Nordic Rox

The April show of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM was broadcast last night. Sven tells they are recording this episode in Per’s apartment in snowy Stockholm. Per corrects Sven that it’s not his apartment, it’s his office and studio. Sven says it looks like an apartment, there are lots of guitars, sofas… then Per asks if he can see any bed anywhere or a bathroom or kitchen. Sven thinks it’s obscured by all the guitars. Haha. Mr. G says this is the place where they make all the powerful decisions in the pop business and he writes all the songs. When he is in Stockholm, this is where he works. Sven tells that right behind him there is a piano. Per says he plays the piano a lot and writes most of his songs on acoustic guitar and piano, trying to make sense.

Sven asks Per what he has been up to lately. Mr. G says he’s been in the studio since May 2020, recording an English album and it’s pretty much done by now. He is doing some mixing and there are 2 tracks more to finish, but otherwise it’s going great and he is very pleased. Sven asks if it’s out this year and Mr. G replies „hopefully, yes”. It’s been a crazy year with the pandemic going on, so he tried to keep busy and forget about the real world.

The guys kick off with ABBA’s I’ve Been Waiting For You from the ABBA album. Per thinks this is the best record of the band. It’s very 70’s pop before the disco thing happened, before it got a little sophisticated production-wise. Hardcore pop music from the mid 70’s. SOS, Mamma Mia and So Long are also on this album.

Then comes Gyllene Tider’s Det kändes inte som maj. Per translates the title, It didn’t feel like May and says you have to practice your Swedish to understand the lyric. It’s from the last album GT did in 2019. Sven says it was GT’s farewell album and the band also did a farewell tour in the summer of 2019. He asks whether it’s definite or there is a door open for another farewell tour. Haha. Per says the world is full of doors, but for now Gyllene Tider is a closed chapter. 4 decades are good enough for anyone.

The next one is Per’s favourite The Cardigans song, My Favourite Game.

Komeda’s Boogie Woogie / Rock ‘N’ Roll is the next song. Per says he never heard this one before and asks Sven where he heard it. Sven says it was a totally insane beer commercial of Spendrups. They made some crazy TV advertising in the late 90’s with comedian Robert Gustavsson. Sven just felt he got to find this song. Per thinks it’s a cool one.

I’m in the Band from The Hellacopters is next. Sven loves this band, he thinks they have a unique sound. They are quite poppy, but hard-hitting with the guitar sound. Per thinks they are a great band with great musicians and great attitude.

Frida Öhrn’s cover of Fading Like A Flower comes next. It’s a classic song by Roxette. Sven asks if Per wrote this song in the office where they are sitting. Mr. G says he didn’t have this office yet in those days. FLAF came out on the Joyride album as the second single in April 1991. It spent the summer climbing up and it became No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of August. Per says it’s so depressing it didn’t reach the top spot. Sven asks Mr. G if he knows which song kept it out of the No. 1 spot. Per says he hopes it was something good. His guess is The Bangles, but Sven tells it was Bryan Adams, (Everything I Do) I Do It for You. Mr. G says he likes Bryan Adams, but it’s not his favourite song from him. He adds „I’m sorry, Bryan”. Haha. Back to Frida’s cover, Per says he knows the producer, Alex Shield and he informed Per they would do a cover of FLAF. Per thought it was a good idea. It’s got a timeless melody and Alex is a great producer and Frida is an amazing singer. Mr. G thinks this version sounds really cool and it gets a lot of airplay in Sweden.

The Raveonettes’ Endless SLeeper is next. Per thinks they are a magnificent band.

Land of 1000 Dances from Namelosers is also played from 1965. It’s a Wilson Pickett classic. Per says when you’re talking about Swedish pop music, everyone is talking about Namelosers’ version of this song. Sven adds it’s one of the first times they used fuzzbox on a Swedish pop recording. Per thinks it sounds great. Sven asks Per if he knows why they were called Namelosers. Mr. G doesn’t know. Their name was Beatchers (similar to The Beatles, trying to make a word play), but there was a band from Gothenburg called Beachers and they were pissed off because of the other band’s name. There was a pirate radio station in Öresund, Radio Syd and they stepped in to help the Beatchers find another name and arranged a competition. Someone came up with Namelosers and that was it. Per says it’s a great name for a band.

