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Joey Tempest
Before becoming the well-known artist Joey Tempest, Joakim Larsson learnt how to play the piano and the guitar. He played football, ice hockey and competed in go-cart. Joey once came in fourth place in the Junior Cart Race, a Swedish championship.
The bands he played with had names like Jet, Blazer, Made In Hong Kong and Roxanne. To summarise, he was a typical Swedish teenager.
1979 he meets up with John Norum. They form the band Force who immediately begin building a reputation and a fanbase in the suburbs of Stockholm. In 1982 they change the name to Europe and win the big music competition Rock-SM. The first prize: an album recording.
The rest is…not history. But the end of the story for your average Swedish teenager. Europe releases five albums between 1983 and 1991, with Joey Tempest as the singer, frontman and songwriter.
It would be impossible to describe Europe without mentioning “The Final Countdown”. During the years with Europe, Joey wrote numerous international big hits, but compared to a song that’s topped the sales chart in 26 countries, sold 8 million copies, was played at the ending ceremony at the Olympics, became the musical theme of the millennium celebrations and is now a ringing tone in hundreds of thousands of mobile phones all over the world…
That particular track makes it easy to forget how big hits tracks like “Carrie”, “Rock The Night”, “Superstitious”, “Seven Doors Hotel” and “Dreamer” really were.
In March 1992, Europe end their final tour in Portsmouth and don’t play together again until – exactly – New Years Eve 1999.
After the years with Europe Joey takes some time off. But in 1995, his solo debut “A Place To Call Home” is released. Once again Joey uses his ability to write strong melodies, but this time in a different surrounding. In his own words, it’s his singer/songwriter album. The inspiration came from artists like Neil Young, Van Morrisson and Jackson Browne.
The album was produced By Dan Sundquist and recorded in Stockholm and London using Swedish musicians. John Norum and Joey reunited for one of the tracks. Apart from his well-known vocal skills, Joey also shows that he’s a great guitarist.
“A Place To Call Home” sold platinum in Sweden and was a big success internationally. Later the same year Joey goes on the road for his first European tour as a solo artist. The following year he’s nominated for a “Best Swedish Artist” Grammy.
Four singles were taken from the album, ”A Place To Call Home”, “Under the Influence”, “We Come Alive” and “Don’t Go Changing On Me”.
The next album “Azalea Place” was released in 1997. Joey went to Nashville and the producer Richard Dodd. Dodd, with credentials as far stretching as the Mississippi River and artists like Travelling Wilburys and Tom Petty as clients, led Joey along a partially new route. Where “A Place To Call Home” had Joey writing all the material, the new album was written together with others. Among these were Chris Difford from Squeeze and Will Jennings.
“Azalea Place was mostly written in the studio and was therefore more improvised and experimental”, Joey comments on the production.
“The Match”, “The One In The Glass” and “If I´d Only Known” were released as singles. “The Match” immediately became one of the most played songs on Swedish radio and the album achieved gold status.
The following year Joey participates in Mike Batt´s Philarmania (the big rock tunes of all time with a symphonic orchestra). The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as backing, fronted by some of the worlds best rock singers. Joey performs Bruce Springsteen´s “Born To Run”.
In the autumn of 2002 it’s time for Joey’s third solo album, “Joey Tempest”. The title in itself suggests a lot. Not giving an album a “name” is, strange as it may seem, more of a statement. It’s a presentation without having to explain what you’re about. This is me, kind of…
“Joey Tempest” is really more Joey Tempest. It’s a manifest of two decades of songwriting. The producer team behind “Joey Tempest” is “DeadMono”, consisting of Malcolm Pardon and Fredrik Rinman. They’re well known for their work with Eskobar, Lisa Miskovsky and Stakka Bo. Also collaborating on the album are Chris Difford, old Europe pal Mic Michaeli and the new wingman, the guitarist Adam Lamprell.
The album has been allowed to develop very organically. It’s taken some time, but time well spent. Joey’s started collaborations and has followed through based on instinct and recommendations. Friends have suggested other friends and so on.
The first session took place in Konk Studios, The Kinks old London studio, where Joey jammed with some English musicians who’d formerly played with, amongst others, Massive Attack. This session gave birth to “Magnificent”, “Kill For A Girl Like You” (B-side of the first single “Forgiven”) and “Sometimes”. Work continued in Stockholm, this time with Swedish musicians including Mic Michaeli. “Superhuman” originated from this session. After that, Joey kept on working with Adam Lamprell in a temporary studio in London.
“Joey Tempest” is dimensions from “A place To Call Home” and “Azalea Place”. There’s a different atmosphere. The production hits you like sunlight in your eyes when exiting a subway station. It’s immediate, right on, direct.
“I guess the new album shows that I’ve found my way back to playing in a rock band again. There’s a little more edge and weight to it compared to the previous solo albums. I’ve also re-discovered the way I wrote songs during the Europe days. A lot of the songs, like “Loved By Me”, have the old “Tempest” vibe, the melodies and heavy guitars but still with a hint of pop in there.”
It’s not only in the studio Joey has regained the band feeling. He’s slowly but surely formed a band for the upcoming tour.
There’s a sense of the big city in Joey’s lyrics. London and Dublin are two cities Joey commutes between nowadays. “Dreamless and Magnificent have a lot of London in them. Losers is influenced by both London and Dublin. Living there can be very intense, almost chaotic. They’re tough cities and I´d never have written the lyrics I did without living there.” Some lyrics can also be related to his homeland, reflections on living abroad and learning to live with new people.
This impression is emphasised by the fact that a lot of the lyrics were written, driving in the car, going to or coming from the studio.
“It’s the way we live and it’s killing me
And the silence here is deafening”
You could say there are two sides to the eighties. Joey together with Europe successfully developed one of these. Now we for the first time get to hear the other side of his influences.
“It’s impossible to live in Dublin or London without being influenced by The Smiths, The Cure, New Order and Depeche Mode and then understanding their importance for the current music scene.”
With “Joey Tempest” Joey has succeeded in blending the two fractions. It is as much a new beginning as it is a summarisation of his songwriting. Along for the ride is his sense of melodies and the spot-on ability to write hooks, which has been there ever since the Europe days, the more low key style he showed with “A Place To Call Home”, and the will to experiment with “Azalea Place”.
But that which was merely a flashlight on “Azalea Place” is now shining like a full size lighting rig. The suburban roads have now melted into one giant highway, leading into the big city.
