Stian Andersen
Photographs 1994 – 2010
Stian Andersen
Photographs 1994 – 2010 Text by Morten Ståle Nilsen
Stian Andersen a-ha Photographs 1994–2010 © Forlaget Press 2012 © Photos: Stian Andersen, stianandersen.com This book is published in collaboration with Swinglong Ltd. Text by Morten Ståle Nilsen Translation from Norwegian by Bruce Bawer Design: Are Kleivan, themetricsystem.no The book is set in ARS Maquette Pro Light Paper: Multi Art Silk 170 g Printing and binding: Elanders, Fälth & Hässler, Sweden ISBN: 978-82-7547-593-8 The material in this publication is covered by the provisions of the International Property Rights Act. Without a specific agreement with Forlaget Press, presenting or making available any portion of this work is permitted only to the extent that is authorised by law or permitted by an agreement with Kopinor, the professional body for holders of copyright in works of the intellect. Use in violation of the law or agreement can lead to liability for damages and confiscation, and may be punished by fines or imprisonment. Forlaget Press, Kongens gate 2, 0153 Oslo www.forlagetpress.no
S達o Paulo, Brazil 25 March 2009
Men in black - and white Over the years, a number of books of photographs of a-ha have been published. Most of them have been put together by one photographer or another who has been invited along on a tour, and who has presented a-ha's world as seen through his or her own eyes. So it is, too, with this book, which is a product of Stian Andersen's distinctive curiosity and style. What sets this book apart from the others is that Stian's book is probably the one we ourselves would have created, had we been able to.
We were a band who wanted to have our cake and eat it too: we wanted commercial
success and credibility, honour and fame. Eventually we did get it all, even though it didn't all come at the same time. First came success beyond all expectations, and later came the credibility – the music business's holy grail.
As for our success, that's for others to dissect and analyse. But when it comes to the
credibility, I'm pretty sure we got that because we always made music with quality that transcended the band's genre, popularity, and image. This was our common focus throughout, even if, at different times, we were making catchy pop songs, or more ambitious works in darker, more introverted periods: our ambition was to make music that touched people's emotions.
When you've got a camera stuck in your face, there's no way to avoid posing. a-ha has
fought against the impact that the earliest version of the band had, and the way in which this coloured people's expectations in their encounters with the band, even decades later. But far from the press conferences, the photo sessions, and the making of the videos, there was a day-to-day existence in countless recording studios and on long tours that provided a more correct, and, in our eyes, a much more interesting picture of who we were.
And it was precisely these pictures that Stian Andersen was interested in. At the very first
photo session with Stian, the band got an indication of what this collaboration could be like, simply from the number of pictures we, surprisingly enough, actually liked. Through Stian's lens there was something that gelled with our own understanding of a-ha. Since then Stian has worked with us around the world. He's been out among the audience members, in front of the stage, on the stage, backstage, in the dressing rooms, in the midst of the chaos and the whole social part, on the buses, at the restaurants… But he's also seen all the other stuff, all the waiting at airports, the silence in the middle of all the music and the noise, the loneliness in one another's company.
Many of the pictures in this book are from a-ha's swan song in 2010, the Ending on a High
Note tour. They show the band at a time when we'd become grown-up enough to embrace our own history, even as we knew that it was coming to an end. It provides a rather special point of departure, because we were at once celebrating and saying farewell to a 25-yearlong collaboration. For this reason, perhaps, it was a time at which we had a somewhat more relaxed relationship to the whole business of image-making. What was most important was that the moments be documented in a way that was representative of the band in the year 2010, in a working situation that most people really aren't in a position to have an opinion about.
Perhaps Stian's greatest advantage is that, in an imperceptible, almost mystical sense, he
got all this on film. There were not a few times during the tour when I, being easily irritated, wondered if he was taking pictures at all, or if he was just hanging around to be in on the party. Stian is clearly present as a person, but we never experienced the camera as intrusive. The shock was all the greater, then, when I saw the result – how much he had captured along the way. Even if the masks are always on, to a certain degree, Stian has penetrated deeply enough into the material to render a mood that is consistent with our own view of ourselves and of the situations.
