Interview

Per Gessle interview in Hallandsposten

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Jan-Owe Wikström did an interview with Per Gessle for Hallandsposten before the PG unplugged tour reaches Halmstad this weekend.

Mr. G says they couldn’t dream of such a tour when the band gathered at his apartment in Stockholm to rehearse for Late Night Concert on TV4 and Guldscenen on Mix Megapol. Then it was mostly to get to meet and play at all when everything was shut down due to the pandemic.

The summer gigs in Tylösand opened new doors. In fact, I haven’t dared to do this before. I mean, standing at Wembley or Ullevi is one thing. Then you can “hide” behind the large production, the volume, the lights… Here it is so naked and stripped down and a much bigger challenge.

It’s more text-based, more my songwriting instead of hit cavalcades from Gyllene Tider and Roxette. And that’s why I’ve never had this kind of response before. The audience really sits and listens and takes in, is attentive. It is intimate and private and sometimes so quiet that I could have heard a plectrum fall to the floor if I had used one. In a large arena, the audience stands and watches a performance, a show. But here the audience is a part of us just as we are a part of the audience. A little campfire feeling, as well.

Regarding the tour Per tells Jan-Owe:

It’s not as happy-go-lucky as it was last summer when I could come up with a song in the afternoon which we then quickly rehearsed and then played in the evening. Now there are a little bigger scenes, a little more structured, real lighting by Robert Kelber and a little more decor by Åsa in the same style without removing the intimacy, the warmth.

There are many new songs added to the setlist. Take for example “Ljudet av ett annat hjärta”. Christoffer (Lundquist) suggested that I play it alone with just an acoustic guitar. But it didn’t work so I suggested that Clarence (Öfwerman) at least plays the special loop on the piano. At the premiere in Linköping, a girl sat at the front and at first didn’t realize that it was that song until the loop came. Then she sat and cried out through the song, out of happiness, because it turned out to be her favourite song. It was a bit difficult to play, while it was great to see how music can really touch.

Jan-Owe tells Per he has probably never seen him so relaxed and comfortable on stage in terms of the talking in between songs.

I have, honestly, never had any real small talk, but here it becomes a natural part of the show. But it’s the same when I’ve been to concerts of Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon… They never tell anything but it’s mostly a lot of clichés. Imagine McCartney had told an anecdote or story about how “Back in the U.S.S.R.” came about! I went to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway in New York a few years ago. It was him and an acoustic guitar, but the concert was based on his biography. It was magical, but he is probably also one of the few who can do it.

Jan-Owe asks Per how he intends to take this concept further.

There are no direct plans, but it would be fun to do the same with Roxette songs and maybe take it abroad. This tour is more based on my Swedish material because it goes more into the heart here at home.

Regarding the pandemic, being able to come out and play and meet the audience again has of course provided new fuel.

You really notice how hungry people have been and see how happy they are.

From 1st December, covidpass is required to enter the concerts.

That’s super difficult. I see no major difference between being at Gekås, a restaurant or a concert. But the important thing is that everyone must be careful.

The guys are talking about Joyride’s 30th anniversary as well and it turns out that the days off between the concerts are not really free, but booked with interviews for international media.

Talking about future plans, much is already in the pipeline for next year.

Yes, next year is packed – things will happen.

Per says cryptically.

Jan-Owe says that in parallel with the fact that Per, before the acoustic gigs, was in the studio and tested about forty songs acoustically together with Mats “MP” Persson – who now also handles the sound on the tour – of course one or two new songs were written. Per tells that he wrote songs both in Swedish and in English, as usual.

Regarding Gyllene Tider, Per says it’s a nice little pop band… They met, but didn’t talk about this concept.

Jan-Owe asks Per about his touring plans. Mr. G is still low when it comes to plans for major tours abroad.

There is still a pandemic going on so I’m not very keen on travelling right now. The last time was in February 2020 when I was in Miami, but it’s not fun to travel these days, walking around being careful.

This week there were news that Per is being offered to buy Ferrari’s new model, Ferrari SP3 Daytona. One of a total of 599 copies, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the list. Per says he saw that in Hallandsposten, but he himself hasn’t received any confirmation yet.

