Interview

Interview with Per Gessle in Svenska Dagbladet – “Marie always made my songs better”

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Elin Liljero Eriksson did an interview with Per for Svenska Dagbladet. Elin and Per met in the Cornelis room at Södra Teatern in Stockholm.

It has been a busy year for Per. In addition to the feature film about Gyllene Tider and a musical with Roxette’s songs at Malmö Opera, he has turned 65 and released his first album of original material in over eight years – the duet album Sällskapssjuk. Now he is preparing for a world tour with Roxette next year, together with Lena Philipsson. He is really longing to go on tour again.

How his most successful project would be managed after Marie Fredriksson passed away in 2019 has not been a matter of course. Per explains that at first he didn’t want to continue with Roxette. Then he felt that this is over 30 years of his life and he has written almost all the material, songs that he wants to live on. Roxette has also been streamed more than ever in recent years. When he then made a single with Lena for his latest album, it felt right to ask her. But they haven’t started a new Roxette, Lena is hired to manage the Roxette catalogue.

PG is shocked at how many tickets they are selling for the new Roxette tour. There has been skepticism from some fans, but there are a lot of people who think it will be fun to hear the songs again.

Per wrote the lyrics of Kärleken är evig, Lena’s song that ended up at the second place in Melodifestivalen 1986. About writing songs for other artists, PG says he never liked it. Also if you write together with others, it usually means a lot of compromises that don’t make anyone happy, unless it becomes a hit. But that’s not really why Per is doing that. He is at his best when he gets to do things his own way, which is reminiscent of his upbringing in Halmstad.

I was a loner during my school years. I lived in my little bubble, listened to an extremely lot of music and was quite shy. But I was the one who got to sing “Staffan var en stalledräng” in third grade. I can’t believe I dared it, because it was incredibly unlike me. But there was something in me even then, that I wanted to be a pop star.

Per’s mother was a teacher of porcelain painting, his father was a plumber. They had a piano which was sometimes played by Per’s sister, but no deeper interest in music can be traced in the family, except to a violin-playing relative in the 1800s.

I don’t know where it comes from, but I’ve noticed that I have a completely different musicality than the fantastic musicians I’ve had the privilege of working with all these years. To this day, I can’t sit down at a piano and play my songs. I can play them wrong in the most ridiculous places. But if you ask Roxette producer Clarence Öfwerman to play anything from The Beatles, for example, he’ll play it even though he has never done it before. What I have is that sometimes I hear something in music that they don’t.

Elin wants to know if Per hears melodies.

Yes, I don’t know how they get to me. I have no idea how to write a hit. I’ve never had a formula for it. But I’m so glad I love commercial pop music, it’s in my DNA. That’s why there has been a lot of that kind of music. The melodies are the interesting part.

Elin is curious if Per has ever had complexes about not being a typically trained musician. Mr. G thinks „complex” is perhaps not the right word, but he has always felt inferior. Already on Gyllene Tider’s early tours, MP had to go on stage and tune Per’s guitar, because Per couldn’t. But when it was tuned, PG rolled on.

About Marie Per says:

Marie always made my songs better, that’s why I needed her. If she could have written those songs herself, she would have dumped me in the nearest trash can. But she couldn’t. We complemented each other very well.

Marie joining Roxette was not a given.

She was much bigger than I was at the time. No one around her, including the record company and producer Lasse Lindbom, wanted her to do anything with me. She did this against everyone’s will.

To the question how that could happen Per replies:

On the one hand, we had a fantastically pleasant relationship, but above all we were united in the desire to play abroad. But from Marie’s side, it was always the feeling of “we’ll see what happens”. Therefore, it was important for me to deliver. So I wrote the “Look Sharp!” album that was full of goodies. She liked the material for it very much, and I noticed that she sang in a different way when I could have a say. There was a sexiness in songs like “Dressed For Success” and “Dangerous” – a completely different Marie than the one who sang ” Ännu doftar kärlek”.

Look Sharp! was the start of a global Roxette hype that led to intense touring for several years. Elin says that despite the fact that both Per and Marie had partners, there were often rumors that they were a couple.