It is, in fact, no mean feat to get the three of us to agree about anything. A small part
of what made us special has, for better or worse, been the opposite. Stian has managed to capture a-ha on film in such a way that we all recognize ourselves. That being the case, it's not unthinkable that one day we will take out this very book, show it to our inquisitive grandchildren, and say: “Look – this is how it was!” Magne Furuholmen Stian’s studio Analogue cover shoot 2005, Oslo
Stian’s first time photographing the band Oslo, Rockefeller 14 February 1994
Stian 'The first time I worked with a-ha, to take press photos for the
to having a camera in their faces five minutes before going
Major Earth, Minor Sky world tour, I got a clear impression of
onstage. Or when Morten's voice has failed him and they're
how much of their valuable time they were willing to sacrifice to
discussing whether to cancel the concert or not.'
working with a photographer,' laughs Stian Andersen.
The "live" part of the job has its challenges, too.
'I got an appointment, without styling. I remember they said to
'If you want to get something out of photographing a-ha
me: "Hey, we're leaving in an hour." I thought that since this was
onstage, you have to work for it. They aren't the world's most
their own photo shoot, time wouldn't be a problem. But no: I had
flamboyant band. It takes three times longer to get good
to make it snappy.'
concert photographs of them than it would have taken with, for
Andersen was, fortunately, used to working under pressure.
example, The Prodigy. That's just the way it is. It's even more
As the leading photographer in the Norwegian music press in
important to be alert when the magic moment happens. But I've
the 1990s, he was accustomed to not being given a lot of time
wanted to focus on other things, too: the dynamic that emerges
and to stars who weren't terribly cooperative.
from the interplay between the audience and the band.
Fortunately, the working conditions improved over time.
How lonely it can be on tour. The enormous contrast between
When a-ha called it quits in 2010, no photographer had worked
standing on a stage in front of 40,000 people and then sitting
as long and as closely with the band as Andersen.
alone in the hotel room an hour later and not being able to sleep
because of all the adrenaline in your body. It's something that
When the time came to take the album cover photos for
Analogue in 2005, the production had become considerably
can drive the best of them crazy.'
larger – though still highly unpredictable.
'There were 20 people on the set. People were flown in from
in, for example, Japan and South America. In Japan people don't
London, from Germany; Paul came from New York. It's easy to
clap between the songs before the band has said thank you; in
get big ideas in such situations: This had to be larger than life!
South America the sound of the audience is so intense that you
Beforehand, I'd sent one of my assistants out to scout locations
can get gooseflesh from it. A concert hall in Argentina is not the
all over Norway. The band said no to everything I proposed.
same as a concert hall in Belarus. How touring is hard work. A
Damn! In the end I had to just think that: "OK, they asked for me,
half hour at the hotel in Osaka before you have to get up and
after all." I had to believe in the fact that it was my thing they
take the morning flight home.'
wanted. So there we were standing in my studio, in little Oslo,
To what degree does Andersen feel that he's helped to
and we ended up taking the pictures in the backyard, and some
define the band's "look" during their last ten years?
on the roof. It turned out very well, and the band was super-
satisfied. One of the nice things about working for a-ha is that
During the last 10 years a-ha has almost without exception used
they're not easy to satisfy or to "fool". They've done hundreds
me for their official pictures. Because of this, my photographs
of photo sessions, and can pick from the highest shelf. That
have defined a great deal of the visual aspect of the band.'
they've wanted to work with me for ten years is a great honor.'
most meaningful moment.
After this Andersen went out on tour, and entered into the
charmed circle.
Ullevål stadion, Oslo 21 August 2010
'The look I give them in the photos is important, of course.
Andersen had the opportunity to photograph Harket at the 'I had the opportunity to take a picture of Morten while
'I wasn't prepared for the hysteria that surrounds them out
he was laying down the vocal on Foot Of The Mountain in the
in the world. I was plunged right into the craziest situation
studio. According to their manager, Harald Wiik, I was the first
of all, in South America. I discovered that people knew who
and last person in history who was allowed to do such a thing.