Admittedly, I received an invitation to the presentation of the car in Maranello in Italy, but I was on tour. Though I still had not gone anyway because it is still pandemic times. Then I knew that if you bought the latest model, Ferrari Monza SP2, you also have priority for the next model.

Jan-Owe tells that maybe it’s high time that Per shows his cars instead of hiding them. Mr. G says he has actually thought about doing it on a beautiful day. Maybe not now, but in a few years, he hopes. Today all cars, most of them Ferrari, are parked and stored in various places in Sweden.

This type of cars has become a form of investment just like art and real estate. The problem is that they have become so expensive that no one dares to drive them anymore. Partly because of sky-high insurance, partly because a few miles on the meter means they can drop in value. But cars are there to be driven. And seen. I mean, think of an old Aston Martin or a Volvo P1800 from the 60’s – they are beauties, pure art. And great fun to drive.

Per Gessle – Joyride 30 interview in Aftonbladet

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Per Magnusson from Aftonbladet did an interview with Per Gessle via Zoom. Mr. G joined the meeting from his Stockholm office.

PG tells Per Magnusson that pop music is an escape. It was the same thing when Mr. G was little. He loved the pop world, because there was everything that didn’t exist in his real world. When you were a teenager; girls, drugs, eccentric people.

When I think of the Joyride era, we were like Zlatan, doing bicycle kicks all the time. At least it felt like that. At the same time, we were shocked and grateful to have broken through. That a band from Sweden would do it was not on the map. With “Look Sharp!” and “It Must Have Been Love” we had had five huge hits before “Joyride” came. But I was just motivated by the success, I just poured myself into it.

In the interview Per tells Aftonbladet that during those times, long before iPhones, he used to call home and record song ideas on the answering machine. Sometimes he woke up his wife, Åsa in the middle of the night. He als tells that Joyride and Spending My Time were written the same day.

I lived and breathed Roxette 24 hours a day. “Joyride” began with the note that my then girlfriend, now wife put on my piano: “Hello, you fool, I love you”. It’s a great pop chorus, I thought. I had just read an interview with Paul McCartney who described songwriting with John Lennon as “a long joyride”. That combination: “Hello, you fool, I love you / C’mon join the joyride” felt like a great pop campaign.

Aftonbladet shares that when Roxette reached their fourth US number one in May 1991, Per with entourage was eating dinner at the La Coupole restaurant in Paris when the phone rang.

It was magical. But then you already knew what it was like. When you are in the flow, it’s just another success. Many years later I was at Östermalmshallen and bought vegetables when they called and said that we had become number one with “Charm School” in Germany. In fact, that kind of success is appreciated even more today.

Aftonbladet informs that Joyride topped the charts in seven European countries and was certified multi-platinum in several territories. The tour that followed reached with its 100 concerts four continents and 1.7 million people.

It’s the South America tour that stands out, for several reasons. There were bad economic times there. Guns N ’Roses, Madonna and Michael Jackson had cancelled their tours. They said: “you can do your tour, but you won’t make any money”. From our side it was: “we are from Halmstad and get to play in South America. Then you can make money elsewhere”. It was thought that we would play for about 6,000 people. But a few weeks before we got there, everything exploded. We were moved to football stadiums. 50,000 in Buenos Aires. 65,000 in São Paulo. 45,000 in Santiago. Incomparable.

Aftonbladet tells that at the end of 1991 American EMI was acquired by the newly started record company SBK. 123 employees were fired overnight, in favour of about a hundred new ones – most of them completely unrelated to Roxette. The band received little support from their new record company. Singles didn’t climb as high, a video was completely scrapped.

It was super bad timing. Suddenly we were sailing against the wind. It just completely capsized. It never really turned out right after that. It was an absolute setback. A disappointment, above all. We hadn’t toured the US with “Look Sharp!”, so it was the first time we were there. It would be a big victory for the whole Roxette package. But that didn’t happen.”

