Interview with Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall at Hotel Boman in Trosa

Östra Strömlands Posten was there at the vernissage of Fredrik Etoall’s exhibition at Hotel Boman in Trosa on 9th November and they did a short interview with both Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall. Fredrik’s Roxette, Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson and Gyllene Tider photos are on display at the hotel.

There was no room for all the questions and answers in the newspaper, so they shared the complete conversation with Per on their Facebook page.

ÖSP: – What do you think of the evening so far?

PG: – It’s great fun that so many people came. Fun to hang out with Fredrik for a few hours as well. He is so energetic and talented. He has a unique eye, he sees things no one else sees. We find it easy to work together and it’s always close to laughter with Fredrik. We got to know each other at a photo session with Roxette and those photos have really stood the test of time. The pictures with just Marie are from her solo time – they are amazing!

ÖSP: – Now you go on tour again. How does that feel? Is it always the same fun?

PG: – It’s always just as fun to go on tour and I tour almost every year. I like tour life and the energy you get from the crowd.

ÖSP: – Kristin Boman [owner of the hotel] mentioned that you are one of the most productive people she knows. “Per is always writing something”. After as many years as you have been at it, you would think it would slow down a bit, right?

PG: – My creativity is probably quite constant. I look for ideas every day, all the time. The thing that has slowed me down – because I do think I have slowed down –, is that the music business has changed so much. It’s not nearly as fun as it used to be. Now it’s business at all costs. Gyllene Tider would never have gotten through today like we did back then with our strange ideas and my strange lyrics. No record company would have invested in it, because today there is a lot of formulaic thinking with Idol and all that. It’s a machinery today like any other industry. It wasn’t like that, if you go back to the ’60s or ’70s when the music industry exploded with The Beatles for example and completely different opportunities for crazy people like David Bowie. Music back then had much more power than today and played a different role in society. Take the protest songs against the Vietnam War, for example.

ÖSP: – Is it possible to summarize what you want us listeners to experience when we listen to your songs?

PG: – I hope that in my best moments I can give those who listen to me the same thing that I get from the artists who mean something to me. Music is so amazing. It gives comfort and strength and you can feel that a text is about you. All the songwriters and composers I’ve listened to all my life, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Paul Simon and Tom Petty not least, Randy Newman and Kris Kristofferson – they are all great storytellers. If I can give someone a fraction of what they have given me, I’m more than happy.

ÖSP: – Can one get to know you better through your lyrics or do you write more generally?

PG: – I think so. When you write a text, it often starts with an idea that you recognize yourself in, but then in verse two it can become something else, to make it even more exciting. I’ve written maybe a thousand songs and I’m not THAT interesting (Per laughs), but I can tell about feelings and about how I react to things and so I try to make it universal, but in my own way. My biggest enemy is always that it will become clichéd or predictable. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t.

ÖSP: – Do you ever release something you are half-satisfied with?

PG: – No, never these days. It has happened before but not anymore. I have lots of songs lying around where the lyrics don’t fit and then the years go by and sometimes I can get distance from them and I can pick them up again. On this record there are two songs, “Hoppas” and “Ingen annan”, which I wrote in 1984 for my second solo record “Scener”, which I had forgotten. There was a girl from Hungary who manages a big Roxette community. She saw a photo of cassettes I have and she recognized two titles, so I listened to them again and they are great songs, but the lyrics were crap. The music was terrifying. It was written by a 25-year-old me who was curious in a different way. In early Roxette songs I can hear that I don’t really have the ability to write English lyrics, like in “Neverending Love”. At best, they are a bit fun, but not very good. Then I had a period of 18 years where I didn’t work in Swedish at all, so then I learned to write texts in English.

ÖSP: – Do you have any favourites among your own songs?

PG: – Yes, I have lots of songs that I like, for example, the songs I wrote for Marie: “Queen Of Rain” and “What’s She Like?” which Marie sings fantastically. I like “The Look”. It’s a totally insane song with three chords that turned out right.

ÖSP: – Favourites from the latest record?

