a-ha reuniting for album ("Cast In Steel") and tour in 2016

Just a scant 5 years since their farewell album and tour, a-ha have announced that they will reunite for a new album and tour. You can read the press release here: http://a-ha.com/

I, as a lifelong fan, am truly surprised by this. The Foot of the Mountain album and farewell tour really did seem like a sincere end to 25 years of collaboration. Even more surprising is that Morten and Paul have apparently, and casually, been working on new songs together. Most fans know that they never really got along too well, and Mags was seen as the mediator/"cooler head" of the group.

Given that I rank Foot of the Mountain as one of their best albums, I am quite excited by the prospect of new material from the trio. Here's hoping for some U.S. dates on the impending tour.

 

Watching the statement of their private accounts sinking has brought many bands back together again. And like many others A-ha will also have noticed that "the sum of a band is bigger than the sum of it's parts".....

 

Such a predictably negative response. It's always about the money, isn't it? No, it's not! They don't need the money:

"The band has sold more than 55 million records worldwide. In less than a year, during 2010, the band earned an estimated 500 million Norwegian Kroner on touring tickets, merchandising and the release of a greatest hits album, making them one of the 40–50 largest grossing bands in the world.

Since then, they've also released deluxe editions of their two first albums. Read the interviews, it's pretty obvious that they're doing it out of love for the music and a-ha's legacy.

 

"We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale, through a longer, more rewarding career than anyone could hope for.
Doing this now will give us a chance to get more involved in other meaningful aspects of life, be it humanitarian work, politics, or whatever else - and of course through new constellations in the field of art and music. We are retiring as a band, not as individuals.
Change is always difficult and It is easy to get set in one's ways. Now it is time to move on. " — A-ha, October 2009

The sum you mention does not end up in the pockets of the three of them, they had a company, they had enormous production costs and also had to give a huge part to the taxman. And you don't earn a living by selling DeLuxe editions....
I don't blame them for carrying on. I only blame them for the staging of "the end" of the band, when even then it was absolutely clear they would reunite few years later.....but it helped selling tickets for the farewell tour...
The music business is a cynical place - I didn't invent it.

 

There has been some discussion about this in the "a-ha album by album" thread. I'm all in for a dedicated thread for the new album but maybe it should include the title and year for long term discussions?

 

Also posted in the album-by album thread:

Here are my thoughts on the reunion:

It makes the 2010 farewell extravaganza look quite embarrassing now. Also it makes the whole thing look awfully calculated. However I have read some predictable articles about this saying a-ha is not a band it is a brand / they are like Rolling Stones, just wheeling out the franchise when they need more money etc, etc.. Just annoyingly uninventive boring newspaper stuff.

I agree that the farewell thing just looks silly now and I don't doubt that they are somehow addicted to fame and the money that comes with it. However, I don't think it explains the 2015 reunion. How I see it now is that Paul never cared for the farewell thing anyway. He even stated that in several 2010 interviews! He invited Morten to check out some of his songs, Morten got excited and the two of them agreed to create some kind of idea bank. Magne, being Magne thought: Hey, what are those guys doing without me? Their Manager grabbed the opportunity/momentum and all of this fitted perfectly with the Rio invitation.

So yes, I think it was arranged in a business minded way, but I don't think the starting point was: 5 years/perfect timing to make headlines/here's the money. I truly believe it started with excitement for making new music. My hope is that it will result in a rock solid cohesive album. My fear is that the three of them have too much individual pride and it will be another Lifelines/Analogue (bunch of good songs but as an album: a mess).

 

They also state in the press release that they intend this to be a single album and tour. Good idea for them to put that forth, since they always seem to grate on each other once things get started. This gives them an out, which they can, of course, ignore if things go well.

 

At the very least the final tour gave us a bloody great quality Blu-ray. If they want to make more music, more power to them.

 

I think most of us are both surprised and happy with the new situation. But my impression is that even though Pål and Morten are very different personalities an at times had different views of a-ha was their last real big "fight" at the time of Lifelines. Since then and especially at the time of FOTM have they often spoken very respectfully about each others talents and importance. The different "fights" in the 00s were primarily between Magne and Pål.