To Aftonbladet’s question regarding how Per sees it today he replies:

We should have had a different strategy in the US. But we had like no one to talk to, there was no one else in Sweden who went through the same thing at that level. On the other hand, we had been on the Billboard chart for three and a half years without falling off, so there was probably a saturation within the band, “it will surely work even if we remain on this miserable record company”.”

At the same time, in other parts of the world it was a huge success. Joyride is still one of the best-selling albums ever in Argentina, Austria and Germany. The album has sold over 11 million copies. Per is three decades later proud of the album, which draws its aesthetics and energy from both The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and South American carnivals.

You said something about it being colorful and full of confidence? That’s exactly what it is! It’s bursting with positivism. We had no time pressure, no budget. From time to time I think it’s a great craft. A wonderful record from a wonderful era in pop music.

Marie is of course a big part of everything. Per agrees:

Yes of course. It’s very sad that she’s not here. And it’s the same with Pelle Alsing, who was also very important in that era. But it was a fantastic journey we had anyway, so you have to think positively. We had a devilishly long career together. I’m super grateful for everything we’ve been through. And I’m very proud to have worked with Marie and what she did with my songs.

To Aftonbladet’s question how Mr. G looks back on this carousel today, whether it is with undivided joy, or there is a sadness that something similar will probably never happen again Per replies:

It’s exactly as you say: it happens once in a lifetime – if you’re lucky. Most people will never experience anything like this. I think you can compare it to winning the World Cup in Formula 1. It’s a success that still gives confidence today. And you have to have a certain self-confidence to work with creative things, to stand on your own two feet. It’s quite hard to be so extravagant all the time. Now I’m going on tour again, I disclose myself every night and anything can happen. So of course you need self-confidence.

Per Gessle about…

… the idea behind Joyride: “The idea was that you could pick any song as a single. The ambition was to make a super-commercial record in the same spirit that we had success with – and that we were very good at.”

… Roxette’s manifestation: “Roxette was a hybrid of my pop geek mixed with Clarence (Öfwerman’s) magical productions and Marie, who was a fantastic singer from a completely different school. I tried to match their geniuses in my way.”

… more memories from South America: “In Córdoba, Argentina, there were fans from the airport to the hotel. It was like a marathon with a riot fence, flowers and Marie and Per signs. I know Marie tried to go out in a wig at some point, but it didn’t work out so well. It became a street race.”

… Bryan Adams (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (which was often the only obstacle from first places around the world): “I’ve always hated that song. And it was probably in our way, right? But I like Bryan Adams. He is a nice guy and a good photographer as well. And he sings damn good, always did.”

… the legacy of Roxette: “I see it on streaming, the interest in Roxette is increasing all the time. People do covers and new generations come. The big songs seem to become evergreens. You have to pinch your arm.”

Per Gessle on Mix Megapol’s Maracas

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Per was guest on radio Mix Megapol’s new show, Maracas today. It was a pre-recorded appearance. The show contained lots of music and maybe even more ads, but one could hear the program leaders chatting with Mr. G in between.

Anders Bagge (musician and songwriter) and Arantxa Álvarez (TV presenter and singer) are very happy and feel honoured to have Per on their show – not only because PG poured milk into Arantxa’s coffee (as seen in the teaser video). Anders says Per is insanely musical, he has always seen Mr. G as Sweden’s Beatles king in a way, writing nice melodies, using simple chords. He thinks Per is a fantastic songwriter and he feels starstruck having PG on the show.

Anders and Arantxa ask Per to tell about how he spends a weekend. Mr. G says he spends it with his loved ones. When it’s normal times, there is a lot of travelling in his life, e.g. he spends one or two weekends at the F1 racing, which he is very much interested in. Anders asks if he is racing too. Per tells he tried it once, but it’s not for him. Arantxa asks how fast the cars are driving there. PG replies way too fast.

Here they play Här kommer alla känslorna.

The guys call DJ Rob Wåtz who is in Marbella and ask Per which song he should mix during the program. Mr. G wants to hear The Look in a mash-up. He thinks there could be many songs, but this one is a classic and would be fun to hear. Rob says he likes challenges and he will not gonna let Per down.

