Interview starts around 4:35.
Archive for June, 2010
Interview with Per!
Jun 30
From June 18:
According to Aftonbladet, Per surprised Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling with a performance of a brandnew song at yesterday’s party. Aftonbladet describes it as a romantic ballad specially written for the couple. But that’s not all, there’s another song to be revealed at the actual wedding party – where Roxette will perform on Saturday! We don’t know yet if any of these songs are to be released by Roxette or who will sing the song on Saturday. Stay tuned! 
Thanks abysmo for the newstip!
Update, June 28: As tevensso reports at TDR, “Per says he did not perform a song for the couple on Thursday.”
So either the “special song” story was totally made up or the song was presented without a live performance. Also the rumours about Roxette performing a new song at the wedding party on Saturday were not true.
In the “Språk” (Language) summer issue several Swedish artists talk about their favorite languages. Per Gessle is one of them. He sings both in English and Swedish and likes both languages. But if you got to decide, which language do you think that Per Gessle should choose for his next song? [voting chart]
Here is the list of songs that Roxette played at the reception on June 19th:
1. Om du bara vill
2. The look
3. Listen to your heart
4. Joyride
Encore:
5. It must have been love
Per also sent a message to TDR, which you can read here: “Sensational party!“. “Dressed for Success “, which we saw rehearsing on Snowfish, was also performed.
Thanks for the information to Evgeny Perekopskiy.
Marie and Per were interviewed by Aftonbladet journalist just after the performance on June 18th. “It was just wonderful to sing “The Look”, tells Marie to Aftonbladet, “Victoria and Daniel were both so “ooh”, they loved it. Victoria is absolutely fantastic and I am so happy that she likes us”. Per also thought it was a “top class performance”and that it was a fantastic evening, “now I’m going home to recharge myself with a little sleep,” he tells Aftonbladet.
Marie Fredriksson and her husband were also asked by Aftonbladet TV reporter about their impression of Victoria and Daniel. Marie answered that she is happy that Victoria likes Roxette so much and Daniel’s reaction for Roxette’s performance was just “ooh”. You can see pictures of the performance on Aftonbladet.
Source: Aftonbladet
Thanks for help to roxy13.
Visit SvD for pictures of Per and Marie at the wedding. If you have any other picture or clip with Per or Marie (according to Swedish tabloids, she was also there), please inform us in the comment section.
Roxette played one song – The Look – and made the whole royalty stand up in the end. Misc: Helena Josefsson didn’t have a microphone in the beginning, Jonas supported the band on lead guitar and Per painted his finger nails black again.
Aftonbladet also already reported about the performance, saying that even the King and the Queen enjoyed the performance and Roxette were a highlight of the whole concert.
Update: HD version of The Look on Youtube
Tonight at Drottnigsholm Palace the big pre-wedding dinner takes place for 200 closests friends and relatives. Per Gessle is one of the guest and came to the castle at 7.15 PM local time with his wife Åsa. For pictures visit Expressen, Aftonbladet, SvD, SVT, Italehi, iltasanomat.fi
Tickets for this year’s edition of Skanderborg Festival sell so good that the festival will announce sold out very soon, tv2oj.dk reports. Over 22,000 tickets are sold.
- There are only 3,000 tickets left and we can already announce sold out for Friday and Saturday. It is very probable we will announce sold out at the end of this month, Poul Martin Bonde, Smukfest’s spokesman, said to TV2 Østjylland.
Roxette is going to perform on Smukfest festival in Skanderborg on August 8th, Sunday at 10 PM local time, so there is still a chance to purchase a ticket.
Source: Esktrabladet.dk
We got hold of Per Gessle during the rehearsals for the coming Roxette performance at Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling’s wedding this Friday and Saturday and asked him about the new Roxette album, the upcoming tour and Per’s online activity. Here is the interview!
RoxetteBlog.com: We would like to start with questions about the recordings. How does the production of a Roxette album compare to an English solo album – apart from Marie’s input? Does it take longer to record and prepare? Do you have a bigger focus on commerciality? Do you get special requests from EMI or do you only show the finished product?
Per Gessle: Every record I’m involved with gets basically the same preparation. I’m sure it has a lot to do with me writing most of the stuff. I’ve always loved top-40 pop and great rock music, so being “commercial” has never been a big issue for me. If a song is good, it tends to be “commercial” in my book. I love a somewhat intelligent lyric, a brilliant melody line, exciting chord-progressions and a fitting production. If you can achieve all of that, you’re most likely to wind up with a “commercial” record.