Listen To Your Heart’s brand new live version is next from Per’s Late Night Concert – Unplugged Cirkus performance. Per says he got invited to do an unplugged TV show. Because of the corona thing everything is closed down and the TV wanted to do a show in a very beautiful theatre in Stockholm without any audience. So Mr. G took part of his band with him, they rehearsed 10-15 songs here in his office and took it down to 9 songs from his Swedish stuff, some Roxette stuff and some from Gyllene Tider. Among those songs was LTYH which he thinks is really cool to do acoustically, because it sounds very different from the Roxette version. It’s a classic Roxette song, so they just did a very low key version. Per thinks it’s nice. It wasn’t meant to be commercially released, but everyone loved that TV show, so he decided to put it out on streaming services. It’s coming out on vinyl and CD as well. [So this episode was probably recorded early or mid January 2021. /PP]

Trouble Sleeping from the The Perishers is next. They are one of Per’s favourite bands of the early noughties. Mr. G thinks it’s such a great song, wonderful stuff. The guys say there were so many fabulous Swedish bands in the 90’s and in the noughties.

Sindy’s Next to Nothing comes next. Per thinks it’s fun music.

Brainpool’s Bandstarter is wrapping up the show. Per thinks they are an amazing band, they have so many great songs. Nowadays they play more of a progressive style, but this was the heydays when they did pop music. Sven asks Per if he thinks he could trick them into playing 2-minute songs again. Per laughs and says he doesn’t think so.

Sven closes the show by saying they need to get out of the studio. Per adds „let’s go out in the snow!” Haha.

As usual, Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is closing the program.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

The March show of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM was recorded in the very white and freezing Stockholm. During the program, Per tells that every year when the snow falls for the first time in Sweden, people are so surprised. Sven adds Stockholm is the capital of short memory. They laugh. PG says it’s just a nightmare going outside, everyone is so confused.

The first song Per picked on the show was Oh Mama by Lili & Sussie. It was No. 1 in Sweden in 1987. For some reason Mr. G just adores this song. He is very much into the 80’s, just as a lot of people these days. The 80’s are coming back, he says. There is the 80’s inspiration e.g. in The Weeknd’s music. Oh Mama is typical 80’s with that typical drum sound. It was written by Tim Norell who played in and wrote for the band Secret Service. It was an instant hit. Before and after this song Rick Astley was No. 1 on the charts.

Hate To Say I Told You So by The Hives is next. Per thinks it’s such a great band. The first time he heard about them was this particular song which reminded him of the MC5. Per thinks it’s an amazing punk song, it’s got this punk energy in there. Sven agrees, he thinks it’s a bit of garage, a bit of punk. According to Per, Howlin’ Pelle is one of the most amazing performers in the world. Sven saw them at the Malmö Festival and when they came out for the encore, Howlin’ Pelle just embraced the whole audience and said: ”Malmö, you have received The Hives.” Per says he is a character.

Paint by Roxette is the third song the guys play. Mr. G says it has always been a favourite in certain markets. E.g. in Brazil, Paint was always a showstopper when they toured there. So Per is delighted that Sven picked this song.

Lonesome is also played by Pale Honey.

