PĂ„l Waaktaar Savoy and his wife Lauren on Savoy and A-ha (02/18)
written by Tobi, 16 February 2018
PĂ„l Waaktaar Savoy is best know as the songwriter and guitarist for a-ha. Norwayâs most successful pop band has split twice in the last 35 years, found back together again after several yearsâ break, and is now touring big arenas with their MTV Unplugged album, a tour that will continue in the summer [sic]. All the while PĂ„l has had a second band, Savoy, which has been around for more than 20 years and they have recently released their sixth album. We gave it 8 out of 10 points. Here is an extract from our review of the album:
The 40-minute album See The Beauty In Your Drab Hometown includes ten songs that are very easy to listen to. Together with his wife Lauren Savoy (vocals, guitar) and Frode Unneland (drums), PĂ„l Waaktaar-Savoy, acting as a singer, guitarist and keyboarder, has recorded a good mix of respectable and Indie driven pop.
Some of the songs are more solemn, like the laid-back Manmade Lake or the groovy chilled Falls Park, some are more folksy, like the happy Bump!, some are more alternative like A Month Of Sundays, Shy Teens Suffering Silently or the somewhat gloomy January Thaw, some are poppy, like the opening song Night Watch, Sunlit Byways or the closing (My) Weathervane, which one could well imagine Morten singing with a-ha. A very decent record that is better than some of the last a-ha albums.
We spoke with PĂ„l and Lauren about Savoy and a-ha. The interview, rather appropriately, took place at the Savoy hotel prior to a-haâs concert in Cologne (also read our concert review):
MUM: PĂ„l, if I tell you that I like the new Savoy album much more than for example the last a-ha studio album, Cast In Steel, does that make you happy or upset?
PWS: (laughs) I have problems with Cast In Steel myself. Iâm pretty happy with the songs but we spent so much time working on them. At some point too many cooks spoil the broth and we tinkered too much with the songs. Which is why it felt almost like redemption to record this album. One of the reasons why it was recorded in a relatively short period of time was the experience with Cast In Steel, we wanted to do it totally differently. It feels much more spontaneous, you have one mood throughout and donât work on the songs so much. We tried to capture the moment and then pull back.
MUM: The last Savoy album was released 11 years ago. Why did you not make use of a-haâs hiatus to release a new record?
PWS: Lauren wrote a lot for films and sold a script for a tv series to a Hollywood agency. She was pretty busy with that. I recorded a lot and really liked not having to travel so much for a while. We also spent a lot of time at home with our son and werenât particularly motivated to release anything. Itâs nice to work on music with no deadlines to meet whatsoever.
MUM: And how did you arrive at the moment where you decide to record a new album?
LS: I think it was just a good time for it. Our son is now at college, so we can tour again without any stress. We had a bunch of songs, so it just felt right.
PWS: You get this feeling and think: âWouldnât it be nice to do something again?â I had written around 60 songs and then thought about which would best fit on a new Savoy album.
MUM: When you write songs do you know instantly whether they are for a-ha or Savoy?
PWS: Almost any song could by for either. When you start to put an album together, you take maybe half from pre-existing material, the other half comes about because you get inspired during the process.
MUM: Lauren, how much influence do you have on the songs?
LS: I think a great deal. Mostly of course with the songs that I wrote. With the songs that arenât from me I have a lot of influence on the production.
PWS: For many years we lived in a loft in Soho. Now weâve moved to Brooklyn and our studio is in our home. We work on music virtually all of the time and thus the influence on songs is a constant thing. Particularly when we work on an album. You donât ever get away from it, itâs always present.
MUM: Do you do a test within the family when you have new songs? Meaning, do you play them to one another and ask how the other person likes them?
LS: Yes, we do but we have pretty similar taste. We sometimes have different opinions on production but never really about the songs themselves.
MUM: Would you say that one of you is more the acoustic type when it comes to production and the other is more driven by sounds?
PWS: On the new album Lauren pushed to do more technological production. We started as a guitar band and now we also use modular synthesizers and you get a lot of great sounds from those machines.
LS: PĂ„l is very talented at programming so it would be a waste not to use that technology. It was a lot of fun to make this album for me and to see how PĂ„l has done more programming.