No, I have never had a relationship with Marie. We had a very intense relationship through Roxette, it was like our child. But after the Crash tour in the mid-1990s, everything changed, because Marie had a child. Then it became a different focus in her life, which was perfectly fine.

Per says he doesn’t really feel at home in the music industry anymore. It’s not because it is worse or better. That’s because it’s different from how it was when he was growing up. That’s why he still likes album covers. If you are 15 years old today, you don’t care about that.

Elin informs about the many projects in Per’s life. In addition to Gyllene Tider and Roxette, he has released several solo albums, runs Hotel Tylösand together with his wife, where he also has the photo gallery Tres Hombres Art and a solid Ferrari collection. He has a house and studio in Halmstad, in addition to his two floors on Strandvägen in Stockholm where he lives. Financially, he could have sat back a long time ago, but Per Gessle can hardly handle free Sundays. He says then it is impossible to get hold of anyone, the offices are closed and everyone is hungover. He wants access to things. Per says you can try to use Sundays as a contemplation day, but every seventh day is a bit too often.

Elin is curious what Per does when he contemplates. Mr. G says he walks and thinks a lot. Åsa likes to have the TV on in the mornings, which is a big schism in their family. Per is easily stressed by too much information, and if it is negative, which it often is these days, he can get quite low. Silence is a way for him to survive.

I never have music on unless I’m actively listening to it. Not in the car either. If it’s a nice car, I want to listen to the engine.

Regarding losing many around him in recent years, Per says:

It has obviously been very tough and has probably affected me more than I think. You are reminded of the impermanence of life.

Elin asks Per if he often thinks about death.

No. The most annoying thing about aging is that it’s so easy to look back. Besides that, it’s a very young world we live in, it’s not quite made for my age. 40 years ago I thought it was great, now it’s something I have to fight against. But if my ambition had been to only do bigger and bigger things, I would have gone crazy. Because what am I supposed to do with it? If I come up with an idea, I implement it. If I feel like it, I write a song. There will probably be a day when I feel like I’m done, but I’m not quite there yet.

Read the original interview in Swedish by Elin Liljero Eriksson and check out the photos by Rickard L Eriksson HERE on Svenska Dagbladet!

Rickard also shared the photos on his Instagram.

Interview with Mikael Bolyos about Marie Fredriksson’s upcoming live album release

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On Friday, 6th December, a double vinyl live album (also available digitally!) of Marie Fredriksson’s last solo tour (Nu!) in Sweden will be released – ten years after the tour and almost to the day five years after she passed.

Former RoxBlog member Kirsten Ohlwein and Oliver Zimmerman thought we would all want to hear more about the release and that was reason enough to ask Marie’s husband Mikael Bolyos – who is behind the release – about the new and yet not so new album.

Kirsten Ohlwein: – Mikael, you can imagine that everyone is super excited about this release, it’s a dream come true. The last live album we got was “Äntligen”, which was 24 years ago. First of all, I am pretty sure many fans wonder: How are you doing these days? You know you are in the thoughts of many people out there who send you their best wishes and highest regards.

Mikael Bolyos: – That’s very kind of you, it’s touching and I really appreciate it! I am alright, thanks.

KO: – It’s been ten years since the “Nu!” tour which we all loved and have the fondest memories about. Now it’s apparently time to release the live album. What has been the initial thought to look into the live recordings again and decide that the material is good enough to release it?

MB: – I always wanted to release a single, EP or even more songs from the concerts, and when I heard a video clip last summer, I decided to go through the concerts again.

KO: – Can you tell us which shows have been recorded back then and why you picked Stockholm as the one to release?

MB: – We recorded every show in 2014. Christoffer and I went through all of them and realized that Marie and the band sounded so good at all of them, it was impossible to choose. The Stockholm concert took place at “Cirkus” which is a great venue, the crowd was very enthusiastic, and it was a magic night.

KO: – How long did it take to go through the material again and when did you make the final decision to release the Stockholm show as an album?