The guys played two songs involving Ola Håkansson. Per thinks he is one of the main characters in Swedish music scene ever. He started out in a band called Ola & The Janglers in the 60’s. Per loved them. Then when that band collapsed, Ola started working as a producer and started another band called Secret Service and had their breakthrough in 1979 with Oh Susie. In the 70’s, Secret Service was the 2nd biggest music export of Sweden after ABBA. Per loves this Secret Service style of pop music. Sven says it’s sort of timeless even though it’s produced in 1979. Per likes its soft production, the soft drums. He says when the 80’s came, everything became more edgy, more digital. Come And Stay With Me is a cover of a Jackie DeShannon song. Sven tells when the 60’s were over, a lot of pop stars had trouble surviving, but Ola went into a dance band and then came out with a new career. Now he is a big record label boss, he is the head of TEN Music Group. Probably their biggest artist is Zara Larsson, but they signed Icona Pop as well. He’s still got a great ear for pop music, Per thinks, even thuogh he is even older than Mr. G. Haha.

Show ’em Good by Cocktail Slippers from Norway is next. A bit of garage pop, Sven says. They were signed by “Little Steven” on Wicked Cool Records. Per thinks it’s a great song.

Woman & A Child by Mikael Rickfors from 1991 came next. Mikael was in a Swedish band, Bamboo in the 60’s. The Hollies came to Sweden and Bamboo were their support. Later when Allan Clarke left The Hollies, Mikael got the job. He was with The Hollies for a couple of years, but he has also done some amazing solo albums over the years.

Per thinks Agnes is a great singer. She had a big hit some years ago, Release Me. Now they included Fingers Crossed which is the most played song on Swedish radio right now. It sounds really cool according to Per.

Burning Down The House by Tom Jones & The Cardigans is next. Per thinks it’s an amazing track. It’s a Talking Heads song. It was released on Tom Jones’ Reload album in 1999 and he was in Malmö to record with The Cardigans at the Tambourine Studios. Sven heard people say that they went down together to a meat restaurant in Malmö, where lunch guests could have spotted Tom Jones having a steak. Per laughs at the fact that Sven emphasizes it was a meat restaurant, because it’s not like Tom Jones is generating an ”I’m a meat-eater” image. Sven laughs and says he just did that connection with that testosterone bomb. Per says then Sven would never say that Tom Jones and The Cardigans went to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. Sven says no, it doesn’t work. Haha.

The Park by Sambassadeur was played. Per never heard that one before. According to Sven it’s a great pop track and he thinks he got the tip from her daughter who liked them. They are not that new, but Sven says it’s a bit tricky to pick up new songs. They grew up with the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s stuff, 90’s as well, but it’s a bit trickier to keep up these days. Per agrees. Sven asks him how he keeps up and how he gets new music. Mr. G says he wishes he would spend more time doing that. In the early 70’s, when he grew up, basically every record that was released you knew about. Maybe you haven’t heard it, but you knew about it. Back then Per read the New Music Express and Melody Maker from England. Now he read somewhere that nowadays 30-35,000 songs are released a day on Spotify. It’s impossible to keep it up. Per gets tips from people he knows, but otherwise he feels a bit handicapped when it comes to this.

Mr. G says he and Sven tried to blend things up, playing old stuff and new stuff for the listening pleasure. Sven tells there is a new song that wasn’t easy to pick up, now that they complained earlier that it’s not easy to pick up new music. It’s Mono Mind. Per tells this coming song is exclusively played on Sirius. It’s called All Over Your Body. Per thinks it’s really cool and is written by him. Haha. Sven tells Mono Mind is one of Per’s multiple projects that’s been going on for seven years now. Per tells the debut album was released in 2019, so it’s not that long ago. He says, ”Time flies, Sven, but not that fast. I like you anyway!” Haha. AOYB is sung by Helena Josefsson and Per is doing backing vocals. He just likes this style of music, like so many other styles of music. He is very versatile when it comes to his musical taste. He thinks it sounds great on the radio, but it’s not a commercial release yet.

Again, Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is closing the program.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

The February show of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM is No. 494 in the program’s history. Wow!

Per tells there are songs in Swedish and in English on the list for this show, but he couldn’t find any Danish songs. He tells American people think if you are Swedish or Danish, you can understand each other’s language, but Mr. G has a problem understanding Danish, even if he is from the South of Sweden. He tells these are very different languages and understanding Danish is like trying to understand French. The guys laugh.

