Pop-Up Dynamo!

PG Roxette – from tour to album – Per Gessle interview on Hallandsposten

by

Jan-Owe Wikström did an interview with Per for Hallandsposten. You can read it HERE!

Eight days after Gyllene Tider announced their comeback with the album “Hux flux” and tour in the summer of 2023, Per Gessle now releases PG Roxette’s debut album “Pop-Up Dynamo!”.

PG explains:

Well, it was maybe a bit tight there, but since the tickets for the tour were to be released this week and PG Roxette is an international launch, it turned out that way.

In December, it is three years since the other half of Roxette, Marie Fredriksson, tragically passed away after a long illness. But then she had already been forced to step down in 2016 due to failing health.

So the idea of nurturing the legacy of Roxette has been there latently ever since and Marie and I also talked about it.

Finally he arrived at a crossroads.

It was to drop Roxette completely or to find a way to move on without Marie. Either on or off.

And what made me decide was that I noticed how much interest there was still for Roxette out there in the world through Spotify and all the streaming services. At the same time, I have written all the songs and felt that I wanted to keep them in my life.

I mean, I’ve devoted my entire adult life, almost 30 years, to the band, so it’s not something you just let go like that.

In 2018 Per went on a new tour under the name Per Gessle’s Roxette and the idea was also that there would be a new one as PG Roxette in 2020.

Per tells Hallandsposten:

Yes, the goal from the beginning was not to record new music, but to go out and tour with Roxette songs.

Until a certain pandemic struck and shut down and redrawn the world. Then Per had to think again. And song after song grew into a first PG Roxette record.

The idea was to make uptempo and very ’80s-’90s songs like on “Look Sharp!” and “Joyride”. But in 2022.

Jan-Owe says it sounds like Per has been listening to The Cars a lot, among other things.

Well, you had to root out all the old synthesizers from that time. Jupiter 6, Jupiter 8, Prophet and all those…

Instead of Christoffer Lundquist – who was responsible for Gyllene Tider’s and Per’s own solo albums lately – it was also Clarence Öfwerman and Magnus Börjeson who became producers.

Per says:

It has never been an issue to try to replace Marie, because it’s not possible.

So even though the idea was that I would now sing most of the time, I have always wanted to have girls along as well. And since Helena (Josefsson) and Dea (Norberg) were doing backing vocals on Roxette tours during the past few years, it was natural to bring them along.

The effect surprised even Per himself.

Yes, it was actually when we with PG Roxette were going to record “Nothing Else Matters” for Metallica’s anniversary album that we used both voices at the same time for the first time.

And then I discovered that together they became like a third persona, a new, completely unique voice. Much like Frida and Agnetha in ABBA. So then Dea had to go into the studio again and add her voice to the parts that Helena had already sung.

During the journey, Roxette’s drummer, Pelle Alsing, also suddenly passed away in 2020.

It came completely unexpectedly, like a shock. But it made me even stronger in my conviction to manage Roxette’s legacy, that the music should live on.

Therefore, Roxette guitarist Jonas Isacsson also became involved in PG Roxette early on.

Yes, it really will be Roxette with his guitar. Just like Gyllene Tider only plays Gyllene Tider with the five of us together, me, Micke (Syd), Anders (Herrlin), MP (Mats Persson) and Göran (Fritzon). It kind of just happens like that, can’t be explained or touched on.

Per about “Pop-Up Dynamo!”:

As the title suggests, it’s electric, pops up and is very uptempo. So if Gyllene Tider’s new record is like four tequila shots, this one is like seven…

The international PG Roxette tour will have to wait. There is a new Gyllene Tider trip in between.

New Roxette album without Marie Fredriksson – German News Agency

by

The names Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle will forever be associated with pop duo Roxette. Three years after Fredriksson’s untimely death, Gessle is now releasing an album with a new project that bears their band name – and also the unmistakably pop Roxette sound of “Joyride” and other world hits of the past. “Pop-Up Dynamo!” will be released by Warner Music on Friday.

“I decided early on that we should go for this sound from the late ’80s, early ’90s, where my heart is basically,” Gessle told the DPA (German News Agency) ahead of the release of the album. Instead of adapting to very new formats, it’s better to stick with what you’re good at. “At the same time, I didn’t want to be nostalgic or too retro. I also wanted to sound modern,” emphasizes the now 63-year-old Swede. The result was an uptempo pop album. “It’s a mishmash of 1989 and 2022 – or 2021 when it was recorded,” Gessle said.

1989 – around this year was the heyday of Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson. As Roxette, the two Swedes stringed together one world success after another, including “The Look”, “Listen To Your Heart” and “It Must Have Been Love”. They sold about 80 million albums worldwide. Gessle wrote the songs, while Fredriksson’s stunning voice became a hit on German radio too.