 

I do really like the band , but it does get tired how just about every band is playing that final Farewell card to come back again ........... i get it , but it seems to play the fans a bit .
Hoping the new music will be great !

 

I guess I'm as guilty as anyone of being a bit cynical when a band comes back after a "farewell" event. I actually shed a few tears watching their last show thinking that such a huge part of some extremely fond memories was fading away. I'm thinking that it's not so much the money but more a case of how one never knows how they're going to feel about a big decision like this somewhere down the road. I remember considering leaving the military and go fly for a commercial airline and at the time it seemed like a good decision but I started thinking about how things in the world might change, the country would have different leadership and the dynamics of each career may change and how my frustration with defense cuts and a lack of any real kind of mission might dissipate with changing events. These guys could not have known how they would feel about the decision to call it quits and could very well be surprised at how much they missed being a member of A-ha and interacting with fans of the band as opposed to fans of the respective solo acts so I can't fault them for the change of heart. I am very happy they are back though, I liked the world a little better when A-ha was making records.

 

Nearly any Farewell Tour = Draw the crowd in with emotion and reform. Rinse and repeat 3 times. Then ignore the whole thing again and casually act like it never happened.

Its showbiz.

Buncha of liars, how dare they reform after saying goodbye. The only thing that will make me happy is if they are simply joking and really arent going to release a great album and that they will not tour and make millions of fans happy. Until that happens, screw A-ha.

 

^ I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but a-ha has never needed to do anything to "draw the crowd in". They have record-breaking attendances at their concerts, and, if anything, could tour even more than they do and really rake it in. They simply did not need to fake a farewell to sell tickets.

 

Awesome live band. Maybe this time they will pull their collective fingers out of the arses, and tour Australia, which is, after all, where their touring life started ( Perth). That we missed the last tour was a real snub.

 

I agree. Magne was even hinting that they would visit Australia on the 2010 tour but it never happened.

 

Now I'm curious to hear first single. I would expect it to show up around summer if they keep the September deadline. I'm guessing a slightly upbeat Paul-penned song.

Also, it's cool to see the classic a-ha logo for the first time since 1994!

 

Unlike bands who trot out the "our last tour" canard with some regularity, and use it as a platform to fill sheds on tour without producing anything new/substantive in the studio (The Who, The Eagles, etc.) A-Ha basically put out a "final" record and toured that and called it a day...until the day passed and here they are again. But the key point is that they weren't just using retirement as an excuse to put butts in seats. And now they're back with a new album.

Good for them...and good for the fans.

 

Last night two of them were on the german ECHO Awards show handing an award to german singer Helene Fisher. And in their speach they made a slight joke about awards for bands with the most comebacks...

 

Some interesting stuff on the Waaktaar Facebook page. A fan posted a rant about the comeback being a calculated business move, the inclusion of Tarney being a gimmick to fulfill some contract etc...

Paul replied:

I'm happy to say, you could not be more off the mark. These are the most genuine songs I've had in years. Like baby turtles I just hope they survive the last crawl into the safety of vast open water.

 

A great quote from Magne Furuholmen, just five years ago: “An ABBA reunion is more likely than us getting back together.”

 

Whatever the reason for getting together again, this is very exciting news. They made some very impressive latter day hits and albums that were worthy additions to an already marvellous catalogue.

A-ha are for me still the standard that all others Scandinavian bands are measured by. Yes, including ABBA and no, I don't rank Aqua very highly.

 

Id love to see them here in Perth, but Im not sure they would come. Would they really be able to sell out the Arena? Or would they end up at the Joondalup Arena [or whatever its currently calling itself] or the Concert Hall?

Steve

 

http://a-ha-live.com/2015/04/29/lars-horntveth-working-on-new-a-ha-album/

Lars Horntvedt's projects Jaga Jazzist (brass-electronica collective) and National Bank (norwegian "supergroup") is solid stuff so this sounds promising.

 

Cool. I like them. Always have.

 

http://a-ha-live.com/2015/05/12/even-ormestad-is-new-a-ha-bassist/

..and yet another Jaga Jazzist member involved. To me this is interesting news. It shows that they are thinking of moving on from the kind of stripped down/electronic sound from last tour. I am starting to wonder if we will hear some horns on the new album as well.

Will we hear a new single during the summer?