Joey tempest6/7/2023 ![]() It’s got a vibe with a mellotron going through it and it’s a unique track. ![]() When we just finished it and listened back to it, we all looked at each other and said, “This is great! We feel proud of this! This is a cool track!” It’s heavy. Half tones, half notes that Europe has never done before and that was kind of cool. But I really like “War Of Kings” because we went a little bit left field on some of the notes and riffs and stuff. I always sort of go back to” Days Of Rock ‘N’ Roll.” It’s kind of uplifting stuff. Joey Tempest: Well It sort of changes but I agree with you. Sleaze Roxx: Wow! What song on the album really sticks out to you? That was in just about two, three hours we wrote that song with Dave Cobb so that was kind of cool. Heaven and earth, dearly departed kind of lyric just because that happened. Then lyrically, it just went that way, about dearly departed and that kind of stuff. During the song, we found out that Jack Bruce had passed away, it was a text that Ian got and he told us and we were like “Oh!” That’s a sort of strange thing to throw in the mix. He heard John play that riff and went “Hey! That sounds great! Why don’t we write a song around that?” All of us, five of us, and Dave Cobb walked into the studio around the organ and acoustic guitars and we wrote the song on the spot that night. Dave Cobb said he heard John Norum in the studio as we were recording the album. The procedure there was kind of unique for us. So you picked the first and the latest one written. Joey Tempest: That one’s completely different! But that’s the latest one written. Sleaze Roxx: I love that song! The other song that really stuck out to me was “Angel With a Broken Heart.” What went into that song? It’s just a kind of an up tempo fun track on the album I suppose. I’m just interested in everybody’s comments about rock n’ roll is dead and we’ve just been circling for ten years and it was just a reflection on that. We just redid the shuffle and made it into a straight forward rock song with a great hook. A few years ago, I started playing it on the guitar as a ballad and John Leven heard me playing it and he loved the melody. That hook was done on keyboards and it never really worked. It was actually a song that was meant to come after ‘The Final Countdown’ album but it was written completely different. Joey Tempest: That’s the only idea that’s kind of from way back. First of all, I really love the song “Day Of Rock ‘N’ Roll.” I was wondering what the background of that song is? Sleaze Roxx: Sure! Speaking of the album and things of that nature, a couple of songs really stick out for me. But, we sort of, we’re digging deeper in that sort of thing - classic, a little bit of classic rock, a little bit of emotion, a little bit of soul and blues and that comes after all these years of touring I guess. We think drums, guitar and so forth can only be recorded one way - really great - which was done at the end of the ’70s, early ’80s and then everything went sort of crazy. We rent a lot of old gear to warm things up. ![]() The only thing we want to do is make it honest, raw and organic. But everything happens very fast for us when we’re in the studio. He was co-writing on four or five tracks and getting very involved. In this case, we met Dave Cobb and he wanted to become more of a band member. Everybody contributes with ideas these days and we just meet in rehearsal and just knock it out and then we meet the producer. We just sort of - we write - we usually take four or five months to write and we record fast these days. Joey Tempest: Naw, it’s always for us I’m afraid. Sleaze Roxx: When you made the album ‘War Of Kings’ is this type of album for the fans, for you or for both? What went into it? Great! Thank you! We’re on this sort of journey now and trying to explore and get some new expressions and stuff, yeah! We’re happy with it too. Sleaze Roxx: Nice! I picked up your new album and I’m really impressed with it. I’ve been living here for many, many years. Sleaze Roxx: I’m in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sleaze Roxx: Very, very good! I really have to start by saying I’m a huge fan. SLEAZE ROXX CAUGHT UP WITH EUROPE’S LEAD VOCALIST JOEY TEMPEST TO TALK ABOUT THE CHANGE IN MUSICAL DIRECTION, THE NEW ALBUM ‘WAR OF KINGS’, WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE BAND AND OF COURSE “THE FINAL COUNTDOWN.” FIVE STUDIO ALBUMS LATE SINCE THEIR COMEBACK AND EUROPE ARE STILL GOING STRONG. WHEN EUROPE - THE BAND THAT BROUGHT US “THE FINAL COUNTDOWN” - GOT BACK TOGETHER MOTE THAN 12 YEARS AGO, THEY BECAME ONE OF THE ONLY BANDS TO BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY REINVENT THEMSELVES WITH A NEW MORE BLUES ORIENTED SOUND. Photos: Wendy King (third photo), Olivier (fourth and seventh photos)
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