Nordic Rox

Sven Lindström starts the August episode of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM by telling they have pulled their brains together to maximize their IQ to pull up today’s list of goodies. It’s an exciting list, Per adds. They went back to 1979 with focus on Sweden. Sven tells Per was a major part of that era, the late ’70s is when PG started playing professionally. Mr. G tells they got signed by EMI Records in 1979 when his band, Gyllene Tider was really fresh and really young with lots of pimples. The guys are laughing.

First they kick off with Sonic Surf City’s Let There Be Surf. Next song is Sugar Town by ShitKid and then comes Rock ‘N’ Roll Highschool by Teddybears.

The next track is a song Roxette recorded in 1995, She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. It was actually Gyllene Tider playing the drums, the bass and the guitars. Per explains that in 1995 they just came off this huge Crash! Boom! Bang! world tour that lasted over a year and they were supposed to release their first compilation album, Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus! Sven laughs and says he knows it was a saying by Roxette’s American manager, Herbie Herbert. Per says he was supposed to do a solo album after the CBB tour, mainly because Marie wanted a second child, so she wanted to take a break. PG also started writing songs for his Swedish band, but then this compilation idea came up with Roxette. So he took a couple of songs, e.g. June Afternoon, She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore from his solo thing and made them into Roxette records. Then they did two additional tracks, so it was 4 new songs on that compilation album. Sven adds Per also wrote a song for Belinda Carlisle during that era. Mr. G tells that was actually a song he wrote for Roxette, but nobody liked it in the Roxette camp except him, so he presented it to Belinda and her English record label. It was Always Breaking My Heart. Belinda recorded that and another song Per wrote, Love Doesn’t Live Here.

After they play SDLHA, Sven asks Per how does it sound now. Mr. G says it sounds great. He remembers recording that motorcycle in the beginning of the intro. It was his old Harley Davidson bike. That was fun. He thinks it’s a good track and they did a great video and had a good time doing that.

The guys play A Passanger from Johnossi’s new album, Mad Gone Wild.

Here comes the new wave part of the show. They pick some songs from Sweden from the new wave era, 1978-81. This is actually when Per got off the ground. He tells it’s a very important era in pop music. You came off the progressive music and everyone was supposed to be a very good player, but then suddenly when the punk and new wave thing happened, it was OK not to be very good. That fit Per perfectly, he laughs. Everyone started bands and got together. Here come tracks by Swedish bands singing in Swedish and it sounds amazing and really good according to Mr. G, a lot of enthusiasm and adrenaline going on. Seldom heard – for good reasons – on American radio.

Sven introduces the first band, Docent Död, which translates to „Doctor Death”. Good punk name, the guys think. The picked track is Solglasögon (Sunglasses) is from 1980. Sven asks Per if he remembers hearing it for the first time. PG tells he thought this was so good. He especially liked it because it sounded really cool, so much better than most Swedish recordings at the time. In those days, in the analogue days there was a big difference in how it sounded in the UK or in Los Angeles or New York compared to Stockholm. Things changed of course when everything became digital, then everything started to sound the same. Per was blown off by this band and their attitude was really cool. It still sounds like a hit record for Mr. G. Sven agrees.

The next group is Reeperbahn. It’s a notorious street in Hamburg, Germany, where The Beatles arrived in the autumn of 1960. Sven doesn’t know if the band took the name from this sort of Beatles connection. Per thinks they just took the name because they thought it was hardcore. The song they play is Lycklig (Happy). Sven remembers Per once said he was impressed back in the days by the sound of this group. Per thinks they were a very good band. Dan Sundquist played bass and he became a really good producer as well. He knew what he was doing even in those days. The one who wrote the song was probably Olle Ljungström, the guitar player who was also singing. They did many good songs, something to look up to, Per says. The guys are laughing.

