Oto-No-Maki [Jap - in English]
From the Japanese music store DiscPier's magazine of August 2006
Q1: There was a band called WIGWAM in 70’s in Finland. Did you know it when you named your band WIG WAM?
Glam: We had no idea really. We’re not that into 70’s prog-rock you know. But we knew Sweet had a song called Wig Wam Bam and I admit that the title was lurking in the back of my mind. We were actually just a jam band prosject, doing Friday gigs just for fun. Then suddenly we were hired to play a concert and needed a band name and a poster ha ha so we got together and put on our costumes and make-up, and I couldn’t help getting the Indian tribe feeling. Putting on the war paint before going to battle for rock’n’roll. Boooom! WIG WAM!! And it just felt right. It wasn’t until our first trip to Finland that we learnt about the finish prog-band. Wigwam was playing a concert in Helsinki at the same night we did a TV-show in... Helsinki. Some fans actually got confused and showed up at the concert.
Q2: WIG WAM’s success was triggered by Eurovision song contest of 2004 and 2005. Why did you decide to attend the contests? Please tell us the background.
Glam: When we first got started it was all just for fun. It was such a thrill playing the 80’s style again. Then after a while our fanbase grew and grew and we just knew that there was a hunger out there for the good old glamrock style. Techno and dance and trance was slowly dying, and people wanted real musicians and the good old rock ‘n’ roll circus back. So we started to write our own material and mixed it with cover songs live. Got into a studio and recorded our first demo tape containing “Bless The Night”, “No More Living On Lies” and “Car-Lyle” that all ended up on the “Hard To Be A Rock’n Roller” album. But when we presented the demo-tape to the Norwegian record industry, going to the presentation meetings in limousines and full costumes, they simply threw us out, claiming that “rock ‘n’roll is dead”!!! The Norwegian producer Ole Evenrude then invited us to his studio. He wanted to produce us. We thought, YEAH, finally someone who gets it. Imagine how disappointed we were when he tried to convince us to record boyband songs the hardrock way instead of recording our own music. We had a manager that he convinced us was Mr.Right, who put up the money for the “boyband” recordings, so we thought, ok, let’s record the shit just to give it a go. No one wanted us anyway. At the end of the recordings the manager disappeared, leaving us the bill. And we were stuck with 5 or so shit versions of shit music that we didn’t believe in the first place. So we decided to record the album ourselves, without help from anyone. Teeny built up his own studio, and since he had produced a lot before, he became our producer. And he’s GOOD! Damn good! A guy at the management heard “Crazy Things” and thought this song was magnificent. He sent it to the Norwegian broadcasting, who invited us to audition for the Norwegian eurovision competition. We thought it was all a joke, but showed up at the audition just to rock their balls off. Our only goal was to make these people hire us for a gig you know. We knew there would be a lot of important people at the audition. But they totally fell for it. And we thought “well, here’s a chance for us to finally break the band”. We looked upon this as a great opportunity to promote our album. And it sure was! The Norwegian people was shocked! We ended up as #3. Norway wasn’t quite ready for HardRock in the Eurovison...YET! Norway ended up at #30 or something that year, and everyone thought we should have been representing Norway instead. Now rock ‘n’roll was finally back with The Darkness and everything, and our album “667 ...The Neighbour Of The Beast” went really well here in Norway. In 2005 the Norwegian Broadcasting got back to us, and wanted us back. We accepted the invitation as long as we would have full control and could pick whatever song to represent Wig Wam. We thought “what a great way to promote our next single” And it sure was, ha ha.
Q3: You became a Norwegian representative and won 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. I think this set off for your further success. How much do you think you as a winner impacted people in Europe?
Glam: We only won the Norwegian final and represented Norway in the eurovision Song Contest. We ended up as #9 . But HEY! That was a victory for rock ‘n’ roll!!! And it was a great opportunity to promote Wig Wam AND rock ‘n’ roll in a field that had never been rocked before. I think the European people were surprised and a little shocked, and they weren’t quite ready for the Eurovision Song Contest to be rocked... YET! This year HardRock won the competition with Lordi. I think we paved the way for hardrock in Eurovision. Next year the competition will be called Eurovision Rock Contest, ha ha. Rock is the new Schläger after all!!!
Q4: In Japan Heavy Metal magazine BURRN! reviewed “Hard To Be Rock’n Roller” and scored 91 points out of 100 points. That news attracted Japanese people and its sales increased better. Did you know such phenomenon in Japan?
Glam: God Bless BURRN!!!! *smile* I don’t know if this has happened before in Japan, but of course, if a great magazine like BURRN! gives an album such high score I guess it’s readers get a little curious and gives the album a go. And hopefully they give the album top score too!!!