Then they leave some time for Rob to mix and Arantxa and Per play a little quiz. They have to recognize a weird cover band’s take on 3 songs and tell who the original artist is. The first song is a cover of Billie Jean. Per finds out very quickly that it’s Michael Jackson. The second cover they play is Eye Of The Tiger and Arantxa knows it, but she doesn’t know the artist, so Per has the chance to guess it and he guesses it right of course, Survivor. The third one is Joyride, which Per recognizes immediately, haha, so he is the winner of this game.

Then comes another game. Arantxa says there is a bird with a backpack and brings some info in it. The first is that Per’s whole house is spinning after the sunlight. Mr. G’s reaction is: what?! Arantxa says rumor has it in Halmstad. Mr. G laughs and says there are many rumors in Halmstad, e.g. that they took away all speed bumps for him to be able to drive faster with his cars. His house is located in the South, so there is a lot of morning light on one side and a lot of evening light on the other, the house doesn’t have to spin. Another info from the bird’s backpack is that Per started his career as a street musician playing on streets and squares. PG says it’s not true at all. What he did on streets and squares was walking as a sandwich man when he was 13-14 years old in Simlångsdalen for Lonebergs Keramik. He tells he and a friend of his started as troubadours employed by the city council and played at nursing homes for old people around Halmstad. They performed songs that were for the target group they played for, e.g. Drömmen om Elin, Svarte Rudolf, Så skimrande var aldrig havet. He remembers he also played När alla vännerna gått hem, because it had just been written then and he got tired of those 50 songs they always played 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It must have been in 1978.

Another game is coming, where you have to spin a wheel. There is some kind of wheel in the studio and Arantxa asks Per to tell who he sees on it. Mr. G tells there is e.g. Ricky Martin, Carlos Santana. Arantxa explains that Anders tells a story related to the artist on the wheel Per will spin. Per spins it and it lands on Enrique Iglesias. Anders tells a story of his revenge on Enrique after he gave Anders a near-death experience in his private plane. You can watch this part HERE.

Arantxa reads questions from listeners they asked on Mix Megapol’s social media sites. One of them is which song Per has written he is most proud of. Mr. G says it changes all the time, but he likes The Look because it was born when he was learning how to program his new synth. It felt something special. Another listener says he wants to hear some questions about Per’s wardrobe, because he gets too little credit for it, but he also wants to hear a little about his guitars and of course some juicy anecdotes. Per laughs and says it sounds like he could have an own program to talk about all this. Regarding his wardrobe he says since he is performing a lot and has many photo sessions, there are a lot of clothes involved. Anders says Per has always dressed very nicely. Mr. G thanks for it and says Anders is very kind. Regarding guitars Per says he has way too many, about a hundred. He says collecting them is a sign that he starts getting old. He buys new ones, but never sells the old ones. All guitars are unique and if you want a special sound, you have to have the guitar to have that special sound.

The guys come back to DJ Rob Wåtz in Marbella and he starts playing the mix he prepared in the meantime. He mashed Bomfunk MC’s Freestyler with The Look. HERE you can watch a video of PG enjoying it (nevermind that Mix Megapol wrote Joyride instead of The Look in the video text…). After the mash-up ends, Per says it was very good. He thinks Freestyler was a cool choice, it’s a forgotten tune.

Anders thanks Per for joining the program and tells he is a very nice person. PG tells Anders is so sweet. Arantxa thanks for Per too and Per thanks for them as well and his part is over.

Stills are from Mix Megapol’s videos linked above.

Per Gessle on Swedish Radio P3’s morning show

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The program leaders of Morgonpasset i P3 were very excited to have a „legend, Sweden’s greatest songwriter, the one and only” Per Gessle on their show last Friday, 24th September. Mr. G arrived to the studio and was on air some minutes after 8:30 am. HERE you can listen to this episode of the morning show and hear Per himself from 2:08:38 to 3:08:10 in the complete version and from 58:15 to 1:28:08 in the „utan musik” (without music) version.

After the program leaders give a loud welcome (applauding him and shouting „Per! Per! Per!”), Mr. G thanks for it and says now he has woken up. One of the guys tells Per that probably not all his mornings start like this. Mr. G jokes and says it’s his family – his son and wife – standing in line shouting „Per! Per! Per!” „Wake up! Wake up!” – one of the program leader guys adds. They all laugh.