MB: – I started to listen to the different concerts pre summer 2024. It took a couple of weeks and together with Christoffer Lundquist we decided that the Stockholm show had an energy that was impossible to ignore. Peter Domnérus at Cosmos Music (our record company) came up with that brilliant idea to release the whole concert on a double vinyl record.

KO: – Were the moments when you went through the songs again when you thought: „Wow, this is much better than I remember it” or „why didn’t we do this earlier?”?

MB: – As you probably remember, Roxette started a world tour later the same year, 2014. Christoffer made some mixes already then, but we were all too busy to start the work with releasing anything from the “Nu!” tour. The Roxette tour went on until spring 2016, when Marie was too weak to continue. It was a very tough time for Marie and our family. And if this wasn’t enough, I had to do a heart surgery in 2017. I was recovering during 2018 and in 2019 as you know, Marie passed away.

The following years, I have been mourning. On 1st June this year I wrote to Christoffer and asked him to make a first brief mix of all of the songs, and in October we sat together in his AGM studio to do the mixes, and here we are now!

KO: – How did the process of going through the tour material feel for you? I can imagine that it wasn’t the easiest thing to do for you and yet probably very warm and special as well?

MB: – It was many tears…

KO: – What are your memories regarding that tour? What did you preserve from back then? Which one was your favourite song to play and what were your favourite moments?

MB: – It was a very special tour. Marie was so keen on doing the tour, she knew it was going to be her last Swedish tour, singing her own songs. Personally, I felt so good touring again, playing music in a band, consisting of friends. I always liked to play “Bara för en dag”, and “Efter stormen”, but my favourite moment was playing ”Så skimrande var aldrig havet”.

KO: – You have been quite busy spoiling fans with unreleased stuff in the past years. Every now and then you find a song or a recording that gets to be released either in December or May. We are very grateful for that! Is there more to come in the future?

MB: – Sorry to say, but I don’t think so. This double LP will probably be Marie’s farewell.

Thank you so much for your time, Micke and thanks a lot for your interview, Kirsten!

Live från Cirkus is out on 6th December! The record is a beautiful 180-gram double vinyl in a gatefold edition, with a total run of 1,000 copies. You can order it at Bengans.

Tracklist

Side A

  1. Så stilla så långsamt
  2. Kom vila hos mig
  3. Bara för en dag
  4. Det regnar igen
  5. Sista sommarens vals

Side B

  1. Ber bara en gång
  2. Sparvöga
  3. Ett hus vid havet
  4. Ett bord i solen
  5. Så skimrande var aldrig havet

Side C

  1. Ännu doftar kärlek
  2. Så länge det lyser mittemot
  3. Om du såg mig nu
  4. Efter stormen

Side D

  1. Den sjunde vågen
  2. Mellan sommar och höst
  3. Den bästa dagen
  4. Tro

Interview with Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall at Hotel Boman in Trosa

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Östra Strömlands Posten was there at the vernissage of Fredrik Etoall’s exhibition at Hotel Boman in Trosa on 9th November and they did a short interview with both Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall. Fredrik’s Roxette, Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson and Gyllene Tider photos are on display at the hotel.

There was no room for all the questions and answers in the newspaper, so they shared the complete conversation with Per on their Facebook page.

ÖSP: – What do you think of the evening so far?

PG: – It’s great fun that so many people came. Fun to hang out with Fredrik for a few hours as well. He is so energetic and talented. He has a unique eye, he sees things no one else sees. We find it easy to work together and it’s always close to laughter with Fredrik. We got to know each other at a photo session with Roxette and those photos have really stood the test of time. The pictures with just Marie are from her solo time – they are amazing!

ÖSP: – Now you go on tour again. How does that feel? Is it always the same fun?

PG: – It’s always just as fun to go on tour and I tour almost every year. I like tour life and the energy you get from the crowd.

ÖSP: – Kristin Boman [owner of the hotel] mentioned that you are one of the most productive people she knows. “Per is always writing something”. After as many years as you have been at it, you would think it would slow down a bit, right?

