The sun is blazing hot over Los Angeles and most people are heading for the beach, but not everyone. No, five Swedish guys spend their time in a rehearsal studio. The sun may blaze as much as it wants, they are not in Hollywood on vacation. They are working--hard and with discipline but at the same time a lot of energy. They know that the next LP will determine the following career, and even if that may seem to be a storm cloud, the mood within the band as well as the quality of the new songs are better than ever.
"We're in good spirits," Ian Haugland laughs and nearly shoots a billiard ball into the "lemonade machine."
EUROPE have found a new sound, or rather found themselves. Something that sounds so cool and fresh, it can not be forced; it must come from the heart. We are visiting them in the SIR studio at the final stage of the demo recordings and get to hear nine new songs. We have heard some of them before, at Milton Keynes and the "secret" gig at the Whisky A Go Go. But among EUROPE's new songs we find several other interesting titles. One that went right into my heart was "Rainbow Warrior", a fateful, heavy thing similar to Rainbow's "Stargazer". If EUROPE choose to go in this direction I totally support them. But there are other kinds of songs as well. I think "Talk To Me" will make it as a single, and perhaps the soft "I Don't Know How To Love No More". What's surprising is that they have chosen to record "Stranded", the song that Joey gave to Tone Norum. In EUROPE's version it sounds tougher, but it does not convince me that it's right for EUROPE. But everything is still at the demo stage. Many things can happen before the band, together with producer Bob Rock, make the final decision. And they are still writing songs.
"We won't stop until we're completely satisfied," Kee Marcello says, "And this time all of us participate in writing the songs. We've really grown together and that makes us strong."
Between the recording sessions they relax by playing some pool in the lounge or taking a ride down to the beach. But there are few breaks. It looks like they are going into the studio in Vancouver, Canada, in March and then everything must be finished. If the album turns out to be as good as I think, we will have a classic in sight. It's very possible that EUROPE could follow on where the big rock heroes of the seventies quit. And write some history themselves during the last decade of the century.
