Original articleWE WANT TO DO THIS a-ha finally in agreement This summer, the a-ha boys - Morten Harket, Paul Waaktaar Savoy and Magne Furuholmen - got together for the first time in a long time. "That resulted in a common drive to go into the studio and record a new album," says Magne Furuholmen to Dagbladet. by Anders Grønnberg [translation by ck] Since 1993, when the last a-ha album to date, "Memorial Beach", was released, speculations have been made about a new album. The band members have repeatedly stated that they will get back together. IN AGREEMENT Now the time has apparently come for a reunion of Norway's most successful pop band ever. Paul and Magne have kept in touch most over the last few years. They have been trading song ideas lately. "Paul and I have been in contact with one another, and we concur. But any new album is still in the demo stage. "It is also clear that Morten will also take part in writing songs for a future album," Furuholmen says from his vacation site abroad. He is not however overjoyed to be talking about the future: "Talking about a-ha right now is about as much fun as a premature ejaculation." FEEL AN OBLIGATION The three a-ha boys got together in Oslo this summer, "for the first time in ages" as Furuholmen puts it. "It was more of a 'social chat', but we feel 'committed' to make the best album we can. But first we have to work out the chemistry." [The bits in single quotes were already in English... -ck] "Isn't it working? "Dunno. It's been many years since we worked together. But we're all very positive and want to make it work." He knows nothing about any studio time reserved for the band this autumn, but has nothing against "things starting to happen". "A new a-ha album would be released at the earliest in a year's time," says Furuholmen. NO PRESSURE Furuholmen denies that they are being forced into the studio of Warner in the U.S. He also claims that they are not required to repay part of their advance if they do not record two additional albums as the contract requires. "But our relationship with Warner isn't the best. Morten and Paul have released albums for other companies. It's a hindrance to have an American contract, when we lost our popularity there, and other parts of the world are more important for us," says Furuholmen. A new a-ha album must therefore be a high quality product. The band also wants "to give the story of a-ha a fitting ending," as Waaktaar said to Dagbladet last year. "90 percent of my time is spent on art. None of us have ambitions to be pop stars like in the old days," says Furuholmen. [Okay, okay, so it looks like Magne *was* really on vacation. I'll eat my sarcastic little comment now...]
-- Translation by Cindy Kandolf (cindy@nethelp.no)