In a recent interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal’s Metal Global, Europe’s Mic Michaeli said they won’t follow the same musical direction they did in the ’80s.
The keyboardist revealed that they have started writing songs together with Joey Tempest, and John Levén. They aim to write as much as possible over the summer despite a busy festival schedule. He also hinted at what new material might sound like:
“I don’t think we will go back fully to the stuff we did in the ’80s — that’s not gonna happen — but there might be some things that might go a little bit closer to that. But honestly, we don’t know at this time where this album is gonna go, in what direction. It’s really hard to say. It all depends on what songs we feel are great songs. If it’s a great song, it’s a great song. Let’s put it on the album.”
Joey Tempest Speaks On The New Album
Michaeli also said they plan to finish writing in the autumn, record early next year, and release some songs before summer. Last year, Europe’s frontman Joey Tempest also spoke with Metal Global about their upcoming album. Europe released a new song, ‘Hold Your Head Up,’ in 2023. Tempest explained why they released only one song:
“We wanted to get this ready before the [fall 2023 European] tour and the [upcoming Europe] documentary. So we focused on this song so we could have something out together with the tour and the documentary. That’s why we released one song now. But we have a handful of songs — great ideas.”
Tempest also noted that the band would start recording the new record:
“We want to record the album next year. And whether we do it in the beginning, I don’t know yet, but we have some great ideas. And ‘Hold Your Head Up’ is just the first one, basically.”
The group started their European tour on June 8 in Denmark and they will finish in Italy on September 3. They will visit countries like Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Poland and Germany.
You can watch Mic’s full interview below.