"I NEVER SANG IN SWEDISH"

"I NEVER SANG IN SWEDISH"

Gail Flug

It seemed like only yesterday that Europe was simply a mass of land between Asia and the Atlantic Ocean. Nowadays, radio fans are more familiar with the band by that name. Their mega-hit, "The Final Countdown" is all over the radio, a video staple and was used in the background for tons o' TV sporting events. Although their success happened very quickly, Europe didn't pop out of nowhere.

Europe's earliest roots go back over seven years and several thousand miles to UpplandsVasby, a small Swedish town just outside of Stockholm. Sixteen year-old Joey Tempest appoached a schoolmate named John Norum, who had already recorded a single when he was fourteen, with plans to start a new band. United by a love for British hard rock bands such as Thin Lizzy, UFO and Deep Purple, the duo formed Force, adding drummer Tony Reno and bassist Peter Ohisson. The line-up was altered slightly for a few weeks when bassist Marcel Jacob came in, and, he, too, was soon replaced by John Leven, who had worked with Yngwie Malmsteen. By -1982, Force had established themselves as hometown heroes, playing the local club circut. Never a cover band, Force always depended on their own songs, strong musicianship and above all English, not Swedish lyrics-a factor Joey feels was the most important. "Every since I started playing in bands I always tried to write the songs directly in English. I never sang songs in Swedish, I think that's what made people take us seriously. If we sang in Swedish, I probably wouldn't be sitting here."

A basement-recorded cassette featuring a pair of Force-tunes, "In The Future to Come" and "The King Will Return," found its way via a girlfriend to a national talent contest. Force changed their name to Europe to sound more, er, continental, and before long became well-known thoughout Sweden as they progressed into the contest finals, all of which were broadcast on national television.

Europe went on to emerge as top dogs—winning a recording contract with a new label called Hot Records. Their debut album simply titled Europe sold quicker than fish cakes, peaking at numbereighton the national charts. It also sold in sushi-like fashion in Japan. The nine tracks (all written by Joey with the exception of the instrumental "Boyazon," penned by John I'iorum) area bit on the heavier side, especially due to the bare and basic self-production.

"wf we sang in I Swedish, I M probably wouldn't be sitting here."

The songs stood out though —the highlights include the lead track, "In The Future To Come," "Children Of This Time," and "Seven Doors Motel," the latter of which is still included in their live set.

After a short tour, they recorded their follow-up album Wings Of Tomorrow with producer Leif Mases at Abba's Polar Studio in Stockhom. The songs were stronger, more melodic and defined (and still in English), but now flexed a bit more muscle. Der boys were developing a classic hard rock sound which, along with their distinctly nonnightmarish visages, sparked the interest of Epic Records. However, right after the album's release in Spring of '84, Europe was in the midst of change. Tony Reno was out ("We needed something new in the band, that was it," says Joey) and in was Norwegian-born drummer Ian Maugland, who coincidentally was in one of the bands that lost to Europe in the aforementioned talent contest. This was also when Europe became a quintet. Up to this point, Joey had handled all the keyboard duties in the studio, but this became a problem when it came to being a frontman as well.

"1 tried to play keyboards on stage for the first tour, but it became very difficult," Joey explains. "I was running to the side all the time, then back into the middle to sing. We decided to hire Mic (Michaeli) for our next tour and it worked out great. It really fit the music so we hired him for good."

In the spring of '85, the contracts were finally signed and Epic re-released Wings Of Tomorrow world-wide. Although they had a bunch of new songs written, they held off recording LP number three to work on the soundtrack to On The Loose, a short Swedish f !m about a teenaged couple in a small town. They contributed the theme song, a ballad "Broken Dreams" and, method actors that they are, made a cameo appearance as themselves performing Rock The night.'' (All three tracks are available on a importcnly single. Collectors beware!) A short tour to promote the movie followed which included a sneak preview of the new stuff in the set, namely "Cherokee" and "Ninja."