MUM: Did it feel different from before?
PWS: Yes. This is our sixth album and it is different. I wouldnât want to describe it as dance but it is darker, there is a dark groove.
MUM: Itâs a very varied album, and it doesnât get boring to listen to it over and over. Which are your favourites on the album? Are they different?
PWS: Yes. There is a song called Bump!, which is from a film Lauren made some years ago. I always thought it was very catchy which is why I really wanted it on the record. I like it when an album has more than one style on it yet it still feels like one coherent album. So I like that song, but also January Thaw. That one is actually made up of two songs. One was a sort of punk song that Lauren had, with a very catchy chorus. And then we mashed it with a more moody verse. I like it when we do that. And Night Watch feels like a new beginning because it is unusual and doesn't really follow the typical conventions, we tried something really crazy in the middle.
LS: Mine is Night Watch too. Itâs like a new source of inspiration that could show us the way for the next album. I feel very inspired by it. I would like to take it further and do more of what weâve started here.
MUM: So it wonât be another eleven years until the next album.
Both: No.
PWS: It felt good to do this album and we have played some shows and there will be more.
MUM: This was going to be one of my questions: will there be a tour?
PWS: Iâve got a lot of a-ha shows scheduled already, so I have to figure out where we can squeeze some shows in, or maybe even do one the same night. I used to want to separate it strictly. When we did the first Savoy album I really wanted to hide the connection to a-ha completely. But if you do that everybody will ask why youâre doing it. Now, I donât consider it a problem anymore. We now sell Savoy albums at the merchandising stand at a-ha concerts.
MUM: Â You will probably say ânoâ to this: but have you ever considered Savoy playing as the warm-up act for a-ha?
PWS: (laughs) I donât think the other two guys would like that.
MUM: But why not? Magne could also show his art. Is he still painting?
PWS: Yes, he is. I mean, we did have an event like that, where Morten played his solo show, Savoy played, and Magne showed his art, in the Royal Albert Hall. (authorâs note: in May 2008)
LS: That would be easier in a way.
MUM: Right now you're also sort of connecting things by doing promotion for the Savoy album while on an a-ha tour. Was this one of the reasons for the release date?
PWS: Itâs difficult to find the right time. Last year I worked half of the year on an album with a girl from New Jersey, then the a-ha unplugged album was released. Itâs difficult to find  a date where you are not competing with yourself, to find free time. Thatâs why we released the album now, before a-ha went on tour.
MUM: What did Morten and Magne say about the Savoy album?
PWS: They havenât said anything.
MUM: They still havenât? When I interviewed you guys back in 2000, when you had your first comeback, you told me that you donât talk about your solo work. Itâs interesting that it has remained this way. You recorded the new album mainly in New York, right?
PWS: Most of it was recorded in a studio in Woodstock, and overdubs were done in Brooklyn.
MUM: How does your collaboration with Frode work then? He must have a different job but also be available at all times wen Savoy record a new album?
PWS: Yes, he has got a fulltime job but also plays in two or three other bands. He is very busy. But it has always been this way. When we started, he was living in Bergen, we were in Oslo. He has always been the one who joins us, singing wonderful backing vocals and playing drums.
MUM: When I interviewed you in 2000, you werenât sure whether your comeback would be successful. How did it the second comeback with a-ha feel like, the same or different?
PWS: Well, the second comeback - no, it felt different. After the first split, I really thought that was it, and it was a surprise to us that, after so many solo albums and other things - we found back together. The second time, I didnât want to split up. It felt more like a strategic move, which is why I didnât agree with it. When we started again as a-ha, I said: âI told you!â (laughs) To me it wasnât a real split, more like a hiatus. The first time it did feel really nice to come back together. We used to argue a lot, had a lot of different opinions, but then we got back together with open arms, so to say, with a lot fewer arguments.
MUM: PĂ„l, I assume that when you were younger and heard that a band was doing more than one comeback, you were sure that you would never do something like that. How does it feel now to be one of those bands?
PWS: At some point we took so much time to record the next album that it felt like a comeback every time and you would get used to it. But yes, at this point itâs not always easy to be in the studio with a-ha but on tour we work very well together.
MUM: And you fill big arenas.
