Burrn! - [Jap - in English]
BURRN! (B!) - Let us know the history of WIG WAM.
Glam - We started in 2000. Teeny wanted us to join his jam band and it happened. I was working so hard for my own solo project, other 3 guys played just to enjoy. Then people wanted us to do some gigs, we need a band name and promo photos, we just borrowed old equipments from 80's and wore make-up. I thought we looked like native Americans for their battle times, the battle is called rock n' roll *S* That's why we gave our band a name "WIG WAM". On the 24th of February 2001 we had the 1st gig as WIG WAM.
B! - Let us know your career each before WIG WAM.
Glam - Teeny played for Ole Evenrude who was big in 80's in Norway, and composed a lot. Then he was in DREAM POLICE, they released 2 albums. Sporty was for SHA-BOOM in Sweden, they released a couple of albums. They were big as well from late 80's to early 90's. He played also for SWEDISH EROTICA and ALIEN, even played for SWEET instead of their drummer when Mick Tucker totally got drunk *S* Flash was for ARTCH, they released 2 albums, from ROADRUNNER RECORDS. They played abroad as well. I played for several bands in 80's and 90's, also was for a musical, doing a backing singer on TV, released a solo album called G-STEN in 2000.
B! - as Glam?
Glam - No, as G-STEN, it's what I get my real name short. When we started WIG WAM, we didn't want to promote ourselves by what we've ever done. If we promoted us like "a new band of ex-DREAM POLICE guitar player" it would be much easier, we just wanted to start something quite new. Later fans got to know what we did before though, for them our stage names as Glam, Teeny, Sporty and Flash are much familiar.
B! - How did you choose your stage name?
Glam - I like feathers... and I'm the prima donna of the band *S* And I'm quite a big fan of glam rock. "Glam" is a natural name for me. Sporty always goes to gym and works out, and he got the name. Teeny got his name because... he looks cute? I don't remember how Flash got the name either, it's obvious that he doesn't move quickly. He's slowly *S* Maybe he should have got a name "Snail" instead *S*
B! - You guys participated in EUROVISION SONG CONTEST (MELODI GRAND PRIX) in 2004, did somebody suggest it?
Glam - No, people in music business in Norway never thought of us seriously before. We knew rock fans wanted a band like us because many people came to our gigs. Fans made us think we should compose original tracks more. Then we composed and made a demo tape. We knocked every door in this business with our demo, but they didn't want us. "We don't need music like this, rock n' roll is already dead, what's the point when you write those songs?" So we found we should do by ourselves to release WIG WAM music. Teeny paid for studio and we recorded. It was in 2003. One day somebody from our management sent "Crazy Thing" to ESC. We got so surprised when they wanted us for an audition because we didn't know he sent the track. ESC is popular as a pop song contest. Anyway we went to the audition. We never thought we'd pass it, but expected that a powerful man in this business found us and we could have a chance. Guess what, we passed it and participated in MELODI GRAND PRIX. When we started playing on stage, people started laughing. We don't mind it as it happens as always. When people listen to 2 tracks of ours, everybody gets excited. So we did what we always do. People said "Amazing! You guys should go to the final" After all we got the 3rd prize in Norway. Then a small label called GLOBAL MUSIC got in touch with us and told they'd like to release the album which we recorded by ourselves.
B! - The album which was released from GLOBAL MUSIC is called "667...THE NEIGHBOUR OF THE BEAST".
Glam - *S*... Just a joke.
B! - Metal fans find it comes from IRON MAIDEN's THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. You guys wanted to announce WIG WAM is a commedy band?
Glam - No, not at all. But we didn't want to get serious too much. That's why I don't like the way of rock n' roll these days. Every band takes themselves too seriously. When we remember the past, for example in 80's there were a lot of bands which played rock n' roll with their sense of humor. I believe rock n' roll should get jokes back, humor back. Everybody in every band looks like "I'm doing this really serious, I'm quite a bad guy" We don't like it. We just want to have a good time, want fans to feel the same as we do.
B! - Music on "667" album is high-quality pop hard rock. You tried a "gap" between your music and image? You guys look like a comedy band, music has high quality, you have musicianship...
