Per Gessle

A new book with a Per Gessle interview

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I was surprised to see a new Roxette book appearing on the list when I was searching for something else at Adlibris today. Then reading the title I got even more excited. Cirkus Roxette är tillbaka: En intervju med Per Gessle (= Cirkus Roxette is back: An interview with Per Gessle) written by Åke Högman.

It’s an interview with Per originally published in 1999 in Café magazine. The book was published on 18th August 2014. You can buy the printed book (41 pages) or the e-book (17 pages) at Adlibris and the printed format at many other sites as well (even at Bengans and CDON). The difference in the number of pages between the printed and the e-book version is probably some more pictures or editing in the printed one. Marketing your products like books can be effectively done online especially when you partner with a reputable marketing company. It was really smart how Conversion Factory SaaS marketing agency handles product-led growth strategy.

The interview is about Per and his family, Hotel Tylösand, art, the music business, business in general, Roxette, Have A Nice Day album (which was released the year when the interview was done), Join The Flumeride, cars, champagnes and more.

When talking about Michael Hutchence and Kurt Cobain, the reporter asked Per if he had ever been on drugs. Per replied:

Nah… I haven’t been on drugs that way, so if I had answered yes then you would ask a next question, so it’s better if I say no. So the answer is no, that’s a good answer.

Then the reporter asked if it was the truth. He replied:

Well it’s totally true, yes, damn it, I never lie… no, but it’s a sensitive subject, not for me but for many others (laughs).

An interview with Per Gessle is not complete without talking about songs and / or songwriting.

For me there is still nothing better than when you just wrote a song or when you hear a great pop song for the first time. I still remember the first time I heard the Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen in Love” or “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and freaked out totally. There’s nothing else I’m passionate about the same way.

Some opinions about Per can also be found in the book. Marie Fredriksson says this:

A fantastic friend, but a very bad loser. He wants so badly to win. He played with my husband in an internal tennis tournament we had on Capri when we recorded Crash! Boom! Bang! and was sour for a whole day because he lost. Thank God he won the tournament in the end, so it was quiet in the house.

Get your signed copy of The Per Gessle Archives

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A new promo video of The Per Gessle Archives has been published today by Cosmos Music Group. The title says The Per Gessle Archives – A Lifetime of Songwriting (part 2/3), so there is surely going to be a third promo video soon. Part 1 you can watch here. The complete list of tracklists shared by Mr G can be seen in this earlier article.

TPGA

Fun to read some new things in this second promo video, like:

Per Gessle presents ”The return of Oddjob part three: The Demos”.

3 songs recorded at the short-haired, yellow bellied, Son of tricky dicky, mother hubbard soft soap Tits&Ass studio, Halmstad by the Continent in freezin’ February 1998.

Pre-order your copy latest until 23rd September to be sure you’ll have your TPGA signed by Per. Offer is valid at Ginza, Bengans and CDON.

Gosh, it’s still August… Will this month ever end?

Per Gessle’s golden wines

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Mikael Mölstad from Allt om Vin interviewed Per Gessle. They were talking about Per’s passion about wines. Per drinks more expensive wines than many others, but it’s mostly because he can afford it. He believes that good wine experiences are available in most price segments anyway.

To the question about his first wine experience he replied:

Oj, it was when I started touring when I was around 20. Before that I drank almost nothing at all. This was in the late ’70s and I had read that Keith Richards drank Blue Nun, so I would of course try. I knew nothing about wines, but thought if Keith did something I should do the same. But oh, what a disappointment it was – it was just disgustingly sweet. The first real wine experience I had when I turned 30 and I got a Château Malartic-Lagravière 1982 from Thomas Johansson, our concert organizer. That wine opened a new world for me.

PG_wine_Allt_om_VinPer was asked about his greatest wine experience. He says it’s almost impossible to answer, but he would say his last great acquaintance, a Cheval Blanc 1986. He talks about he started with Bordeaux wines, then more Californian and Italian wines. He also became more curious about Burgundy. Per says, the older he gets, the less he likes New World wines. They are a little too sweet and have a bit too much alcohol.

About the best wine and meal experience he says there are some. He mentions a lunch in Verona with good pizzas and a champagne, Billecart Salmon Rosé. Another experience he mentions is a bottle of Ornellaia with caprese, prosciutto and classic Italian meals at one of his favorite taverns in Tuscany.