PWS: I didnât expect that this time. I thought with the unplugged show we would play in theaters. But our manager thought we could fill big halls.
MUM: Honestly speaking, I think it works much better, a whole new imagining of the classics than a typical best-of album. That wouldâve been boring, wouldnât it? Not because of the hits, just because itâs the same thing all over again.
PWS: Yes..
LS: I think so, too.
MUM: Is there a song you particularly enjoy playing unplugged?
PWS: Weâve got a few different things. Morten introduces an old Bridges song, so weâre playing one of our oldest songs, dating to a time when Morten met Magne and me while we were still in school. This Alone Is Love is fun, with a completely different speed, and itâs generally nice to play these completely different versions. In an acoustic show particular attention needs to be paid to the dynamics, so you have to play even more sensitively.
MUM: How different is it to play in front of a seated audience?
PWS: (laughs) Yeah, it was weird at the beginning and I thought: âOh my god, how is this going to go?â Now weâve gotten used to it. At first we wanted to sit the entire way through as well but it feels weird so we stand a lot too. We are glad that people donât talk all the way through, which happens a lot during acoustic shows, people chat, they joke. It hasnât been like that at our shows, luckily.
LS: Are you coming to the concert tonight? Itâs really a good show.
MUM: Yes, I will be there and Iâm looking forward to it. But I havenât seen the tv recording yet.
PWS: Oh, itâs totally different. We did the tv recording in front of a couple hundred people and it was very quiet. Now itâs more intense.
MUM: When you play with Savoy, particularly in Norway, how many people come to your shows?
PWS: We played a release show which was well attended, about 500 people. We have played all sorts of shows, however, including festivals and concerts in front of 5,000 people. Mostly we play clubs, we are a club band.
MUM: If you say that you donât know how Morten and Magne like the Savoy albums that means that they have never been to a concert?
PWS: I donât think they have but maybe we should officially invite them. Weâll do it next time.
MUM: There are bands where each member plays a couple of songs from solo projects. Have you ever discussed that?
PWS: We have done that, both ways actually. We have covered a-ha songs like Sycamore Leaves in a different version or October from the second a-ha album. And a-ha have covered Velvet of course, which was the first Savoy single way back when. So itâs all a big mess but thatâs what the music industry is like. There are many a-ha songs I would like to play in a completely different way. Thatâs the nice thing about the unplugged show, doing it differently.
MUM: Where do you see yourself in ten years? Will you still be touring and recording albums or do you want to do something completely different?
PWS: I like how the last two years went. Producing something, making the a-ha unplugged album, then recording the Savoy album, and we are working on a new album too. I donât want to have five or more years between releases, I want to work in my natural workflow, and release things.
MUM: When you say youâre working on a new album - is that with a-ha or Savoy?
PWS: I donât honestly know yet.
MUM: So you have written new songs...
PWS: Yes, and I have recorded some of them. I just donât know which direction itâs going in.
MUM: When you look back: what was the very best concert with a-ha in all those years?
PWS: I remember the comeback show very well. It was in Hamburg, I think. We played the new material for the first time, like Summer Moved On. It felt great and the audience really went for the songs. It was a magical moment.
MUM: What about the worst concert?
PWS: We once were at a rodeo festival in South America. Everybody was wearing big cowboy hats and nobody knew any a-ha songs. Even when we played our biggest hits, they at most clapped politely. But I donât think of it as our worst concerts, even if it probably was, because it was sort of funny. (laughs) And they also had this particular mosquito. They told us right at arrival that it would kill us within 24 hours if it bit us.
LS: Are you kidding?
PWS: No, it happened. They gave us a special spray that was supposed to protect us.
LS: Oh my god!
PWS: And in between songs we constantly sprayed ourselves with it.
MUM: When was that?
PWS: Sometime at the beginning of the noughties, 2002 maybe.
MUM: Last question: will you watch the Winter Olympics?
PWS: Weâll see how much time weâve got. But, sure, for Norway itâs a big thing. Weâre good at winter sports. We live in New York and donât see much of it. But Iâm sure Norway will do well.
MUM: Thanks for talking to us!
Soure: https://www.mucke-und-mehr.de/musik/interviews/savoy-18/
Translation: fysavoy.tumblr.com
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