Glam - Not exactly. We just wanted to do the way we are. We knew our music lasts in the future, we knew we have skills enough as a live band. People who see us at the 1st time will never take it seriously. But they get so surprised when we start playing. It's funny. We think the entertainment side is important as well, we care visual impressions a lot. The look of us is a message like "We'll entertain you, never get you bored".
B! - I see. Later you guys got a deal with VOICES OF WONDER and released HTBARR with 2 new tracks in 2005.
Glam - GLOBAL MUSIC is not a label for rock, they didn't know how to promote a rock band like us. VOICES OF WONDER joined the tribute album of KISS at that time, we met a staff from the company, they got interested in WIG WAM a lot. They wanted to give another chance to our album. GLOBAL MUSIC has the right for the title "667", so we made a new title HTBARR. It's quite a good one, isn't it? *S* But the title doesn't mean we really think it's hard to be a rock n' roller by ourselves. You know there are musicians who complain a lot about how hard being on tour is, how difficult it is when screaming fans surround them even when they become popular and earn big money? This title is ironical for them. No way, you should not complain when you become what you wanted to be. They should be happy because their dream comes true.
B! - You participated in ESC in 2005 as well.
Glam - That was surprising as well. We were happy as HTBARR was sold well, one day NRK called us and told they'd like to have us for the final as that was the 50th anniversary. We were working for a demo of the next album, we chose In My Dreams from the tracks and played it at the final, people loved the song, we won! *S*
B! - WIG WAM became 1 of top bands in Norway thanks to the smash hit of In My Dreams?
Glam - Incredible, nobody expected it. We thought releasing a single would be good promotion for the next album and pressed 1000 copies, released the single 2 days before the final, it was sold out immediately. We thought we should start a tour. We didn't have time to finish the album, put In My Dreams in HTBARR and re-released it as HTBARR...in Kiev! because we went to Kiev for ESC. After coming back to Norway the title is HTBARR again though. The album will be out in Japan, and we put "in Tokyo".
B! - There is a track which sounds like BON JOVI, there's a track which is like My Sharona by THE KNACK in WIG WAMANIA.
Glam - It's not a parody *S*
B! - Borrowing an idea from a hit tune of somebody else is the way of composing for WIG WAM?
Glam - We don't do the way every time. And every musician who says he/she never imitates is a liar or composes awful music because everything has been already done before. It's impossible to compose something totally new, especially commercial music. It's been influenced by somebody/something, it reminds you of lyrics and melodies which you ever heard/listened before. I know the guitar riff for A RN'R Girl Like You is the one for My Sharona, we do it in our way. When I composed this track, I wanted a kicking part to make melodies stand out. But other parts of the track are new besides it. Every other song has that way. We get influenced by a feeling of other musicians' tracks when we compose a song. You remember a riff and melody if you've ever listened to a song since your childhood. We just do in a new way. I believe other musicians do it.
B! - I guess you guys are compared to a British band THE DARKNESS because of your showy look.
Glam - Sure, it's awful! *S* You find they play traditional hard rock like THIN LIZZY when you listen to their music. And we play in 80's style, power ballads and poppy hard rock. Their style is from early 70's, our style is from 80's. Well, we are influenced by SWEET as well. The same thing both of us have is a sense of ironical humor. And both of us smile and work. We want to bring smile to listeners as well. We want to get smile back to entertainment. I think both of us have the same at this point. But musically we're totally different. I'm not (Justin) Hawkins when I'm on stage. And WIG WAM started on the 24th of February 2001, I believe nobody knew THE DARKNESS at that period. I appreciate they opened the door and people start listening to rock n' roll again. I'm sorry that Norwegian music scene couldn't be the 1st. If they had welcomed us in 2001, we would be the 1st one. And THE DARKNESS was questioned like "Do you take the idea of WIG WAM?" instead! *S*
B! - WIG WAM does 2 gigs a day, in the afternoon and at night?
Glam - We ever did 3 times a day *S* Last year it was crazy. We tried to do a gig twice, 3 times a day even flying by helicopter or whatever. We do it because there's an age limit at gig to sell alcohol in Norway. We do a gig twice a day for kids under 20. The 1st show is for kids. Our fans are between 3 month old to 78. Don't you think it's cool to see a 3 month old baby wears a WIG WAM T-shirt?! *S* That's the way we play for kids. And we relax for a couple of hours at hotel room, we wear a spandex and play for people over 20!