EMI? I usually (not always) discuss my demos with Kjell Andersson at EMI Sweden. He signed me to EMI back in 1979 (!) and he’s a good sport, he knows when I’m getting lazy… but we always deliver the finished “product” to EMI and get no artistic input from them whatsoever.
RXB: Did the sound change – with new ideas – during the recording sessions this year, compared to the sound you originally planned/recorded during NOTP?
PG: No, not really. When Marie and I decided to make a new Rox-album last year, we inmediatelly went for a “classic” one. We haven’t worked together for many years, so musically the main thing we have in common is the love of the old Roxette-sound… that’s where we came from. Hopefully, I can write some decent songs, Clarence & Chris can provide superb production as always and Miss F. will deliver her beautiful voice. You’ll be the judge if it worked out!
RXB: OK, we will let you know if it worked out, but we are sure of that! Let’s move on to the tour and Roxette live. You are going to play for Princess Victoria and Daniel’s Wedding, how did it happen?
PG: Åsa and me have been friends with them for many years. They’re very nice people.
RXB: The six tour dates for Roxette in 2010 promise to be the first round of something bigger, maybe the “never ending tour”. In the past you said a Roxette tour needs a certain number of dates to be lucrative – which won’t work with a few dates here and then. How do you handle that now?
PG: Nobody knows if it’s possible for Marie to do a two-hour show, so we’ll do something like 70 minutes this summer. It’s all a test.
If you told me 18 months ago that these upcoming shows were gonna happen, I wouldn’t have believed you! It’s unbelievable that Marie is back on track. And she sounds terrific!!! So… if things go well, it might lead to a “proper” tour next year when the new album is released. I, for one, would love that. But it’s really up to Marie to decide.
RXB: Could you tell us about the rehearsals? Have you looked at the list of song suggestions from fans for the summer tour? Could you tell us if you already tried any of the Top-10 songs or if we can expect some of them? (Let’s help Roxette to make their playlist! or Facebook)
PG: Of course, we checked that list out. It’s really exciting!!! Quite surprising choices, I must say. We’re rehearsing right now and have tried a few of them, let’s see what happens down the road…
RXB: Are there finally plans for some live DVD release(s) and to record this summer tour? It’s a pity Roxette shows can only be found on the dead VHS format!
PG: I know, it’s such a shame. We have to work on that! Yeah, we’re talking about recording some upcoming shows for a DVD-release. Maybe something more, private pics, docu-stuff… Time will tell.
RXB: You spoilt us with entertaining videos from NOTP and the studio – of course without showing any song fragments, yet. In what form could we expect to see these making-of videos when the album is out? Deluxe album edition, future DVD release or just on the web…?
PG: I don’t know, I like the idea of communicating regularly with people who are interested in what I do, that’s basically it. There are so much more material lying around that hasn’t been shown yet. Eventually it will be released… One way or another. I’ve toyed with the idea of releasing 500 demos on the net!
RXB: Do you have plans to re-launch www.roxette.se with more content and multimedia (e.g. videos, song streaming, tour agenda/history…) with the tour/ new album? As much as we enjoy your activity on services like Snowfish or Facebook, one would expect Roxette content at the one and only official site…
PG: I guess so, but I like the Snowfish-idea so I’ll stick to that for a while.
RXB: Why do you think we – the fans – are still longing for new Roxette songs after all these years?
PG: I don’t know. Like I said earlier, I’ve been doing this professionally for 31 years. I’m very grateful someone is still interested in my humble work. I’ve been very lucky to run into the talents of lots of people… Marie, Clarence, MP, etc…. It’s been a great trip. A great trip indeed.
RXB: Per, thanks a lot for your time!
PG: My pleasure.
Judith, Kirsten, Tomasz and Sascha @ RoxetteBlog.com
Pictures taken from Snowfish.com
RTL’s Exclusiv (see online, minute 7) from Friday 11th of June reported about Princess Victoria’s wish to have Roxette perform at her wedding. During the same day various German and Austrian newspapers reported about an article published by “Stockholm newspapers”, where it was mentioned that Roxette would perform AT the wedding.
We knew Per and Marie would perform at the concert the day before, but on Saturday? After some searching, we found the source of the news: Expressen. According to this article, the duo is going to perform both days:
Friday 18th: at the parliment concert in Konserthuset following artists are expected to perform: Roxette, Malena Ernman, Helen Sjöholm, Magnus Uggla, Sarah Dawn Finer and Peter Jöback.
Saturday 19th: During the wedding ceremony Björn Skifs and Agnes will perform a duett. Daniel’s relatives “Westlings spelmän” will also perform in the church, while Cotton Club, Jessica Andersson, Carola, Kayo and Roxette are to perform during the party in the palace.