Q5: We should’ve said to you at first “Congratulation on your debut in Japan!” I hear that you signed the Agreement of King Record of Japan in Kimono at a sushi restaurant in Oslo. Please let me know what you thought and how you felt the moment Japanese release was determined.
Glam: Thanks a million!!! It has always been a dream of mine to go to Japan for a tour. And finally it looks like it will happen. When King singed us we were really happy, since we knew we had lots of fans in Japan already, and finally they got a chance to have their own edition. We thought it would be a great way of celebrating and showing the Japanese people our gratitude to put on the Kimonos while enjoying Shushi you know.
Q6: “WIG WAMANIA” was the second album after the successfully sold previous album. Did you feel any pressure to make the second better?
Glam: We don’t look upon making music as some kind of sport. Making music is magic, heart and soul. All we were concerned about was to make the best album possible. And I honestly believe that we haven’t made our best album yet.
Q7: The member was in well-known bands such as Dream Police, Artch, Alien etc in the past. Do you think such experiences from 80’s are taken advantage of in the band WIG WAM now?
Glam: Of course! We are all experienced musicians who grew up with this kind of music. It’s in our hearts! So it just comes naturally! But remember, when we started Wig Wam we never told anyone about our past glories with Dream Police, Sha-Boom Artch, Alien, Sweet, Hair etc. We wanted a fresh start.
Q8: Teeny was a guitarist of Dream Police. Japanese fans know it. Doesn’t Dream Police exist any more?
Glam: Dream Police hasn’t been around since their “Messing With The Blues” album. Teeny was about to release a solo album when he started to get problems with his arm. So the singer released an album instead. Teeny put away his guitar for years, and didn’t dig it up until we started playing together in 2000. He’s got all the experience in the world AND the hunger of a fresh guitar player. That’s tough to beat!
Q9: I think that Teeny’s guitar playing sometimes produces neoclassical bit contrary to the appearance of Glam-styled Rock. I like it very much, thought. Does Teeny want to get such neoclassical style into WIG WAM?
Glam: Even though everyone keeps calling our music glam rock, I think we represent a wider range of musical directions really. I think we are neoclassical with a touch of glam rock.
Q10: The vocalist Glam sings parts of highlights or best parts in songs in a nice high tone. His singing way is soulful with high toned voice, which I think nice. According to his biography, he was influenced by Alice Cooper. But as for high tone and shouts, does he think he got influenced by Brian Johnson of AC/DC and Glenn Hughes?
Glam: Thanxxx! My singing was never really influenced by Alice Cooper. Well, apart from the storytelling part of his singing maybe. Which I adore! I have always loved singers like Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Stanley, Steven Tyler, John Farnham and so on. Glenn Hughes and Journeys former singer Steve Perry are among my absolute favourites.
Q11: Europe at all. Is it really true that such outtake will be in the album for Japan?
Glam: There will be special bonus cuts for the Japanes version of both “Hard To Be A Rock’n Roller” and “Wig Wamania”. Japan will be the first ever country to have a song with Flash on lead vocals on the album. The song is called “Flying High”, and will be added on your “Wig Wamania” album. You will also have one of my songs as bonus, called “After The Nine O’clock News”. For the “Hard…” album you’ll have three or four cover songs as bonus. You’ll get special treatment in every way!
Q12: If I explain WIG WAM’s style to Japanese listeners simply, technical Poison, catchy Scorpions or Norwegian Gotthard seems right to the point. What does the band itself want to be called?
Glam: We prefer to be called... WIG WAM! But to describe our music I’d say we are “where the harmonies and melodies of Journey meets the horny touch of Aerosmith and the musicianship of Van Halen in the circus land of Alice Cooper and Kiss... that’s where you’ll find Wig Wam”.
Q13: The news on the official website says the band will come to Japan for live tour this October. How far does this plan of Japan tour make progress?
Glam: There’s definitely plans for us to come over for a tour in Japan. Hopefully in October. But when we come over we’d spend as much time as possible in the land of the rising sun. We are now in the progress of finding a Japanese management to work for us in Japan. I hope Japan is ready to be Wig Wam’ed!!!!
Q14: Do you have any interesting plans to do in Japan during your visit?
Glam: YES! We plan to play as many concerts as possible, do as many interviews as possible and make as many new japans friends as possible. We’re workaholics! Simply because we LOVE what we do. Hopefully there will be time to experience your country too and eat as much sushi as possible!
Q15: Please give readers of our leaflet your message!
Glam: Dear rock fans of Japan! We have been waiting for such a long time to get a chance to rock your country. We can’t wait to get over to you to rock you all!! You won’t be disappointed! See you in Japan SOON!!!!!
Thank you very much for your cooperation. Glam: My pleasure!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Miho Ohtsuki for the scan of the magazine pages.