PG: – My creativity is probably quite constant. I look for ideas every day, all the time. The thing that has slowed me down – because I do think I have slowed down –, is that the music business has changed so much. It’s not nearly as fun as it used to be. Now it’s business at all costs. Gyllene Tider would never have gotten through today like we did back then with our strange ideas and my strange lyrics. No record company would have invested in it, because today there is a lot of formulaic thinking with Idol and all that. It’s a machinery today like any other industry. It wasn’t like that, if you go back to the ’60s or ’70s when the music industry exploded with The Beatles for example and completely different opportunities for crazy people like David Bowie. Music back then had much more power than today and played a different role in society. Take the protest songs against the Vietnam War, for example.

ÖSP: – Is it possible to summarize what you want us listeners to experience when we listen to your songs?

PG: – I hope that in my best moments I can give those who listen to me the same thing that I get from the artists who mean something to me. Music is so amazing. It gives comfort and strength and you can feel that a text is about you. All the songwriters and composers I’ve listened to all my life, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Paul Simon and Tom Petty not least, Randy Newman and Kris Kristofferson – they are all great storytellers. If I can give someone a fraction of what they have given me, I’m more than happy.

ÖSP: – Can one get to know you better through your lyrics or do you write more generally?

PG: – I think so. When you write a text, it often starts with an idea that you recognize yourself in, but then in verse two it can become something else, to make it even more exciting. I’ve written maybe a thousand songs and I’m not THAT interesting (Per laughs), but I can tell about feelings and about how I react to things and so I try to make it universal, but in my own way. My biggest enemy is always that it will become clichéd or predictable. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t.

ÖSP: – Do you ever release something you are half-satisfied with?

PG: – No, never these days. It has happened before but not anymore. I have lots of songs lying around where the lyrics don’t fit and then the years go by and sometimes I can get distance from them and I can pick them up again. On this record there are two songs, “Hoppas” and “Ingen annan”, which I wrote in 1984 for my second solo record “Scener”, which I had forgotten. There was a girl from Hungary who manages a big Roxette community. She saw a photo of cassettes I have and she recognized two titles, so I listened to them again and they are great songs, but the lyrics were crap. The music was terrifying. It was written by a 25-year-old me who was curious in a different way. In early Roxette songs I can hear that I don’t really have the ability to write English lyrics, like in “Neverending Love”. At best, they are a bit fun, but not very good. Then I had a period of 18 years where I didn’t work in Swedish at all, so then I learned to write texts in English.

ÖSP: – Do you have any favourites among your own songs?

PG: – Yes, I have lots of songs that I like, for example, the songs I wrote for Marie: “Queen Of Rain” and “What’s She Like?” which Marie sings fantastically. I like “The Look”. It’s a totally insane song with three chords that turned out right.

ÖSP: – Favourites from the latest record?

PG: – “Plåster” with Amanda Ginsburg. I had recorded almost the whole record before I realized it was going to be a duet record, so in some cases I re-recorded the songs. For example, I recorded the first half of “Beredd” with Molly Hammar, so that it would fit her key. In most of the other songs I chose singers who sang in my key, for example Lisa Miskovsky suits me very well. Lena Philipsson works well too. I get a little pressured in the parts I sing, but then Lena sounds fantastic, so it’s worth it. I have a fun job!

ÖSP: – What do you think of Bomans and Trosa?

PG: – It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s Sweden’s second best hotel… Nah, kidding aside, Bomans is one of my favourite hotels in the whole world, wherever you go it’s completely unique. Every time I’m here, I never want to leave. Trosa is wonderful with all the water, especially in the summer. If you walk around inside Trosa it’s fantastic, I love being here. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with mosquitoes here. We don’t have mosquitoes at all in Tylösand.

 

ÖSP: – If you had to choose one or a few of the pictures exhibited here, which would you choose as your favourite pictures?