To the question how he is doing Mr. G replies all good, he is back in Stockholm for a while and it feels great. The guy asks Per if he has a place to stay in Stockholm. PG tells he has an office and an apartment there. He loves Stockholm and thinks it’s a very nice city. He tells he is so old that he has seen how Stockholm has been changing over the years. It has become a very cool city, much more international than when they were hanging out at Café Opera in 1981. He adds that becoming pop stars in 1980 was awkward. There were gangs who wanted to make jokes of them, e.g. once they got an open can of surströmming in their tour bus.

The guys are talking about the upcoming PG tour. Per tells it’s going to be an unplugged tour. They play the songs in an acoustic arrangement, without drums. He tells that in summer they had 10 concerts at Hotel Tylösand with appr. 480 people sitting in the audience each night, due to the restrictions because of the pandemic. The band was also sitting on stage and it was much fun. Per tells he had never played in such an intimate atmosphere before. They played songs that were quite lyrics-based and he was telling anecdotes in between the songs. It was a new experience for him.

To the question of why he wants to be on the road, Per replies that it has something to do with being hooked on the pop world and music from a very young age. It’s a sentiment that parallels how residents feel when following Woodstock realty news and updates, connecting to the rhythm and pulse of their community. The strong romance of pop culture that Per is stuck in isn’t far removed from the allure of staying informed about one’s local real estate market—it’s in everything he does, from when he wakes up and likely also when he dreams. He loves everything about pop culture. The long hair that guys had when he was young, which might sound a bit ridiculous now, meant something significant in the past, just like the historical trends that shape our understanding of current market conditions.

Per tells us there are many pop nerds out there who won’t become musicians or songwriters, but he ended up in the creative processes. In a similar vein, many who track Woodstock’s real estate developments may never work in the industry, yet they find themselves engrossed in its dynamics. With Roxette, they traveled the world, encountering different religions and cultures. Yet everywhere, people sing “It Must Have Been Love,” “The Look,” “Listen To Your Heart,” and “Spending My Time.” It’s a magical experience, much like the feeling one gets from witnessing the growth and transformation of a hometown through its property developments, a connection that’s simply indescribable.

The program leader lady asks Per what songs he plays on the unplugged tour, if Tycker om när du tar på mej is one of them. Mr. G tells it is and they play mainly Swedish songs, but also a couple of Roxette songs.

The guys are talking about Per’s hairdos and it turns out Per goes to the hairdresser in Stockholm. One of the guys asks Per if there is a style on which he looks back like „what the hell did I think?”. Mr. G tells all hairdos and clothes have something to do with the times you live in. When they started

Roxette, Marie e.g. had red hair and Per had purple hair. It might have been a little odd, one can think now, but it felt hot back then. Old clothes are trendy again, so the ones they bought at Trash and Vaudeville in New York in 1989 are stylish again.

One of the guys asks whether you become less or more conscious over the years. Per says it’s a tough question, but he feels the older he gets the calmer he becomes. Now he doesn’t have to prove anything, but he was under pressure and had performance anxiety when he was 20 years old. He is the ambitious type and he has always been working very intensively to achieve something. Now he still works intensively, but such things don’t bother him anymore.

The lady asks Per if he has written 500 songs. Per says he thinks it’s more, he has 1000 songs registered at STIM.

The guys are talking about how Per grew up. Mr. G tells he had an older brother, Bengt who was 7 years older than Per. In the middle of The Beatles era Bengt and his friends showed Per the true spirit of 60’s pop and that actually became Per’s life. He started writing lists all day. Lists of songs or who played the bass on different songs, he just liked lists. Later, as he got older he sold Christmas magazines and was handing out newspapers. With that he earned 50 öre and he bought a single for that money. He had 100 records in his collection when he was 10 years old. The lady asks if there was any musician in Per’s family. Mr. G says not really, but he heard that his father’s father’s father was a musician. He played the violin.