PG: – “Plåster” with Amanda Ginsburg. I had recorded almost the whole record before I realized it was going to be a duet record, so in some cases I re-recorded the songs. For example, I recorded the first half of “Beredd” with Molly Hammar, so that it would fit her key. In most of the other songs I chose singers who sang in my key, for example Lisa Miskovsky suits me very well. Lena Philipsson works well too. I get a little pressured in the parts I sing, but then Lena sounds fantastic, so it’s worth it. I have a fun job!

ÖSP: – What do you think of Bomans and Trosa?

PG: – It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s Sweden’s second best hotel… Nah, kidding aside, Bomans is one of my favourite hotels in the whole world, wherever you go it’s completely unique. Every time I’m here, I never want to leave. Trosa is wonderful with all the water, especially in the summer. If you walk around inside Trosa it’s fantastic, I love being here. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with mosquitoes here. We don’t have mosquitoes at all in Tylösand.

 

ÖSP: – If you had to choose one or a few of the pictures exhibited here, which would you choose as your favourite pictures?

FE: – A photo that is the backbone of me and the book in this project. It’s the photo of Marie in the window. It’s so “pinch me in the arm” strong and it’s unbelievable that I’ve taken it. The picture is Marie and what she has done for Swedish music and the Swedish people and also internationally, and so the picture carries so much of what she has been through. Then there are many photos that I think are incredible. The book cover is also special. Technically it may not be the best picture, but as Per also puts it, “there is no one who has taken such a picture of Marie and me”. Many probably thought that there has been some romance between Marie and Per, but as far as I have understood, there has not. When we took the picture, there was only protection. Other pictures might be cooler, but this one is so unique based on all the speculation and what had happened to Marie, so it’s just protection.

ÖSP: – How do your photos come about?

FE: – Conscious luck is what I usually talk about. I do an incredible amount of preparation for everything I do. It doesn’t matter how much I prepare, it won’t happen that way anyway, but if I’ve prepared, I’m ready for a chance. The photo of Marie in the window just happened. Just like the one by the piano. I told Marie that I listened to one of her songs with my team every morning, “Den bästa dagen”. “Come and sit next to me,” she said, and then she played it for me. While she was playing, I snuck up and took the picture. It is almost out-of-body.

Photo and interview by Jessica Gustâv

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – October 2024

Per Gessle and Sven Lindström are finishing the countdown of their ’70s toplist in the October episode of Nordic Rox. Per thinks it’s been really exciting to make this list. Sven explains they have taken a look at the top 20 Swedish tracks that defined the ’70s as they see it. That’s as close to the truth as you can possibly get. Haha. Per agrees.

The guys kick off the show with a trip to Denmark with a band called D-A-D, originally called Disneyland After Dark. They changed their name to avoid a lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Their great, brand new song, Keep That Mother Down is played. Mercy by Goldielocks from Finland comes after that. It’s their latest single. A good one, PG thinks.

The next song is Lone Rocker by The Gonzoes, a wild and crazy garage band from Stockholm. Per loves this song, both he and Sven think it’s very cool. Sven says he would love to see them live in some sweaty old club in Stockholm whenever possible. He will give Per a call when it’s time. Haha.

The guys play somewhat mellower tones, Happy by Deportees feat. Esther is next.

Talking About Love by the Cocktail Slippers follows. They are signed to Little Steven’s label, Wicked Cool Records. They have been there forever and they are a really cool garage pop, new wave-ish band from Norway, Sven says.

Sven and Mr. G kick off the top five songs on their ’70s list with a Eurovision track. The artist is Björn Skifs. He was actually No. 1 in the US in spring 1974. The same spring as when ABBA came out with Waterloo. Sven says it was a major happening in Swedish music, going international for the first time. Per can’t remember that and he tells Sven he is so old. Haha. Getting back to Björn, he was singing in a band called Blue Swede and they were No. 1 on the Billboard chart with Hooked On A Feeling. Next year, in 1975, Björn was the winner in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest with Michelangelo. It was a huge hit, even Per remembers that. After the song is played, Sven realizes that the song was a winner only in his mind. It ended up in the 5th place, however, it was the biggest hit from that contest. A boring song called Jenny Jenny won that year. Nobody remembers that one. Sven is wondering what people were thinking. Haha.