The first song, Blow My Cool is from one of Per’s favourite Swedish bands ever, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. He thinks they are amazing.

The guys also played Black Car by Miriam Bryant, Yours To Keep from Teddybears and Miss Mac Baren by Tages. Per tells he still has this Tages single and he got it as a Christmas present when he was maybe 7 or 8 years old. Sven adds some say Tages were the best dressed and most talented Swedish band in the ’60s. Per tells they were actually called the Swedish Beatles and they were produced by Anders Henriksson. All their singles sound amazing still.

The next song is Intermezzo No. 1 from ABBA. It’s an early instrumental track and it’s very special according to Sven. Per says Benny had a lot of strange spices in his lunch when he wrote this one. The guys are laughing. It’s on the ABBA album (1975) which was a lightweight record according to Per and he adds that Christoffer Lundquist loves this track and plays it regularly, which is sort of weird. Sven pictures Benny dressed up as a young Mozart when they recorded this one.

Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John is also played from 2006. When it was released it didn’t make the charts in Sweden. It charted in England first and then it became a big song and spreaded like wildfire. Per thinks it still sounds great.

Sucker Punch from Sigrid (Norway) is played too. Per thinks this is her best song. I’m in the Band from The Hellacopters was on the show as well.

Then comes a song in Swedish from the band November. They were a Swedish equivalent to Cream, a British rock band formed by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. The guys play the first track from the first album of November, Mount Everest from En ny tid är här… (1970). Per’s brother had this album and Mr. G always loved it. It’s very bluesy and it sounds great. Sven adds guitarist Richard Rolf was very much inspired by Eric Clapton and the singer and bassist Christer Stålbrandt was also the songwriter in the band, Per tells. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics of Mount Everest, it sort of translates, Per thinks.

Edith Backlund’s Black Hole was played. Mr. G thinks it’s a lovely song. Sven adds it’s a great pop track and it has a beautiful melody.

Christof Jeppsson’s cover of Roxette’s I Call Your Name was played on the show as well. Per tells he is a guy from his hometown, Halmstad. He plays a lot of acoustic stuff and he is very talented, he’s got a great voice and is very focused. Mr. G thinks Christof did a great job on this song and Per is very pleased about that.

Milk and Toast and Honey by Roxette was played. Per says it’s a beautiful track, Marie is singing it so well. [The program was recorded probably i November last year. /PP] Sven says it’s almost a year since Marie passed away. He asks Per if he still thinks about Marie. Mr. G says of course he does. You do when you lose someone so close to you. So he thinks about Marie a lot. They had this wonderful relationship. And even if he doesn’t think about her, she pops up when he hears a Roxette song. Per tells he loves MATAH, for him it’s his favourite track off the album. Sven says it’s a nice sounding album, it has a warm sound.

Ride or Die by Sindy, Not Forever by Popsicle, a Swedish band from Piteå and Say Lou Lou’s Julian were played too. The mother of the sisters in Say Lou Lou played in a Swedish punk band, Pink Champagne and their father is from an Australian band, The Church.

My Favourite Game by The Cardigans is one of the last songs played on the show. They had a global breakthrough at the time, Sven says. Per remembers the amazing video to this song, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. Sven laughs and says he finds it interesting that they are sitting there on a radio show talking about watching videos.

Jo-Anna Says from Per’s Son of a Plumber album was on air too. Per tells it was released in 2005 and it was a liberation to use another name back then. They were spending many months in the studio. Per just decided that if he does the record under a different name, it will be his debut album. Sven adds it probably gave liberty to Per to do whatever he wanted. Per agrees and says he then thought let’s do a double album, because he always loved the idea that if you do a debut album it becomes a double album. He thinks that’s really cool. In 2005 you were still thinking in albums, he says. It doesn’t work like that anymore. However, Per in his mind will always do that. Mr. G thinks SOAP is one of his greatest recordings. Sven tells it’s really fun listening to. It was recorded during the iPod era and Per was transferring a lot of music to his iPod. Doing that he recognized so many songs that he forgot about. That was the inspiration for this album.