The next song slows the tempo down a bit. Tant Strul – roughly translates to Auntie Hassle – was one of Per’s favourite groups. An all female band from the new wave scene in the late ’70s. PG liked them a lot. He thinks Vild blomning (Wild blooming) is their best song. It doesn’t really make sense if you don’t understand Swedish, but the lyrics are really beautiful and Kajsa Grytt, who wrote the lyrics for this band is a great lyricist. Per always loved this song. You can hear this era, the band is almost tight, everyone is almost in tune, and it sounds real. Sometimes you just need to listen to music like this instead of all this autotuned stuff that goes on at the moment. Sven tells that this recording is not that far away from the first rehearsal. It’s organic and charming. Sven remembers Per mentioned he always wanted to cover this song. PG says he just liked the song a lot. He thinks it has a great melody and lyrics. He always finds it interesting to read lyrics by female artists, because it’s a different perspective of things. He is not going to do a cover of it, but if there was a Top10 list of Swedish songs that he might do a cover of, then this is definitely on the list.

The next one is Jag kysste henne våldsamt (I kissed her violently) by Anders F. Rönnblom from 1980. This guy made his debut album in the early ’70s and then he got a kick out of the new wave era and started doing shorter and more energetic songs. Per thinks this is like a reggae track. This was Anders’ biggest song. It wasn’t a major hit, but it was a hit record you heard once in a while. It didn’t top the charts, it was on the B roads, as Per says. Mr. G likes the sound of it, he likes the bass and he thinks it sounds really cool. PG listens to it once in a while. Sven shares the info that die hard Anders F. Rönnblom fans are called F-heads.

This song wraps up the new wave section of this episode of Nordic Rox. The guys play three more songs. One of them is Buffalo Stance by Robyn & Neneh Cherry feat. Mapei and another is Hello It’s Me by Todd Rundgren. He is American, but Sven tells they sometimes open the door to Swedish heritage. He once read Todd’s father is from Swedish and German descent. Per jokes and says „so that’s why his first name is Todd”. Sven says he thinks so and his last name is Rundgren which is a very Swedish name and translates to „round branch”. „Important information you can’t live without”, the guys are laughing.

The usual show closer is Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes.

Photo by Anders Roos (2019).

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Per Gessle and Sven Lindström partly dedicated the June episode of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM to John Holm, a great singer songwriter from the ’70s, who was really influential to lots of today’s artists.

The guys kick off the show with a new Swedish band, Diskopunk. They play Snake Oil. Sven says they got a quite interesting sound there. Per agrees. The next song is also a new one, No Hotel by Lykke Li. The third song is by ABBA, a band Per has heard about before. Haha. He tells he was in London just recently and checked out ABBA Voyage, the Abbatars. Sven is curious about how it was. PG tells it was fascinating. The first twenty minutes was amazing, because the technology is mindblowing. After that it was a little bit like same, same. As a concept, it was really interesting. Mr. G thinks it’s a very nostalgic thing to see and hear them in their twenties on stage, even if they are avatars. It was really mindblowing. He understands why people reacted the way they did. It was a really great reaction. At the same time, you can’t compare it to a concert, because a real concert is all about the energy between the crowd and the artist and the artist feeds of the energy from the crowd and vice versa. Since everything is pre-recorded there, it’s just static. So no matter how people react, it’s exactly the same show everytime. That was the negative thing, but as a concept, it’s very interesting and Per is really glad that he went to see it. Sven asks if there is any special highlight Per would mention. Mr. G says he can tell it wasn’t the wine in the bar. Haha. The guys are laughing. Per tells they played a lot of songs he really likes, e.g. S.O.S., which he thinks is one of ABBA’s best songs. The whole show started with The Visitors, which Per thinks is a great track from the late period of ABBA. Sven tells it’s 50 years to the day when one of the first tracks, People Need Love came out. Per tells Sven „it’s your favourite track, right?” Sven laughs, „it’s not my favourite track. And I know it’s certainly not your favourite track either.” So the guys pick another song, Honey, Honey. Mr. G thinks it’s a real bubblegum thing from 1974. For some reason, he always loved this song. It sums up the very early part of ABBA. It’s hard to resist. It’s his guilty pleasure.