But that third album kept beckoning. First they had to find a new producer. "We were first going to use Dieter Dierks, but he said he had other commitments.

He said he would do us six, seven months later, but we couldn't wait that long," recalls Joey. We found out later that he was doing the Twisted Sister album instead." Epic suggested Kevin Elson, who took the band into Zurich's Powerplay Studios. Occasionally, a band member would come down with a cold, delaying the sessions a bit, but things really slowed down when it came down to doing the vocal tracks.

Everything was ready but I had some kind of allergic reaction and a severe cold," Joey grimaces. "I sang anyway, which I shouldn't have done because I ended up damaging my cords. So we waited two weeks, and the same thing happened. My voice broke down after one song. I kept going to doctors and specialists and we couldn't do anything. The best thing to do was rest. After trying (a third time) in Atlanta, I rested for a month and a half and started slowly with a voice coach. By the time we got to San Francisco, everything was back to normal again, i sang all ten songs in ten days.

"I was getting pretty depressed and ready to give up," he continues. "That was a real difficult time for me. I remember at one time I had to use oxygen in the studio just to get air to be able to sing. It was just that I shouldn't have sang so hard when I was ill."

By now it was the begining of 1986 and the band were getting ready for a tour to support this album which was supposed to have been out the previous Christmas. They were concerned that old fans wouldn't exactly be pounding down the fjords, considering the fact that if this album didn't come out soon, it would be the third tour for Wings Of Tomorrow—an album that was two years old to the Swedish fans.

But when The Final Countdown finally hit the streets, the band's fear of rejection had ended. The album sold 50,000 copies in just four days —in Sweden aloneenough for a gold album. Meanwhile, the title track shot up to the number one spot on the singles chart in its second week and quickly went gold as well. They completed a sold-out Scandinavian tour, which included two nights in Stockholm's largest hall. The shows were filmed for Svierge television, and nonSwedes can glimpse some of the footage in the single's happenin' video.

I remember at one time, I had to use oxygen In the studio just to get air to be able to sing. I shouldn't have sung so hard when 1 was ill."

Europe has never been a support act, headlining every single concert they're ever played.

Before they knew it, “The Final Countdown" was near the upper reaches of the charts in every European country and was slowly working it's way up the American chart. The young kids from a small Swedish town were now international stars.

Unfortunately, all this success had taken a toll on guitarist/cofounder John riorum. He left after the guys came home from a soldout Japanese tour. Although musical differences were cited as the reason for his departure, word is that the guitarist disliked the constant grill of interviews, promotion and photographs. He is currently finishing up a solo album said to be very much like early Europe, with a touch of Thin Lizzy.

His replacement, Kee Marcello, had already established a name for himself within Sweden with Easy Actiona glam-turned-pop band who had released two albums. In addition, he produced a charity single for Sweden 's contribution to the African famine relief fund titled "Give A Helping Hand," (a song, incidentally, written by Joey Tempest!) It featured the guiding (northern) lights of every metal band in Sweden in the chorus and sold enough copies to go platinum, but unfortunately the record didn't get much attention outside the country.

Kee made his official Europe-an debut with the band in the "Rock The night" video clip shot at the Hard Rock Cafe in Stockholm. The band then hit the road for a European jaunt and finally in the spring of this year, a sold-out ; American tour; a mighty feat in deed considering the fact that they had no opening act and they never ever played the U.S. before In fact, word is that Europe has never been a support act, headlin ing every single concert they've j ever played.

Even though Europe is cur rently working on a new album, The Final Countdown is still doing well despite it's over a year and a ; half old. The third single, "Car rie," is still riding high on the American charts and the video remains as one of MTV's most requested clips. After the release of the fourth single, "Cherokee, they hope to return to America for ] another tour to hit the spots they missed last time. Or, they will continue to work on their follow-up to The Final Countdown, nothing is definite yet. Except for one thing ...This is just the begining...