I was because of my name on the album cover. I had to sign
Paul was not crazy about it. "Hey, Stian, I'd like to have some
autographs. It was a weird experience'.
good vocals, too, not just cool pictures." So I was kicked out. But
it was an unusually nice week in Hoboken, New Jersey, when I
Andersen has experienced the band as both grateful and
tough subjects.
was with the band 14 hours a day. They were like brothers, and
it was exciting to be able to document the recording of their
'Working with a-ha is working at Champions League level.
In the promotional photos and the covers I've photographed,
very last album.
which are directed and arranged, it's very cool that they know
what they're doing. That they can turn it on and give me what
whole different "look" than the one they're remembered for
I'm asking for. But the same thing can be a disadvantage when
from the 1980s. Partly because my look is more raw and gritty.
you're going to produce a documentary work like this book.
Partly because I think a-ha deserves a more credible look. To
It took a long time to be as invisible as possible. That's when
intensify this raw and dirty rock look, I've taken the pictures with
the good pictures turn up, when I can move in their private
analog, coarse-grained black-and-white film.
sphere without being noticed as a photographer. I've never
devoted so much time to a project as I have to this book. i have
closely with – yes, almost inside of – a pop-music fairy tale,
travelled to 12 countries, 20 cities, 37 gigs in total throughout
which Norway will probably not see the likes of any time soon.
the globe Making a book of photos of a-ha is different
'I had a-ha posters on my walls when I was young,' the
from making a book of photos of, for example, a punkrock
photographer smiles.
band like turbonegro. It's a more closed band, there's more
history, the backstage area is more sacred. They're not used Stian at work
'I want to show how differently audiences conduct themselves
'It was an underlying goal for me to get them to adopt a
Andersen is fully aware that he's had the opportunity to work
'That I've never told them.'
Stian’s first official photo shoot with the band Minor Earth, Major Sky press pictures for world tour Oslo 2000
Oslo, 2000
Minor Earth, Major Sky press pictures for world tour, Oslo 2000
Paul
All great bands have to have a 'quiet one'. What is not quite
– they lose sympathy. Steve Barron, who directed Take On Me,
so common is for the 'quiet one' to also be one of the great
understood that. You can’t have Morten in the picture the whole
creative forces in the group. As Paul Waaktaar Savoy is in a-ha.
time, it becomes too much!'
There is much to indicate that Waaktaar Savoy is the one
The Moon that the band felt that they had a certain control over
the direction of a more classic, 'traditional' rock’n’roll form of
how they came off.
expression, both musically and visually. Before I meet Paul,
Magne Furuholmen predicts that Waaktaar Savoy is the one
"Take the picture and let us go home!" When Knut Bry began
who will like Stian Andersen’s pictures of the band the best of
taking photos of us, we had become interested in photography
all.
ourselves. That’s a classic pop star thing. There are certain things you have to do when you become successful, and one
out-and-out sad, 'Nordic' appeal of a-ha originates with the
of them is buy every camera on the market.' He laughs. 'We did
reflective Waaktaar Savoy – 'still waters run deep', and all that.
that too, and we got to be very preoccupied with filters. Filters
At the same time he is the band’s rocker. On a good evening, he
inside the camera, behind the lens, in front of the lens – filters
will accompany a concluding guitar chord with a leap into the air
everywhere!
in classic Pete Townshend style.
'The pictures in this book are of a caliber that I can show
pictures taken for 20 years. We’d become more picky, and
my son. He’s a pretty typical, sarcastic New Yorker. If he sees a
didn’t give most people access to us. I felt a bit sorry for him at
picture of me from the old days, it’s "That’s not cool, Dad." It’s
first. He was very scared to ask for too much. When we had our
good I haven’t hung on to a lot of stuff.'
first photo session, in a backyard in Oslo in connection with the
Minor Earth, Major Sky record, I’d almost forgotten how painless
For Waaktaar Savoy, being photographed for the flashy,
'When Stian entered the picture, we’d been having our
pastel-colored pop press in the 1980s was sheer hell.
