It’s mixed by Kevin Shirley, who’s been a monster of mixing for us. We recorded it in Germany in either 2013 or 2014 at a live show, but we took out the audience. Tempest: We were approached, and we said, “If we’re going to do this, let’s do a reworking of it and a remix of it.” So we gave Geico a new version.
#Joey tempest tv#
That was a new slam to it, really.įOX411: And now we’re seeing you all over TV in America in that Geico commercial. We would hear they used it in Formula 1 and other sports like baseball and basketball, in other countries. But we didn’t know that in the beginning. I suppose it lends itself to those things. People come together, and it makes them feel a certain way. Tempest: (chuckles) We didn’t have a clue about that! It’s kind of a goosebumps situation, though I suppose I shouldn’t say that myself. The Final Countdown has also become a huge sports anthem, something else you probably weren’t expecting either. That opening Olympic-style keyboard riff makes it a call-to-arms kind of song. So the Space Oddity lyric really sparked that idea.įOX411: It’s great seeing new generations get into it too. My thought was, the world is expanding and we’re leaving we’re going up there in space. I sang different things until I got to “the final countdown,” which fitted it really well. I had the music first, and I played it over and over and over again, in my basement. That was in my mind when I started working on the lyrics for The Final Countdown. David Bowie, talking about “floating in a tin can” - I was very taken by that. He was really fascinated with space, which fascinated me. I remember my friends talking about it, and when I heard it, I thought, “I have to get that.”įOX411: That song had a lot of impact on you, because it also inspired one of your biggest songs, The Final Countdown. We had to travel 20-30 minutes on a train just to get to a good record store. Tempest: I’m pretty sure it was Space Oddity by David Bowie, the single. What was the very first record that you got into as a kid, growing up in Sweden? But as the night progressed, they started liking it more and more.įOX411: I get that. We should do something else.” That night, I was so nervous telling them I thought it should be Europe. I think we had gotten that name from a UFO album, but there was also a band called Rising Force with Yngwie Malmsteen. I had to get a few beers in them! (both laugh)Īt first, we were called Force. It was really funny when I told the guys, John Leven and John Norum, about my idea of the name for the band that night. And that’s where I got the name Europe from. Tempest: After Deep Purple did Made in Japan (1973), they did Made in Europe (1976), which is maybe not as good as Made in Japan, but we listened to both of them. (chuckles)įOX411: Where did you get the band name Europe from? I think we’re beginning to get a handle on it. It comes after doing many live shows, where you get the confidence to keep doing it. But we could not have handled doing it this way 10 or 15 years ago. Obviously, you do four or five takes, and you find the one you really like. There’s something special when you do it live, and you don’t think too much. Do you feel that approach lends itself to a more honest performance? You guys were able to capture that essence of recording live together in the same room. Excerpts from the interview appear below.įOX411: First, I have to say, I absolutely love War of Kings. Somebody came all the way from continental Europe to Ireland where I lived at the time and broke into the fridge, thinking it was my house! The next morning we found out and thought, ‘We must be getting popular.Mike Mettler of Fox News spoke with Europe frontman Joey Tempest. Somebody got caught in the fridge, funny enough. There was a break-in in our neighbor’s house one night. There was another incident when I lived in Ireland for a while. I know there are still some people living there in our small village. The ironic thing was that when they moved there, we moved away! We moved out of Sweden completely. Tempest: We’ve had fans move to our hometown outside of Stockholm from Eastern Europe.
We’re having fun being creative in the studio.įox News: What’s the strangest encounter you’ve ever had with a fan? I think that’s also a part of why we’re still together after all of these years. We’re still the same guys and it kind of helped to have that same understanding and roots. Queen, Deep Purple – and we just had a lot in common. We used to go to shows together in Stockholm. We said, ‘Let’s do this long term.’ It’s the same guys from teenage years.
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