Still learning TO ROCK

FANS OF DANISH pop-rock trio Michael Learns to Rock welcomed back their heroes recently when the group dropped into town to celebrate 25 years in showbiz with a mini showcase at Hard Rock Cafe and a special greatest hits CD “25: The Complete Singles.”
Vocalist and keyboardist Jascha Richter, guitarist Mikkel Lentz and drummer Kare Wanscher formed Michael Learns to Rock back in 1988 and broke into the music scene with their self-titled debut album and first hit “The Actor”. Their later hits, including “Sleeping Child”, “Paint My Love”, “Take Me to Your Heart”, “25 Minutes”, “Out of the Blue and “That’s Why (You Go Away)”, were immediate hits in Asia, making them one of very few Western artists to successfully and sustainably maintain a presence in the Asian music market.
After 11 million records sold worldwide and many sold-out shows in Asia throughout the 25 years, the group released “25: The Complete Singles” exclusively for fans. The CD comes with two new songs, “Silent Time” and “Call On Love” as bonus tracks.
Michael Learns to Rock brought their celebration to Bangkok, where they first played outside of Denmark back in 1994, and sat down with XP for a chat.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN TO THAILAND
Wanscher: We can’t remember the exact figure. We’ve been here for showcases, shows and even TV appearances. In the ’90s I’m sure we were here between 10 and 15 times.
Lentz: Yes, and in the ’90s we also went to other provinces, including Hat Yai, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

HOW DID THIS ALBUM HAPPEN?
Lentz: Last year we realised that it had been 25 years, so we decided to put together a collection of singles that best represented our journey. There are songs from every album and it ends with the newly recorded two songs that we did last year. For us it’s a celebration, and a gift to our fans.
Wanscher: That’s why we come to Thailand this time, too, to let our fans know that we appreciate their support and we always think about them. We hope to be back for a full concert very soon.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MICHAEL LEARNS TO ROCK SONG?
Wanscher: “Scandinavia” for the album “Scandinavia”. It says a lot about who we are and what our lives have been like these past few years.
Lentz: “Someday” from “Played on Pepper”.
Richter: “The Actor”. It started our career and it sums up everything about the group.

DID YOU EXPECT THIS MUCH SUCCESS WHEN YOU STARTED OUT?
Lentz: The funny thing is that we were not even 25 years old when we started. I was only 19! So it was impossible for us to think about 25 years ahead.
Wanscher: We wanted to make a band. We wanted a record deal and we wanted to be world famous. And we did it. Now we just take one year at a time.
Lentz: Also we’ve been together for a long time and we know each other well, but to stay together as long as we have you have to compromise a lot.

WHAT’S THE KEY TO SUCCESS?
Wanscher: There are two things: the key to the first breakthrough success and the key to maintaining the success. It takes probably one hit to break into the scene, but once you’re there, what do you do to maintain it?
Lentz: After a few albums people are like, “Yeah I know this band. What’s new with them?” We have to keep making songs that are relevant to them, influence them and touch them. And it’s hard to do that over the years. Besides that there is no key to success.

YOU’RE AT A DIFFERENT POINT IN LIFE NOW COMPARED TO 25 YEARS AGO. DO YOU PICK DIFFERENT SUBJECTS TO WRITE SONGS ABOUT?
Richter: I think so. The lyrics are a little different now from the first few albums. Actually we recorded a nice album in 2012 called “Scandinavia”, which not a lot of people know about because we didn’t have a record deal at the time. The songs are deeper, more reflective and more grown up.

NEW POP ARTISTS TEND TO INCORPORATE DIFFERENT MUSICAL ELEMENTS IN THEIR SOUND. DO YOU FEEL LIKE PUSHING YOUR BOUNDARIES, TOO?
Wanscher: We’ve never really wanted to change dramatically.
Lentz: We were just talking about “Gangnam Style”. Everybody wants to have a hit like that, but after three months nobody cares about it and people will start looking for the next new thing. It’s hard to follow trends because they come and go. We’ve been around longer than several iconic artists like Blur, Nirvana and Portishead. We don’t feel the need to change.
Wanscher: We like EDM and lots of other music, but we don’t want to cut and paste those sounds to our music. We’re good at what we do and our music is our trademark.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO LISTEN TO RIGHT NOW?
Wanscher: I like Ed Sheeran.
Lentz: I like good pop like Sam Smith and Lorde.
Richter: I like Coldplay, James Blunt, Michael Buble, Jason Mraz and Bruno Mars.

WHY DO YOU THINK YOUR MUSIC APPEALS SO MUCH TO ASIAN FANS?
Wanscher: We ask ourselves that all the time. People in Denmark also ask us that. We don’t honestly know. Maybe because Asian people like singing along and going to karaoke? Our music coincidentally fits into that because we have love ballads and songs that are easy to sing along with.
Richter: Our songs are easy to understand, because we use simple English words. There are classes and school students in Asia who learn English with our songs.

WHAT’S LIFE LIKE BACK HOME IN DENMARK?
Lentz: That’s very easy to answer because our lives are very normal. We don’t have fans screaming at us back home. We wake up in the morning, take our kids to school, do whatever we have to do, pick up the kids and have dinner. This is probably one of the reasons why we’ve been able to stay in showbiz for so long. We have our feet on the ground, live like other people and have friends and families around.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU GUYS?
Wanscher: We’re still in this 25-year celebration mode and we have a few concerts lined up. Next year we will look at some new projects. It’s a bit too early to talk about them now but we are going to be very busy next year. There will be a new album, of course, and a concert in Bangkok very, very soon.

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