JOHN NORUM Says EUROPE's Current Musical Direction Is Influenced By AUDIOSLAVE, VELVET REVOLVER

January 29, 2007

EUROPE guitarist John Norum recently spoke with "The Hairball John Radio Show" about the bands new, critically acclaimed release "Secret Society". Norum also voiced his distaste for the whole "'80s rock scene" and commented on why he originally left EUROPE after the highly successful "Final Countdown" release.

John Norum: "Well, I didn’t really like the direction the band was going. We became this teeny-bopper, bubblegum band and I hated that whole image, the spandex, poodle-rock type of thing. I was more into the heavier, guitar-oriented stuff and it seemed like the keyboards were taking over more and more, and we were becoming more commercial. So I decided to leave. I didn't really care if the album was number one in thirty countries at the time. It didn't really matter. I just wanted to move on and do something else."

Hairball John: What was the bands musical mindset when going in to record the new record "Secret Society"?

John Norum: "Some people just thought we were going to go in and record another 'Final Countdown'. That would be the dumbest thing we could ever do, because we all have moved on. We had gotten into a lot of the newer bands like AUDIOSLAVE and VELVET REVOLVER and I got a kind of influence from those bands and started tuning the guitars a little different and getting into some heavier stuff."

The entire conversation with John Norum is available in full streaming audio at the home siteof "The Hairball John Radio Show".

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