Per Gessle

Long interview with Per Gessle in Livets Goda

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As Per already informed us some time ago, Livets Goda did a very long and veeery nice interview with Mr G. The December issue contains 16 pages of Per Gessle: awesome interview, 20 important songs, some wine tasting and hot photos of Per. Interview by Anders Enquist, photos by Erik Dahlström.

The magazine is available in Sweden at the newsstands from 10th December, but you can also have your own copy even if you don’t live in Sweden. Here you can buy the pdf version online for 50 SEK. (You can pay even via PayPal.) It is really worth it!

The interview is mainly about Per’s career in the music business, stories about how Gyllene Tider and Roxette started out, his solo projects, the 80’s when he met Åsa (he says it was the best thing that happened back then), The Look, the US, It Must Have Been Love, the Billboard, EMI, later years, Roxette comeback, GT comeback, how he became interested in wines, so briefly, kind of the whole story of his life so far. There are not too many real news in the interview, but it’s always nice to read Per Gessle’s thoughts and what he is saying about different songs, for example.

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THERE IS SOMETHING NEW: Per would like to record an acoustic album with some of his old songs.

Great news! 😉

You surely remember Mr Gessle was talking about the Top20 songs he was setting up for this article in Livets Goda. These are not his all time fave songs, but the ones meaning a lot to him. Here is the list:

1. Nina Simone: Wild Is The Wind
2. Heart: Love Alive
3. Air: Le Femme D’argent
4. Caitlin Rose: For The Rabbits
5. Big Star: September Gurls
6. The Young Rascals: How Can I Be Sure
7. Fleetwood Mac: That’s Alright
8. John Holm: Den Öde Stranden
9. The Beatles: Hey Jude
10. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Refugee
11. David Bowie: Lady Grinning Soul
12. Lorde: Royals
13. The Tornados: Telstar
14. Docent Död: Solglasögon
15. Divinyls: Pleasure And Pain
16. Joni Mitchell: Rainy Night House
17. Kenny Rogers: Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town
18. Frank Sinatra: It Was A Very Good Year
19. Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra: Summer Wine
20. The Buzzcocks: Ever Fallen In Love

 

Some probably think that I’m a super-capitalist who is just sitting there and earns a lot of money on nothing, while others think I’m a talented pop craftsman who knows far too much about pop music, a nerd … I don’t know …

There are many things I’m not talented in, but I’m good at melodies and writing songs. That’s what I can do, so I need people who are doing all the other stuff I can’t.

 

He also mentions in the interview that he always thought Marie is the world’s best singer since they met for the first time.

Per’s 5 favourite Roxette songs which are lesser-known (with his comments):
1. I’m Sorry – Great chorus, a hit in Brazil.
2. My World, My Love My Life – A damn good song.
3. It Takes You No Time To Get Here – Some country text and feeling.
4. Opportunity Nox – Our best pop wallop.
5. Sleeping Single – Marie sings amazing. She makes the album.

 

I have no idea why Roxette is still so big. Maybe it’s because of the songs, maybe there is a certain timelessness in many of the songs’ melodies. But why exactly us? Maybe it’s my Swedish poor self-confidence that makes me unable to respond to it …

Regarding the next Roxette tour he says that first Marie goes on tour, but sooner or later there will probably be a major Roxette tour. Bring it on!

 

Per Gessle – Sven Lindström seminar

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Thanks to TV4 Play we could see Per and Sven talking live about Sven’s book ”Roxette – Den osannolika resan tur och retur” at the book fair in Gothenburg. There was no new info during this seminar – we even knew Per has studio hours booked for October. He starts with them tomorrow, but still doesn’t know (of course… 😉 ) whether it is for solo or Roxette or anything else. They were discussing Roxette’s history, how they achieved their worldwide success, how it was with their comeback and how strong Marie is and always was. All what you can read in the book, too.

Funny part was when the moderator asked Per: ”OK. Marie had a great voice, but what about YOU?” 🙂

So no new info, but it was a great promotion for the book, taking into consideration that there were many people attending the book fair and that TV4 provided this live broadcast and surely makes the video available on their website later. We will provide you with a link to it as soon as it is up.

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Screenshot is from the live broadcast.

 

Update 2nd October: Unfortunately, TV4 won’t upload the video to TV4 Play, but Chrissie Röhrs was shooting appr. 10 minutes from the whole 45-minute-long session. You can find her videos here: video 1, video 2, video 3

 

Articles:

Göteborgs-Posten

LitteraturMagazinet article; review

Poplight review; article

 

Göteborg Book Fair – live broadcast

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Sven_L_Roxette_DORTOR_coverAs we already informed you, Per Gessle and Sven Lindström are going to appear at Göteborg Book Fair on Sunday, 29th September. Their seminar about Sven’s book ”Roxette – Den osannolika resan tur och retur” starts at 12:00 CET and has the title ”Roxette – inte bara en joyride” (= Roxette – not just a joyride).

The good news is that you can see & hear them live even if you can’t attend the event in person. Yaaaay! There will be a live broadcast on TV4 Play, which you can watch by clicking HERE. The seminar lasts for 45 minutes. Those who are there in Gothenburg, say hi to the cameras!

Don’t you just love Sundays?

Mr Gessle’s thoughts not to be lost

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As Per is sharing a lot of information about his songs, demos, covers, etc. on Roxette Official and Per Gessle Official lately, we thought to collect them here, not to lose these pearls in the dark depths of Facebook. We hope Per is keeping up the good thing (thanx in advance, Mr G) and this way we can continuously update the list with his comments, so check it whenever you feel like it. There may be some new info for you from time to time. First of all, check Per’s posts, but if you don’t have time each day to have a look at the Facebook sites he’s handling, you can come here and see what’s new on the list.

We’ve created a section called “PG about songs“ for this up in the Menu.

Enjoy the collection!

Per_Gessle_2013_July

 

 

Galavant feat. Per Gessle?

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Galavant is a young house duo (Sebastian Atas and Victor Sjöström) from Halmstad. You might know this song from them, as it has become a hit: Tonight

They already told in May, when they were interviewed by NRJ that they don’t know Per Gessle personally, but were talking about calling Per to do something together. It seems that this something is on its way, as yesterday they tweeted:

Studio session imorgon med levande legenden Per Gessle!!! Let’s make them hits!

They were indeed together in the studio today, as you can see on this photo:

Galavant_and_Per_Gessle_20130919 © Galavant

 

So, now we just have to wait for what kind of project it is and when the result is out. Sounds exciting!