Just before Swedish most famous rock band Europe entered the stage for their first gig of the "Last Look at Eden" World Tour 2010 your favorite webzine LazyRocker.com had the chance to talk to Ian Haugland. The drummer had the questionable honour to be the first person to be interviewed by LazyRocker.com! As it was the first gig of the tour Europe's personnel was a bit nervous. The soundcheck took longer than expected so the interview started half an hour later than planned. No problem for us, no problem for Ian who was very relaxed and down-to-earth.

Hi Ian, welcome to Holland, welcome to Amsterdam. Do you have any memories to Amsterdam?
Well, I've been here a couple of times, but memories? I don't remember them anymore :-)
Seriously now. I remember a lot of bicycles just as in some Swedish university cities. I know a large part of Holland is below sealevel. Very weird if you think about it.
But when you're touring you don't have a real chance of seeing everything. We arrived at noon today. It is the first show of the tour so we are busy putting it all together. Doing the last rehearsals, but who knows tomorrow?

Well, Holland, Amsterdam, coffeeshops...
I only smoke on drums haha... you know as a rocker it is always within reach, but mad enough as it may sound I don't use anything.

When did you start playing drums?
I started when I was 13. It all became totally clear when I heard Rainbow's album "Rising". Especially the last track "A Light in the Black", an 8 minute lasting song with powerful drums. It was full of energy. My first concert ever was also Rainbow in Stockholm, 1976. I never saw pics before so it was like I met God when I saw them performing for the first time. Those days there was no internet you know. But that's the beauty of internet. However, it can be scary too. Everybody can see my fuck ups on internet... although I do like sites like YouTube.

You already started to answer my next question: by who are you influenced? You already mentioned Rainbow...
Bands like Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and UFO. These days there are a lot of styles. But it also seems it's more about the songs these days. 2/3 good tracks on an album, the rest is filling. I like bands with an own sound. Muse is great! I also like Biffy Clyro. A Scottish band.

Biffy who? How do you spell that?
Biffy Clyro. They play a mixture of pop, rock, punk and also some jazzy elements. It's kinda weird. Great songs!
The music I am listening to often depends on the period of the year. After the German tour when I was painting my house I listened to the back catalogue of Deep Purple. That music became a part of my DNA. The reason I started playing.
(LazyRocker.com: check Biffy Clyro out at http://www.biffyclyro.com/)

You already answer my questions before I can ask them :-) I also wanted to ask you what you think of rock music from these days? Bands like Nickelback, Foo Fighters and so on?
As I said I really like Muse. Bands like Nickelback seems to me like they're missing something. They don't give me a total kick. I like Black Stone Cherry for example. But I also like the new Lynyrd Skynyrd album "Gods & Guns". Very refreshing, but still with the old elements.

The most band members grew up in Uppland Vasby near Stockholm. You are from Norway. Where did you grew up?
My parents moved from Norway to Sweden when I was a little kid. I grew up in a suburb near Uppland Vasby. When I played in bands in Uppland Vasby the guys got to know me.

When Norway has to play against Sweden in sports who is your favorite?
I don't know a shit about sports . I am a sports atheist. I feel Swedish, but I also love Norway. Every year we go to Norway with the band for a couple of gigs. It's a beautiful country. Especially the North of Norway with off course the beautiful fjords.

Then the guys asked you to replace Tony Reno?
Yeah, the band wasn't happy with him anymore. Apparently he always showed up much too late. Didn't want to do rehearsals. I only saw him once. I came to sign my contract at the management office while he was there to dissolve his.

 
The subject you probably have to talk about every interview: "The Final Countdown". It changed your life forever. Do you think about it now as a good or a bad experience?
As a once in a fucking lightyear experience! Without "The Final Countdown" we wouldn't be sitting here in the Netherlands now. The country where it all started. We were on tour in Japan when we heard that Dutch radio was playing the song. From there the fire spreaded around to the rest of the world.  I want us better to be known of one song than not known at all.

Aren't you ever getting tired of playing "The Final Countdown"?
No, not at all. We play it with such a vibe! It is such an energy rush. We never rehearse it. The fans go wild when we play it. You can feel that energy when you're on stage. You are one with the audience.

"Out of This World" is one of my favorite Europe albums. I listened to it when I was 17/18. Did you wanted it to sound like it is or were you pushed by your label?
We were young those days and very easily influenced. Our label pushed us into a commercial sound. The production sounds stiff, cold. On stage the songs sound much heavier than on the album. John (Norum) adds some dirt to it. He makes it bluesier.

That brings me to the next question: how was it to play with Kee Marcello?
Both guitar players are very special persons with artistic minds. Kee is more technically. John has more blues in his playing, he puts more feeling into it which benefits our sound better.

"Prisoners in Paradise" wasn't that succesful. How come?
When our label first heard the songs they thought it sounded great. But when we were recording and mixing the album personnel from the label got fired. The new people from Sony rejected the songs. No potential hits. So new songs had to be written. It felt like a stab in the back. By the time "Prisoners" was about to release Nirvana had relesed their album "Nevermind"" which changed the world of rock music. 80's bands disappeared in just few weeks. After the release we got problems with the management and that was the final blow.

During the "Prisoners" sessions you did some try outs under the name "La Baron Boys". Did you record some of these try outs? The bootlegs contain some really good tracks. "Rainbow Warrior" for example. The sound however is very bad.
Not as far as I know. On the bootlegs the sound quality is from tape. I don't know if multitrack recordings exist. The only option would be to re-record them again. I listen to these tapes sometimes. There is interesting material in there. "New Love in Town" was something that came up during jam sessions in those days. We came across this idea again and used it for the "Last Look at Eden" album. 

Ian, according to your manager our time is up. Can we finish this interview by mail?
Sure, no problem.

Great. Thanx for your time and good luck with the first gig.
Thank you. Enjoy the show tonight.

Website: http://www.europehardcore.net/godofthunder/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Haugland
Band website: http://www.europetheband.com/

To read part II of the interview with Ian click HERE.