FE: – A photo that is the backbone of me and the book in this project. It’s the photo of Marie in the window. It’s so “pinch me in the arm” strong and it’s unbelievable that I’ve taken it. The picture is Marie and what she has done for Swedish music and the Swedish people and also internationally, and so the picture carries so much of what she has been through. Then there are many photos that I think are incredible. The book cover is also special. Technically it may not be the best picture, but as Per also puts it, “there is no one who has taken such a picture of Marie and me”. Many probably thought that there has been some romance between Marie and Per, but as far as I have understood, there has not. When we took the picture, there was only protection. Other pictures might be cooler, but this one is so unique based on all the speculation and what had happened to Marie, so it’s just protection.

ÖSP: – How do your photos come about?

FE: – Conscious luck is what I usually talk about. I do an incredible amount of preparation for everything I do. It doesn’t matter how much I prepare, it won’t happen that way anyway, but if I’ve prepared, I’m ready for a chance. The photo of Marie in the window just happened. Just like the one by the piano. I told Marie that I listened to one of her songs with my team every morning, “Den bästa dagen”. “Come and sit next to me,” she said, and then she played it for me. While she was playing, I snuck up and took the picture. It is almost out-of-body.

Photo and interview by Jessica Gustâv

Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson on Efter fem

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Per Gessle and Lena Philipsson were guests on Efter fem, TV4 last Sunday. HERE you can watch Anna Brolin’s interview with them.

The program starts with people from the streets singing Roxette songs. Anna says there is no doubt that fans are excited about the upcoming Roxette tour that starts in Cape Town in February. She asks Per and Lena how it feels. Lena says it feels good now. They have started the rehearsals and she is focusing on planning now. She has already started looking at lyrics to try to get into it already now. Per says it’s a test for Lena to learn all the lyrics. PG thinks it’s easier for him, because it’s complicated to learn all the chords, but he has a relation to the lyrics, because he has written all of them. He says they have started acoustic rehearsals and it’s really exciting. Anna asks them if the rehearsals go well. Per says they haven’t argued too much. Lena confirms. Haha. She says it’s going well and they look to the future. There are many songs to sink your teeth into, but it’s fun. She is really looking forward to doing this.

Anna asks Per how it feels to bring the Roxette catalogue around the world again. Mr. G says it feels fantastic. It was quite a difficult decision. He has been wondering what he would be going to do with it or if he would leave everything alone. It has taken him many years to decide. The main point is that there is a whole world out there that still loves this music. He has written basically all the songs that Roxette has recorded, so they are very much his babies in a way. But the token only fell into place when he worked with Lena a year ago in connection with that thing [he points at the new album that is on the table in front of Anna], the Sällskapssjuk album… In the studio he realized how good Lena is. She could sing these songs.

Anna says she is very curious about that call that was made after, but before they get down to that, here comes a little background info about both Per and Lena’s career.

Johan Macéus talks about Gyllene Tider, their first three albums, then the first connection between Lena and Per in 1986 when Per wrote the song Kärleken är evig, Lena’s success at Melodifestivalen. The same year, Per recorded the song Neverending Love with Marie Fredriksson. They called themselves Roxette and Roxette soon became a success in Sweden. In 1989 they also broke through in the USA with The Look. It Must Have Been Love was in the movie Pretty Woman and became a worldwide hit in 1990. Over the years, Roxette topped the charts again and again, they toured all over the world and have sold around 75 million albums. Lena won Melodifestivalen in 2004. Now the two stars unite. Last spring, they released the song Sällskapssjuk together as part of Per Gessle’s newly released duet album.

Per explains that the album is full of duets and one of them is with Lena. When PG worked with Lena in the studio, he felt that she was really good. Lena has all the qualities needed to be able to sing Roxette songs. It’s not the easiest thing, Per says. Anna asks him what qualities Lena has. Lena is laughing here, but Per says she has a personality and energy and she sings cleanly and nicely. She has everything a good singer should have.

Anna asks Lena if she agrees. Lena asks Anna if she really should answer that question. Haha. She says Roxette songs are quite extensive and demanding. They demand a woman.

Anna wants to know what made Per think that they should do something more together. PG says it was something he talked about before. It’s a decision that has taken a very long time to make and he needed these little things like feedback from the big Roxette audience around the world. Many have wanted this to happen. He notices from streaming numbers that Roxette is just keep getting bigger and bigger. Roxette is more than 30 years of his life. So when Lena came into the studio and he heard her singing, he thought, shit, that’s not a bad idea. He was thinking how he should ask her. He didn’t ask directly. A few weeks passed before they met again.

