EUROPE Frontman JOEY TEMPEST - "I Always Wanted To Look Like ROBERT PLANT"
May 15, 2018, 6 years ago
In a new interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Europe frontman Joey Tempest talks about last year's new album Walk The Earth, winning a Swedish Grammy for "Best Hard Rock/Metal" album, the band's success over the years, what happened when grunge hit in the 90s, and more.
In regards to the mid-80s, when the band were flying high with their massive hit "The Final Countdown", Tempest states: "It was a moment when you're one of the biggest bands in the world. You go on private jets and stay in the best hotels, you have security guards. I remember we were #1 [in Britain], we were on Top Of The Pops, and the band that were #7 were also playing: Bon Jovi, with 'Livin' On A Prayer'. Bjorn and Benny [from ABBA] came to see us in the hotel afterwards. That was huge."
On that era Europe garnered as much attention for their pretty boy looks and ozone-depleting use of hairspray as they did their music, which was at that point a highly-stylised melange of pop-rock and soft-metal.
"I always wanted to look like [Led Zeppelin singer] Robert Plant," says Tempest. "He was my big hero since I was a kid. But that was the MTV era, we were caught up in a movement. It was an interesting era. It's never going to happen again."
Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Europe have released an official video for "The Siege", a track from the band's Walk The Earth album. The clip, directed by Patric Ullaeus (Revolver Film Company), can be seen below:
