Month: August 2014

Marie Fredriksson and Rockbjörnen 2014

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It all started in the beginning of June, when we asked you to vote for Marie Fredriksson as live artist of the year and help her winning a Rockbjörnen award. Roxers are very good at voting, so it was not a real surprise when we got to see Marie on the shortlist for Swedish female live artist of the year. It was a very happy moment for all of us.

The voting went on and on, each day more and more fans joined us and kept their fingers crossed for our votes being enough for Marie to win. Aftonbladet also encouraged the voting several times either on their website or in their Facebook posts, sometimes also using Marie’s photo vs. other artists which made us vote even harder. According to Aftonbladet, it was a record period for them regarding the number of votes. They registered appr. 1 million votes in total. Thanx everyone, who voted for Marie!

Aftonbladet broadcast the gala live, but we couldn’t see Ms Effe at the show. Not seeing her arriving to the gala felt like a prediction that the winner could be someone else. Also because of the fact that only 1 shortlisted artist (in this category I mean) arrived to the gala. This time the winner in the category is Zara Larsson.

Actually, winning a Rockbjörn or not, I can say it in each and every fan’s name: Marie is the female live artist of the year for all of us! Can’t wait to hear you live again, Marie! See you on tour!

 

Besides mentioning Roxette and Gyllene Tider several times during the gala, there were many Rockbjörnen historical pics shown on a background screen. This one as well.
Besides mentioning Roxette and Gyllene Tider several times during the gala, there were many Rockbjörnen historical pics shown on a background screen. This one as well.

 

A new book with a Per Gessle interview

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hogman-per-gessle-1400pxI was surprised to see a new Roxette book appearing on the list when I was searching for something else at Adlibris today. Then reading the title I got even more excited. Cirkus Roxette är tillbaka: En intervju med Per Gessle (= Cirkus Roxette is back: An interview with Per Gessle) written by Åke Högman.

It’s an interview with Per originally published in 1999 in Café magazine. The book was published on 18th August 2014. You can buy the printed book (41 pages) or the e-book (17 pages) at Adlibris and the printed format at many other sites as well (even at Bengans and CDON). The difference in the number of pages between the printed and the e-book version is probably some more pictures or editing in the printed one.

The interview is about Per and his family, Hotel Tylösand, art, the music business, business in general, Roxette, Have A Nice Day album (which was released the year when the interview was done), Join The Flumeride, cars, champagnes and more.

When talking about Michael Hutchence and Kurt Cobain, the reporter asked Per if he had ever been on drugs. Per replied:

Nah… I haven’t been on drugs that way, so if I had answered yes then you would ask a next question, so it’s better if I say no. So the answer is no, that’s a good answer.

Then the reporter asked if it was the truth. He replied:

Well it’s totally true, yes, damn it, I never lie… no, but it’s a sensitive subject, not for me but for many others (laughs).

 

An interview with Per Gessle is not complete without talking about songs and / or songwriting.

For me there is still nothing better than when you just wrote a song or when you hear a great pop song for the first time. I still remember the first time I heard the Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen in Love” or “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and freaked out totally. There’s nothing else I’m passionate about the same way.

 

Some opinions about Per can also be found in the book. Marie Fredriksson says this:

A fantastic friend, but a very bad loser. He wants so badly to win. He played with my husband in an internal tennis tournament we had on Capri when we recorded Crash! Boom! Bang! and was sour for a whole day because he lost. Thank God he won the tournament in the end, so it was quiet in the house.

 

Look Sharp! 25 radio documentary on the shortlist at the Swedish Radio gala

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You surely remember the fabulous radio documentary of Tara Moshizi and Tove Meyer related to Look Sharp!’s 25th anniversary. Here you can read our summary of the docu, which was broadcast on New Year’s Eve last year. Now this great radio documentary got on the shortlist for The music program of the year at the Swedish Radio gala.

Stora Radiopriset is organized by the Radio Academy, which is a nonprofit organization in alliance with major radio companies. The aim is to annually reward and pay attention to Sweden’s best radio productions. This year there was a record number of nominations, namely 260 programs were nominated. On 18th September it will turn out if the Roxette docu is the winner of the category.

Keep your fingers crossed, Roxers! Good luck, Tara & Tove! You would definitely deserve this great prize.

Look_Sharp_25_for_Stora_Radiopriset

Get your signed copy of The Per Gessle Archives

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A new promo video of The Per Gessle Archives has been published today by Cosmos Music Group. The title says The Per Gessle Archives – A Lifetime of Songwriting (part 2/3), so there is surely going to be a third promo video soon. Part 1 you can watch here. The complete list of tracklists shared by Mr G can be seen in this earlier article.

TPGA

Fun to read some new things in this second promo video, like:

Per Gessle presents ”The return of Oddjob part three: The Demos”.

3 songs recorded at the short-haired, yellow bellied, Son of tricky dicky, mother hubbard soft soap Tits&Ass studio, Halmstad by the Continent in freezin’ February 1998.

Pre-order your copy latest until 23rd September to be sure you’ll have your TPGA signed by Per. Offer is valid at Ginza, Bengans and CDON.

Gosh, it’s still August… Will this month ever end?