Kiwein

Homepages: http://www.marie-fredriksson.com http://www.planet-roxette.com (German Roxette fan site)

Mikael Bolyos: “Hopefully we can release something more..”

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Mikael Bolyos on 30th May 2017. (Foto: Annie Heart)

After Marie surprisingly released a new jazz single on her birthday, we felt the urge to talk to one of the driving forces behind the project: Mikael Bolyos. Luckily enough he found the time to answer some of our questions and we want to thank him very much for doing so. We know he is a busy man.

RXB: Mikael, thanks for stopping a second to take the time to talk to us. It was probably quite busy lately with Marie’s birthday and the release of the new song – and both topics that made us think we desperately need to talk to you. So, first of all: Is your house still a normal house or did it turn into a huge garden on Marie’s birthday? Just kidding, of course, but we are well aware that many fans still send their cards and flowers and presents and we are curious: Did it become more now that Marie has retired from the touring life?
Mikael Bolyos: No, our home still always look like a flowershop  on every Maries birthday.

RXB: And talking about Marie’s birthday: We were very surprised to find out that she or you decided to release a new single (Alone Again) on her birthday. Did you choose this date on purpose or was it a coincidence? This definitely feels like you made yourself a present and you gave a present to us as well.
MB: Yes, the whole idea was to try to give a little something back to all her fans. Call it a little “thank you” for all the support over the years.

RXB: Do you still read the Roxette internet and Facebook fan pages such as Roxetteblog and The Daily Roxette – so are you aware that the fan world went totally crazy after the song was announced on several streaming services such as iTunes, Amazon and Google play?
MB: Yes, we noticed some comments!

RXB: The response so far has been amazing, lots of positive comments everywhere, how do you feel about this?
MB: We, Marie, Magnus, Max & me are so happy about this. Max told me the other day that people are telling him daily on the bus, in the streets, everywhere how much they like the song and production.

RXB: What can you actually tell us about the single? When did you have the idea, when did you record it?
MB: I had an idea back in 2002 to make an instrumental album with my favorite sax and guitar players in Sweden. Magnus Lindgren and Max Schultz. We started the recordings at Vinden studio in January 2003. Soon we asked Marie to add some vocals to one of the songs (on a Sunday). We also made the first recording of Max´s song “Alone again” back then. At that time it was an instrumental song. A couple of years later I wrote the lyrics and in 2009 we recorded the song with Marie. At that time we even had plans of doing some light touring with this trio. But as you know history wanted something else.

RXB: Is there a reason you chose English over Swedish?
MB: No, not really ! Maybe it´s because Magnus’ instrumental song’s name was “On a Sunday” so Marie and me wrote english lyrics to it.

RXB: The song came together with a (surprise) video – what was the idea behind this?
MB: We thought it would be easier to present the song if it contained a video. It’s much more funny to click a link and be able to listen and watch.

RXB: You worked with two musicians with who you already worked with before, why did you choose to work with them? How did this collaboration come up?
MB: Marie and me heard a duo in a hotelbar in London 2002. Two guys playing sax and guitar. It felt as an odd combination, but still so interesting. It felt natural to ask Max & Magnus if they were interested of trying something like this, but playing only original songs.

RXB: Does the single mean that a new album is coming out soon?
MB: I wish I could say yes, but this was meant to be a one-time event, but after the massive positive reaction….. we’ll see…..Hopefully we can release something more in the same category in the future…at least I hope.

RXB: Both musicians are known for their jazz music, if there will be a new album, will it be THE jazz album Marie always wanted to do?
MB: Yes, I think it’s a good guess that in that case, jazz & blues will dominate, but I don’t know about a whole album.

RXB: Have you listened to Per’s solo album? What do you think?
MB: Yes we have and we think it´s great. We like it a lot !

RXB: We read a rumour some weeks ago that you and Marie became grandparents in the meantime. It spread like a bush fire and many people were speculating about this being right. We really don’t want to fuel the rumor mill, but in case it is true…
MB: HA! Not as far as we know.

We miss Marie – 150 days later

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Exactly 150 days have passed since Roxette cancelled their summer tour 2016 and in the same second ended their career as a touring band. 150 days until September 15th, a day that means a lot to many people.

I wasn’t even aware of the date until I read about it this morning on Facebook. I don’t really connect it to Marie’s illness. Yes, it was the day they let us know about it, it was a Sunday, never will be forgotten. But she knew before and everything happened before this day (in my world), so it’s not really a day of significance to me. Maybe September 11th, maybe not.