it could be to have your picture taken. Stian quickly came up
'The early years were a nightmare. It was like, "Oh no. Here
with good ideas without being a pain in the butt. It’s happened
comes that photographer again." We had a management at the
that I’ve felt, "Wow, we had a good idea there," and Stian has
time that didn’t "manage" that part at all. I felt as if we were
figured it out already – and taken the picture. He understands
being fed to the wolves and eaten alive. The pictures that got
that nothing good comes of bothering people. Asking them to
printed were often the absolute opposite of what we wanted.
pose here, stand still there, do this and do that. At the same
English photographers, German photographers – there was a
time, he has the ability to sharpen our energy. Without really
Finnish guy who totally sucked. We could have seven or eight
saying it, he has managed to communicate to us that "come
photo sessions a day. We put out for everybody who wanted
on then, it has to be possible to come up with something cool
us. When we lived in London, we could go across the street to
here".'
the newsstand and find eight magazines that were just about
us, and that were all bloody awful. It made us gun-shy, without
than the photographers who bugged the hell out of Waaktaar
question.'
Savoy in the 1980s was hardly a disadvantage.
Today most bands are in total control of how they want to
That Andersen comes from an entirely different background
'Of course it helps that Stian has an understanding and love
be depicted in public. When a-ha had their big breakthrough, it
of music. I’ve appreciated that he’s become especially excited
was total anarchy.
when we’ve had a particularly good concert. That he’s noticed
such things as well as I have.'
'After a while bands like U2 and Depeche Mode came to
understand that the more artistic pictures could be used as
press photos. I wish that we, earlier on, had grasped that too.
extremely private, to have a photographer who’s been like a fly
After all, Morten and Magne are so good-looking that you have
on the wall for ten years?
to take it down a couple of notches.' He laughs. 'People get
angry! You don’t need to make those two prettier than they are 10 March 2010
'Then we would have gotten grouchy and grown beards.
It is tempting to believe that the melancholy, and at times
São Paulo, Brazil
It wasn’t until around the time of East Of The Sun, West Of
who has, to the greatest extent, attempted to steer a-ha in
And how’s it actually worked, for this band which is, after all,
'It’s charged us up. He’s a lot more rock’n’roll than we are.'
Oslo 2005
Magne
Magne Furuholmen is the most accessible and talkative member
of a-ha, and has always been the one who communicates with
do. Not very challenging. I guess it was basically mostly to look
the audience from the stage.
a little more like U2, whom we felt more musically related to
He seems to be the member of the group who has come
than the bands we were being compared to back then. Now, on
to terms most fully with their past, what they did and didn’t do,
reflection, I think that it would have been funnier if we had been
and he seems generally to be a guy who sleeps well at night. He
more experimental, both musically and in relation to our image.'
cooperates when fans want to take pictures of him with their
cell phones, and he answers fan mail. To be sure, only the fan
period'.
mail from Japan. You have to draw a line somewhere.
even as we were struck by how respected we actually were by
In the 1980s he was the favorite of the girls who thought that
23 March 2009
'The awareness of our own story was pretty high then,
colleagues in the business.'
and Nordic blondness. During concerts he moves more than
both of the other two a-ha guys put together, despite being
easy to get things done in a-ha. Decisions are perishable, and
tied down to a keyboard rack.
expire quickly.
'I was the one who met Stian first, I think. We had the world’s
Stian has been along for the whole ride.
worst photo session in Lillehammer in 1998, or somewhere
Working with a band in which all three members are always
around there. It was a total crisis, I was hung over, everything
disagreeing demands highly distinctive personal attributes.
was wrong. Stian agrees. But we liked each other.