Next one is the comeback song of Sahara Hotnights, Gemini. It’s from their new album, Love In Times of Low Expectations. Sven asks Per what he thinks about this album title. PG thinks it’s a long one, but he loves the song, Gemini. It’s a great one with great production. He always liked Sahara Hotnights, they are doing good things. Sven says it’s nice to have them back.

The guys zoom back in time and warn the listeners that this will be a Swedish singing only artist, John Holm. Not to be confused with ’70s porn star John Holmes. It’s a dangerous name as an artist, Per says. The only thing they have in common is that they were both active in the ’70s. That’s what they know about, Per adds. PG spent hours and hours listening to John Holm in the early ’70s. Sven is curious what was it that struck him so hard with this guy. Mr. G says first of all it was his voice. He’s got a very special voice and the way he pronounces the lyrics is very special. The lyrics themselves are amazing. He is a very good writer. The first three albums he did were quite big and very influential on lots of artists from Per’s generation. It’s coming from the singer songwriter tradition and sounds very early ’70s, the whole thing. Later on, when PG started working himself, everyone was talking about that he had a strange voice, so he got a great self confidence, because John Holm also had a strange voice. Per identified with it. Sven says John used it to his advantage, he sounded like nobody else. Per tells that a couple of years ago, in 2016 he was in Nashville to record some solo stuff and when he came back, he invited John to join him on one of the tracks and they did a duet. It was amazing to work with him. He is a little bit older now, but of course, he’s still got that magic voice. The first track the guys play is taken from John’s debut album, 1972. Sommaräng is John’s best song, Per thinks. It translates to Summer meadow. If you understand the lyrics, you realize that it’s really beautiful.

PG tells John Holm is a magnificent artist from the ’70s. Sven tells when Per made his first solo album, he picked a song by John to cover, to kick off the album. This is the first song from the first John Holm album, Sordin. For Per, Den öde stranden has always been a stand-out track. He did a version of it with his band in 1983 – „shit, that’s a long time ago”, he says. In those days you played cover versions of your favourite songs just to show everyone where you come from musically. They played Blondie and The Byrds tracks with Roxette. Then when time went by, there were so many cover bands around, so it became a no-no to play cover versions for some reason. But anyway, Per recorded Den öde stranden for his first album. He thinks it’s a beautiful song and it’s got a great guitar riff. The title means The lonesome beach. Sven thinks it’s very poetic and he finds it interesting that Per and his Swedish band, Gyllene Tider were a power pop band, but when PG made his solo album, he chose John Holm, because he wanted to emphasize his more folky singer songwriter side. PG confirms and says it was a singer songwriter album. He wanted to do something different. There is no point in doing another power pop album if you’re still in a band, so he wanted to show another side of himself. That’s a good thing to do. If you are into so many different styles of music, it’s nice to have different branches on the tree. Especially if you are in a band. There are so many people who have their say and that means a lot of compromising. So sometimes it’s great to do things on your own and do something different. Here Per’s cover of Den öde stranden is played instead of John’s original.

The third pick by Per is his favourite from JH’s second album. It’s a duet, Maria, många mil och år från här, which translates to Maria, many miles and years from here. It’s got a great atmosphere and John’s voice is just amazing. When Per was listening to it back then, in 1972, he was in his early teens. Sven wants to know how it was the split between listening to this kind of singer songwriter stuff as opposed to harder, rocking, power pop stuff. Per liked both. He liked the singer songwriter movement a lot in the early ’70s even when he was young. Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, all those artists. At the same time of course he loved the glam rock, David Bowie, Sweet & Slade. There were English bands that were big in Sweden at the time. He liked the prog rock, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Nazareth. In those days you had so much time to listen to music, because that was the only thing that was around. Sven asks Per if it was his John Holm side that came up when he was sitting with his acoustic guitar in his boy room. PG tells when he started playing it was easier to just play the guitar and sing folk songs. He listened a lot to Swedish folk music from the past as well. What is interesting in music from the Nordic countries – the same goes for Northern England and Scotland – is that old folk music is really beautiful. Those melodies are in Per’s DNA. When he started writing songs himself, it was all about melodies. Per thinks if you ask Benny Andersson from ABBA, you’re gonna get the same answer. It’s in his blood to write melodic music, because that’s where they come from. When Per started out playing himself, it was very close to the singer songwriter tradition. Sven asks „but you wouldn’t bring an acoustic guitar to a Nazareth audition?” The guys are laughing and Per says no. Per loves Nazareth too. Razamanaz is an amazing album. Here the final track by John Holm is played, Maria, många mil och år från här.

