In March 2011, the RoxetteBrasil.net website asked Brazilian Roxette fans what they would like to know about the band if they could ask. Among all the questions, we chose the best ones and here they are:
ROXETTE BRASIL: First of all, thank you so much for being in Brazil again! You have made a lot of our dreams come true. How does it feel to be in Brazil after 12 years? What are your best memories of our country? What do you think about the Brazilian fans?
We certainly love to play Brazil. South America has always had a special place in our hearts. Very generous, warm and loud people. We like that!
RXBRA: November 3, 2010 was a special day for us fans, because it was the day you announced the world tour. In that morning Brazilians put Roxette in the 3rd place on the Brazilian Twitter trending topics. This, plus the worldwide excitement, made Roxette the 9th most typed word in the world that unforgettable morning. Per, you are very active in Twitter: were you surprised regarding this fact?
I was. And still am. I’m not that super active on Twitter anymore. I spend more time on Facebook (Roxette Official) these days. But I’m very proud that so many people in Brazil are waving the Rox flag very high!!!
RXBRA: Per, after all these years, what still drives you to write fantastic songs?
Thanx. I do my best. I love my work. I have great people around me who takes the time to understand my ambitions and ideas. Without them I’m sure most of my songs would sound terrible!
RXBRA: You are singing and playing some songs for many years, so when you play them, do you really feel your music as before, as the 1st time (words, melodies, emotions)? I mean do you get moved or it is something little mechanic now? Which song do you get easily moved by when you play?
Songs like “It must have been lunch” or “Listen to your heart” are almost impossible to rehearse these days. But as soon as you have the crowd in front of you, you’re filled with lots of energy and emotions. I love playing all those old songs over and over again. They seem to mean so much for people all over the world. It’s the greatest reward you can get as a writer.
RXBRA: Talking about writing, you wrote 1995 hit “You don’t understand me” in collaboration with Desmond Child. How did this happen? A lot of fans want to know if you are interested in working (writing/singing) with other famous faces. And if so, who would it be?
Desmond and I started working when he was in Sweden doing something else. The songs we wrote were not intended for Rox but Marie fell in love with You don’t understand me the first time she heard it. She wanted to sing on the demo! And it suddenly became a Roxette song. No, I’m not really that interested in writing with other people. Never was actually. But maybe I should try???
RXBRA: You said once in a former Official Roxette Fanclub interview from 1994 that there was a big lack in your life (talking about Sleeping in my car song.) So, did you already make love in the back seat of your car?
Ayayay. No secrets revealed (anymore!). Sorry.
RXBRA: Now, talking about Charm School, Brazilians agree with Clarence when he said it was one of the best Roxette albums. How many songs did you record in the process? Any chance we get to know one or two non-used songs as the next b-sides? Which is your favorite track and Marie s?
There are three, maybe four more around. Don’t know if we’re gonna use them. Marie’s fave track is “No one makes it on her own”. Mine is “I’m glad you called”. And “Way Out” because it’s hard to write songs like that at my age!!
RXBRA: After 10 years, you are back on tour with Roxette. What do you think about so many young people in your concerts? It must feel good to know your music survived all these years, right? Many young Brazilians were on diapers when you sang ‘Hello, you fool, I love you’ for the first time and now they are here singing with you.
Yea, it feels fab!!! It’s like that all over the world. I guess the music we’re making is quite timeless. We were never interested in trends that pass after a few months. We’re very old fashioned in that sense. Maybe it pays off?
RXBRA: Roxette fans always talk about the fact the band doesn’t have a proper live concert registered on DVD. Are there any chances to have a DVD from this tour? Is there any chance of some old concert to be released as well? And also, we are looking forward to seeing you on Blu-Ray!!!
Yea, we’re working on this!!!! Stay tuned!
RXBRA: At Crash! Boom! Bang! documentary, in spite of it was in Swedish and we hardly understood it, you said that you talked to your bottles of wine. (Scene from Per in his wine cellar). Do you still talk with them?
Talking to them? What a great idea! Forgot about that!
