It’s very exciting for us at the moment. We come from outside Stockholm and we grew up listening to British hard rock and I now live here so to be somewhat accepted again over here is really cool.
Planet Loud – Have the years since reforming been frustrating for you?
Europe – Yes but we knew that would happen. There is such a stigma attached to everything from the ’80s. We thought it would take maybe three albums to get back up to a certain level and this is the third album and things are starting to open up a bit more now. People are looking at what we’re doing and accepting that they should give us a chance. I think we’re convincing people slowly but there is still some resistence from the broader media who may only know The Final Countdown. If you dig a bit deeper within the rock community then the interest is there.
Planet Loud – That must be a good feeling..?
Europe – Yeah, it’s very good.
Planet Loud – Okay, the new album is out in September, what can fans from expect from it?
Europe – This is a very special album to us. It’s a modern rock record but it has a classic feel to it. This is the first album where we’ve really let ourselves go so you can hear our influences from the Seventies and even the Eighties. John Norum lived in LA for fifteen years and I swear some of his riffs are grunge influenced. It’s a great classic rock album, no-holds barred. This is us. For the first two albums since reforming we felt like we had to prove something and had to tell people that we’re back and we can sound modern and be up there with the new bands and the reviews showed that. With this album though, we let ourselves go and just wanted to show people we could make a great rock record.
Planet Loud – Would you describe this as a natural record?
Europe – It’s a very organic record. We started writing this record while we were touring last Summer so it has that rock ‘n’ roll feel to it. It has more groove to it, it’s more bluesy, the lyrics are getting better also. I’ve been experimenting a bit with my lyrics – trying to add a bit of irony in there. We Swedes are not like the British, we’re not very ironic or sarcastic. It’s great to sneak that in having lived in the UK for a while now.
Planet Loud – How does the writing process work with you guys all living in different places?
Europe – John has moved back to Stockholm from LA so it makes things a lot easier as I can just travel to Stockholm to rehearse or work on ideas. We also send stuff over the internet like riffs and then we meet up and try everything. I do most of the demoing here and do the majority of the writing but John and Mick did a few bits. I actually wrote a song on the album called The Beast which is the heaviest song on the album and I wrote that with our bass player. Then we decide which songs we’re going to use on the album and we rehearse those songs before going in to record them. The lyrics might not be finished but that’s not a problem.
Planet Loud – How do you write? Do you get out and about or do you lock yourself away in a room?
Europe – In the end I had to force myself to write. I was in a hotel room in Gothenburg and I still had songs that weren’t finished. I do things like write my ideas down, send text messages to myself – all the time – when I’m on tour, when I’m reading, when I’ve watched a movie – I always collect ideas. As soon as I have my guitar I bring the ideas out and start to work on things. In the end though you do have to lock yourself away and finish it. Getting the ideas though is done very spontaneously.
Planet Loud – You mentioned movies, what sort of movies do you like?
Europe – I like movies like The Sixth Sense and things like that. A little bit of strange mystery. I love 24 as well. I’m really hooked on that. I like spiritual, quirky movies.
Planet Loud – Was it challenging writing this record?
Europe – You know, in the end, I started listening to hip-hop music because I couldn’t work out how those guys put those funny lines together. I wanted to work out how they kept it light-hearted but still cool. There are so many great lyricists out there – REM, U2, even Nine Inch Nails. I do study lyrics – I check out the lyrics of a new band before I even listen to the music.
Planet Loud – Which frontmen made a real impact on your life?
Europe – I would say maybe Paul Rogers and David Bowie. Paul Rogers was the ultimate rock singer in the beginning. David Coverdale, Freddie Mercury and even Phil Mogg from UFO. Phil Lynott was a great lyricist too. He was amazing. The biggest impact was Phil Lynott.
Planet Loud – You mentioned that you lived in London, how different is it to Sweden?
Europe – I first came to London in 1988 when the Final Countdown became big. It’s very different. Sweden is very spread out. I go back home when I can but I don’t think I could leave London now. Everything is here – the great bands come here, the movies, the books, it’s all on your doorstep and, being in the industry I’m in, that’s a huge help.
Planet Loud – You mention Europe to anybody and their reaction is to hum a particular song. Do you get recognised at all?
Europe – It happens but not so much in London – may be in Rome or Stockholm and maybe Madrid but, it doesn’t happen that often and it is quite flattering. It can happen in London but life in London has been very anonymous for me which is quite nice for me. London is quite a nice haven and you can just disappear.
Planet Loud – You mentioned on your website that having a Number One on Top Of The Pops was one of your proudest moments. Would you like that level of success again?
Europe – It’s always fun but we feel more comfortable as a guitar-based rock band and making a living touring. That was what we did pre-The Final Countdown but it was amazing and playing Top Of The Pops was a huge thing even in Sweden. It was a big thing for us and I remember the night we played and Bon Jovi was Number Seven with Livin’ On A Prayer. We met Jon for the first time that night and I have very strong memories of that night. Of course, it would be fun but if you’re a rock band it’s wierd being thrown into this pop world.
Planet Loud – Even after the buzz died down, your fans have stuck with you. What do you put that loyalty down to?
Europe – I don’t know. They were so strong during the time when we had a break and they formed these internet communities and were pushing us to get back together. We work the internet communities very well so we work with our fans a lot and it helps.
Planet Loud – It’s a whole different world now?
Europe – Yeah, back in the ’80s we had Management in San Fransisco, a label in New York and it was really difficult so the fans didn’t feel connected to the band but now we can get on the internet and check the forums and see what fans are talking about and it does bring you closer to your audience.
Planet Loud – Okay Joey, looks like our time is up. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Hopefully, we’ll see you next year.
Europe – Yes, thanks for taking interest in us. We’re excited about playing the UK again and hopefully we’ll be back in February for a tour.
Europe’s new album ‘Last Look At Eden’ is released by earMusic on September 14th (http://www.europetheband.com).
Fans can find Europe on Twitter here – www.twitter.com/europetheband.
Interview by Graham Finney
