Per Gessle

Per Gessle is Hallandian of The Year!

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After being nominated for the fourth time in a row, Per Gessle has now won the title Hallandian of The Year! Congratulations!

The first 3 winners in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were Janne Andersson, Boris Lennerhov and My Feldt.

The prize is awarded by the Marketing Association in Halland in collaboration with Hallandsposten and Hallands Nyheter. Hallandians themselves were able to nominate people who they think have been good ambassadors for Halland 2022.

Voting ran until 30th November and the winner has been awarded at the Breakfast Gala this morning (14th December) in Halmstad Arena. For the winner, in addition to the honor, a place among the previous winners awaits at Halmstad City Airport. Per has also received a painting created by artist Dagmar Glemme.

Nominees this year were musician and songwriter Per Gessle, comedian and musician Krister Classon, writer Björn Hellberg, golf player Ingrid Lindblad, actress Madeleine Martin and memory master Martin Nilsson.

The jury’s motivation for nominating Mr. G:

Per Gessle is one of Sweden’s most successful artists and songwriters. He has put Halland on the world map for several decades with his music in various forms and constellations. During 2022, he has once again been widely noticed in all media after releasing previously unpublished songs, recording a duet with Uno Svenningsson and releasing a new record with both Gyllene Tider and PG Roxette. Per is also a co-owner of Hotel Tylösand, which has received many prestigious awards and annually attracts large numbers of tourists and conference guests and has Sweden’s largest art gallery.

Congrats once again and looking forward to bump into that pic at Halmstad City Airport!

 

 

Photos from Hallandsposten

 

Picture and video from Radio Båstad

 

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – December 2022

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Sven Lindström and Per Gessle sat together in Halmstad to record the December episode of Nordic Rox. Sven says it’s soon Christmas time and Per has got his Santa outfit on himself because he is ready to present his brand new Christmas single coming up later on the show.

This time it’s The Soundtrack Of Our Lives special, taking a closer look at this Gothenburg band’s songs. Per says they played them quite a lot here on Nordic Rox, because they like them a lot. The band is not around anymore, unfortunately, but they were killer in their heydays.

Before the special, the guys present some weird sounds from the north of Sweden and the first track is Boogie Woogie/Rock ‘n’ Roll by Komeda. Per says it’s pretty famous, because it was part of an ad on Swedish television many years ago. Mr. G thinks it’s a great track and it sounds amazing. Sven adds they just picked out this bababababa from the song for the ad and it was incredibly irritating. Not many people knew what the track was.

The next song is Happyland by Amanda Jenssen. She is from Lund, Sweden. Then comes Different Sound by the amazing Teddybears. Sahara Hotnights is next with Gemini.

Bald Headed Woman from The Hep Stars is the next track. This song was No. 1 on the charts in Sweden in 1965. Sven says it tells you everything you need to know about Sweden in 1965. Per remembers it was on the first Kinks album and Sven adds he thinks The Who as well did it. PG shares the info that the keyboard player in The Hep Stars is Benny Andersson, who eventually became one of the key players and writers of ABBA. Sven says he doesn’t know if you could hear any sort of traces of ABBA here, but he went berserk on that organ at the end of the song. He is a fantastic player. Per says they were a good live band as well. Sven saw them at the end of their career in 1966. Per says he was too young back then. Haha. Sven says Bald Headed Woman was like an old blues track, but he never really figured out the lyrics. He asks Per what he thinks the lyric means. Mr. G laughs and says „well, he preferred women with hair”. Sven adds he didn’t like sugar in his coffee either („I don’t want no sugar in my coffee”). PG says it was tough in those days. Haha. Sven says it was like listening to an old Ramones record. Per agrees.

Sarah Klang’s latest single, Belly Shots is next. Per thinks she is a great singer and it’s a great song. Sven agrees she is a terrific singer.

It’s time for the guys to zoom up to Gothenburg and relive some of the greatest moments of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives history. Per thinks it’s a great band. They started out in 1995 and went on until 2012 when they disbanded. Sven adds they released a final album then. Per always liked them. They had a great sound and were very guitar-driven and very melodic all the time, even though their songs are pretty long. Lots of instrumental passages, but they always had really good melodies and good songwriting as a basic thing. Sven says the first track they play, Instant Repeater ’99 is from their debut album, Welcome To The Infant Freebase (1996). It sets the tone for The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Some elements of Stones, some elements of psych rock, some elements of punk. A little bit of everything. Mr. G thinks they were great live as well and Ebbot Lundberg is a very prolific singer.