The next song, How Do You Do! by Roxette is picked by Sven. It’s the lead single from Tourism, which celebrates 30 years this year. Sven asks PG what he remembers about writing this one. Mr. G wrote this for the summer leg of the Join The Joyride World Tour, which lasted 18 months. It was a very long tour. He wrote it in the spring and recorded it as the first single to be released in the summer of 1992. It was a huge hit for them, especially in Europe. In Germany it was No. 1 for 16 weeks or so. It’s got this little modulation. There is a key change between the verse and the bridge into the chorus to get the right key for Marie to kick in. The first time you hear it you just fall off your chair. It becomes like a gimmick in the song. They did that a lot. You had to balance your different keys, which is always tricky when there is a guy and a girl, but they did their best.

Bad Habit by Sofia Karlberg is next. The Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones by The Hives is played. Such a great band, according to PG. The song is from their Tyrannosaurus Hives album from 2004. Popsicle from Sweden with one of their ’90s tracks, Sunkissed is next. Magnus Carlson, the singer of Weeping Willows is next with The Way of the Crowd. Per thinks he has a great voice and his solo project is always interesting. This song is featuring Trummor & Orgel and Sven thinks it’s cool music.

The guys say thanks for listening and Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is closing the show.

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

Thanks for your support, Sven!

The May episode of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM was partly dedicated to the Swedish band November. Sven tells it’s going to be another special, retrospective, extravaganza pop show from the Nordic countries. Per adds they have an exciting setlist.

PG remembers November from the time he was a kid in the late 60’s, early 70’s. The guys plan to play three of their songs which Per is sure we haven’t heard before. Sven tells the band didn’t stay together that long. They are considered to be Sweden’s first hard rock band. They were inspired by Cream and Led Zeppelin. Mr. G tells November was a trio, guitar, bass and drums and the bass player, Christer Stålbrandt wrote most of the songs and he was also the lead singer. There is lots of blues in the background and they were all great musicians.

Before getting down to those three November songs, Sven and Per play Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) by ABBA.

The next track is by The Soundtrack of Our Lives, one of their classic rock ’n’ roll songs, Nevermore. Per thinks it’s a great track. He says the drummer was probably out having lunch, because there is no drums in this one. Sven adds that the guitarist took over the mix and they just finished it. PG says „and they released the record without the drummer knowing it”. Haha. Per says it has a very special sound to it and it’s a wonderful track by a wonderful band.

The third song on the show is (Do You Get) Excited? by Roxette. Sven asks Per if he got excited when he heard the song now. Per tells it’s from the Joyride album and he thinks it’s one of the greatest Roxette tracks. Marie is singing just so beautifully. Jonas Isacsson plays the lead guitars here and he is doing an amazing job. It was recorded in 1990 at the EMI studio in Stockholm and sounds really cool. It’s one of the best tracks on Joyride, if you ask Per. That’s his humble opinion. Sven asks if he can zoom back in time when he hears the song, being in the studio and if he remembers anything from the recording. Per’s simple answer is „no” and the guys are laughing. But he remembers writing the song. They wrote it together with Mats MP Persson and he was really proud of all these modulations. They did that to make the song different. It was written for Marie to sing. Per loves the title and the whole thing about it. It was a great track from day 1, he thinks. „Says a visibly proud Per Gessle”, Sven says. PG’s reaction is „I’m blushing here”. Haha.

The next one is What Would Joan Jett Do? by The Launderettes, the Norwegian wonders, as Per calls them. Mr. G loves the title of the song and so does Sven. Sven asks „what would she do?” Per answers „she would love that song for sure”. PG also loves that guitar riff, it’s just amazing, he thinks and it’s impossible to play. He tried, but he couldn’t. Sven tells some say that a really great track should be able to play on an acoustic guitar, but he doesn’t think that applies to garage rock. The guys are laughing.

