Saint John band gets shoutout from A-ha for 'Take on Me' cover

When Lisa McLaggan uploaded her band's cover of the 1980s hit "Take on Me" by A-ha, the Tomato/Tomato singer never expected the Norwegian pop band to see it, let alone respond.

But on Tuesday morning, she was met with a surprise.

I just had no idea how to even proceed with my life or my day. I didn't know what to do.- Lisa McLaggan, Tomato/Tomato

"I spit out my coffee," McLaggan said. "I immediately took a screenshot — because a photo or it didn't happen."

A-ha, which rose to popularity with the song, had tweeted out the Tomato/Tomato cover. 

McLaggan sent the screenshot to her husband, John, the other half of Tomato/Tomato, a folk music band from Saint John. 

"When I first sent him the text with the screenshots of it, he texted me back a few expletives with exclamation points. He was quite excited."

The tweet from the official A-ha Twitter page said of the New Brunswick band's version: "Interesting cover — what do you all think? #takeonme."

The Norwegian group, which continued its global success in the 1990s and 2000s and is still touring today, also posted the video on its Facebook page.

"I just had no idea how to even proceed with my life or my day," McLaggan said. "I didn't know what to do."

The duo had been trying to figure out how to cover the hit for years, because of the harmony in the chorus and the rhythm in the verses. Recently, they decided Lisa would sing lead, which helped them figure it out.

They posted the video at the beginning of April. 

Lisa said she tagged A-ha in a followup post about the cover and thinks that's how the band saw the video. But she never expected the musicians would actually see it.

Good for New Brunswick

Lisa McLaggan said that since A-ha showed Tomato/Tomato some online love, the band has seen a boost across all its social media platforms. 

"It means a lot that they would share it, that they would appreciate it enough to expose it to so many people like that," she said. "It definitely stretched our reach further than we could've done ourselves."

And the response from A-ha isn't just good for Tomato/Tomato, she said, but for all bands in New Brunswick. 

"With our reach expanding, we hope the reach expands for New Brunswick, and the Maritimes in general," McLaggan said. 

"You know, just bring more positive attention to everybody. We're all working hard here."