EUROPE Drummer Ian Haugland On The Impact Of “The Final Countdown” – “If It Wasn’t For ‘The Final Countdown’ We Wouldn’t Be Here Today”
March 4, 2015, 9 years ago
Europe's Ian Haugland and That Metal Show's Eddie Trunk guest on this episode of One On One With Mitch Lafon. Europe is back with a great new album, War Of Kings and Mitch sits down with the band's drummer Ian Haugland to discuss the album's musical direction, the band's rebirth since reforming a few years ago, coming to North America this year for a few shows as well as determining if the song The Final Countdown was a curse or a blessing for the band.
The episode's second interview is with TV and radio personality Eddie Trunk. Together Mitch and Eddie discuss the 14th season of That Metal Show, rumors and discussions surrounding Peter Criss, KISS, Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses, Dee Snider and much more.
This episode of One on One With Mitch Lafon was co-hosted by Talking Metal's Mark Strigl.
Swedish rock legends, Europe, will release their 10th studio album, War Of Kings, on March 10th in North America via Hell & Back Recordings. Europe and Yahoo Music are giving North American fans an exclusive chance to listen War Of Kings an entire week early, starting today. Head over to this location to listen to the entire album now.
Recorded at the brand new PanGaia Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, produced by Dave Cobb (Rival Sons) and engineered by John Netti, War Of Kings sees the quintet confidently creating 11 monstrously melodic, yet hard-hitting classic rock’n’roll standouts for their fervent global audience.
War Of Kings will be available in multiple formats, as a CD digipak, a CD jewel case, a vinyl LP and in digital download format.
Joey Tempest states, “War Of Kings is the album we always wanted to make, ever since we were kids listening to bands like Zeppelin, Purple and Sabbath. And after hearing Dave Cobb amazing production for Rival Sons we simply had to work with him. Our adventure is still ON!”
War Of Kings tracklisting:
"War Of Kings""Hole In My Pocket"
"Second Day"
"Praise You"
"Nothin’ To Ya"
"California 405"
"Days Of Rock N Roll"
"Children Of The Mind"
"Rainbow Bridge"
"Angels (With Broken Hearts)"
"Light Me Up"
Bonus:
"Vasastan" (Instrumental)
The music video for title track directed by Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company (In Flames, At The Gates, Arch Enemy), can be seen below:
Check out the official War Of Kings trailer below:
Europe’s place as a legendary classic rock band was platinum-stamped early in their career, having enjoyed an explosive period of worldwide success in the ‘80s, under-pinned by their hit album and single The Final Countdown, before going on hiatus between 1992 and 2003. They reunited and quickly settled into a period of re-establishment which has seen them re-enforce their reputation worldwide as one of the premier purveyors of blues-tinged classic rock with an edge and some kick. Their last album, 2012’s Bag Of Bones, saw Europe hit the UK top 40 rock album charts and debut at #2 on the Swedish national charts.
War Of Kings is set to take full advantage of the global groundwork Europe have put in over the last few years.
Tempest adds, “Hey! We took the long road! But we wanted to re-establish Europe the proper way. It’s taken 10 years and countless tours since the re-union, but we’re finally getting there and we’ve done it our way!”
Europe will ship off on the Monsters Of Rock cruise on April 18th from Miami, FL, and cruise to Poseidon’s Grotto/Nassau, Bahamas, docking back in Miami on April 22nd. In addition to Europe, the cruise features performances from Tesla, Night Ranger, Lita Ford, and more. Visit this location for pricing and more information.
Once back on land, Europe will embark on an eight-city tour of select eastern US states, including a stop at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, MD. See below for a full listing of tour dates:
April
18-22 - Miami, FL - Monsters of Rock Cruise
25 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
26 - Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue
28 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues (with Black Star Riders)
30 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza (with Black Star Riders)
May
2 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion (M3 Rock Festival)
3 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun
Europe is:
Joey Tempest – lead vocals, acoustic and rhythm guitar, keyboards
John Norum – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals
John Leven – bass, backing vocals
Mic Michaeli – keyboards, piano, backing vocals, rhythm guitar
Ian Haugland – drums, percussion, backing vocals
(Top Europe photo by Fredrik Etoall)
