Extended interview with Europe’s frontman Joey Tempest

Europe are performing tomorrow night at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. In this extended interview singer Joey Tempest speaks to Saeed Saeed about their rivalry with fellow eighties stalwarts Bon Jovi and his favorite band of the moment.

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On the rumours that Europe and Bon Jovi engaged in a fierce musical rivalry?

We were surprised by that and I think it was the European media who started that because they needed that kind of thing as well. I met Jon four or five times and we get along fine. These are my peers and we grew up listening to Thin Lizzy like I did. Behind the scenes all was fine and and friendly.

On the state of the music industry today

It s very shaky but there have been some good developments as well. For one thing the internet has made us closer to fans. In the eighties we had fan clubs and we hired people to open letters for us because we couldn't read them all. Now with Facebook we can read these messages and know what our fans think. The album is still important. It tells fans that you are alive and doing stuff and you are coming to town playing new songs. But the albums don’t sell near the number as back in the eighties and nineties. So now it’s all about the live shows and merchandise. If you are a good band then it’s a vibrant live scene out there for you. We tour everywhere and we do feel very lucky.

On Europe’s longevity

We are trying to remain relevant. We are very nerdy when it comes to music gear, instruments and microphones and on the forefront technically and songwriting wise. Also we are somewhere in our career and not in the beginning, hopefully we have another ten or fifteen years left. We love what we do and we are still making interesting albums. If we were trying to do eighties stuff then we would have stopped. But we want to remain ourselves, we want to push ourselves and we want to remain relevant and that’s why we are coming to Dubai too, to show the audience that it is the not just about the old songs, there are new songs as well.

On your favorite current band

They are called the Rival Sons and there are from Los Angeles. They are a really good band. Now their second album (Pressure and Time) I love and they have a song on there called Pressure and Time and it is fantastic. It burrows from the classic rock bands but they are young and they do it great. There third album (Head Down) I didn’t like so much but they are now working on the fourth album so let’s see how what happens.

On being a band from Sweden

There are lot of things going on there at the moment. Maybe it’s because of those long dark winters there is a bit of melancholy lurking there in the background of the songs. Swedes are also positive people. That mix of the melancholic and positive thinking is producing a lot of great stuff.

Europe perform on Friday night at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. Tickets begin from Dh200 and are available from mpremiere.com. Doors open at 7pm.