Starting the November special, Sven informs that the band got their name after the month, because they had their first gig in November. Their first album was En ny tid är här… (A new time has come…), released in 1970. The band was formed in Vällingby, a Stockholm suburb. The drummer, Björn Inge and the bassist Christer Stålbrandt formed the band with a British guitarist, Snowy White from Thin Lizzy. Sven doesn’t know what Snowy White was doing in Sweden. He asks Per what he thinks, if Snowy was chasing girls. PG says „probably. Everyone was doing that. Even them.” Sven tells they have to take a little break and listen to Snowy let the guitar loose in Thin Lizzy. So they play a bit of his guitar playing. Sven asks Mr. G if he bought the November album when it came out. PG tells his brother bought the debut album and Per bought the second album. He thinks the debut album is their best. It’s got some really great tracks. What was interesting at the time is that they were singing in Swedish. That was the period of time when suddenly everyone started to sing in Swedish. It was basically forbidden for some reason in the 60’s. Everyone was singing in English. Sven tells people thought it sounded a bit jerky to sing in Swedish. But it made sense, according to Per and suddenly there were bands like November and it sounded totally natural. The sound of the band is very raw, Per thinks, the mix is raw, but it sounds really cool. The guys play one of the band’s major hits, Mount Everest, the album opener on the first record.

Sven asks Per if he could see November live, but then he realizes that it was impossible, because Per was too small back then. PG confirms he was too young, but since Sven is much older than Per, he must have seen them. Sven tells he saw them in his hometown, Växjö in a tech gymnasium. He was 14, he was barely let in and he can’t remember that much. More than that he was severely impressed by the band and being there, trying to chat with some girls with moderate success. Haha.

The next November song is En annan värld (Another world). Sven says there is some serious frenzy from the drummer, Björn Inge. Per thinks he is a great technical drummer and he tells there is a lot of Ginger Baker inspiration here.

Snowy White went back to England, being disappointed by not getting success with the Swedish girls or whatever, Sven jokes. He was replaced by Richard Rolf, an amazing, young guitarist. Per tells he played an SG guitar. He got a great sound, Mr. G always loved his guitar sound. Richard is still around, still plays. His guitar sound was very much part of the distinctive sounds of the band. Sven tells the band toured endlessly for three years, they made three albums and then they ran out of gas. Per reacts „who can blame them”.

The third and last song by November is En ny tid är här on the show.

It’s time for some more contemporary rock, Sven thinks, so they play a song from 1998. They are lauging. Malmö band Wilmer X comes with För dum för pop. Per says Wilmer X is a great band. They are a blues band with a pop side to it. Nisse Hellberg writes the songs, he is a great pop guy, PG thinks. He writes wonderful pop ditties, once in a while. Haha. För dum för pop is one of Per’s favourite songs. He thinks it’s a great title and translates it into English as „Too stupid for pop”. Sven says „we can both recognize ourselves in that title”. PG’s reaction is „absolutely” and they are laughing.

Titiyo comes next with Lovin’ Out Of Nothing from 2004, written by Niclas Frisk from Atomic Swing. Per thinks it still sounds really cool.

The guys stay in southern Sweden, because there is so much good music coming out of there. The Men is a band formed from other garage bands, e.g. The Sinners and The Girls. When they grew up, they decided to get together, do business together and call themselves The Men. They are modsters, Sven tells, very hardcore, inspired by the Britih mod scene 1964-1966. The vespa thing, the clothing. The song the guys play, Don’t is a duet between the singer, Sven Köhler and his daughter who is rather disbelieving.

The last song is Big Big World by Emilia. Per really likes this track. It was everywhere on Swedish radio back then and it’s still got this instant hook in there. Sven says it couldn’t be simpler. Per agrees and thinks it’s just amazing. Everytime he hears it, he wishes he wrote it. The guys are laughing and say goodbye.

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

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

Thanks for your support, Sven!