The Story So Far...

CHAPTER 2: The Early Years — Self-confidence, Determination and Lots of Hard Work

The story of a-ha is the story of three Norwegian boys with will-power, idealism, a positive attitude towards life and their fair share of talent and good luck. It's been a long road from a-ha's formation, via a cold cabin in Asker, Norway, and condemned flats in London, to their status as world stars.

Pål and Mags began to play music together as ten and twelve year-olds. Two mates from the high-rises at Manglerud in Oslo. They started on recorders and tin plates and eventually graduated to guitars and cheap synthesizers.

Pål had big ambitions from the very beginning and began composing at an early age, from simple melodies to rock operas. They played in different bands, and there was often competition between them which continued, even when they finally ended up in the same band. Properly organised rehearsals as a group didn't start until their high school years. By then, Mags' family had moved to Asker (an area within commuting distance from Oslo) and Pål's parents had bought a summer cabin in the same district. Asker thus become their base for practicing and recruiting. Pål and Mags began to play in a band called Bridges, together with Viggo Bondi and Øystein Jevanord. Bridges played uncompromising, sometimes rather heavy music and their influence came from the leading USA group, The Doors, of whom Pål and Mags were both admirers.

After a while Bridges became too small-time for Pål and Mags. They had bigger ambitions than just playing at school parties or touring around Norway for that matter. They wanted to compete with the best, because they knew they were good. While other bands scraped together money to finance their own singles, in 1981 Bridges produced a whole LP, not with short, punky tracks, but with ambitious, almost symphonic pieces. All of the music was composed by the group themselves, most of it being written by Pål Waaktaar.

Pål and Mags realised that they had to do something unique in order to achieve success. Their music was so unusual that they felt they should address themselves to a much larger audience. They had to cultivate their ideas rather than impress listeners with brilliant playing techniques. So they palmed off the more simple synthesizers on the other two members of the band and went their own musical way. The others were not particularly pleased with the situation. Simply put, Pål and Mags wanted to go to England and the others did not. This ultimately led to a natural break-up. The two of them gradually discovered that between them they could manage the instrumental part of their music just fine. They could achieve the sound they wanted with drums, bass, guitars and synthesizers by themselves. But they needed a vocalist.

Morten Harket was a relatively new rock fan when he first heard Bridges play in Asker. He was impressed and got in contact with Viggo in order to get to know the boys in the group, but he didn't dare hint outright that maybe he would like to join them. After another gig he contacted Mags and they had a long, serious discussion while they walked the ten miles home from the Chateau Neuf concert hall in Oslo to Asker. They found they had a lot in common: in their philosophy of life; in their creative ideas. At that time Morten was singing in a blues/soul band called Souldier Blue, led by Arild Fetveit. Mags had heard about Morten and knew that he sang well, but a long time went by after their 'serious talk' before Mags contacted him to find out if he would sing with them. But Morten was happy in Souldier Blue, and felt he didn't know enough about these impulsive creatures who were going to try their luck abroad.

In the end, Pål and Mags went to London on their own. They had a one-way ticket, the money they'd managed to save and the certainty that they were going to make it big. But London and the 'big time' were not quite ready for the inexperienced, yet ambitious, duo. The only contact they had in England was a woman Mags knew, but unfortunately she lived in Birmingham... After awhile they found a cheap place to live in London. However, the 'flat' - if you could call that one-room hole a flat - still cost money. The £2,000 they had earned as a tram conductor and a substitute teacher in Norway was rapidly being swallowed up.

The boys advertised in Melody Maker for musicians to play with them. However, problems - financial and otherwise - were beginning to dominate their lives, so there was little energy left for their music. Understandably enough they did not get a whole lot of response when people heard them , with Pål on acoustic guitar, Mags fumbling on a synth with a tiny amplifier and the two of them whistling the melodies. At one point, one of their ads was answered by a harpist, who stayed with them for a while... but it didn't lead to any great breakthrough! Time passed. Pål sat in the public library, read and tried to be creative. Mags sat in his room, watched TV and listened to the radio. He finally took a job in a pub, where he earned about one pound an hour, in order to try and get their funds to stretch a little further.

This lasted about six months, with numerous musicians moving in and out of the picture, creating lots of activity, but no results. So they decided to go back home and try to get Morten to join them. But they had no money for the trip, and had to hitchhike their way back... it rained the whole time.

Not only was the journey back to Norway long, tedious and wet, but to top it all, they got a fine for thumbing a lift on the motorway, just as they were walking over the border into Germany. Our young heroes were not feeling exactly on top of the world as they crossed the Svinesund bridge - on foot - in the summer of 1982, arriving back on Norwegian soil disillusioned and humiliated.

But Pål was not about to give up at this point. He intended to go right back to London - as soon as they could get Morten to join them. Morten was far more willing now, as he felt that the band he was with was in a period of stagnation. But he didn't want to go right away. He thought they should practice first and make some demonstration tapes so they would have something more than just their enthusiasm when they returned to London. After a heated discussion, Pål finally agreed to wait a couple of weeks - which became a month - which became two months - which turned into half a year. But they used the time well. They borrowed Pål's parents' summer cabin at Nernes in Asker, where they rigged up microphones, synths, tape recorders, cooking utensils and sleeping bags. They shut themselves away there, and finally things really started rolling. Pål got his ideas down on paper, Mags worked on the music, and Morten sang.

The first version of Living A Boy's Adventure Tale was put together at that time. Even more importantly, Lesson One took form, the song which would eventually become Take On Me. The boys lived in the cabin for weeks. It got cold as autumn came and their money for food dwindled. Pål and Mags helped themselves to plums from other people's gardens. Morten's principles wouldn't allow him to join them, but he was willing to make jam with the stolen fruit. The result was terrible. Sour and bitter. Morten claimed it was because the plums were stolen, while the others blamed it on too little sugar!

They stayed in the cabin until Christmas, but it grew too cold to continue living there. They were just about ready for the big move. Even Morten was now convinced that there was a future for the band - and not just in Norway. After the New Year's celebrations, Pål and Mags stayed up for two days and nights at a stretch in order to do the final mixing of the demo tapes. On January 2, 1983, Pål and Morten boarded the ferry, once again with one-way tickets to England. Mags came a week later as he wanted to spend some time with his girlfriend Heidi before leaving.