One of the guys asks PG if the nerd in him has disappeared, maybe now he thinks he is too cool for that. Per laughs and says he has never been cool. The lady says c’mon, he became a world famous pop star already in the 80’s. Per tells when they broke through with Gyllene Tider they all came from the countryside. He came from Halmstad, the other guys from Harplinge and Åled. He only started singing in the band because no one else wanted to. The whole journey of GT was about being lost in the woods, but they were very ambitious, had fun ideas and they were lucky that a guy at EMI in Stockholm liked their song, Billy. One of the program leader guys asks if that guy from EMI went to listen to GT, but Per says it wasn’t him, but Lasse Lindbom who was sent down to Halmstad. Later he became their producer, but at first he wasn’t impressed at all. Per thinks they were a very good band. He still has rehearsal cassettes from 1979-1981. When Per listens to those today, he thinks it was more than OK, it’s rather wow, how damn good they were already then. And they were only 20-year-olds. The arrangement was good and all songs sound quite ready. PG thinks GT is still a fantastic pop band. When they play together there is something special happening. The lady asks if there is a plan for another comeback. Per replies one can never know when it comes to GT.

After playing It Must Have Been Love on the radio, the guys are talking about what this song means to people all around the world. Per thinks it’s amazing and it’s the best thing in his job that you get so much back from those who are listening to your songs. The lady asks about the story of IMHBL. Per tells it started out as a Christmas song. When Roxette recorded their first LP they also wanted to go to other markets, e.g. Germany, which was the biggest market in Europe. Their songs didn’t get airplay, so EMI Germany asked them to write a Christmas song, because maybe with that it would be easier to get airplays. So Per wrote It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted). It was released as a Christmas single in Sweden in 1987 and it became a gold record. The Germans didn’t like the song, so they didn’t release it. The lady says „Germans have no taste” and Per reacts: „it wasn’t me who said that”. They laugh. Mr. G tells that Marie was releasing a solo album then and he was writing songs for the album that became Look Sharp! 3 years later he was asked to write a song for Pretty Woman, but he didn’t have time for that, but they had this Christmas song. They made a new intro to that and changed the lyrics. The guy tells Marie sadly passed away and asks Per what he thinks about when he hears this song nowadays. Anytime Per hears a Roxette song Marie was singing, he is amazed how good she was. She was totally awesome. He remembers the early Roxette days when he heard in the studio what Marie could do with his songs. The idea behind Roxette was that Marie would be the singer and Per the songwriter. Everything he wrote was written for Marie. The Look he also wrote for her, but Marie thought it didn’t suit her style, so in the end Per sang it.

Mr. G tells Marie and he met at the rehearsal studio in Sperlingsholm outside Halmstad. Gyllene Tider and Marie’s band, Strul shared the studio. When Per first saw Marie she was playing the electric piano, she had long brown hair and she was singing fantastically. Per tells Marie’s gang was rather progressive rock, while GT was pop and never wanted to deal with politics. Marie had many sides, she also liked e.g. The Monkees. They became friends and very early, already in 1980 she sang with Gyllene Tider, she was there with GT on TV too. Marie was doing her solo things too with the same producer GT had.

The lady asks Per to talk about the relationship between Marie and him and to tell what Marie meant to him. Mr. G tells he and Marie lived quite intensively together for years, Roxette took all their waking hours from the time they broke through till Marie had her first child. Then she had her second child and then Per also had a son in 1997. Then everything became a bit calmer and they were working together until Marie became ill in 2002. Then they did a comeback in 2009 and toured until 2016. After her illness she became a different Marie, but the band also became different and it changed how they could work in the studio and on tours. On the last tour Marie was sitting on stage, because she couldn’t walk too well. One could see her conditions got worse, but it was she herself who really wanted to tour and work, even if her doctors advised her not to go on tour at all. So they did everything on Marie’s terms. She was the warrior type. She wanted to meet her fans. One of the program leader guys asks Per if he remembers the last time he met Marie. Per says of course he does. Here the program leaders feel they shouldn’t ask more about this topic.