Sven says the band had wonderfully psychedelic titles for their albums. The next album they released in 1998 was called Extended Revelation For The Psychic Weaklings Of Western Civilization. They also made very long records. In the vinyl era these would have been double albums. The first one was 70 minutes long and the second was 62 minutes. PG says they didn’t believe in kill your darlings. Sven says he doesn’t think they were ever aware of either darlings or killing. Haha. According to Mr. G, it’s good anyway, they have their own identity and he really likes the style of the guitarist. They have these guitars all the time that are really melodic and they sort of create all these patterns in the music, which is really interesting. It’s very special and he likes it a lot.

Sven thinks there is some sort of Stones element to it and it also adds some psychedelic thing to the melodies or the whole attitude. That becomes very clear in the next song, Bigtime from their fourth album, Origin Vol. 1. Per says this is probably his favourite track from them. He thinks it’s really cool, it has a great groove to it and it’s just so exciting to listen to all the time.

Per says every time he hears this band he is getting more and more impressed. They are a whole great package of wonderful musicians and great melodies, great songwriting. And Ebbot, the lead singer has got a great voice. Sven also thinks that most of the things they did was fantastic. Just take a look at the cover of the album they made in 2008, Communion. Sven can never stop being fascinated about that cover. It looks like a middle-aged couple in a spa, drinking some greenish smoothie. Per thinks it’s a great sleeve. They are talking about it, so it must be good.

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives made it quite big with the third album in the US and also other countries. The guys plan to play 2 songs from Behind The Music. Per says the first one they play is Nevermore. It’s got a little more acoustic touch to it, but it’s a great track and also it’s a beautiful melody line. PG always goes for the melodies, as we know. The album is from 2001 and this is the one that sort of cracked the US market open for the band and especially the next track Sven and Per play, the Sister Surround single. Per adds they toured the States as well, in 2002 they were supporting Oasis. Sister Surround is a terrific track, a classic rock and roll kind of rock music that became rarer and rarer until it almost became extinct, Sven says. PG thinks it’s a great way to end this homage on the show with the highlights of their career.

A song spinning heavily on Swedish radio right now is Stockholmsvy by Hannes & Waterbaby. The title translates to View of Stockholm. Per says the song is in English except for the title, which is in Swedish. He thinks it’s a good song. When he heard it for the first time, it felt like it was like a Leonard Cohen track from his late era. Really smooth and mellow and beautiful and sparse. Mr. G also thinks that it’s nice that they are getting some really good airplay here.

Next song is Waterlily Love by Per’s partner in crime, Helena Josefsson. This is from her debut album in 2007. Mr. G thinks it’s a beautiful song and Helena is a great singer.

Ifrån mej själv by Dundertåget comes next. The title translates roughly to Beside Myself and the band name translates to thunder train. The guys think it’s a good name and a good track as well.

Here comes a Christmas celebration from Per Gessle and PG Roxette, Wish You The Best For Xmas. Per says it’s time for another Christmas song. He wrote one in 1987, which was called It Must Have Been Love. Sven says he doesn’t think Per has to introduce that song, but maybe he has to introduce it as a Christmas song, because probably nobody remembers that it started out as a Christmas song. Per says the reason for writing it was that Roxette tried to get airplay in Europe and it was impossible. Their German record label suggested that Per should write a Christmas song, because then it could be easier to get on the radio for Christmas. And so he did it and wrote It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted) and presented to them. They didn’t like it, so they never released it. However, Roxette released it in Sweden and it became a big hit for them as a Christmas song in 1987. And then of course, three years later it popped up in the Pretty Woman movie. Without the Christmas reference in the lyrics, that went out the window. Now it was time again, so this summer PG decided to write an uptempo Christmas song. It’s a great tradition in pop music generally when it comes to Christmas songs. Per has his favourites, e.g. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Roy Wood’s Wizzard, Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade or all those songs that were big in Sweden when he was a kid. Once in a while, you have to make a Christmas record, Mr. G thinks.

At the end of the show, the guys wish merry Christmas and happy new year to all listeners. They promise to be back early January.

Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is the closing song, of course.

Photo by Anders Roos (2019)

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Per Gessle on Gry Forssell med vänner, Mix Megapol

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Per Gessle was a guest of Gry Forssell med vänner on Swedish radio Mix Megapol on 30th November. You can listen to the morning show HERE and listen to the 20-minute-long chat from 20:10 into the program.