Photo: Gaby Hildebrandt
Photo: Gaby Hildebrandt

However, 150 days have passed since finally happened what was supposed to happen. We all knew it would happen, and many of us were actually waiting for it, not being able to see Marie struggle on stage any longer. It was a relief, it was a disappointment. It was the saddest moment in the history of Roxette for many fans, it was yet a step that made many of us just sit and nod silently in understanding and sympathy.

Now, 150 days later, finally the feeling of finality got to me. I woke up two days ago and missed Marie badly. I did before in these 150 days, but this was different. I thought of her, the many concerts I was able to join, her smiles, her voice, her moves, and suddenly I realized we will never have this again. Never.

I thought of this before, but I never felt it and now the feeling got to my heart and I couldn’t breathe for a moment. How silly, really! She’s not dead, I thought. Get over it! You have  your own life to live. But still, she was and still is a part of my life. For 25 years and for the rest of my life. She is part of my system.

It feels like she was kind of a battery that never ran low, she always provided strength and gave me energy to move on, even in the darkest hours of my life and even in the darkest hours of HER life. She never failed to do that and suddenly it feels like someone unplugged me from this battery. There is no more energy to come from this source; the source I got used to so much during all those years. I wondered why it felt like this, we had times of no messages, photos and concerts before. I remember seeing her now and then in the Swedish newspapers when she attended a concert or something else: even when she was ill.

But this is different for a significant reason: We had the best six years of our fan life. We saw Phoenix rising again, we saw her getting stronger and better again every night, we certainly helped her doing it, we connected with our favourite band in a very new and very special way. Somehow it felt like we finally became a family, as strange as it sounds. We became a family until the day we didn’t. The day we realized we didn’t – because not even family couldn’t prevent April 18th from happening. And while I was so disappointed that fate didn’t let them at least end their 2016 tour, now it’s about feelings. Här kommer alla känslorna på en och samma gång. Yes.

And even when she struggled so much last year with all the travelling – she still sent her waves of love, power, strength to the world and reached thousands of people. Yes, I miss her. I hope she is doing fine, enjoying the quiet and good life she of all deserves the most. Sitting on a table in the sun with her red roses and her beloved ones. That’s maybe all we can wish for.

We still hope for a life sign now and then. A photo, a video, a message. Don’t we? No, she doesn’t owe us anything. But you won’t deny your joy when we got that lovely little video 108 days ago, will you?

And while I am still trying to get over all of this, I hope that she thinks of us now and then with a loving smile on her face. We certainly do.

If you feel up to, send us your best meeting story or photo with Marie and let’s celebrate this special kind of love. The photo you see in the article has been taken in Amsterdam 2011. Marie came out and was in a great mood. She hugged almost everyone who stood there and it felt like she was very happy to see us. We gave her roses, talked to her and enjoyed every second, so did she. Gaby was quick enough to take this photo when she hugged me.

“Kom vila hos mig” featured on “Krigarnas Ö”

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Emil Jonsvik with Marie Fredriksson. Photo: Pernilla Petersson

It’s almost a year now since we reported that a song by Marie Fredriksson was supposed to be featured on the Swedish movie “Krigarnas Ö” by Emil Jonsvik (who directed Marie Fredriksson’s video “Sista Sommarens Vals“). The movie is out in Sweden since May and now it was time to ask Emil about the song and the movie again since we weren’t able to watch it until now and haven’t read anything about Marie’s song anywhere yet.

The demo version of “Kom vila hos mig” is what you can hear in the credits of the movie. Emil wrote us why he chose it:

“It’s a naked beautiful song of Marie Fredriksson and the tune written of Mikael Bolyos and it makes everyhing come together. I’m always happy to work with so genius musicians as Marie and Mikael.”

So, technically, when the movie was being shot, the song was still new. Right now, Emil is trying to make the movie available worldwide. Until now you can purchase the movie in Scandinavia only:

The film is right now released with the big company SF, SF anytime in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. (Se it on SF anytime, Telia, comhem, Xbox 360 app, bredbandsbolaget …) We hope to plan a world wide release later this year.

Thanks to Emil Jonsvik for the information!

 

What happened to the “It just happens” video?

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It’s been 36 days since the release of the first single off “Good Karma” – “It just happens”. We got an official lyrics video which has around 260.000 views by now (the video which went live for Germany has 30.000 views so far). This lyrics video has been published and posted on Facebook shortly after the song was out. But we know for sure that there was a video shooting for a “proper” video – proper meaning it includes Per and Marie.

What we know so far is that a video has been shot between March 21st and March 28th – Per confirmed this in an interview on P4 Halland a week before the shooting. We also assume that back then the promo shots for the album must have taken place.

