What does it take to acquire a huge fan base in a part of the world vastly different from your own?
Michael Learns to Rock.
Jascha Richter, Mikkel Lentz and Kare Wanscher of Danish soft rock band Michael Learns to Rock haven't got a clue. The trio "kind of stumbled" into their dual lives of normalcy in Denmark, and superstardom in and around Asia.
"We're like the Sugarman. We have no idea why we became so popular here," Letnz told Life during last week's visit to Thailand to mark the band's 25th anniversary. Rodríguez, known as "the Sugarman", is a Detroit singer whose music failed to take off in America but unbeknown to him, became hugely influential in South Africa during Apartheid. His peculiar story was depicted in the 2012 documentary Searching For The Sugarman, which led to him finally achieving fame in the US.
Unlike Rodríguez, Michael Learns to Rock has always had a following on its home turf, but like the now 73-year-old rocker, the band continue to pack out stadiums in countries they know very little about.
"It's really bizarre," Wanscher said. "We went to Papua New Guinea for the first time in January this year and the people said they'd been waiting 20 years for us. It was the craziest audience we've ever had. They didn't know who we were or where we came from, they only knew our songs."
"We heard that even Papua New Guinea tribes far away from most people who have never even seen a white man listen to Michael Learns to Rock," Lentz added. "We haven't got a clue how our music ended up there. It's really great."
Now, after 25 years in the business, the band are having "a second coming" as they promote and tour (they gave a mini showcase of their work at Hard Rock Cafe, Bangkok on Sept 21) their greatest hits album 25: The Complete Singles. The album begins with their first international hit The Actor, moves chronologically through their biggest songs, including Sleeping Child, Someday and Take Me To Your Heart, and ends with two new songs, Silent Times and Call On Love.
"The album seemed like the right thing to do," Wanscher said. "If you listen to it the whole way through, you can listen to our story. That was kind of the idea behind it."
When the band started in the 1980s, they mostly played upbeat rock/pop songs. It wasn't long before the odd romantic ballad earned them the label "ballad band", however. The label stuck, leading them to produce slow, melodic tunes full-time.
"It was kind of lucky for us that we were never really trendy," Wanscher said. "I think that's the force that's made our music timeless in a way." Lentz agreed: "If you produce something that's really popular, it's really hard to keep going. We were just talking about Gangnam Style [the 2012 mega hit by South Korean singer Psy]. It's funny because everyone wants a hit like that, but no one wants it when it's over because you can never do it again. I think the fact we've never really changed is the reason we're still here, because people trust us to do what we do."
The band has always engaged in a clean-living lifestyle, which they believe might also contribute to some of their popularity in Asia.
"People can relate to our lifestyles and the messages we send through the lyrics because they're not really extravagant, they're romantic songs for ordinary people," Lentz said.
While their music hasn't changed greatly, they've lived through big changes in the industry.
"There's been a lot of negative talk about piracy but actually bootlegging and streaming have paved the way for our ticket sales," Lentz said. "I think quite poor people that back in the 1990s couldn't buy CDs, in the 2000s, just downloaded them, which has been a good thing for us because when we turn up and play, they're all there."
"Now we have Spotify which is a great alternative," Wanscher added. "People are getting used to music costing a little bit again."
What, then, is the hardest part of being a band today?
"I think the biggest challenge is to do it for the music, not for the fame," Lentz said. "We've done that for 25 years and actually we're kind of amazed and surprised in a very beautiful way we're having our second coming here."
The band doesn't have any Thailand shows scheduled but they hope to play here again in the next few months.
"We don't really have plans. We didn't really plan to be here after 25 years," Lentz joked. "We're going to keep working on new music and keep playing concerts while people still want to hear our music."