The guys move on to No. 4, one of Per’s favourites, a Swedish singer-songwriter called John Holm is next. This upcoming track is the first track of his very first album in 1972. Per loves it. He loves John’s voice and the lyrics. John’s first three albums were really influential on PG and a lot of other aspiring teenagers. He didn’t sound like anybody else, Sven says and adds that Per was so inspired that this track opens his first solo album in Sweden. Mr. G corrects Sven that it wasn’t the opener, but it’s on that album. Sven laughs and says he is really cooking today. Haha. Per says Sven is confused. Mr. G explains he made a cover of this song and played it live many times. He thinks it’s beautiful and he likes it. So now they play the original, Den öde stranden (The Deserted Beach).

No. 3 is from a cult album from 1970 by a female singer, Doris. Per says this album didn’t happen at all. She was singing very easy listening stuff in the ’60s and eventually she made this album in English. It sold 2,000 copies only, but 25 years later, one of the tracks ended up on a British compilation of acid jazz music, Sven informs. Boom, suddenly it happened. It sold 10,000 vinyl copies newly pressed in Japan. The guys say never give up. The main track on that album is the one they picked, Did You Give The World Some Love Today, Baby. Hearing it now, Per and Sven consider it a ’70s classic, but back then it wasn’t considered by the audience to be anything at all. Per thinks Doris has a wonderful voice and she is a great singer. Sven says they hope you agree with them that this is a truly remarkable song.

The next track is by another very influential guy, Pugh Rogefeldt. Vandrar i ett regn (Walking In The Rain) comes next. Per has also covered this one not long ago. Pugh passed away, unfortunately and Per was part of an homage for him on TV. He recorded this particular song, which he loves. What the guys play is actually a live recording, which PG attended when he was a kid. He was like 16 years old, sitting in the audience, and just having the time of his life watching Pugh on stage. He was really one of the greatest rock artists in Sweden at that time, 1975, Sven says. He was one of the first Swedish artists who actually did rock music in Swedish. He made it cool. It wasn’t happening in the ’60s at all. His debut album came out in 1969. He continued that all through the ’70s and became a very influential artist. He became the godfather of Swedish rock, basically. Sven says there is a backing vocal choir in the song singing „chip chili, ungarna de väntar” (translating into „chip chili, the kids are waiting”). Sven is wondering what that means, but Per doesn’t know. Sven was hoping that PG could clarify that. Mr. G thinks nobody knows. Haha. For some reason, this is typically Pugh. He wrote whatever came into his mind. He was really influenced by Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, that kind of stuff. He was one of a kind, for sure. When he did this thing in Swedish, it was like nothing else. He had a fantastic fantasy and way of expressing himself. Per thinks that on the third album Pugh made, he invented his own language, Pughish. He wrote all the songs in his own language, which was far out.

The only track left now is No. 1 and Sven gives a clue. They can say the winner takes it all. There has to be an ABBA track as the winner here. The guys’ favourite ABBA song turned out to be the same, SOS from 1975. It was a good year. It’s taken from the ABBA album a year after their breakthrough with Waterloo. This is both Per and Sven’s favourite ABBA album. It’s got so many great pop songs. By listening to SOS, we should just enjoy ABBA in their heydays. Well-deserved win on the guys’ ’70s list. Per thinks it’s a beautiful track and it still sounds fresh to his ears. Sven agrees.

There are still a few tracks with good-looking music before the guys wrap it up. The first one is a song seldom played, Mother One Track Mind by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

The next one is Nyper mig i armen (Pinching My Arm) by Per Gessle and Albin Lee Meldau. It’s from PG’s duet project. It’s the third single from the album that is coming out in autumn. Per thinks this is the last song he wrote for the album. He wrote it last Christmas. It’s got this sort of country style to it with violin and lap steel. Mr. G like it and says it’s very popular, people like it a lot. It’s been played a lot on Swedish radio. Sven asks Per if he had Albin Lee in mind when he wrote the song or if it happened later. PG says he was looking for a male partner to sing with and Albin Lee just popped up in his head. He never met him before, but he called Albin Lee up. Per knows Albin Lee has recorded one of his songs earlier, so he knows that Albin Lee was into what Per was doing. Albin Lee came over to Per’s house and to the studio and they just had a great time. It clicked immediately.