Thanks a lot to Miho Ohtsuki for the translation into English.
Glam - We started in 2000. Teeny wanted us to join his jam band and it happened. I was working so hard for my own solo project, other 3 guys played just to enjoy. Then people wanted us to do some gigs, we need a band name and promo photos, we just borrowed old equipments from 80's and wore make-up. I thought we looked like native Americans for their battle times, the battle is called rock n' roll *S* That's why we gave our band a name "WIG WAM". On the 24th of February 2001 we had the 1st gig as WIG WAM.
B! - Let us know your career each before WIG WAM.
Glam - Teeny played for Ole Evenrude who was big in 80's in Norway, and composed a lot. Then he was in DREAM POLICE, they released 2 albums. Sporty was for SHA-BOOM in Sweden, they released a couple of albums. They were big as well from late 80's to early 90's. He played also for SWEDISH EROTICA and ALIEN, even played for SWEET instead of their drummer when Mick Tucker totally got drunk *S* Flash was for ARTCH, they released 2 albums, from ROADRUNNER RECORDS. They played abroad as well. I played for several bands in 80's and 90's, also was for a musical, doing a backing singer on TV, released a solo album called G-STEN in 2000.
B! - as Glam?
Glam - No, as G-STEN, it's what I get my real name short. When we started WIG WAM, we didn't want to promote ourselves by what we've ever done. If we promoted us like "a new band of ex-DREAM POLICE guitar player" it would be much easier, we just wanted to start something quite new. Later fans got to know what we did before though, for them our stage names as Glam, Teeny, Sporty and Flash are much familiar.
B! - How did you choose your stage name?
Glam - I like feathers... and I'm the prima donna of the band *S* And I'm quite a big fan of glam rock. "Glam" is a natural name for me. Sporty always goes to gym and works out, and he got the name. Teeny got his name because... he looks cute? I don't remember how Flash got the name either, it's obvious that he doesn't move quickly. He's slowly *S* Maybe he should have got a name "Snail" instead *S*
B! - You guys participated in EUROVISION SONG CONTEST (MELODI GRAND PRIX) in 2004, did somebody suggest it?
Glam - No, people in music business in Norway never thought of us seriously before. We knew rock fans wanted a band like us because many people came to our gigs. Fans made us think we should compose original tracks more. Then we composed and made a demo tape. We knocked every door in this business with our demo, but they didn't want us. "We don't need music like this, rock n' roll is already dead, what's the point when you write those songs?" So we found we should do by ourselves to release WIG WAM music. Teeny paid for studio and we recorded. It was in 2003. One day somebody from our management sent "Crazy Thing" to ESC. We got so surprised when they wanted us for an audition because we didn't know he sent the track. ESC is popular as a pop song contest. Anyway we went to the audition. We never thought we'd pass it, but expected that a powerful man in this business found us and we could have a chance. Guess what, we passed it and participated in MELODI GRAND PRIX. When we started playing on stage, people started laughing. We don't mind it as it happens as always. When people listen to 2 tracks of ours, everybody gets excited. So we did what we always do. People said "Amazing! You guys should go to the final" After all we got the 3rd prize in Norway. Then a small label called GLOBAL MUSIC got in touch with us and told they'd like to release the album which we recorded by ourselves.
B! - The album which was released from GLOBAL MUSIC is called "667...THE NEIGHBOUR OF THE BEAST".
Glam - *S*... Just a joke.
B! - Metal fans find it comes from IRON MAIDEN's THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. You guys wanted to announce WIG WAM is a commedy band?
Glam - No, not at all. But we didn't want to get serious too much. That's why I don't like the way of rock n' roll these days. Every band takes themselves too seriously. When we remember the past, for example in 80's there were a lot of bands which played rock n' roll with their sense of humor. I believe rock n' roll should get jokes back, humor back. Everybody in every band looks like "I'm doing this really serious, I'm quite a bad guy" We don't like it. We just want to have a good time, want fans to feel the same as we do.
B! - Music on "667" album is high-quality pop hard rock. You tried a "gap" between your music and image? You guys look like a comedy band, music has high quality, you have musicianship...
Glam - Not exactly. We just wanted to do the way we are. We knew our music lasts in the future, we knew we have skills enough as a live band. People who see us at the 1st time will never take it seriously. But they get so surprised when we start playing. It's funny. We think the entertainment side is important as well, we care visual impressions a lot. The look of us is a message like "We'll entertain you, never get you bored".