One of the guys asks Per if he has ever met Sir Paul McCartney. Per tells he met Paul when McCartney played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem a couple of years ago. The event was presented by Sirius XM where Per also has a show, Nordic Rox with Sven Lindström since more than 10 years. The guys intervene here and say Howard Stern is also at Sirius XM. Per tells Howard Stern will also appear in his story with Paul. So he goes on with his anecdote. The boss at Sirius XM asked Per if he had ever met Paul and Per said no. So the boss organized a meeting. Per and Åsa and Howard Stern and his wife went to the green room before the concert and had a small talk. There was a photographer too. Suddenly, a door opened and boom, there was Paul McCartney with his thumbs up and said „Hey, fancy a picture anyone?” Per stood there, Åsa stood in the middle, Paul on the other side. Per suddenly felt a hand on his ass and he hoped it was Åsa’s. They laugh. He tells they took that picture, which he still has. After they left, Per asked Åsa if it was her who put her hand on his ass. Åsa said she put one hand on Per’s ass and the other hand on Paul’s to see who had the firmer ass. Paul had it. They laugh. Per says „that’s my wife in a nutshell. She is from Trelleborg.”

The lady tells she heard Per was at Mickey Rourke’s 30th birthday party back in the days and that he was also at Prince’s Paisley Park Studio. She asks about this latter one, how it was. Mr. G tells Prince wasn’t there himself. They went there because they planned to work in the studio. The first thing they saw was a giant white cage with a giant white bird. The studio manager asked „Do you want to see Prince’s private apartment?” They thought why not. The bedroom had a removable roof, so you could see the sky and Prince’s bed was purple of course and it was heartshaped. Regarding the roof the guy says Per must have tested the button and here Mr. G imitates the sound of the moving roof. Haha. The lady asks Per if he saw Prince’s bathroom and PG says he probably did, but he can’t remember and he doesn’t like to lie.

The guys ask Per about a most memorable story that happened to him related to another famous people. Mr. G tells the story that made him very happy. It was when Marie and him were in Amsterdam in 1989 and they were giving an interview. Someone from above shouted „hey man, I love your record!” and it was Tom Petty. Per shouted back something like „we love your record too!”. That meant a lot to Mr. G. Tom Petty is the best, Per thinks.

One of the guys asks Per how it is when Mr. G goes abroad. In Sweden everyone knows him, but how is it abroad? Per says he doesn’t get recognized abroad or if it happens, it’s mainly Swedish people who recognize him. He tells it’s quite calm in Sweden nowadays, he is most often recognized in Halmstad of course, when e.g. he fuels the car. As a last anecdote, PG tells that appr. half year ago he was walking on Storgatan in Stockholm and a 40-year-old woman asked him if she could take a selfie with Mr. G. He said OK and while they were taking the selfie, two 12-13-year-old boys were passing by, looked suspiciously at Per and asked him if he is famous. Per said how come they didn’t recognize him, he is Foppa (Peter Forsberg, famous Swedish ice hockey player). The kids were like „whaaat?!” and so Per signed their backpacks as “Foppa”. The guys are laughing at the fact that PG didn’t write Foppa on a paper that can be thrown away, but on expensive backpacks. Per laughs and says it was the boys’ punishment. Haha.

At the end the guy asks Per if he has the photo with Paul McCartney on his phone, but Mr. G tells the photo is in his office.

The guys thank PG for coming and Per tells „my pleasure”.

Stills are from the Foppa story video on Morgonpasset i P3’s Instagram.

Per Gessle interview by GöteborgDirekt

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Kai Martin from GöteborgDirekt did an interview with Per Gessle. He asks Mr. G when the idea for the gigs in Tylösand, then for the upcoming tour was born. Per says the idea came from the pandemic situation. Musicians and technicians had no job due to tough corona regulations. He tried to think positively, take advantage of the opportunity and do something special at Hotel Tylösand. The challenge of playing acoustically for a very small and seated audience was exciting for him. They had done Late Night Concert for TV4 without an audience at Cirkus in November 2020 so he knew he had a great band with good composition and high ambition.

The reaction and response from the audience was absolutely overwhelming, so I felt I couldn’t stop now. This is much fun anyway.