Regarding TV Broadcast and live-stream, this is what I could find out until now on SVT’s website:
Friday 18th:
On SVT Play scroll down until you find the list of shows to be streamed on Friday 18th and you’ll find this text
0:30 – 22:45 Det kungliga bröllopet – Festföreställning Konserthuset
-
Fre 18 jun Festkonserten från Konserthuset i Stockholm är en gåva till kronprinsessparet från Sveriges Riksdag och därmed svenska folket. Det musikaliska programmet innehåller Sveriges yttersta elit inom såväl klassisk musik som populärmusik, och de framträder tillsammans med Kungliga Filharmonikerna. Drygt 290 medverkande kommer att förenas i en hyllning till kärleken.
Which means that the concert should be seen on the website, question is if due to copyright, if citizens outside Sweden will be able to see this stream.
Saturday 19th:
SVT seems to be reporting and live-streaming the whole day about the wedding, starting at 07:55. Can also be found on SVT Play.
07:55 Gomorron Sverige – Det kungliga bröllopet
15:25 Det kungliga bröllopet: Vigseln
16:35 Det kungliga bröllopet: Kortegen
19:45 Det kungliga bröllopet: Middagen
22:30 Det kungliga bröllopet: Festen
Gessle-book gets cover
Jun 12
Amazon.co.uk published the very simple cover of “Per Gessle: Per Gessle Albums, Per Gessle Songs, Roxette, Roxette Albums, Roxette Songs, Roxette Video Albums, Songs Written by Per Gessle” book.
Meanwhile Amazon.de added description of one of books which seems to be different than these two on Amazon.co.uk – “Songs Written by Per Gessle: It Must Have Been Love, Listen to Your Heart, the Look, Joyride, the Centre of the Heart, How Do You Do!” has 156 pages.
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: It Must Have Been Love, Listen to Your Heart, the Look, Joyride, the Centre of the Heart, How Do You Do!, You Don’t Understand Me, Silly Really, Wish I Could Fly, Pratar Med Min Müsli, Real Sugar, Dressed for Success, Sing Along, Anyone, Queen of Rain, Stars, the Big L, Sleeping in My Car, Spending My Time, Milk and Toast and Honey, Neverending Love, Fading Like a Flower, Kix, Do You Wanna Be My Baby?, En Händig Man, Juni, Juli, Augusti, Soul Deep, Salvation, Vulnerable, I Like It Like That, C’mon/jo-Anna Says, Dangerous, Almost Unreal, Här Kommer Alla Känslorna, Goodbye to You, Always Breaking My Heart, One Wish, Run to You, I Want You to Know, I Want You, Sommartider, Tycker Om När Du Tar På Mej, June Afternoon, She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, På Promenad Genom Stan, a Thing About You, Church of Your Heart, Reveal, Fingertips ’93, När Alla Vännerna Gått Hem. Excerpt: “A Thing About You” ” A Thing About You “, written by Per Gessle , is the only single from Swedish pop duo Roxette ‘s 2002 compilation album The Ballad Hits . The song featured on BBC Radio 2 ‘s playlist. Charts This song was a medium-sized hit in Europe. It reached the top 20 in Sweden, and the top 40 in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. While peaking just outside the top 75 in the UK. Track listing References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at “Almost Unreal” ” Almost Unreal ” is a song performed by Swedish pop duo Roxette . The song featured on the soundtrack to the Super Mario Brothers movie and was released as a single in 1993. It was written by Per Gessle . “Almost Unreal” peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart , and performed well in most other countries. However, one exception was the US, where it only reached #94 in the US and became the duo’s penultimate single to make the US …
Does it mean there are three books not two?
Evgeny Perekopskiy from Moscow took few photos of Roxette billboards that advertise their gigs which will take place on September 10th and 12th, 2010.
As Per informed via Twitter/Facebook, Roxette entered the rehearsal halls last monday to get ready for the upcoming live shows, starting August 7. As he revealed they even tried out songs which they never played live before! So the result could get really interesting. And don’t forget that Roxette is scheduled to perform at Princess Victoria’s wedding concert next week, June 18! They are rumored to play ‘The Look’, but maybe that’s not the only song? So far one rehearsal video surfaced on Snowfish:
A special B.T. magazine edition about the Smukfest festival in Skanderborg, Denmark features an interview with Per about Roxette’s upcoming show and the album, as well as the biggest memories from the past. He states again that they aim for a spontaneous “power pop” show without computers in the background. For the album the goal is a “really, really good, classic Roxette” sound – including power ballads where Marie can shine. Check it out if you understand Danish (or use a translator)!
