In a new interview with Brazilian music journalist Igor Miranda, EUROPE vocalist Joey Tempest spoke about the band’s plans for the follow-up to 2017’s “Walk The Earth” album. Asked if he and his bandmates are working on new material, Joey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, absolutely. It’s been a long while. We’ve never had this long of a break before — ever. We always move from tour into the studio, tour into the studio. I mean, [2012’s] ‘Bag Of Bones’, [2015’s] ‘War Of Kings’ and [2017’s] ‘Walk The Earth’, it was a period in our lives, a very energetic period. But we’ve been touring ever since, though, ever since ‘Walk The Earth’. But we haven’t been in the studio. I mean, it started a bit with the, the period of COVID, that made us sort of start over again. In a way, it was good for writing because I could start from scratch. There was more time all of a sudden. There was not, like, ‘Let’s record an album because we’ve gotta get back on the road.’ We had time all of a sudden. So this is what makes the new album interesting. In a way, it feels like a debut album because it has had life. We had to live with ideas for years. And that’s how debut albums are with bands, ’cause bands are out touring and they have written the songs and they live with them, they play them. And it feels a bit like that. It feels fresh, this new EUROPE album.”
He continued: “We’re halfway through. We’re sending demos to each other. We’re getting there. We’ve got some great ideas already.
“We’re planning on going in the studio in the autumn, which means there’ll be music out next year. And the whole band is very excited about that. The songs are coming, and it feels fresh, with some influences from our past as well. But, as you know, we always experiment as well. So it’s kind of the usual adventure, EUROPE adventure. But there’s some good stuff there.”
Tempest also spoke about EUROPE‘s upcoming documentary that the band has been busy filming with producer/director Craig Hooper (DEEP PURPLE, SAXON) for Coolhead Productions. The film will tell the story of the band, from formation until present day, telling of their rise to success in the mid-1980s, through hard times and heartache, to coming back in the millennium, and the current successes the band has achieved.
Joey said: “We’ve had this team with us for four or five years traveling with us to document the newEUROPE. But during COVID, we’d started thinking, ‘Hang on a second. Maybe it’s time to do the documentary.’ People have asked us to do this many years now. But we decided, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ And then we found a box with old VHS tapes. Our first manager, he walked around with this huge VHS camera when we were just kids. We were still teenagers, and we were wondering, ‘What are you doing with that thing? Stop filming,’ kind of thing. But he kept filming, and there’s [footage] from hotel rooms, there’s [footage] from backstage from the middle of ’80s and up to ’92. And there’s stuff from all over the world. And there’s stuff that has never [been] seen before, and it was exciting for us as well. So, basically, it’s new footage from the band today touring, and there’s old VHS footage that has never been seen, and the whole story of us coming from the suburbs of Stockholm, going out in the world and then, in the early ’90s, grunge hitting the scene, and it’s a bit of a dip and then it’s us building everything up again to where we are today. So it’s quite a good story as well. And the director’s done a great job. So we can’t wait. It’s gonna be exciting to put this out.”
Last month, Joey told El Expreso Del Rock that the musical direction of the upcoming EUROPE LP won’t be similar to that of “Walk The Earth” and “War Of Kings”. He said: “No, it’ll move on. It’ll be a new adventure. But I realize, hearing some of the demos we make now, that it’s really strong, [with] great melodies. Some of it’s really heavy as well. But there’s also some connection to the past.
“I’m writing with everyone,” he revealed. “I’m writing with John [Norum, guitar], I’m writing with John [Levén, bass] and Mic [Michaeli, keyboards]. And there’s beautiful melodies there as well. I’m really excited. There’s some great songs coming on. And it’s been a while, so we’ve had time to live with the music, almost like a debut album, almost like the first album, because we have years to live with the songs. We know some of them are really strong because they have staying power; they’ve stayed for years now. So yeah, this could be an interesting album.
“Yeah, we just like to go on our own adventure, but always carry your past with you,” he explained. “That’s the thing.”