Until they „are back to make the airwaves glowing again”, the guys say goodbye and Per tells Sven he is proud to be on this show. Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is closing the program.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

In the latest 2 episodes of Nordic Rox Per Gessle and Sven Lindström got back to playing Nordic music instead of Per’s top favourites. For the fans it unfortunately means much less talking and less insights, but in the January episode Mr. G added some info related to his songs, so I thought to share the transcript here.

The guys are in Per’s Stockholm apartment and Sven tells they have a stack of records in front of them. Per adds there are lots of vinyl singles and asks Sven if he likes his apartment. Sven looks around and tells there are a lot of guitars, lots of records and music books, so what’s not to like.

Per says there will be some Swedish songs on the show and maybe even a Danish song. Sven adds, there will be something new, something old, something borrowed. Per adds something blue. First they have the Sahara Hotnights. Per thinks they are a great band, but he doesn’t think they are around there anymore. Sven tells they took a break, but they made some excellent records while they were kicking. The song they play is Mind Over Matter. Per says he loves that one.

The guys also play Undressed by Kim Cesarion. Per thinks it’s an amazing song. He doesn’t know much about Kim, but he is a Swedish guy and this is a wonderful song. Sven asks what makes the song so special. Per thinks it’s just a great track. Great production and convincing music.

Adiam Dymott’s Black Cloud is also played from her self-titled album. Sven says it’s a Nordic Rox favourite. The guys can’t really agree on how to pronounce her name. Per says it sounds very French. Sven tells she is from Uppsala. The album is produced by Thomas Rusiak, who worked a lot with Teddybears and made solo records as well.

A song by Metro Jets is played too, The Morning Show. David Birde of Brainpool and Magnus Börjesson teamed up for Metro Jets. Magnus played bass in Roxette for many years and now he is in Per’s solo band as well. Per tells he has no hair, but he is a great guy. Haha. This song was the signature song of Hipp Hipp!, a Swedish TV comedy show.

Sven jokes and tells Per now a band called Roxette is coming up, he doesn’t know if Per knows them. Mr. G says he heard about them. The song they play is a demo Per did for 7Twenty7 which was recorded in 1997 and it was written for the Have A Nice Day album. It sounded very different on the album and the demo is like how it was supposed to be. Guitar-driven power pop. Sven says he always preferred this version. Per says he knows it, Sven likes simple stuff. Sven adds it’s because it’s less synthesizers and more guitars. Per explains that for the album they took a different direction, to use more synthesizers and technology. Live they performed it more like how the demo is.

Teknikens under by Wilmer X is played. Per tells they are a great band and explains that the title means „the wonders of technology”. He thinks it’s a wonderful track. Kjell Andersson was the A&R guy at EMI and he was the mastermind when Wilmer X went from the garage rock style to a bit more 80’s production. The song is produced by Dan Sundquist. Per says he loves Wilmer X. Lead singer Nisse Hellberg sings in a very strong Southern accent, which makes it impossible for Stockholm people to understand what he is singing, but that doesn’t matter. It’s got a great attitude and it’s just great songwriting.

The Hives is also on the show, Hate to Say I Told You So. Per thinks they are also a great band and wonders what happened to them. He hasn’t heard anything from The Hives for a long time. Sven says they are not as prolific now as they used to be, but they pop up every now and then.

Hang With Me by Robyn is also played. Per says Sven is the biggest Robyn fan he knows. Sven laughs and says he loves the Body Talk album. Per says he knows and as soon as he looks away, Sven sneaks in another Robyn song, which is nice. Sven says and when he looks away, Per sneaks in a demo from himself. Haha.