Anna turns to Lena and asks her how it happened. Lena says she was down there in Halmstad and sang this duet Sällskapssjuk. Actually, Per asked her if she would go to Halmstad or if she would rather record in Stockholm. Then Lena thought she would go down to Halmstad, because then she would be in Per’s environment and then they could bond a little and maybe have some dinner. It might lead to something more. Then afterwards, it didn’t take that long. Per says it was three weeks, Lena says it was a few days until Per contacted her and said they should meet, because he wanted to ask Lena a question. Lena doesn’t know what she expected. Maybe some tour together or some more songs together. She was very surprised when it was this particular question. She wasn’t prepared for that at all. Anna is curious what the question was exactly. Lena says it was a straight up question. Per asked her if she would like to join Roxette on tour. She was surprised and started thinking that it can be difficult, because then she has to sing Marie’s songs. She was wondering how it would be received. It’s not an easy task for another artist to step in and do it. Per was very excited and thought this would be fun. He told Lena that she should do her own thing. Then Lena was thinking for a little while and then she said yes. Per says it was a good decision.

Anna says they were digging a bit in the archives and found out that there is one thing that is common in Per and Lena’s creation of music. Both Per and Lena have created Sweden’s most famous na-na-na-na-na-nas. Here they show the two songs where they sing na-na-na-na-na-na. Per says he thought Anna was going to say that they had Sweden’s two strangest dialects. Haha. Lena says, that too. Haha.

Anna asks her guests what their relationship is to each other’s music. Per and Lena look at each other and they say na-na-na is apparently the secret link between them. Haha. Lena says they come from the same era and they have been in the music industry for a very long time. Per says the music industry is different today versus when they started. He adds that there is no 40-year age gap between them, they are both veterans. There are a lot of meeting points. Per doesn’t say it was better before, but it was different.

Anna turns to Lena and asks her about her relationship to Roxette songs in particular. These are very big songs, as she also mentioned before and they demand a woman. Anna is curious if there are any songs that Lena feels like it’s an honour to sing. Lena probably feels that with all the songs actually. She thinks the whole mission is like that, that she feels that it is important to shape up and do it really well. She absolutely feels that. It doesn’t apply to a specific song, it applies to everything. If she has to mention songs, then it’s the biggest hits, of course. That they make them so that it feels good and everyone is happy. It Must Have Been Love, Spending My Time, Dressed For Success.

Anna asks Per what the feedback from the fans was after the announcement was made and the dates were out. PG experiences a huge interest. One can see that in the ticket sales. People don’t really know what they are buying. Lena adds that it’s more like a pig in a poke. Haha. Per thinks it’s cool, because Lena is a magically talented singer and she is also magically good on stage. So if you don’t know who Lena is and you go to Melbourne or to Perth and see Roxette next year, you’ll be shocked at how good it is. Per is completely convinced of that.

Lena says she always finds it difficult when expectations are set this high. She doesn’t really like it, but she will do her best. She can’t do anything other than do her best. People around the world don’t know who she is. So she leans towards the fact that she is also Swedish and that it was Per who has chosen her, so it’s his fault. You can always blame it on him. Haha.

Anna says the tour starts in Cape Town, then they go to Pretoria, then around Australia, Munich and there are a few dates in Sweden, but only in Halmstad and Gothenburg. She asks what happened to Vetlanda. Lena is wondering too. Haha. Per says there will be more gigs in Europe next summer, but not all the dates are out yet. He can’t promise that Vetlanda will be there, but they can discuss it.

Anna says Per was on many world tours, he knows touring life very well. She asks what tips he has for Lena regarding a world tour. Per says it’s not much different than touring in Sweden. It’s a prerequisite that you like to be on tour. He thinks that both Lena and he does. It’s great to meet people. You get an enormously positive energy from being on tour. But you also have to take care of yourself. Sleep properly. There is a lot of waiting. Waiting at airports and waiting for everything. Per turns to Lena and says she has to go to bed on time. Haha. Lena agrees that there is no difference. It’s the same routine anyway. You check in at a hotel, rest before the concert, you go to the venue, sit in the dressing room and get ready. Then you have to perform and do a good job. It’s the same, just further away. Per says everything is about the concert. That’s the priority.