Per’s favourite everyday wine is his own Kurt & Lisa. A dream wine tasting he would love to participate in is a vertical tasting [where you have a number of bottles from the same winery, that are spread out over a number of vintages] of Château Petrus or Latour with some of his best wine friends.

To the question which wine region he would happily return to he replied he is very fond of Tuscany, so it is always his first choice. A wine region he is longing to visit is Napa Valley, for he hasn’t been there yet. Per says it would be great to experience some of his favorite Californian wines on site, such as Bond and Harlan Estate.

Mr G’s favourite red wine grape is Pinot Noir. He wants to learn more about Burgundy and he hopes soon to experience some great wines from there. Per’s favourite green-skinned grape is Chardonnay, blanc de blancs from Champagne or from Southern Burgundy.

Per tells Allt om Vin that some wines he buys from each year, e.g. Ornellaia and Solaia. Otherwise he gladly buys champagne. His last purchase was a Larrivet Haut-Brion. He prefers keeping older wines in his wine cellar and he likes to go back to wines from the ’80s and ’90s. Per says one can’t experience such wine tastes these days.

At the end of the interview Per says he is proud of making his own wine and then get to experience surreptitiously how people like it in a restaurant. Although he hasn’t trod the grapes, he still helped to create the blend. [Mr G treading grapes is definitely something we would love to see one day, isn’t it?]

On a side note next to the interview you can read besides some other well-known details that Per’s hidden talent is being a hell of a table hockey player.

The fabulous PG photo in the article is by Anders Roos.

Complete list of tracklists in The Per Gessle Archives

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Per was kind enough to share all the tracklists to The Per Gessle Archives during the past weeks. The box will contain 11 volumes (10 CDs and 1 LP):

TPGA_box_final_designDemos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 1

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 2

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 3

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 4

Mazarin – demos

En händig man – demos

The Roxette demos, Vol. 1

The Roxette demos, Vol. 2

The Roxette demos, Vol. 3

The Roxette demos, Vol. 4

The Roxette demos, Vol. 5 (LP)

 

As Per informs, there will also be a 48 page book in the box. The promo video also shows it’s gonna be something extremely special. Release date is 24th September 2014. Now seeing all the tracklists, it’s such a torture to wait until then!

 

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 1 (you can already listen to it on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer)

1. Walk on, Lonely Eyes (T&A Demo – Dec 16, 1999)
2. Being with You (T&A Demo – Oct 22, 2004)
3. Loud Clothes (T&A Demo – Aug 30, 2002)
4. Cafe con leche (AGM – Apr 25, 2007)
5. Fish in a Bowl (T&A Demo – Apr 30, 2000)
6. Hjärta av glas (T&A Demo – Apr 2, 2006)
7. Something in the System (T&A Demo – Jan 3, 2002)
8. Black Sails (Studio 38 Demo – Summer 1982)
9. Always the Last to Know (T&A Demo – Nov 21, 2004)
10. Den tunna linjen (T&A Demo – May 15, 2010)
11. A Girl Like You (T&A Demo – Sep 25, 2004)
12. Byter bara blickar (T&A Demo – Nov 21, 1997)
13. Lägg din hand i min om du har lust (Hamilton Demo – Jun 12, 1978)
14. Kyss från en främling (T&A Demo – Oct 18, 1999)
15. What’s She Like? (T&A Demo – Dec 3, 2010)
16. Before You Go to Sleep (T&A Demo – Nov 23, 1992)

 

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 2 (you can already listen to it on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer)

1. Kvar i min bil (AGM – Apr 28, 2007)
2. Apple in the Mud (T&A Demo – Jul 4, 1995)
3. Beautiful Girl (T&A Demo – Apr 19, 1999)
4. Stay (At Home, At Work, At Play) [T&A Demo – Jul 5, 1995]
5. When I Close My Eyes (No One Can See Me) [T&A Demo – Jul 20, 1999]
6. Heaven Is Just a Motion Away (T&A Demo – Jan 28, 2006)
7. Jo-Anna Says (T&A Demo – Jan 8, 2005)
8. Mannen med gitarr (T&A Demo – Nov 20, 2002)
9. Hold on My Heart (T&A Demo – Oct 6, 2012)
10. Västra sidan (T&A Demo – Nov 18, 1984)
11. Jag borde förstås vetat bättre (T&A Demo – Oct 28, 2003)
12. Being with You (T&A Demo – Sep 11, 1997)
13. Faller ner på knä (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996)
14. Gå & fiska! (T&A Demo – Feb 15, 1996)

 

Demos & Other Fun Stuff! Vol. 3

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