They’re Scandinavia’s biggest export after ABBA… and after 25 years, Norwegian music pioneers a-ha are calling it a day. The Beach’s Paul Carter caught up with Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen from the band, ahead of their ‘Ending on a High Note’ tour.

It’s hard to believe it has been 25 years since Take On Me first came out – why have you chosen to go your separate ways now?

Morten: It’s a perfect opportunity - it’s been 25years! I’d rather have the feeling that you’re leaving the party before you get too drunk and make a fool of yourself, and get thrown out!

Magne: We’ve given it 25 years, and we’re still in good shape. We are, in many ways, at the peak of our capacity, and we still have an open opportunity to embark on other things. It’s a wonderful privilege to do this at this time in our lives.

In the last couple of years, a lot of 80s stars have come out of the woodwork to give the music career another shot - but you guys have kept on going! Your last album ‘Foot of the Mountain’ reached number two in the UK charts in 2009… can you imagine yourselves ten years down the line, perhaps giving it another bash?

Morten: Do you realise the age we would be in 2020?! The Stones made geriatric rock cool and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think everyone’s different. Either you have to look at it very cynically, and say “I’m going to do it because it’s the most successful thing I’ve ever done, and it’s what everybody wants” and just take the money and run… or you have to really believe it’s going to be a creative fulfillment and be a team unit that believes in each other and wants to move forward.

Magne: We also have the most loyal and tenacious following from the last 25 years, and it’s about time we gave them a chance to move on in their lives and not just champion the cause of a-ha! We’re binging closure to a lot of people!

You’re saying goodbye with a UK tour and a last single, ‘Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)’ - is it a goodbye song?

Magne: Yeah, kind of - in a nice way! There wasn’t really much time to go in and make another record, but we wanted to do it for our fans as a last thank you!

Both of you have pursued solo music careers alongside being in the band. Are you planning to continue with this?

Morten: I’m not planning anything at the moment - I’m planning to have an open calendar after this!

And Magne, you’ve also been doing ‘physical’ art while being in a-ha, which has been a big part of your life. Is that going to carry on?

Magne: Physical art makes it sound like experimentations on my own body! [laughs] I’ve done that too but not very successfully! I have a visual arts practice as an artist - so yes, I’ll pursue that. It’s all blurring into one though, the music and the visual art. I quite enjoy the idea of crop rotation - potatoes one year, spelt the next.

‘Take on Me’ was the song which was springboarded you into the consciousness of the record-buying public - and part of it was down to THAT video, one of the greatest videos of all time - how did the idea of that sketching effect come about?

Magne: There was a film on the arts circuit called ‘Commuter’ which used this rotoscope technique [where animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame] which was then used on Take On Me. It hadn’t been seen by a mainstream audience. The idea was discovered by a record company executive called Jeff Ayeroff, who made a-ha his baby in around 1984/5. We released a different version of Take On Me once - it kind of failed and we were a little bit disillusioned by the video we had - it was a really duff one! But with the new video for Take On Me, that technique became widespread - and every time there are those 100 Best Music Videos on TV, it’s still up there!

Morten: It’s one of those videos that could only be made at that time because of the amount of money and time spent on it. It took one man who made 14,000 hand drawn images to make those three minutes of magic.

How would you sum up the last 25 years?

Morten: I’m not sure I can!

Magne: It’s been an incredible ride, it’s been an absolute thrill. We’ve had our ups and ups, and our downs and downs, and I think looking back, there’s not much I would change.

a-ha: 25 is available to buy now, and the band’s last gig in the UK is at London’s Wembley Arena on 27th November.