I'll Take Sweden And EUROPE Too!

I'll Take Sweden And EUROPE Too!

FEATURES

Roy Trakin

Europe come from Sweden. Is Sweden part of Europe?

“No, I don’t think so,” says the band’s corkscrew-haired, pretty-boy leader Joey Tempest. “Scandinavia is Scandinavia.”

Right, land of the midnight sun, Ingmar Bergman, King Gustav, masseuses and meatballs.

“Yes, Scandinavia is part of Europe,” corrects blond-haired (what else?), blueeyed (you expected pink?) drummer Ian Haugland. “Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland are all part of Europe.”

“I hear there’s some heavy nightlife in Reykjavik,” I say hopefully.

“Reykjavik,” muses Joey, “Is that in Iceland?”

So, geography is not Europe’s strong point. Pretty soon, petty things like countries and boundaries will mean nothing in the ongoing European invasion. The mega-hit elpee, The Final Countdown has cracked the Top 10 of nearly a dozen foreign territories, including their native Sweden, West Germany, France, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands, with the title track a hit single in England, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and Japan. Of course, here in the U.S.A., the band’s middling but melodic brand of Journeyman rock ’n’ roll was lodged in the Top 10 for a number of months, thanks to MTV exposure of those Scandinavian punims.

“If a poster is up on the wall, you can be sure the record is in the room, too,” grins Joey, happy to make the connection. “If they listen to our music, they can look at the picture as much as they want. I wouldn’t want them to just buy posters and not buy albums, but they’re not. We know our music is serious.”

In fact, you can’t blame capitalism for Europe’s mass success; the Swedish pretty boys are making serious inroads in the Soviet Union as well, thanks to black market bootlegs and an appearance on

a joint Russian-Swedish broadcast, where they played live to a group of U.S.S.R. youth.

“They’ve even asked us to come over and tour,” says Joey. “We’re very popular in the Soviet Union. They knew the song, ‘Final Countdown.’ The Russian kids were all singing along, This is the final countdown!!’ ”

That’s certainly comforting, isn’t it apocalypse-soon fans? The Europe lads are even looking to snare a label deal with the Russkies. Could Europe possibly parlay glasnost into yet another global conquest?

“Nice Swedish guys that we are, we’re in perfect position to take advantage of it,’’ says Joey in true internationalist spirit. “The problem is there’s only one, staterun record label in the Soviet Union, Melodica. They have this one pop singer, Alla Pogachova, who’s sold over 200 million records.”

Europe, of course, is Sweden’s first pop-music export since ABBA and its first actual hard-rock band since a late ’60s outfit called Sputnik, who achieved some stateside success. Their original break came after winning a national competition for Swedish rock bands back in 1982, with first prize a record contract.

“We were different than the rest,” explains Joey. “We sang in English and had long hair, which was not common at the time. It made a lot of the younger kids in Sweden very happy.

“The contest started out with 2,000 tapes, then 400 bands competed against one another all over Sweden. We were surprised to win because it came at a time when pop dance music was very popular there.”

In fact, as Joey and Ian point out, most Swedish bands are forced to play cover material at bars where youngsters come to dance and get drunk. Geez, sounds like Pittsburgh. . .or New York, for that matter. A lot of the bands sing in Swedish, which isn’t exactly conducive to rock ’n’ roll shouting.

For example, “Ge Mei All Din Karlek,” “Rok Pa Vattnet” and “Trappa Till Himlen” translate as “Gimme All Your Loving,” “Smoke On The Water” and “Stairway To Heaven,” respectively. See what I mean? But writing and singing in English came as no hardship to the lads in Europe, as the study of the language is mandatory in grade school for all Swedish youngsters.

“Plus, we learn from TV, which is broadcast in English with Swedish subtitles,” says Joey. “That’s how a lot of people learn to speak.”

So television’s to blame. We’ve not only lost regionalization in America, now the world is ceasing to have any cultural distinctions. The music Europe makes could come from anywhere in the world, except perhaps France. We know no one rocks in France.

“We’re very influenced by the American way of living,” says Ian. “Especially when it comes to fashion, music and technology.”