RXBRA: Now, what can you tell us about the band’s future? We know the tour might expand till the next year but, after this, things still are up to Marie or now you are back for good? Do you intend to comeback to close the Tour in South America?
It looks like the tour will expand well into 2012. Who knows, we might pop up in South America again before long. We’d love that! No promises, though! Cheers, P.
Roxette Brasil Team: Thank you Per for your kind attention with us and with all Brazilian fans! We hardly can’t wait for that! We bet all fans from South America will sold out the stages once again to see you! So, we hope to see you very soon again!
Big thanks to Danyela Etchart of RoxetteBrasil.net for sending us this interview.
Great one! I think Per wants to save the unused songs for an upcoming album. 🙂
Great interview!!!
But I have found a funny mistake in the 4th box directly under the picture: “It must have been lunch”! 🙂
Was this a mistake by the Roxette Brasil Team or did Per intend to make a joke? Nevertheless, I think it’s cool!! :))
It must have been lunch, but it’s over now… it was all that I wanted, cause I’m hungry somehow! 🙂
I saw Per naming it that way for the first time in the MTV Unplugged interview 1993. 🙂
If you read the booklet of Don’t Bore Us, you will notice that Per did the same joke with the song’s name (It must have been lunch, but it’s over now…).
Yes, you are right, Per has made this joke also in the booklet of “Don’t bore us”! So he has made an old joke again, but Per can do everything! 😉
I can well imagine that it is hard for P&M to rehearse songs like IMHL without making fun of it, otherwise it must be very boring for them. But as Per put it, on stage they sing them still in a wonderful way!!
Fans have the best questions. Interesting how little P talks about his personal life. Since he’s been with Åsa about 30 years it would be great to hear his opinion about how to build a long lasting relationship.
@Miami in my opinion I don’t really blame Per and Marie for keeping some facts of their lives private as I guess we as fans feel we know them personally and should know every detail about their lives. But the fact is they are just people who happen to be very good entertainers. By seperating their private lives from the showbiz life is probably the only way they can remain sane with all the attention they receive from the fans. Judging from previous interviews one can see Marie is very protective of her private life with her family which is a good thing 🙂
Heidi, I didn’t mean anything negative with that comment. I can perfectly well understand that they want to keep their personal lifes just with themselves. But since it’s not very common (or that’s how it seems) that people in different fields of entertainment have long lasting relationships it would be nice to hear their view on the subject.
I also wonder is it because they have so strict rules with the media (and fan media too) they can feel safe to be accessible to the fans meeting them (us! 🙂 ) face to face. I like their style, too, and I think many stars could learn from them.
Per might tour again with Gyllene Tider in the near future as he hinted on that in Cape Town. I think both Marie & Per wish to keep their solo Swedish careers going simultaniously with the revival of Roxette! Who knows maybe Marie has started to write another Swedish album already! but since she writes slowly it might take some time still.
I’d like them to do/be as much Roxette as possible, but don’t have a problem with solo activities either. Swedish releases and tours don’t take that much time after all.
@Miami I could not agree with you more!! I think most artists could learn a hell of a lot from Per & Marie in terms of being highly successful and at the same time being such ‘normal’ warm & down to earth people! And I think right there is where the magic lies of their relationships. They preferred even with all of the international pressure to remain Swedish still after all these years. They remained true to their culture, beliefs and identity….exactly what made them so special in the first place! 🙂
Notice Marie’s preferences: She won’t attend press conferences or do any interviews – but as we can see in many videos in YouTube, she has always time for the fans. 😀
That’s so true! I am sure Marie knows the fans accept, love and adore her even with the minor ‘lyric mistakes’ !
The media is another story. Some journo’s are out to make people look bad just for the fun of it, so I do not really blame Marie for keeping a low profile in that regard – in any case I think she used to hate doing press conferences back in the day 🙂
Happy to share! 😀
Tomasz, you forgot one “in” in the 1st answer from PER:
“We certainly love to play IN Brazil…”
About “IMHB-Lunch”… I think Per’s diet is driving him crazy since DBUGTTC!!! Lunch time!!! 😛