It was a loud and racous press conference with the Norwegian group Wig Wam who sing In my dreams. The four group members introduced themselves, as Glam, Teeny, Sporty and Flash, and claimed they were “Ready to kick ass in Kyiv!” and that their motto is “Rock is the new schlager!”, which set the style and tone of the press conference.
As possibly the first rock song in the fifty year history of the contest, had they faced any negative criticism from Norwegians or others? They confessed that they “never thought they would win” when invited by Norwegian television to participate, and didn't expect Norwegians to vote for a rock song, but they are happy to be here, having spent five weeks at the top of the Norwegian charts. In fact they have been so busy touring, that they only managed one hours sleep in the night prior to departing for Kyiv.
If that was crazy, what about the fans, what sort of crazy things had they got up to recently? A lot of under 18's had taken buses and trains and taken five hours to reach the airport, just to say goodbye to them prior to their departure. Some of the other crazy things…well they are secret.
In a coincidence one fan said that they reminded him of the group The Sweet when he was younger. As it happens The Sweet are going to be the support act for Wig Wam when they are in Salzburg on the 3rd June.
So with names like Sporty and Flash had they taken their inspiration from The Spice Girls perhaps, and if so who was Scary? They jokingly replied that they were born with those names, but maybe Scary could be the name of their manager!
Of course the fact that Norway won the contest in 1985 and 1995 was remarked upon, so could Wig Wam make it on the next anniversary in 2005? They are a strong believer in omens, as their first album was called 667 and they won with 75,667 votes! So maybe this is a good sign for them?
Again on a lighter note, it was observed that they tended to wear very tight trousers…could it present any problems for them? Well it certainly helps with the high notes they responded, but they are very impulsive, and could well decide in the last five minutes before a performance to wear anything from tuxedos, to nothing at all, so the audience better watch out! Of course the more serious amongst you would realise that this goes against the EBU rules of the contest!!
Finally, another familiar question this time with an unusual twist, had they any favourite songs from the Eurovision Song Contest, that maybe they could sing it in a glam rock style? They had in fact performed Ghenghis Khan, the German entry from 1979 on a Norwegian television show. Complete with an amplifier the group then gave a short rendition in English of that song with a touch of glam rock, much to the appreciation of the fans present.
The final press conference of the day concluded with a photo session.
Norway are next scheduled to rehearse on Saturday 14th May at 19.15 local time.