Gry welcomes Per in the studio by saying he has done everything from tear-jerking ballads in Swedish to international dance music. PG thanks for the warm welcome and to the question how he is, he replies he feels absolutely wonderful and it’s so much fun to be there. He mentions the radio has a nice Christmas tree. Gry explains they play Christmas music now all the way until Christmas to get into the right mood. She thinks it might be considered a bit of a jumpstart with Christmas decorations, but now after the First Sunday of Advent… Per thinks it’s totally fine. Gry is curious if Per has already decorated and the answer is a strict no. Then Gry asks if he will decorate and the answer is no again. Gry asks if Per is the Grinch. Haha. Per says he is bad at that sort of thing, but he thinks it’s kind of cozy. Gry is shocked how someone can make Christmas music and not be a Christmas decorator. She thinks it’s cheating. Per agrees and informs he wrote his new Christmas single in June. Haha.

One of the program leader guys says he found Sweden’s strangest word. It’s „nja”, the mix of „ja” (yes) and „nej” (no). He is wondering how it can be a word, both no and yes at the same time. Per thinks it’s typical Swedish.

Gry asks Per what he is thinking about today. Mr. G replies that it is so early. When he woke up this morning he was wondering what planet he was on. He tells he is not a morning person, but it got better over the years. Gry is curious whether Per stays in bed after waking up or gets up immediately. PG says he is up right away, otherwise it may get a bit too cozy. Haha.

Gry tells the listeners that they will play Per’s new Christmas song, but first she wants to hear about It Must Have Been Love, if it’s true that it’s a Christmas song. PG tells it was written as a Christmas song in 1987. They tried to get abroad with Roxette, also to Germany for example, but they said they couldn’t play anything from Roxette on the radio. They suggested that he should write a Christmas song to make it maybe a little easier then. So he wrote It Must Have Been Love and played it for them, but they didn’t like it at all. So it was released in Sweden only and became quite big at Christmas 1987. Then it was forgotten and later it appeared in Pretty Woman in 1990 and the rest is history.

After playing IMHBL, Gry tells sometimes you have to be happy that a song comes to an end because her colleague asks stupid questions. He asked Per about Gyllene Tider and reggae. Gry apologizes for the question and they are laughing. Per says they tried to make some kind of reggae version of Flickorna på TV2 and När vi två blir en, but it didn’t go too well. It was a bit of Halmstad reggae.

Here Gry reads a listener’s letter who asks for advice. She is 26 and has been going out with a guy since months, but she hasn’t told him about her past that she was a drug addict. The guy made it clear he hates drugs. She asks advice whether she should tell it to the guy or wait with it. Gry and Co. are discussing the topic and think the girl should tell her boyfriend about her past. Per thinks so too and also thinks it sounds like a quite tough relationship. They discuss that the guy thinks how can someone be so stupid to take drugs, but the girl also thinks it’s stupid, because she has stopped taking drugs. So they actually think the same. Attitude towards things is not really that simple that you can judge like that. Per thinks he shouldn’t be a hobby psychologist.

Gry tells it’s completely impossible to find scandals around Per Gessle. She doesn’t know whether Per is not involved in any or he is just hiding them very well. Per says he is very good at keeping his scandals a secret. One scandal Gry heard about, she says. Per says, „shit, what’s her name?” Haha. Gry says her name is Tylösand. She heard that Per has never bathed in Tylösand. PG says it’s true. Gry can’t believe it. Per says he has never gone down and dipped his toes in. He explains it’s because his father and grandfather were plumbers and they worked in Frösakull, so when he was a child in the ’60s and ’70s he was hanging out and bathed there. He had no close relationship with Tylösand. He was around 19, 20, 21 years old when he went down there and went to the nightclub to fool around a bit. It’s also the case that Gyllene Tider became big when he was 21 and after that it wasn’t really possible to just go down to the beach.

Gry asks Per about PG Roxette’s Christmas songs. The B side of the single was a song he wrote in 2013 for a musical that never happened. So it was lying around and matured a bit. It’s a very nice ballad, but then he thought he would write an uptempo song just out of the blue and that’s the one that became a single. Gry is curious how Per got the Christmas inspiration in the middle of summer. Per says you don’t need anything special, just to put on Santa’s hat at home. They are laughing. It’s just that you think and try to write something that is a little bit festive and lovely. Gry thinks it’s sweet that Per thinks about the single as an A side and B side thing, even if he also released it digitally. Per says it’s a sign that he is getting very old.

Gry asks Per what his first vinyl was. It was an LP by The Kinks, The Kink Kontroversy. He bought it in secret from his brother who needed money for cigarette.