Q1: There was a band called WIGWAM in 70’s in Finland. Did you know it when you named your band WIG WAM?
Glam: We had no idea really. We’re not that into 70’s prog-rock you know. But we knew Sweet had a song called Wig Wam Bam and I admit that the title was lurking in the back of my mind. We were actually just a jam band prosject, doing Friday gigs just for fun. Then suddenly we were hired to play a concert and needed a band name and a poster ha ha so we got together and put on our costumes and make-up, and I couldn’t help getting the Indian tribe feeling. Putting on the war paint before going to battle for rock’n’roll. Boooom! WIG WAM!! And it just felt right. It wasn’t until our first trip to Finland that we learnt about the finish prog-band. Wigwam was playing a concert in Helsinki at the same night we did a TV-show in... Helsinki. Some fans actually got confused and showed up at the concert.
Q2: WIG WAM’s success was triggered by Eurovision song contest of 2004 and 2005. Why did you decide to attend the contests? Please tell us the background.
Glam: When we first got started it was all just for fun. It was such a thrill playing the 80’s style again. Then after a while our fanbase grew and grew and we just knew that there was a hunger out there for the good old glamrock style. Techno and dance and trance was slowly dying, and people wanted real musicians and the good old rock ‘n’ roll circus back. So we started to write our own material and mixed it with cover songs live. Got into a studio and recorded our first demo tape containing “Bless The Night”, “No More Living On Lies” and “Car-Lyle” that all ended up on the “Hard To Be A Rock’n Roller” album. But when we presented the demo-tape to the Norwegian record industry, going to the presentation meetings in limousines and full costumes, they simply threw us out, claiming that “rock ‘n’roll is dead”!!! The Norwegian producer Ole Evenrude then invited us to his studio. He wanted to produce us. We thought, YEAH, finally someone who gets it. Imagine how disappointed we were when he tried to convince us to record boyband songs the hardrock way instead of recording our own music. We had a manager that he convinced us was Mr.Right, who put up the money for the “boyband” recordings, so we thought, ok, let’s record the shit just to give it a go. No one wanted us anyway. At the end of the recordings the manager disappeared, leaving us the bill. And we were stuck with 5 or so shit versions of shit music that we didn’t believe in the first place. So we decided to record the album ourselves, without help from anyone. Teeny built up his own studio, and since he had produced a lot before, he became our producer. And he’s GOOD! Damn good! A guy at the management heard “Crazy Things” and thought this song was magnificent. He sent it to the Norwegian broadcasting, who invited us to audition for the Norwegian eurovision competition. We thought it was all a joke, but showed up at the audition just to rock their balls off. Our only goal was to make these people hire us for a gig you know. We knew there would be a lot of important people at the audition. But they totally fell for it. And we thought “well, here’s a chance for us to finally break the band”. We looked upon this as a great opportunity to promote our album. And it sure was! The Norwegian people was shocked! We ended up as #3. Norway wasn’t quite ready for HardRock in the Eurovison...YET! Norway ended up at #30 or something that year, and everyone thought we should have been representing Norway instead. Now rock ‘n’roll was finally back with The Darkness and everything, and our album “667 ...The Neighbour Of The Beast” went really well here in Norway. In 2005 the Norwegian Broadcasting got back to us, and wanted us back. We accepted the invitation as long as we would have full control and could pick whatever song to represent Wig Wam. We thought “what a great way to promote our next single” And it sure was, ha ha.
Q3: You became a Norwegian representative and won 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. I think this set off for your further success. How much do you think you as a winner impacted people in Europe?
Glam: We only won the Norwegian final and represented Norway in the eurovision Song Contest. We ended up as #9 . But HEY! That was a victory for rock ‘n’ roll!!! And it was a great opportunity to promote Wig Wam AND rock ‘n’ roll in a field that had never been rocked before. I think the European people were surprised and a little shocked, and they weren’t quite ready for the Eurovision Song Contest to be rocked... YET! This year HardRock won the competition with Lordi. I think we paved the way for hardrock in Eurovision. Next year the competition will be called Eurovision Rock Contest, ha ha. Rock is the new Schläger after all!!!
Q4: In Japan Heavy Metal magazine BURRN! reviewed “Hard To Be Rock’n Roller” and scored 91 points out of 100 points. That news attracted Japanese people and its sales increased better. Did you know such phenomenon in Japan?
Glam: God Bless BURRN!!!! *smile* I don’t know if this has happened before in Japan, but of course, if a great magazine like BURRN! gives an album such high score I guess it’s readers get a little curious and gives the album a go. And hopefully they give the album top score too!!!