B! - I see. Later you guys got a deal with VOICES OF WONDER and released HTBARR with 2 new tracks in 2005.
Glam - GLOBAL MUSIC is not a label for rock, they didn't know how to promote a rock band like us. VOICES OF WONDER joined the tribute album of KISS at that time, we met a staff from the company, they got interested in WIG WAM a lot. They wanted to give another chance to our album. GLOBAL MUSIC has the right for the title "667", so we made a new title HTBARR. It's quite a good one, isn't it? *S* But the title doesn't mean we really think it's hard to be a rock n' roller by ourselves. You know there are musicians who complain a lot about how hard being on tour is, how difficult it is when screaming fans surround them even when they become popular and earn big money? This title is ironical for them. No way, you should not complain when you become what you wanted to be. They should be happy because their dream comes true.
B! - You participated in ESC in 2005 as well.
Glam - That was surprising as well. We were happy as HTBARR was sold well, one day NRK called us and told they'd like to have us for the final as that was the 50th anniversary. We were working for a demo of the next album, we chose In My Dreams from the tracks and played it at the final, people loved the song, we won! *S*
B! - WIG WAM became 1 of top bands in Norway thanks to the smash hit of In My Dreams?
Glam - Incredible, nobody expected it. We thought releasing a single would be good promotion for the next album and pressed 1000 copies, released the single 2 days before the final, it was sold out immediately. We thought we should start a tour. We didn't have time to finish the album, put In My Dreams in HTBARR and re-released it as HTBARR...in Kiev! because we went to Kiev for ESC. After coming back to Norway the title is HTBARR again though. The album will be out in Japan, and we put "in Tokyo".
B! - There is a track which sounds like BON JOVI, there's a track which is like My Sharona by THE KNACK in WIG WAMANIA.
Glam - It's not a parody *S*
B! - Borrowing an idea from a hit tune of somebody else is the way of composing for WIG WAM?
Glam - We don't do the way every time. And every musician who says he/she never imitates is a liar or composes awful music because everything has been already done before. It's impossible to compose something totally new, especially commercial music. It's been influenced by somebody/something, it reminds you of lyrics and melodies which you ever heard/listened before. I know the guitar riff for A RN'R Girl Like You is the one for My Sharona, we do it in our way. When I composed this track, I wanted a kicking part to make melodies stand out. But other parts of the track are new besides it. Every other song has that way. We get influenced by a feeling of other musicians' tracks when we compose a song. You remember a riff and melody if you've ever listened to a song since your childhood. We just do in a new way. I believe other musicians do it.
B! - I guess you guys are compared to a British band THE DARKNESS because of your showy look.
Glam - Sure, it's awful! *S* You find they play traditional hard rock like THIN LIZZY when you listen to their music. And we play in 80's style, power ballads and poppy hard rock. Their style is from early 70's, our style is from 80's. Well, we are influenced by SWEET as well. The same thing both of us have is a sense of ironical humor. And both of us smile and work. We want to bring smile to listeners as well. We want to get smile back to entertainment. I think both of us have the same at this point. But musically we're totally different. I'm not (Justin) Hawkins when I'm on stage. And WIG WAM started on the 24th of February 2001, I believe nobody knew THE DARKNESS at that period. I appreciate they opened the door and people start listening to rock n' roll again. I'm sorry that Norwegian music scene couldn't be the 1st. If they had welcomed us in 2001, we would be the 1st one. And THE DARKNESS was questioned like "Do you take the idea of WIG WAM?" instead! *S*
B! - WIG WAM does 2 gigs a day, in the afternoon and at night?
Glam - We ever did 3 times a day *S* Last year it was crazy. We tried to do a gig twice, 3 times a day even flying by helicopter or whatever. We do it because there's an age limit at gig to sell alcohol in Norway. We do a gig twice a day for kids under 20. The 1st show is for kids. Our fans are between 3 month old to 78. Don't you think it's cool to see a 3 month old baby wears a WIG WAM T-shirt?! *S* That's the way we play for kids. And we relax for a couple of hours at hotel room, we wear a spandex and play for people over 20!
Thanks a lot to Miho Ohtsuki for the translation into English.