We know that on April 1st (certainly it wasn’t meant as April fools) they were still busy “preparing the new video”.

Shot_2

 

Two weeks later, on April 16th, Per reminded us of the video and wrote this:

Shot_1

Another two weeks later, on April 29th, The Daily Roxette asked on Twitter about the video and Per replied it will be out SOON. Sure, we know enough about Per’s understanding of the way “soon”, but another two tweeks later we are still waiting and there are some questions coming up:

1.) I Does it make sense to release a video for a single that basically flopped more than five weeks later (in case it was out TODAY which probably won’t happen) or even more?

2.) Why didn’t they release it only some days after the single – many artists do these, but I haven’t heard about one who waits more than a MONTH with it, especially not when the single isn’t a mega seller.

3.) What happened? Technical issues, human failure, Marie’s news made it impossible to release it or simply a promo strategy gone wrong?

Having discussed this topic on some Facebook walls and in Facebook groups some ideas came up to save the video from the trash can:

1.) Use the footage for the second single. Just cut what you filmed into something new and ignore the different lyrics.

2.) Release the video together with the album on June 3rd.

3.) Release the single again with the proper video and put some money into promoting the song and getting it to the radio stations.

Any other suggestions how to release the video after months of the single release without looking a bit bad?

Roxette Diaries – a review!

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roxette_diaries
Photo: Nico Radoi

Today was the day – time to watch the Roxette diaries. Yes, the film is out for a while now, but I didn’t bother to watch it any earlier since I had ordered the wrong version without English subtitles and I really didn’t want to watch it without them. Waking up today I decided to give it a try. My Swedish is not the best, but I learned enough from Per, Marie and Kent that I can at least read it very good. So I switched on the Swedish subtitles and the fun began.

It took me two and a half minutes to get into tour mood again. There are two simple reasons for me: There’s a very special energy between Per and Marie in the beginning and it lasts until 1993, I think. It feels very special to watch both of them interact. You can feel in every scene how much fun they had in the 80’s and in the early 90’s. They just did what they know best: music. And they had fun together, all of them. And this is maybe what most fans search or long for the most: They want to be sure that their favourite band is nothing but a big family, having fun together, on and off stage, create great music and conquer the world. Yes – this movie transports this feeling very well. At least the first hour. The whole band is just easygoing, lighthearted, happy, untroubled. My heart leapt watching this! And I remembered how much I love them – and we have a silver wedding this year. It’s been 25 years of unconditional love of my part this year. Can this be called the love of my life then?

The second reason why I suddenly can’t wait for June to roll on: I suddenly remembered that they still have an awful lot to give. They are not finished yet. Seven years have been stolen off them. Seven years of nothingness and yet seven years time to heal a strained friendship. I need to see more of this healed relationship between them. It has never been nicer to watch them on stage together.

And what I implied here I honestly mean: While in the beginning Marie and Per seem to be a unit, they certainly are no longer from 1993 on. Of course, this can be due to the cutting of the film, but did anyone else notice that Marie is almost not to be seen in the last 30 minutes of the film?

There’s one scene at the end where someone asks (is it Per?): “Where is Marie?” right before a performance. Yes, folks, I wondered the same. Where was she? And someone else in the film replies: “Ingen aning.” No idea. I had no clue either.

What we all knew to be true suddenly becomes real – yes, their friendship turned from friendship to business somewhen between 1992 and 1993. There’s no way to deny it. There’s no more fun around. And this is the shocking part of the diaries: Interviews, travelling, TV shows, promotion, concerts – there’s a 90 minute development of wearout to witness. It almost broke my heart to watch this. Smiles got less, fun got less, friendship almost not detectable.

But thinking about the recent years they gave to us, I can only say: We are the luckiest fans in the world. I don’t know how they did it, maybe it’s just the happiness, the gratefulness to have survived this bad illness Marie had, but they certainly overcame their problems and enjoy their time together again. And it’s something different now, when Marie isn’t doing interviews or doing all the other promo crap stuff that comes with being a pop star. We all do understand it and maybe we even understand it more when we know now what it did to them in the early 90’s.

Yet, this is a brilliant movie and my only criticism would be that there were too many concert parts at the end. I would have loved to see more of the Tourism and Crash!Boom!Bang! recordings. Maybe we get to see the rest of it soon. Per’s “soon” would suffice here, though. And I would also love to see the 2009-2016 footage. You know why – just to get me in the tour mood again and again and make me fall in love with them again and again. Nothing and nobody compares to Marie and Per.