Q5: We should’ve said to you at first “Congratulation on your debut in Japan!” I hear that you signed the Agreement of King Record of Japan in Kimono at a sushi restaurant in Oslo. Please let me know what you thought and how you felt the moment Japanese release was determined.
Glam: Thanks a million!!! It has always been a dream of mine to go to Japan for a tour. And finally it looks like it will happen. When King singed us we were really happy, since we knew we had lots of fans in Japan already, and finally they got a chance to have their own edition. We thought it would be a great way of celebrating and showing the Japanese people our gratitude to put on the Kimonos while enjoying Shushi you know.
Q6: “WIG WAMANIA” was the second album after the successfully sold previous album. Did you feel any pressure to make the second better?
Glam: We don’t look upon making music as some kind of sport. Making music is magic, heart and soul. All we were concerned about was to make the best album possible. And I honestly believe that we haven’t made our best album yet.
Q7: The member was in well-known bands such as Dream Police, Artch, Alien etc in the past. Do you think such experiences from 80’s are taken advantage of in the band WIG WAM now?
Glam: Of course! We are all experienced musicians who grew up with this kind of music. It’s in our hearts! So it just comes naturally! But remember, when we started Wig Wam we never told anyone about our past glories with Dream Police, Sha-Boom Artch, Alien, Sweet, Hair etc. We wanted a fresh start.
Q8: Teeny was a guitarist of Dream Police. Japanese fans know it. Doesn’t Dream Police exist any more?
Glam: Dream Police hasn’t been around since their “Messing With The Blues” album. Teeny was about to release a solo album when he started to get problems with his arm. So the singer released an album instead. Teeny put away his guitar for years, and didn’t dig it up until we started playing together in 2000. He’s got all the experience in the world AND the hunger of a fresh guitar player. That’s tough to beat!
Q9: I think that Teeny’s guitar playing sometimes produces neoclassical bit contrary to the appearance of Glam-styled Rock. I like it very much, thought. Does Teeny want to get such neoclassical style into WIG WAM?
Glam: Even though everyone keeps calling our music glam rock, I think we represent a wider range of musical directions really. I think we are neoclassical with a touch of glam rock.
Q10: The vocalist Glam sings parts of highlights or best parts in songs in a nice high tone. His singing way is soulful with high toned voice, which I think nice. According to his biography, he was influenced by Alice Cooper. But as for high tone and shouts, does he think he got influenced by Brian Johnson of AC/DC and Glenn Hughes?
Glam: Thanxxx! My singing was never really influenced by Alice Cooper. Well, apart from the storytelling part of his singing maybe. Which I adore! I have always loved singers like Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Stanley, Steven Tyler, John Farnham and so on. Glenn Hughes and Journeys former singer Steve Perry are among my absolute favourites.
Q11: Europe at all. Is it really true that such outtake will be in the album for Japan?
Glam: There will be special bonus cuts for the Japanes version of both “Hard To Be A Rock’n Roller” and “Wig Wamania”. Japan will be the first ever country to have a song with Flash on lead vocals on the album. The song is called “Flying High”, and will be added on your “Wig Wamania” album. You will also have one of my songs as bonus, called “After The Nine O’clock News”. For the “Hard…” album you’ll have three or four cover songs as bonus. You’ll get special treatment in every way!
Q12: If I explain WIG WAM’s style to Japanese listeners simply, technical Poison, catchy Scorpions or Norwegian Gotthard seems right to the point. What does the band itself want to be called?
Glam: We prefer to be called... WIG WAM! But to describe our music I’d say we are “where the harmonies and melodies of Journey meets the horny touch of Aerosmith and the musicianship of Van Halen in the circus land of Alice Cooper and Kiss... that’s where you’ll find Wig Wam”.
Q13: The news on the official website says the band will come to Japan for live tour this October. How far does this plan of Japan tour make progress?
Glam: There’s definitely plans for us to come over for a tour in Japan. Hopefully in October. But when we come over we’d spend as much time as possible in the land of the rising sun. We are now in the progress of finding a Japanese management to work for us in Japan. I hope Japan is ready to be Wig Wam’ed!!!!
Q14: Do you have any interesting plans to do in Japan during your visit?
Glam: YES! We plan to play as many concerts as possible, do as many interviews as possible and make as many new japans friends as possible. We’re workaholics! Simply because we LOVE what we do. Hopefully there will be time to experience your country too and eat as much sushi as possible!
Q15: Please give readers of our leaflet your message!
Glam: Dear rock fans of Japan! We have been waiting for such a long time to get a chance to rock your country. We can’t wait to get over to you to rock you all!! You won’t be disappointed! See you in Japan SOON!!!!!
Thank you very much for your cooperation. Glam: My pleasure!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Miho Ohtsuki for the scan of the magazine pages.