Anna says Lena and Per have known each other for a very long time. PG corrects her and says they don’t know each other very well. They have had parallel careers, they have run into each other at the Grammys, stuff like that, but they haven’t hung out. Lena says maybe they do that now on tour.

Anna says Per talked pretty nicely about Lena musically. Now she is curious what Lena thinks is the brilliance of Per. Lena says she doesn’t know how many songs Per has managed to write. It’s incredible! It’s crazy! He has exactly the same energy all the time. He is just as curious, just as interested in working as always, in a tireless, fantastic way. One is just full of admiration for this. Per says Lena is so kind and thanks for her words. He adds that it means he is very old. Lena says it means he is very talented.

Anna asks Per what the allure of going on tour with this incredible song catalogue is. Mr. G says that the journey Marie and he got to take part in is absolutely fantastic. If you look back at those eight years between 1988 and 1995, their heydays, it’s an unimaginable journey. There is almost no one who has experienced it from Sweden. So it’s clear that Per is longing to go back to that time. Now that he has the opportunity to hopefully be able to do it again, it just feels super exciting.

Anna wants to know what he is longing for most of all. Per says you are longing to come to new cultures, new countries, cities and people who even you don’t understand what they say, because they speak other languages, but they know every single song, every line of lyrics that you have written yourself. It’s an amazing experience, no matter if it is in Buenos Aires or in Warsaw or wherever.

Anna asks Per if it can happen that when they hang on to this a bit more, some more music can come from the two of them. Per says they don’t know. Anna turns to Lena if there can be more songs like this duet they released. Lena says she has no idea. It is Per who is writing. She has no idea what the future brings. They start with the tour and they will see if it feels fun and works well. So far it has worked great and they have so much fun. Per agrees.

Anna thinks a lot of people are excited to see the concerts. She says one just wants to go to Perth and see this. Per says she should come.

Anna thanks her guests for coming to the show and wishes good luck with the hanging, bonding and Cape Town in February. Per and Lena thank her for that.

Stills are from the interview

Per Gessle interview on Studio Ett about “Joyride – The Musical”

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Studio Ett, news magazine on Swedish Radio P1, did a phone interview with Per Gessle after he saw one of the final rehearsals of Joyride – The Musical on 3rd September. Listen to it HERE!

The program leaders welcome Per Gessle on the show. He is joining via phone from Halmstad. Per was in Malmö yesterday (on 3rd September) to see one of the final rehearsals. The program leaders are curious what it was like to see and hear Roxette songs in musical form. Mr. G says it was the first time he got to see it together with an audience and it was absolutely fantastic. It’s a strange experience, of course, but it’s awesome. It’s a new chapter in the book in a way. It’s amazing.

To the question in what way it is a strange experience, Per replies it’s awesome, it’s so big. There are almost 300 people who worked full time on this musical in Malmö. It’s a huge production and there are costumes, there is a 45-piece orchestra and everything is larger than life. Then they play these Roxette songs for 2.5 hours. It’s absolutely magical.

Per is asked if it was obvious to say yes to the musical. He says it wasn’t. They have been talking about it since 2015, actually. They got the first request then and he has been to various showcases in London and everywhere. Different companies, different producers presented different ideas, but they have all been turned down, because the script has never been good enough. Then they heard about Jane Fallon’s book, Got You Back and all of a sudden it felt like it could work with their music. It’s a cool story and it simply fits the music. Per doesn’t think the music itself has any major problems to fix so it works in a musical context. There are very big emotions and big melodies and there are a lot of ups and downs. So it fits the musical format very well.