The guys also talk about the happy news that Gyllene Tider goes on tour next summer. It’s called Hux Flux. They ask Per if we can expect new songs as well. PG says absolutely, there is a brand new LP already recorded. It will come out in spring and it’s also called Hux Flux. Gry says she doesn’t want Per to get her wrong, but all those who bought tickets and went on their farewell tour and stood at the front and cried and said, „now we’re part of something historic”… Do they ask for their money back now? Haha. Per says no, he hopes they had a nice evening. Mr. G says it’s an interesting discussion, though. What actually happened is that the pandemic came. It was Micke Syd at the time who thought they should do their last tour in 2019. And then when the pandemic happened, all of a sudden it felt like they might come up with something, do something more together and it started then with Per writing a bunch of songs for the band and they recorded them. It turned out to be a damn good record. Now they are going on tour again.

Here they play Wish You The Best For Xmas by PG Roxette.

Gry asks Per to tell a true and a false happening from his life. They will try to find out which one is true. Per says he has prepared a bit ambitiously for this, so instead of a statement he asks the question whether Gyllene Tider has ever been called Roxette or not. Per continues with a little explanation that in 1985 Gyllene Tider was over. It took 9 years until 1996 before the first comeback happened and the last album that Gyllene Tider recorded was in English. It was called The Heartland Café. This album was released in the US and Gyllene Tider was marketed under the name Roxette. True or false? The radio gang finds this question exciting. In 1985 they took a break, then in 1996 they came back. Per says it was with those songs, Juni, juli, augusti and Gå & fiska! Someone thinks it’s true, someone thinks it’s false. Someone thinks it was such a detailed story that it must be true. Per tells in the end that it’s true. Gyllene Tider’s English name was Roxette back then. Gry asks how come she didn’t know about it. Per says because she doesn’t read books about him. They are laughing. Per says Marie and he started Roxette one year later. The idea for the name came from a band Gyllene Tider listened to a lot, Dr. Feelgood, an English pub rock band. They have a song called Roxette that they all loved, so they took their name from that song.

Gry and Co. thank Per for coming to the show and hanging out with them. They wish Mr. G a nice Christmas break. Per wishes the same and thanks for inviting him and for the good sandwiches. Gry wishes Per a nice Christmas in Halmstad and asks him to come back to them before the GT tour.

Still is from Per’s Xmas single teaser video.

PG Roxette’s Xmas single is out!

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PG Roxette released his debut album, Pop-Up Dynamo! on 28th October and now less than a month later, one month before Christmas he releases a surprise single with two Xmas songs. Wish You The Best For Xmas and Wishing On The Same Christmas Star are already available from today, 18th November on all streaming services. Listen to the single that also includes the instrumental version of both songs on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music or YouTube!

Physical release is on 25th November. You can order the ruby red 7” vinyl at Bengans, Ginza and some more Scandinavian online shops.

WISH YOU THE BEST FOR XMAS

Side A   Wish You The Best For Xmas
Side B   Wishing On The Same Christmas Star

Here is Per’s message upon the single release:

There’s a great tradition in pop music when it comes to christmas songs. My favourites remain the same; Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” and Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” are the stars on top of my christmas tree year after year. They’re hard to beat.

I wrote my very first christmas song in 1979 for my Swedish band, then I had another go in 1987 with Roxette. Maybe you know that one. It was called “It Must Have Been Love” and yes, the first version we released was actually a christmas song.

With PG Roxette I felt like keeping the tradition going. I wrote two songs, one uptempo and one ballad. They’re very different to each other.

First we have the uptempo one; “Wish You The Best For Xmas”. I thought it was a nice idea to do something a little bit more energetic than your ordinary christmas track. I came up with an idea this summer and the whole process went very fast.

I made a demo and sent it to Andreas Broberger who worked with Roxette on the “Good Karma” album as well as helping me out with some Mono Mind-tracks. His sounds and production style fit this song perfectly.

It felt like this song deserved a video so I got in touch with animator Mattias Gordon who did an amazing clip to it. I love the vibe he has created in the video.

Then we have the ballad. The melody to “Wishing On The Same Christmas Star” was born eight years ago in a song written for a musical that never happened.

It popped up in my head again when I thought of writing a christmas ballad.

It’s produced by Magnus Börjeson and Clarence Öfwerman who’s also responsible for the whole “Pop-Up Dynamo!” album. As you can hear it became a duet together with Helena Josefsson who is, as always, truly amazing to listen to.

There you go. Two christmas presents. From me to you.

Merry Christmas, folks!

/PG.

