Hallandsposten interview with Per Gessle about Gyllene Tider’s new album and tour in 2023

Jan-Owe Wikström did an interview with Per for Hallandsposten after the news about Gyllene Tider’s 2023 comeback came out. It all started with a newly purchased guitar, Mr. G says.

I bought a new guitar just over a year ago and when I do that, plug it into the amplifier and start playing, it usually automatically turns into a new song. And this one definitely screamed for Gyllene Tider.

In connection with the upcoming shooting of the Gyllene Tider movie, which is planned to be released in 2024, Per, MP, Göran, Anders and Micke Syd have also met more often than usual. Per told the guys he had written two damn good GT songs and wondered if they should record them. No one said no, so it spurred him on and he wrote ten more.

Almost a year ago, Per and MP went to the Tits & Ass Studio and recorded them. Then in spring the rest of the band joined the recording in Sweetspot Studio in Harplinge. The result is: twelve songs that Per is very proud of and satisfied with.

It’s catchy, uptempo, 2.30 and breathes vinyl and it’s the best GT record we’ve made. A completely different energy compared to “Samma skrot och korn”, which was made to play live.

The previous album was recorded in twelve days at Studios La Fabrique outside Saint-Rémy de Provence, down on the French Riviera. Now it was on home soil with the band themselves as producers.

The difference was that back then everything should be ready when we left. Here, we have been able to listen to and change and screw things up because we own the studio ourselves.

After all, everything is so easy with this band. No prestige, no egos but – magic. I can’t put my finger on it, but Anders and Micke play together in a different way than with other musicians, I sing in a different way in Gyllene Tider, MP’s guitar sounds a certain way, Göran’s organ… yes, everything becomes Gyllene Tider.

The record was ready in spring 2022 and it will be released in spring 2023. And yes, the title of it is Hux flux. Just like one of the songs’ title and the name of the upcoming summer tour.

While Per already during the recording of Samma skrot och korn in France felt that the band was too good to stop even then and the same feeling emerged during the tour in three of the other members, Micke Syd was adamant that this would be the dignified farewell. Per explains they respected and bought it and also thought it would be like that.

But while I never want to recklessly put myself in a hopeless or possibly fatal situation and I never say never, I understand how Micke thought. He is a good, spiritual guy who lives in the moment and then felt that we would finish on top when everyone was alive and in good health. At the same time, Micke is the one who is out the most and plays GT songs in various contexts, so when the record and tour came up, he was almost the first to say yes.

Per also believes that the corona pandemic probably affected everyone more than you think.

Yes, I can only speak for myself, but it gave you a different perspective on everything. You are more thoughtful, appreciate what you have and it became a different way of thinking, a different pace. Like, for example, my acoustic tour. I don’t think it would have come off otherwise. Not now anyway.

On 7th July next summer, Gyllene Tider will be at Brottet in Halmstad again for the premiere of the Hux flux tour. They booked the venues last summer because nowadays you have to be out in good time. Partly for the ticket sales vis-a-vis other artists, partly so that the venues are free.

If Malin-My Wall and Dea Norberg will join the band like the last tour, Per doesn’t want to reveal.

And of course there might be more than one concert at home in Halmstad and maybe the grand finale won’t be in Ullevi in Gothenburg.

Of course, it depends on how big the interest is, and then the neighbouring countries will come into the picture as well. But we are heading towards a recession, so the goal is for the tickets to be as cheap as possible, even though the costs are triple. Rather that people can afford it and that it becomes a public celebration.

And this time the word farewell is not mentioned…