Michael Learns To Rock: Have fans, will travel

Danish pop rock band Michael Learns To Rock's (from left) guitarist Mikkel Lentz, vocalist Jascha Richter and drummer Kare Wanscher.

SINGAPORE: Danish pop rock band Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) has been around for 25 years, producing some of the most memorable songs in pop music, like “The Actor”, “Sleeping Child” and “25 Minutes”.

And the band will be around for a long time more, said MLTR drummer and founding member Kare Wanscher.

“We actually have tried to stop because we felt it was about time.

“It only lasted until the next day when an offer for a show came up – then we got back together. So we just keep going as long as our fans are there,” said Wanscher in an e-mail interview.

“What really keeps us going is our fantastic fans. Without them, we would not be here.

“Also the fact that we love music and that we have the chance to travel the world playing for a lot of wonderful happy people, is what keeps us wanting more,” he added.

MLTR, which is made up of drummer Wanscher, singer-keyboardist Jascha Richter, as well as guitarist Mikkel Lentz, is set to play for many, many more “wonderful happy people”, when they perform here on Saturday, at the Singapore Expo.

“We are very excited to come back to Singapore.

“We miss our fans and we have always felt extremely welcome there,” said Wanscher of the band’s upcoming Singapore gig, their first concert here in about five years.

He revealed that MLTR will be performing all the crowd favourites at their Singapore concert, which he hopes will be “a great party”.

Quite a few MLTR songs are crowd pleasers and can often still be heard on the radio today.

Just why do their songs have such longevity?

“I think it’s mainly because of the melodies and the romantic lyrics,” said Wanscher, before using the MLTR hit song “25 Minutes” to illustrate his point.

“To me ‘25 Minutes’ is a small film that everyone can relate to.”

“I think everybody can picture the scene when the poor guy is too late to get the love of his life – and feel how heartbroken he must be.”

Apart from touring, Wanscher said MLTR is also working on new music, and have “a few projects in the pipeline”, which may well be a good change of pace for the trio.

“We are good friends. We trust one another … as friends,” said Wanscher.

“But we also enjoy the time between touring when we have a break from one another.”