Mr. G shared this info related to the single in the RoxBlog interview:

I wrote the ballad first, eight years ago. It was called “Wishing On The Same Star” to begin with. It was written for a musical, but they didn’t use it. I liked the song and I thought maybe I should do a Christmas song. So I recorded a demo of it with a Christmas lyric. Then I didn’t use that either until now. Clarence and Magnus did the production and it sounded good, but it felt a little bit predictable to do this ballad Christmas thing. I felt like maybe I should write something really uptempo instead. So I wrote this really fast uptempo song. I did it in July this year. So the other song, “Wish You The Best For Xmas” is brand new. It’s produced by myself and Andreas Broberger, so it sounds a little different.

The video to it is cool too, but it’s different. It’s made by this guy Mattias Gordon, who did the “Being With You” video. It’s different style, but it’s animated and it’s a lot of Christmas people in it. He’s got this great technique. He is taking films of people and then he draws on the film, then just keeps the drawings and gets rid of the films. I’m in there and I’m playing the keyboards, but I’m just like… it’s just pencil. It’s funny and it’s cool.

Wish You The Best For Xmas

You
You’re sitting across the table having breakfast
Giving me that look that makes me smile
And I can’t hide it

We
We spend so many hours doing nothing
That’s the way I want it to stay for a while
And all the time

Hey
I’m missing you every day
I wish you were here with me
Keeping me company
Oh I wish you a very very merry merry merry xmas
I’m hoping you think of me
Dancing around the tree
Oh I wish you the best for xmas

I
I play that song you fancy without thinking
It’s silly and it’s simple but it’s true
I miss you

Yea
I’m missing you every day
I wish you were here with me
Keeping me company
Oh I wish you a very very merry merry merry xmas
I’m hoping you think of me
Dancing around the tree
Oh I wish you the best for xmas

Words + Music by Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Andreas Broberger + Per Gessle
Recorded at Bridge & Mountain Paradise, Umeå + T&A Studio, Halmstad
Engineers: Andreas Broberger + M.P. Persson
Mixed by Andreas Broberger + Anton Ekström

Vocals: Per Gessle + Helena Josefsson
Programming + Synthesizers: Andreas Broberger
Guitars + Percussion: Per Gessle
Mandolin: M.P. Persson

Wishing On The Same Christmas Star

There’s a truth that’s been forever
It’s so clear, it’s in my heart
It makes the voices from the street
And that crazy christmas beat
Feel so near
It just feels so near

You and me we’re linked together
Like we were wishing on the same christmas star
Oh I hope until the end
You will always be my friend
So close
Like a whisper

I always knew this day eventually would come
I always knew this place is right where we belong

Oh I know we can climb higher
Yes, I know we’ve just begun
Let us both just seize the day
And let the beauty come our way
To celebrate
Christmas Day
This Christmas Day

Words + Music by Per Gessle
Published by Jimmy Fun Music

Produced by Magnus Börjeson + Clarence Öfwerman + Per Gessle
Co-produced by Christoffer Lundquist
Recorded at Farozon, Malmö + Aerosol Grey Machine, Vallarum + T&A Studio, Halmstad
Engineers: Magnus Börjeson + Christoffer Lundquist + M.P. Persson
Mixed by Ronny Lahti

Vocals: Per Gessle + Helena Josefsson
Programming + Synthesizers + Keyboards: Magnus Börjeson + Clarence Öfwerman
Synthesizers: Per Gessle
Guitars + Ondes Martenot: Christoffer Lundquist

 

Design by Pär Wickholm, Wickholm Formavd., Stockholm. Photo by Fredrik Etoall

Per Gessle nominated as Hallandian of The Year for the fourth time!

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It’s the fourth time Per Gessle is nominated as Hallandian of The Year. The first 3 winners in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were Janne Andersson, Boris Lennerhov and My Feldt.

The prize is awarded by the Marketing Association in Halland in collaboration with Hallandsposten and Hallands Nyheter. Hallandians themselves have been able to nominate people who they think have been good ambassadors for Halland 2022.

Voting runs until 30th November. The winner will be awarded at the Breakfast Gala on 14th December. For the winner, in addition to the honor, a place among the previous winners awaits at Halmstad City Airport and also a painting created by artist Dagmar Glemme.

You can vote HERE!

The jury’s motivation for nominating Mr. G:

Per Gessle is one of Sweden’s most successful artists and songwriters. He has put Halland on the world map for several decades with his music in various forms and constellations. During 2022, he has once again been widely noticed in all media after releasing previously unpublished songs, recording a duet with Uno Svenningsson and releasing a new record with both Gyllene Tider and PG Roxette. Per is also a co-owner of Hotel Tylösand, which has received many prestigious awards and annually attracts large numbers of tourists and conference guests and has Sweden’s largest art gallery.

Good luck, Per!

Stills are from the Pop-Up Dynamo! track by track videos.