The interview was recorded in Moscow. In the end you are able to watch a TV ID for the New Year’s Eve Party in which Per Gessle is speaking perfect Polish: Pozdrawiamy widzow Polsatu. Badzcie z nami (Greetings to Polsat TV viewers. Be with us)
Interview
Roxette to perform 6 songs in Warsaw
According to roxette.pl Facebook fan page user – Krzysztof Charchuta, Polsat TV broadcasted a new interview with Per Gessle in a showbiz programme “Sie kreci” yesterday. Per Gessle said that Roxette would perform 6 songs in Warsaw and he named 5 of them: “Joyride”, “It must have been love”, “The look”, “Listen to your heart”, “Sleeping in my car”. Unfortunately, he did not want to reveal the 6th song’s title.
At the moment it is still not possible to watch the programme online. The programme will be available on ipla.pl service on Wednesday, December 22nd
Update: Here is the photo from the interview. Per said that they would sing 6 biggest hits, so I do not see a possibility to hear “She’s got nothing on (but the radio)” in Warsaw.
Per Gessle: “Clarence considers the new album the best since Joyride”
Per Gessle is back in Stockholm from mixing the album in New York and has taken some time to answer some of your questions.
Roxetteblog: Hi Per! We have collected some questions from our readers this time. As you can imagine, many or, ok, most, turn around the new album and the world tour.
Per Gessle: Hello folks, thanks for all these questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.
RXB: So let’s start with the world tour 2011. What was the moment you knew: Now Roxette is back – we can conquer the world again, we will go on a worldwide tour? Was it after a concert this summer? If so, which one? (Chrissie R)
PG: Well, when we moved into Germany with the Night Of The Proms-Tour I could tell that Marie was almost ready. She was focused, she sang well and she finally got back her selfconfidence that means so much when you’re trying to make sense on stage. The last part of that tour was pure joy as well as working with her in the studio this year. And the summer concerts, of course, was a treat. Especially St P was a highlight in my book. And guys and dolls, don’t forget that the feedback Marie got from you during all those concerts is what made it happen for her. And me.
RXB: Your had been touring the world about 15 years ago, the music scene and the world have changed significantly, how does it feel to be on the road today? What are your expectations about this long tour? (honky tonk)
PG: Honky Tonk, hello! You know what, when you’ve been doing this for such a long time (I jumped on this train over 30 years ago) you don’t think that much anymore, you just do your thing. I’m not trying to compete with anybody, I just try to enjoy myself, challenge myself and do the best I can with my writing, recording and performing. I love being on stage much more today than I did in the 90’s, don’t ask me why…. Also, knowing what Marie has gone through it’s really a blessing that this upcoming tour exists at all. And, of course, in the end of the day I’m honoured and grateful that our music still means something to a lot of people around the world. That can never be taken for granted.
RXB: “Back with their greatest hits” – that’s what is written on Roxette tour posters and apparently the tour name. Is there a chance you will play more than just a few of songs from the upcoming album or will it be more like a 25th anniversary tour? You know, we are working on a setlist suggestion again…
PG: Yaheeyaaaa, that’s not the tour name, someone just made that up! Things like that happen all the time!! But of course the show will be based on the obvious hits, that’s what most fans want to hear and you know us, we aim to please!!! However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t play the odd album track or your semi-forgotten, hidden favourite gem. February is the rehearsing month, we’ll decide these issues then. I hope. By the way, let us know your thoughts on the setlist. We’re known to pay attention. Not Pelle, though.
New interview: “Maybe we’ll tour in Europe, South America and Canada”
And there’s yet another Per interview from Russia! Some interesting bits:
– Roxette aims to tour in Europe, South America and Canada.
– They already recorded a dozen tracks and should be finished in a few weeks.
– Per thinks Marie recovered so well not least thanks to the love for music and desire to sing.
Source (in Russian): RBC daily
Per Gessle for musik.km.ru: “I think the new single will come out in January”
Natalia Stupnikowa for musik.km.ru: Hello, Per! We know that you are working on a new Roxette album. There is an information that a new single will be released before Christmas this year. Tell us something about work a new album.
Per Gessle: Well, first of all I’m not really sure if we make it to the Christmas with the single, really. As soon as we play Russia next weekend, we’ll go back to the studio. Actually I work at the studio this week as well. So we’re working all through this year and hopefully we’ll have a release in the spring next year with the new album. And of course the new single. But I… you know, in reality I think the new single will come out in January maybe.
It feels very good, it feels very strong, the album. And it’s a very classic sounding Roxette album, lots of great ballads for Marie and lots of up-tempo songs for me. It feels very good.
Natalia: Will new songs be performed at the Russian concerts?
Per Gessle: No, I don’t think so. I think we’re gonna stick with the old songs this time. We’re planning on doing some shows next year as well, if that will happen, we’re gonna play some new songs as well when the album is out. But for now we stick to the old ones.
Natalia: Do you plan some special stage production of your upcoming Moscow gig?
Per Gessle: Well, we’re having a slightly different band than in 2001. And of course everything looks different. But it’s still very much based on the songs. We have a great audience all over the world and everyone knows our songs so well, so the show is very much built on communication with the audience. The audience is singing with us and we’re having lots of fun together. It’s much more than having a huge stage design or something like that. We have a design but we spend more time on the music than on the stage.
Natalia: You said that you have a new band, tell us more about them…
Per Gessle: It’s a mix between the old guys and some new faces for you. We’ve got a new girl called Malin who’s new to us, she’s doing backing vocals. And we’ve got a new bass player called Magnus Börjesson, who’s also a great singer, he’s a really really talanted guy. And then you’ve got Clarence Öfwerman on keyboards who is also our producer on the record. And we have Pelle Alsing on the drums, who’s been with us forever. And on lead guitar we have Christopher Lundquist who used to play bass with us, but now he’s a lead guitar player. So it’s a very energetic band, quite heavy on the guitars, we’re a little bit more guitar-oriented than we used to be. But it feels very good and it’s a great band to hang out with. We have lots of fun being together and that is very important too.