“Even if it does come a few years later,” adds Joey.

Citing a preference for European metal bands like UFO, Deep Purple, Rainbow and Led Zeppelin, Joey suggests continental hard rock is based more on old folk songs and classical music, while American rock ’n’ roll is rooted in three predominant blues chords.

“We like to combine the two,” he says of Europe’s seamless pop amalgam. “But we’re mostly about vocal and guitar melodies.”

“Amercian bands tend to build their songs around vocal harmonies, while European groups base theirs more on guitar riffs,” suggests Ian. “I think we have both.”

“Actually, it’s all coming pretty much together,” says Joey about the crosscultural influences which have shrunken the world to the size of a transistor radio. “Take Bon Jovi’s album, which I like a lot. You can hear it’s built on blues progressions, just as you can hear that our album is more about melodies. Somehow, though, they overlap, because we certainly do share a lot of fans.”

I wonder why, considering the group’s surface appeal.

“Bands who rely wholly on looks won’t survive that long,” says Ian, sensing my cynicism.

“We didn’t plan how we look,” avers Joey, his cute pug-nose perfectly set in the middle of his face by who? God? “There’s nothing we can do about that.”

I asked if the band would continue to make their residence in their native Sweden. (Translation: How quickly would they set up shop in Hollywood?)

“The only thing that could ever drive us away is taxes,” says Joey. “That takes away 80-90 percent of your earnings.”

Quite a chunk. ..

“That’s why I don’t think we’re gonna stay,” agrees Joey. “We love the country, but ...”

“As a rock star, you earn a lot of money in a very short while,” adds Ian. “At best, it doesn’t last too long.”

So you want to prepare for that eventual day when you wanna lay back a little. (Translation: It could be over tomorrow, right?)

“Here today, gone later today,” says Ian, a little bit too phonetically.

“The attitude is different in Sweden than it is over here,” says Joey of the country’s socialist government. “If you earn a lot of money, the people get jealous. It’s ugly to be wealthy there.”

“I do think our success has given Swedish bands the courage to work on

their own thing and not listen to what’s hip at the moment,” says Ian, who first joined the group himself from a rival band that had lost to Europe in the competition the latter eventually won.

“We’re a big deal over there,” Joey chimes in. “The press has written everything they can about us, so now they’re trying to find things that are not so good... sexual scandals, stuff like that.”

Although they’ve clicked with the metal masses, Europe is quick to point out, according to Ian, they can appeal outside those musical limits.

“We call ourselves a melodic hardedged rock band,” he says with the faint trace of a Swedish lilt. “We have bits and pieces of heavy metal, but there are pop things in there, too. We kind of mix every-

thing up and try to make something spe| cial out of it. Call it Eu-Rock.”

You didn’t just make that up on the spot, did you, Ian? Only kidding. I may give Europe a hard time, but that’s only because, hey, why not? What other problems could these guys possibly have? How to hide their fast-accumulating fortune from the Swedish government? How to keep their social lives from turning into international anarchy? How to prevent becoming Scandinavian one-shots like their Norwegian cousins, A-ha? How to keep their roots blond and eyes blue?

Nosirree, Bob. If we’re all reduced to playing chess on some black-and-whiteand-gray Scandinavian landscape with a hooded guy named Death and listening to Eurometal sung by pretty-faced high-cheekboned Scandinavians in Berlitz English, well, kids, you’ll only have yourselves to blame.

“I am so happy to have people react to the name Europe,” enthuses Joey. ‘‘I tried to think of a name that would open people’s eyes. And it has worked very well. This name and good music is a good combination.”

The final countdown has begun. Consider yourselves warned about the Scandinavian Menace. After all, isn’t the Swedish suicide rate the highest in the world?

“That’s not true,” says Joey. “We’ve heard that about the suicide rate, but never in Sweden. Actually, it’s a very nice country, especially in the summer.”

Especially when your record is number one in half the countries of the free world. . . and even the not-so-free-world. Europe hasn’t been this hot since the early 20th century. . . and it’s all on account of a batch of Swedish glam-rockers. Go figure...I have.