This wraps up the October episode of Nordic Rox. Sven and Per thank the listeners for joining them and Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Thanks for your support, Sven!

CONTEST by Warner Music Sweden – remake Per Gessle’s album cover!

Warner Music Sweden has organized a contest and they are curious what YOUR Sällskapssjuk cover would look like.

To participate, you have to post a picture of you, your family, your dogs or someone else’s dogs on Instagram with the hashtag #pergessle_sällskapssjuk. Warner Music Sweden will draw 3 lucky winners and contact them via DM on Instagram.

The prize is a framed print of your cover signed by Per Gessle, signed vinyl and singles and 1 kg of dog treats.

The contest runs until 30th November.

Good luck!

Roxette – 30-year anniversary of Crash! Boom! Bang!

30 years ago, Roxette released their fifth album Crash! Boom! Bang!, including a stream of hit singles like Sleeping In My Car, the title track, Fireworks, Run To You and Vulnerable.

The album would sell more than five million copies and was followed by their second World Tour, which saw them perform for over a million people, including the second performance ever by an international act in China.

We’re celebrating this classic album’s 30-year anniversary with a unique special edition: a gatefold double album in black and white vinyl with 18 tracks and an 8-page booklet with brand new liner notes, as well as an 18-track CD version that also includes a bonus CD with 23 demo recordings of songs considered for the album.

Per Gessle says:

Roxette were among the three most played artists on American radio during 1989, 1990 and 1991, and we were on top of the charts all over the world. So, it’s no wonder we felt pretty confident when it was time to record the new album.

Having had that kind of success made us feel that we had a perfect opportunity to stretch out into new directions. To show slightly different sides of what Roxette could be. And I still think “Crash! Boom! Bang!” is our best album.

The 30-year anniversary versions of Crash! Boom! Bang! will be released on 6th December. Watch out for the fireworks!

You can secure your copy through THIS pre-order link, but the anniversary release will be available worldwide, so check it with your local record shop as well. CBB30 will be available on streaming platforms as well.

Watch the promo video HERE!

 

Marie Fredriksson’s 2014 live concert at Cirkus, Stockholm to be released on double LP

In 2014, Marie Fredriksson embarked on her final tour, performing her own Swedish songs. This record features her major hits such as Sparvöga, Ett hus vid havet, Den bästa dagen, Ännu doftar kärlek, Tro, among others, along with some then-newly written songs like Ett bord i solen. Marie herself explained to the audience that she wrote this song after receiving her cancer diagnosis. The tour travelled across the country, and the stop at Cirkus in Stockholm on 8th April was recorded. Now, the entire 18-track concert is available on this double vinyl, a direct capture of that unforgettable evening at the legendary Cirkus in Stockholm. It’s intimate, authentic, and filled with an overwhelming sense of giving everything to her audience.

This year marks ten years since the concert took place and five years since Marie passed away. This release is dedicated to remembering and honouring one of our greatest female artists of all time, Marie Fredriksson.

The record is a beautiful 180-gram double vinyl in a gatefold edition, with a total run of 1,000 copies. Release date of Live från Cirkus (2LP) is 6th December. Pre-order at Bengans!

Tracklist

Side A

  1. Så stilla så långsamt
  2. Kom vila hos mig
  3. Bara för en dag
  4. Det regnar igen
  5. Sista sommarens vals

Side B

  1. Ber bara en gång
  2. Sparvöga
  3. Ett hus vid havet
  4. Ett bord i solen
  5. Så skimrande var aldrig havet

Side C

  1. Ännu doftar kärlek
  2. Så länge det lyser mittemot
  3. Om du såg mig nu
  4. Efter stormen

Side D

  1. Den sjunde vågen
  2. Mellan sommar och höst
  3. Den bästa dagen
  4. Tro