When we came back to a-ha again, I’d been working as a
whereby if one member of the band thinks something is cool,
painter for 10 years. It became important then not to let the
then the other two automatically think it absolutely isn’t. This
visual aspect of the band just be in flux. Everybody in a-ha has
represents an appreciation of his personality. He has managed
always had an opinion, and everybody has had input. But things
to establish a confidence on our part that what he’s doing is
had a tendency to get very arbitrary – we’ve often lacked a clear
something we’ll all like. It’s partly about the work, partly about
sense of direction. Now there was no doubt that we had to take
the personality. Stian is perfect to tour with. More rock than the
responsibility for ourselves. We couldn’t come back as grown
rock stars, the last one to go to bed and the last one to wake
men and stand innocently in the corner and let other people do
up in the morning. With a brilliant ability to create situations
with us what they wanted.'
centered around himself. It’s inspiring. I don’t think of Stian as a
guy who has "hung around", but as a part of the tour we’ve been
Einstein’s definition of madness is to do the same thing
again and again, and expect different results.
on.'
These ten years have not been linear. It has never been
'Stian has, to a certain degree, escaped the mechanism
Furuholmen thinks that a-ha was not good at shaping its
Furuholmen pages through the book.
own image in the 1980s – in relationship to what they really
'This room here I’d never have remembered if Stian hadn’t
wanted to achieve:
photographed me in it. It’s in northern Brazil, a coastal town.
Now I even remember the conversation we had there. "Yes,
'We hit the Zeitgeist, but we hit it so well that we got
smacked right in the face by the recoil.'
that’s cool. Sit like that." It’s composed, at the same time as it’s
This wasn’t the way he’d envisioned it.
taken in a second.'
'Morten was extremely preoccupied with style. Paul and I
New photo.
were totally uninterested. Morten did a total "extreme makeover"
'Here I can see by looking at Morten’s arm that he knows
on Paul. Everything from bleaching his hair and dressing him up
that Stian is in the room. A small, self-conscious swing of the
to making him shine before we went to clubs. This was before
hips there.'
we became famous. Paul let it happen, because he wanted to
He flips another page.
be a pop star. I was the one who was least amenable, and was
'Photography is a kind of subjective reality, and can
more boring and Norwegian.'
mythologize. But you can tolerate it – as long as the photographic
What was shocking was how time-consuming it was to
craftsmanship is good. A photo can transport you into a
become a band that defined how pop stars should look in 1985.
situation, it can send you emotionally back to something that
'It was frightening. How much energy it stole from the
was. My wife thinks I have a need to document everything.
music. You don’t realize it until you’re in the middle of it. We
She’s probably on to something there. I think it’s important to
totally burned out from it, which in turn resulted in a certain
immortalize as much as possible on film. Everybody in the band
denial of that whole period.'
will be able to say about this book that "this is cool". This in itself
– believe me – is utterly unique.'
Furuholmen feels that the next period, which he calls
essentially unoriginal. São Paulo
He calls Stian Andersen’s years with the band 'the third
Morten Harket was almost too pretty. He radiated masculinity
'Americana-inspired' and 'typical rock', was necessary, but
Outside Hilton Hotel
'To put on black jeans is one of the simplest things you can
Oslo Spektrum 4 December 2010
Morten
a-ha's undisputed visual centerpiece – the one with the high
the photos and posters of the band hung in girl’s rooms around
cheekbones and the chin that looks as if it was carved out of
the world. The American photographer Just Loomis was one of
granite – has never done much with himself onstage. It's his
the architects.
face and voice that have made him world-famous, and his
clothes style in the 1980s that turned him – highly reluctantly,
wanted to visualize things through the music. We've often
according to him – into a fashion icon.
thought that we should have been active in another era, when
MTV wasn't such a big and noisy part of making music.'
Harket saves his energy for the vocals. Furuholmen has
always felt that it would have been advantageous for his
Still. Harket is proud of the Take On Me video.
colleague to loosen up a bit. The question is whether it's
'I think it will outlive all other videos. I think it will survive to
necessary. When Harket sings the long note at the climax of
represent the entire music video age.'
Summer Moved On, allegedly the longest in pop history, that
alone is enough to woo the public. When he smiles, with that
explicitly 'Nordic' direction. It was still stone-washed jeans and
subtle squint, you can hear a collective sigh pass through the
knitted sweaters, but a rougher, more masculine look, as if they
audience. All that remains is an involuntary wink.
had followed Lars Monsen's footsteps up into the mountains
At this writing, Morten Harket is 52. But he looks 34, and he
of Norway. The Norwegian photographer Knut Bry represented,
is the kind of guy who will look and behave like a pop star all his
in many ways, an ongoing effort to break with the visual
life, whether he wants to or not.
stereotypes that have haunted the band in the media.