Regarding the upcoming EUROPE documentary, Joey said: “We’re so happy to be together after 40 years. Last year was so emotional, that tour. It was incredible to look around the stage at my teenage friends, and we were still there playing and there was great connection with the audience. And so we carry that spirit on to this year. So we’re gonna start touring now. South America is the first touring for this year. And we’re gonna carry that spirit through the emotional thing that we’re still together with. And in this case, we’re meeting new fans as well. But it’s a great feeling to be here. It’s a great job, and to be with the same same guys, yeah. We’re gonna do South America. Then we do festivals all over Europe, and then we’ll go into the studio. And hopefully this year as well, yeah, it will come out, the official documentary of EUROPE, and it’s a great journey. And we have found footage, old footage from hotel rooms, Japan and around the world, San Francisco, when we mixed ‘The Final Countdown’, there’s some footage [that had] never [been] seen [before]. And there’s a lot of new footage from us traveling around the world, in South America and other places, mixed in with the story of these young punks from Stockholm making it in the world and then grunge coming along and then building it up again, and it’s a great story. So we’re really excited to release this documentary as well. So there’s a lot of things going on in the EUROPE camp.”
Asked if the documentary will be released this year, Joey said: “Yeah, I’d say it will be. We’re almost done. We’re doing the final editing now. Everything’s been approved by the band. Every bandmember has seen it now. And the final editing, we’re gonna put some narration on. We’re very close. I just hope we get it out maybe before the summer, if not after the summer. Yeah, we’re looking forward to that.”
In September 2023, EUROPE released a new song titled “Hold Your Head Up”. The track, which was described by the band as “a punchy uptempo rocker with reminiscent elements of early EUROPE,” was recorded in August 2023 at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm with producer Klas Åhlund (GHOST, ROBYN) and was mixed by Stefan Glaumann (RAMMSTEIN, DEF LEPPARD),who also mixed EUROPE‘s “Secret Society” album.
In an interview with Metal Global, Tempest was asked why he and his EUROPE bandmates decided to record and release just one song at this time. Tempest said: “We wanted to get this ready before the [fall 2023 European] tour and the [upcoming EUROPE] documentary. So we focused on this song so we could have something out together with the tour and the documentary. That’s why we released one song now. But we have a handful of songs — great ideas.”
Regarding the experience of working with Åhlund this time around, Joey said: “It was a great experience. We all liked it. The whole band would like to do more stuff with him. We don’t know whether he’s gonna be the producer of the [upcoming EUROPE] album yet, but… No, we don’t know yet. I mean, it would be an interesting idea, actually. But we haven’t decided yet. But we were very happy finding him and working with him. He’s very professional, and he’s also listened to EUROPE when he was younger and so he knows how we think. And the procedure with him was amazing. It went really smooth, and he’s a very talented, very talented man. He’s a guitar player as well.”
Joey also talked about the musical direction of “Hold Your Head Up”, which Botas noted is a combination of the classic EUROPE sound and the band’s more recent, bluesier approach. The singer said: “I think it’s a good mixture in the song. We never really set out to do that. It was an idea I had, and I sent it to the guys and everybody was, like, ‘Yeah, that’s great. Let’s do that.’ So, it’s a natural progression, but I think you’re right. I think it’s a little bit of some melodies, especially in the verses, in the end of the verses there, there’s melodies that remind you of some of the earlier stuff. But maybe the chorus and the riff a little bit, it’s also quite fresh and more modern, I suppose. So yeah, it’s got a bit of everything, but it still sounds like EUROPE, which is really cool.”
“Hold Your Head Up” was made available to stream and download on September 29, 2023 across all reputable digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Pandora and YouTube Music.
In the fall of 2023, EUROPE completed the “Time Capsule” European tour which included 21 concerts across Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, and the U.K., including two nights at the famous London Palladium. These anniversary shows consisted of a career retrospective “evening with” performance featuring all the hits together with deep cuts and fan favorites from all of their 11 studio albums.
“Walk The Earth” was released in October 2017 via Hell & Back Recordings (Silver Lining Music). It was recorded at famed Abbey Road Studios in London with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (RIVAL SONS, Shooter Jennings, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton).
Source: blabbermouth.net
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