A-ha 1994 – 2010 | Photographs

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