Per tells during the pandemic he felt very isolated in the Swedish West coast in his house, so he went into the studio and recorded stuff that he wrote in the 80’s and 90’s and had this grand ambition to play all the instruments himself. It was a stupid idea, he laughs. Then says no, it wasn’t, but after the fourth or fifth song he realized he wasn’t a very good drummer and certainly not a good bass player. So he took some help from some local guys. It turned out to be a great album, it entered the charts at No. 1 in Sweden. Sven picked the first song off the album, Nypon och ljung. Per says he can’t translate it into English, because he doesn’t know the English words for that. Sven says the whole album has a homely feeling. Even if now Per has a great bass player and drummer on the album, he plays the guitar which is all over it. Per says that’s why he wanted to play as much as possible, because he is not the best musician in the world, but he wanted to make it personal. When he plays the piano or the harpsichord or the mouth organ or whatever, it’s him. And that’s what he wanted to do. He didn’t want a fancy production. He picked songs that are still relevant for him at least lyric-wise. Some songs he wrote when he was 23-25. Those lyrics get a different meaning when it’s sung by him in his sixties. You change the point of view what the lyric is all about. Suddenly you get a touch of sentimentality, it’s different with the experience. So for Per it turned out to be an interesting summer. For Sven it’s like Per wrote the songs, now he sings them and in between life happened. Mr. G says he has written almost 1000 songs in his life, these are the registered songs, so when he digged into the archives there were so many songs he forgot about. Some songs he was surprised by and some songs felt like „shit, what was I thinking?”. He realized that he changed his style of songwriting. He made longer songs when he was younger, he edits songs more now when he is older. He is trying to be a bit more efficient nowadays. He thinks that goes with being a musician all your life. Per says that was the story of his life and asks Sven „how about yours?” Haha. Sven says it’s even shorter. They laugh. Sven says let’s listen to the song, which is 2 minutes 35 seconds of bliss. The album’s title, Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig is a Swedish saying, meaning old love never dies. Per took that title because most of the stuff on the album is old and it fits the album pretty well.

Blue Fun – The Robert Palmer Mix by Mikael Rickfors is played from 1984. Per thinks it sounds great and is really cool. He thinks Mikael is an amazing singer. Sven says you can hear it in this version of the song, but in the original version his voice is unfortunately drowned in echo. Robert Palmer just stripped everything down.

Sleeping In My Car in Asha Ali’s interpretation is also played. Per thinks it’s a great version. Sven tells it’s different from the Roxette original. Per says the original choruses are in major and Asha is doing it in minor style.

Melody Club’s Baby is also on the show. Per thinks it’s a very good song. He asks Sven if the band is still around. Sven doesn’t think so. Their Face The Music album was great, Per loved it.

Miles Away by one of Sweden’s best garage rock bands, The Nomads is also played. Sven says Per has just finished playing air guitar. Per admits it, you can’t resist when you hear this one.

I’ve Been Waiting For You by ABBA is on the show. That’s a pretty early track from 1975. Per says it was a good year for the roses. Sven says it has its musical vibe to it, you can almost sense Mamma Mia! is coming up. Per says he loves this track.

She Owns the Streets by The Raveonettes is on. Per says he played it a lot, he loves it. Sven says they are a superb cool Danish duo.

A next song is Inivisible to Her by Brainpool, one of Per’s favourite bands. Mr. G says he misses the original setting of Brainpool. They still exist, they pop up every three years or so, doing something. The setting with Janne Kask as the singer was amazing. Per thinks their Painkiller album was their big breakthrough. It’s a brilliant album produced by Michael Ilbert. Christoffer Lundquist plays the bass. Sven says Per has spent many years in Christoffer’s studio in Skåne. Per says he became one of Mr. G’s cornerstones in his musical life ever since they started in the late 90’s. Per realizes how time flies. 20+ years and Chris hasn’t shaved since 1999. He has got this Rick Rubin look, he says. Sven says he’s got his mad professor look. They laugh and agree that it’s really cool.

The guys threaten to come back whenever you least expect it with more good-looking music on The Spectrum.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!