Per Gessle

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.

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