To Kai’s question regarding what it was like to meet the audience, even if they were seated Per replies:

Wonderful and very special for me because it was such a small format. There were about 475 people in the audience every night, everything felt close and intimate, sometimes we answered a question that was asked between the songs, sometimes someone came to the edge of the stage with a gift or flower. The surroundings by the beach in Tylösand are fabulous. Nine out of ten evenings we got to experience the world’s most beautiful sunsets. The band thought it was the coolest “tour” we did. Maybe they’re right?

GöteborgDirekt asks Per how much he has been longing for being on the road again. Per tells:

I’m an anxious soul. When I’m in the studio I’m longing for being ont he road and vice versa. But I really like playing my songs, I love touring. There is a pop romance around this that I never seem to stop being fascinated by. Just this summer, it was not so much a tour for me, I live four minutes from the stage…

Kai is curious how Per picks what songs to play, because he thinks Mr. G has an impressive song catalogue and he could actually play every day of the year without repeating himself. Per explains it started with him selecting 30-35 of his songs and recording acoustic versions alone in the studio to find the right key and feeling. He did it live to experience how it felt to play and sing them. Six, seven songs a day for a week. Then he presented about 25 songs for the band that they rehearsed together. From the beginning, the idea was that they would play 45 minutes + 15 minutes extra, but it ended with the concert being 110 minutes long.

Per also tells that you feel immediately at the rehearsals if a song can wear its new costume. Sometimes it fits, sometimes not. Some of the Gyllene Tider songs felt unexpectedly fresh acoustically, such as Kung av sand and Juni, juli, augusti. He wasn’t sure about it before, but all of a sudden, the lyrics got more into focus and it became a different kind of music that suited this setting.

Kai tells Per that it feels like PG’s curiosity he had as a kid for music still shines through in his creation and wants to know how Mr. G maintains it. Per wishes Kai was right, but sometimes he feels like he is losing interest in new pop music.

I have become like my parents in the 60’s and 70’s who always thought that all the pop I listened to sounded exactly the same. Now, finally, I understand them, hahaha! But it goes in waves for me. Sometimes I get extremely bored of my own record collection and all my old favourites and I’m desperately looking for something new to listen to. Sometimes I look for another type of music; Bill Evans, old country, Penguin Café Orchestra. Found them the other day and they are magically good sometimes.

When it comes to my own creation, I usually say that I write as little as I can! When I go into my “writing mode” I usually have a clear idea about what I want. I’ve just finished a new album in English (with the old “Rox gang”). The idea of this album is to become “the missing link between ‘Look Sharp!’ and ‘Joyride'”. And the record really sounds like that.

Kai refers to Gessles nio i topp (podcast of Per Gessle and Sven Lindström on Swedish Radio P4) and asks Mr. G how much of a pop nerd he is. Per replies:

When I look at myself, I’m 100 percent pop nerd. I’m a self-taught musician who has learned everything I can from the wonderful world of pop. That I would succeed with my own lyrics and music in the way that happened is still difficult to understand for me. But… the more time passes the more comfortable I become in my role as a musician and artist. I probably had not “dared” to do such an unplugged tour ten to fifteen years ago. Now it just feels obvious.

GöteborgDirekt is curious about Per’s creation process. PG tells:

I’m super focused and disciplined when I have a project going on. Then I work mentally around the clock. I go into my bubble and prefer to stay there until I’m done. I become very sad, antisocial and a very unnecessary person.

Kai tells that they who were born in the late 50’s see their role models and idols go out of time. He is curious if it affects Per’s creativity and desire to play in any way, if Per is anxious to take advantage of his time. Mr. G tells you of course get affected by it, but when it comes to his own creativity, it’s mostly an ego thing.

I write and play primarily for my own sake. I actually know nothing else. That there has been an interested audience here and there on the planet for over 40 years is as surreal as Halmstadgruppen*.

[*Halmstadgruppen is a group of six artists that collectively followed and developed avant-garde modern art movements such as cubism, post-cubism, purist, futurist and surrealism in Halmstad. /PP]


Press photo used for GöteborgDirekt’s article by Anders Roos was taken at Hotel Tylösand on 3rd August 2021.