Harket is, without a doubt, one of the most photographed
22 May 2008
Early in the 1990s, the band's visual profile took a more
During the Andersen era, the band has dressed in a more
Norwegians ever, right up there with the most popular members
conservative, timeless way.
of the royal family. One suspects that he is a professional poser,
not least because there is hardly a single bad picture of him
suits, just once. I don't think the suggestion ever once reached
(think about it – have you seen one?). Harket himself claims to
my ears. Later the issue was revisited by Magne, in connection
have an ambivalent relationship to having his picture taken.
with the collaboration we established with Moods Of Norway.
'A few years ago, Paul proposed that the band should wear
'I think I have the same relationship to it as most people. I
Forget it, I said again. I like the idea of having a reasonably
think it's a bit uncomfortable. I don't like to see photos of myself.
homogeneous look on stage, but they don't have anything that
Of course I sometimes come across a photo I like, and that I feel
fits my body! I had to have size 50 pants, a size 52 vest, and
reflects the way I see myself. "I recognize myself here," in a way.
a size 58 jacket. It looked like hell. In the end I sat down with
But it's more often embarrassing than not.'
Tommy from Moods and we pretty much designed my own
Embarrassing or not, he's learned to handle it.
collection.'
'It is what it is. It won't get any better if I go around thinking
Harket says that he is so interested in photography that he
about it. On the contrary. The less I think about it, the better
'doesn't take pictures' himself.
the results. What's tough is standing and posing. Having to get
'I don't have the time to do it properly.'
into a role and stay there. It's damned exhausting. It wipes me
But he has, to a certain degree, tried to make Andersen's job
out. It's something quite different to just be able to do my thing,
easier.
and let the photographer shoot away. And that's what Stian has
done.'
stage between me and Magne, for instance, or me and Paul.
That Stian Andersen more or less became a-ha's 'court
I've tried to understand what Stian's after. He's one of just a
photographer' during the last ten years of the band's life was
few photographers we've felt we've worked together with.
the result – like most things in the a-ha universe – of happy
When I see the photographs in this book I recognize myself, as
coincidences.
opposed to what I've felt through the years. There is, you know,
another group of photographers whom we've mostly wanted to
'We've never planned a damn shit in this band. Having
'Yes, in the sense that I've tried to exploit a space on the
Stian along was just the obvious thing to do. He had the
beat up,' he says with a chuckle.
right personality, the right temperature, had the necessary
independence.'
elegant sway of his back. There aren't many such photos of him.
Andersen came into the band's life when the trio decided to
Harket focuses on a photo of himself onstage, with an 'I remember where this was taken. It was at a practice
go for a more mature, dignified image. Roughly speaking, a-ha's
session. No, it's not representative of what I do on stage. Here
visual image can be divided into three stages.
you can see what I don't do,' he laughs.
The first, and forever the most iconic, was leather straps and
jeans with holes in them, the idol epoch in the mid 1980s, when Rockefeller, Oslo
'We never wanted to be known for how we looked. We
'And I never did anything like this before I turned 50.'
Stian’s studio Analogue cover shoot Oslo 2005
Recording Foot of the Mountain Paul’s Amps Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Vocal takes, Recording Foot of the Mountain Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
As close as you get: Stian photographs Morten while he’s laying down the vocal track for the song Foot of the Mountain. Three work lamps were rigged up in the vocal booth to improve the poor lighting conditions, but they also make the temperature inside unbearable. Morten, however, allowed him to work undisturbed, but after half an hour Paul came in and asked if Stian had gotten his pictures, for "it would be cool to get some good vocals too!" Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Recording Foot of the Mountain Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Recording Foot of the Mountain Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Recording Foot of the Mountain Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Recording Foot of the Mountain Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008
Writing songs Hoboken, New Jersey, US October 2008