As Per saw the show yesterday in Malmö with a lot of people, but there are many who of course haven’t seen it yet, the program leader asks him to describe it. Mr. G says that so far there were three rehearsals with invited audiences, e.g musical school children and others, but the actual premiere is on Friday. It’s magnificent. It’s a large venue for 1,400 people, it’s a fairly large theatre. It’s a fantastic production that has a huge orchestra and an enormously talented cast. There are many singers and dancers. You have to go and have a look yourself, he suggests.

The program leader says Roxette was Per and Marie Fredriksson, who passed away five years ago and is missed. She wasn’t really a musical girl, so the program leader is curious what Per thinks Marie would have thought about this musical. Per says Marie liked the musical idea. He thinks Marie would have thought this was great fun, because it keeps the Roxette spirit and the Roxette catalogue is shown to new audiences. Per thinks you should welcome such things. He thinks it’s the same they did with the Gyllene Tider movie that premiered this summer. You reach a new group of people, a new generation all the time with your music, so he thinks Marie would have thought this was amazing.

Speaking of the GT movie, it’s very much Per Gessle right now. Musical, film, Roxette tour with Lena Philipsson by his side next year, new solo album in October. Per turned 65 in January and the program leader asks him if this is how he picks up the pace. Per laughs and says he is retired now. He says he ended up on the cover of a pensioners’ magazine. He was shocked. Getting back to the question, it just happened. The movie and the musical were not really meant to come out with such a short interval, but it has become so. Per tries to keep up as much as he can. He likes his work and he loves working with all these projects. It’s incredibly exciting stuff, both the film and the musical and the solo album, which is mostly duets in Swedish, coming in October. It’s very exciting. Then the whole adventure with Lena Philipsson next year will also be a completely new blank page of what it will be. So he tries to keep up as best as he can.

Roxette has sold close to a hundred million records. It’s almost hard to take in. They have had enormous success. The program leader asks Per how often it comes to his mind when, for example, he was packing food boxes in Halmstad and his teacher came by and said „I knew this is where you would end up”. Per laughs and says it was like that. He says he came from a fairly simple childhood and very much lived in the middle of his little bubble all his life until he met MP and started a band in the late ’70s. It became Gyllene Tider. We all have our own destiny and lines to follow, so he tried to keep up as best as he could. It has been fantastic.

The program leader asks Per what of everything he does he would most like this teacher to see and hear. Per says, nothing, he didn’t like him. Per doesn’t think about it, it doesn’t matter anymore. There are so many adversities that you face, especially when you are young. It becomes a driving force. You have to show yourself that you can handle things. Per has always been quite a determined and ambitious type. It was one of many things that got him going.

The program leader mentions that as Per says, he loves to work and he loves his job, but a large part of his job was Marie Fredriksson. She wants to know how much Per misses her in everyday life and now that Joyride – The Musical is premiering. Mr. G says it’s been a long time since Marie passed away, but he thinks about her every day. Especially now, when so many Roxette-related things are going on. She is there in spirit somehow. The whole musical is an homage to her in a way, it’s also written in the program. It’s clear that she is felt. Per has to say that it’s highly emotional for him to sit in the theatre and hear all these songs. You kind of travel back to a lot of events, tours and things that they worked on over the years. It’s a common journey that’s completely unique, so it’s clear that Marie is there all the time.

The program leader asks what the strongest memory is that Per gets from watching this musical and hearing their songs. It’s above all the big Marie ballads, It Must Have Been Love, Spending My Time, Queen Of Rain, the songs that she represents. Every time you hear these songs, she sits next to them. It’s magical. Then there are some of her songs that are in the musical as well, songs that she has written, so it’s not just Per’s stuff. It’s amazing, Per thinks. He adds that he thinks a lot of people will like this, because it’s strong and a lot of people have a very big relationship with Roxette, especially with Marie.

The program leader says there are many people who have a relationship with Roxette all over the world. She is curious if Per thinks many people will go to Malmö to see the show. Mr. G says he actually knows that that is the case. Someone at Malmö Opera said that 45 percent of all tickets sold are bought by people who have never been to Malmö Opera before. It must mean that Roxette is a strong magnet.

Here the interview ends by thanking Per for joining Studio Ett.