In 2016 Roxette gave their last concert. On December 9, 2019, Fredriksson died at the age of just 61 after a long battle with cancer. Gessle also processed this musically, one year after her death, the song collection “Bag Of Trix” came out with unpublished and partly lost Roxette recordings.

Roxette is now continued as PG Roxette, the world hits of that time are followed by the album “Pop-Up Dynamo!”, dedicated to Marie Fredriksson. The sound remains the same, but a hardly replaceable voice has to be replaced. “This is a new chapter beginning,” says Gessle. “It would have felt strange to do a Roxette album without Marie.”

Fredriksson is therefore not heard on the album, but the longtime background singers Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg. “Pop-Up Dynamo!” is different vs. music by Roxette, but somehow not. From the very first few seconds, “Walking On Air”, the record’s strong first and pre-release track, feels like a ’90s car ride with the radio turned on. The voices of Gessle, Josefsson and Norberg invite you to sing along, the melodies of several of the eleven songs remain supple in the ear.

In the middle of the album, for example with “You Hurt The One You Love The Most” and “Jezebel”, the music sometimes becomes calmer and more thoughtful, in between with “The Loneliest Girl In The World” – despite the sad title – audibly happier again. So Gessle has remained true to this mixture of the cheerful and the thoughtful, which also characterized Roxette. He’s not trying to be Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber.

Gessle didn’t shy away from getting the old synthesizers out of the basement. The Swede admits that “Pop-Up Dynamo!” is something different than today’s pop music. The album sounds so completely different from everything else that is musically circulating today. “Most pop music today is made on laptops or in that style,” he says. “It’s a development that has limited the music a bit.” Gessle himself stays within his old comfort boundaries – those of Roxette.

PG Roxette releases debut single

by

During their long history together, Roxette delivered a catalogue of unforgettable pop rock anthems such as It Must Have Been Love, Listen To Your Heart, Fading Like A Flower, The Look, Dressed For Success and Joyride. Climbing up the charts the world over, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle sold over 80 million albums and achieved five consecutive UK Top 5 albums. As much as they were a defining influence on the ’80s and ’90s pop scenes, their songs are still being discovered and admired today – as evidenced by 8.5 million monthly listeners at Spotify.

Sadly, Roxette came to an end in 2019 with the tragic passing of Marie. For years, Per was torn between what to do next: Marie is irreplaceable, but he also wanted to celebrate her life and her legacy with the fans that made their journey what it was. Eventually, he reunited the classic Roxette live band – Jonas Isacsson, Clarence Öfwerman, Magnus Börjeson and Christoffer Lundquist – and called upon long-term backing vocalists Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg as the people most able to channel some of Marie’s immense talent and indomitable spirit.

This new era starts as PG Roxette shares his debut single The Loneliest Girl In The World along with its official video. The song is the first taste from the upcoming album Pop-Up Dynamo!, which follows this September.

The Loneliest Girl In The World feels like a natural next step for Per Gessle. With exuberant energy, the sweetest of melodies and their trademark don’t-bore-us-get-to-the-chorus addictiveness, it’s a song that would fit comfortably into any era of Roxette’s hefty back catalogue. Whether you consider it to be the poppiest rock around or pop with a little rock edge, it’s unmistakably Roxette.

Per says:

I had so much fun making these recordings. I really tried to go back to the writing style I had in the early days of Roxette and it was a blast. Some of the songs are the best I’ve ever done. And to work with all my Roxette-friends once again was amazing. We stick together like glue.

So that’s how PG Roxette came about. But why Per felt the need to return is best told in his own words. He explains:

Since the ’80s, my whole life has been spinning around Roxette and to this day it’s still what excites me the most. There are millions of people out there who still love the band so of course I want to keep our music alive. At first, I wasn’t sure which way to go but as time passed by it became clear that I want to continue this fantastic joyride. I want to keep the legacy of Roxette alive.

I’ve written almost every song Roxette has recorded over the years and they mean the world to me. When I started to write, my ambition was to try to create a sibling to ‘Look Sharp!’ and ‘Joyride’ – and that’s actually exactly how it sounds. I’ve wanted to create a modern production, but with the typical Roxette trademarks.

It’s impossible to replace Marie and that was never my intention. Our Roxette era was an unbelievable fantasy that we got to share together. I’m excited to be able to continue this journey, but in a different way. Needless to say that if Marie was still here, we’d be doing this together.

I feel this is the right decision. I’m so proud of this body of work and I love working with these people.

Tracklist of the single:

A   The Loneliest Girl In The World
B   Sunflower

The physical, limited edition 7″ vinyl single you can pre-order at Bengans, Ginza and other online shops. You can pre-save the digital version – and with this, enter a contest to win a digital meet & greet with Per Gessle – HERE.

Release date is 3rd June!