My interview's mail with Ian Haugland 28 october 2020

Valérie : Hello, my name is Valérie, I am French, we did several interviews by email and we met during various concerts in France as well as the organization of Meet And Greet in Paris in 2007. First of all, I would like to know how are you and your families after these difficult times linked to Covid 19?

Ian : Physically I’m just fine, but mentally I’m going crazy from not being able to go on tour. I realise more and more how important it is for me to be on stage and play for the fans.

Valérie : What do you think of the measures taken by the different governments in the different countries to deal with the security measures in relation to Covid 19? The entertainment world in general is upset, so you have to have another approach with your audience. How do you cope with this situation and in the future when are there any future concerts that you could do?

Ian : I think the only way for us right now to stay in touch with the fans and audience, is through the internet, just like we do with “ Friday nights with Europe the band” on our facebook page. I really don’t have any idea when the live concert situation will be back on track, some people believe it will be in the summer of 2021, or even 2022. I just hope I won’t be crazy out of my mind by then!

Valérie : Do you have a date to release your future album?

Ian : We will be writing new songs for the next album this winter and go into the studio as soon as we got the material done, so hopefully the album will be out sometime 2021.

Valérie : Did you start working on future songs? Do you have any ideas of the themes and topics you are going to cover? Will this health crisis influence your compositions, or will you tackle less serious subjects ?

Ian : I’m sure the next album will be reflecting on the situation we’re living through right now in one way or the other, but we never decide about any topics before we actually start writing the songs.

Valérie : In April 2021 Joey is due to be a lead singer of Rock Meets Classic in Germany, will this tour be maintained?

Ian : As far as I know it’s still happening as planned, fingers crossed!

Valérie : In April 2019 in Japan, you did 3 concerts with reworked set-lists each time highlighting each time titles little played for a long time like "Hero", "Homeland" "Wake Up Call" ... by example. In the future, are you going to do this kind of reworked set-list again to include songs that you haven't played for a long time? For example during a concert in France?

Ian : I loved the shows we did in Japan 2019 with the different set lists, great fun to play songs we hadn’t played in ages. I absolutely support the idea of doing that again in the future!

Valérie In May 2018 you went for the first time to tour Australia, what was your feeling of “discovering” a new continent where you had never played before?

Ian : It’s always exciting to go to new places, meeting new people, making new fans and friends. Generally I think people in Australia are very friendly, inviting and generous and most of all, the love their Rock! I really hope we can go back there soon again.

Valérie : The band returned in 2004 with "Start From The Dark", since your return 16 years have passed. What are the highlights of these 16 years, what are your feelings? What is your favorite album of the band since your return and why?

Ian : I think it’s been a fantastic musical journey so far, we’ve played so many cool gigs, met lots of new as well as older fans, basically living our teenage Rock dreams. I could not have had a better “job” or a better life than this, I’m forever grateful. It’s impossible to pick one favourite album, every one have so many great songs, but i do think that Bag Of Bones was very important for the bands development, because that was the first album when we felt the self confidence to just let loose and let the music come to us. The producer Kevin Shirley was a great help in supporting our ideas as well.

Valérie : During the lockdown in April, Joey and Mic gave us a sublime reworked version of "Walk The Earth". It's a new exercise for the group. Since then, you have offered us the “Friday Nights with Europe The Band” for our greatest happiness. How is this new way of working?

Ian : It’s ok, much like we work with new song ides, sending sound files to each others over the internet, but it’s nowhere near as much fun and inspiring as playing together in a studio all five of us, not to mention playing live in front of an audience!

Valérie : In the near future, for example, could you repeat this experience between you 5 in a room alone without an audience? live or not but broadcast a few days later on You Tube by doing a concert of an hour or more for example just for your fans? And the other people too if they want of course ....?

Ian : I’m sure there be more of that kind of stuff in the future, it’s great to be able to share moments like that with our fans, like a family gathering almost!

Valérie : A lot of bands come from Sweden, a lot of these are influenced by you, I'm thinking in particular of the group H.E.A.T. How does it feel to know that you inspire so many young bands? To be honest, I would love to see you one day with HEAT that you would have taken in guest to opening your shows!

Ian : I know the guys from HEAT well, great people, great musicans, great friends and I’m sure we’ll play together sometime in the future. I think it’s kind of surreal when someone tells me that we inspired them to start playing in a band. It’s the greatest achievement when you manage to pass on the power of Rock to the next generation!

Valérie : Fun question, I just got a message from Sharon Den Adel (singer of Within Temptation), Tarja Turunen (ex Nightwish) and Floor Jansen (current Nightwish) they all want to do a song with you. You can only choose one for a duo, which one do you choose and why?

Ian : I think Sharon is a fantastic singer and i think her voice would blend in and match Joey’s voice in a perfect way!

Valérie : Do you have something to say to your French fans, do you want to add something?

Ian : Stay strong, stay healthy, keep an open mind, spread love not fear and love will come to you. Hope to see you all out there soon!

Thank you for answering my questions ! Take good care of yourself !

Valerie.

Thanx to Michele Coombe at Siren Artist Management Inc to forwaring my interview.

 Ici, interview en français

 Ian Haugland interview en français