As SvD.se informs, Kurt & Lisa, Furet and Sommartider wines are just the beginning of a brilliant wine career of Per Gessle. Next project in The Per Gessle Selection is a champagne, a real blanc de blanc (champagne made from 100% Chardonnay).
New red wines are also coming soon, most probably from South Africa. You might remember that when Roxette was in South Africa in June, 2012, they visited a winery there (Rust en Vrede, Stellenbosch). So, the new red wines might come from there. We’ll see.
Various Swedish websites (Musikindustrin, Lira) have published that Per Gessle has become a partner and co-owner of the independent company Cosmos Music Group.
Cosmos Music Group is one of the biggest independent music companies in the Nordic region and their core businesses include A&R, third-party distribution, label services and catalogue acquisitions. The company is responsible for many artists and record labels and covers most music genres (jazz, folk, blues, country, African, world music, rockabilly and alternative rock music to name a few). The digital division is called IODA Nordic. Through IODA Nordic, Cosmos Music Group’s artists and labels have access to comprehensive digital distribution all around the world.
Fredrik Ekander from Cosmos Music Group looks forward to the partnership, “we are extremely proud and excited to be with Per Gessle in Cosmos. In addition to being one of Sweden’s largest and most beloved artists, Per is also a passionate music lover and a very successful entrepreneur, which simply makes him an ideal match for us.”
“Cosmos is a particularly interesting indie label in a very exciting and ever-changing music industry where I worked for almost 35 years now. I look forward to new creative challenges, both in Sweden and internationally,” says Per Gessle.
Some labels: Amigo, TriSound, Giga, Headspin, Enviken, Scranta in Sweden or Ace, World Music Network, Wrasse or Subpop on an international level.
Some artists signed up with Cosmos Music Group are BWO, Familjen, Magnus Carlson, Asta Kask, Ebba Forsberg, Brett Anderson, Bad Religion, Counting Crows, Valerie June.
Kristoffer Triumf (Värvet) made a long long long long long interview with Per on 30th April, 2013. This is 100% interview, containing no music in between. Värvet, an amateur radio channel is known for making such interesting interviews with popular Swedish people, talking about their working life and being human. It’s in Swedish, but one has to get used to it: if you’re a fan of Roxette / PG / Ms Effe / GT, you have to practice your Swedish every now and then.
Click here for the interview. You can even download it.
Per is talking about everything from how he’s writing songs, what kind of music he is listening to via the Roxette tour, Gyllene Tider’s new album to how he’s managing all the social media sites and what he’s sharing there (song of the day, videos he makes in the studio with his iPhone, old video clips, etc.). There are some thoughts about how music and ”artists” have changed during the past years.
We also get to know that Per is walking 8-9 km in 1 hour 15 minutes each morning and probably that’s why he’s so fit. When he’s on holiday or when on tour, he’s visiting the gym. He tells he weighed himself before and after a gig and lost 2.5kg during one concert. He’s also talking about how much time he’s spending with his appearance.
Kristoffer asked him if he’s a feminist. Per asked back what it means. Kristoffer explained and Per said he is. They are also talking about how eccentric Per is and what eccentric means at all.
Per says Knallpulver (the only instrumental song on Gyllene Tider’s new album, Dags att tänka på refrängen) was inspired by a garage band. Then he made the demo in his hotel room in Curitiba.
We already heard it in some interviews, but he said it again regarding how to choose singles that he’s not too good at it. He didn’t really believe in Wish I Could Fly, for example. He finds it exciting to see why people like certain songs, so on Facebook he’s asking questions about which songs fans like and why.
Per, as a fan is also telling 2 anecdotes of meeting Tom Petty.
He’s talking about his childhood, tells no one knew how to pronounce ”Gessle” correctly – his grandfather’s name was Johansson and his father changed it to Gessle.
They are talking about how much of a businessman he is and how much he is involved in the daily operation of Hotel Tylösand. Per has 7 cars now and is not using public transportation (bus or subway) in Sweden (surprise, surprise…).
Kristoffer asked Per who he thinks Kristoffer should make an interview with. Per suggested Marie. So, we hope for a Marie Fredriksson interview on Värvet.
After the interview Mr. G went home for lunch, eating char (röding -> fish) with his family.
Per in the studio (a smile would have been nice 😉 ) Per leaving the studio after the interview
Pics by © Kristoffer Triumf
Today Per wrote this on Roxette Official and Per Gessle Official (Facebook) regarding the Small Apartments vinyl:
Out now, CD + double LP in coloured vinyl (one white/one red). Limited edition.
He’s not mentioning that the vinyls are signed, however, earlier (on 14th March, 2013) he communicated that they are:
FINALLY!!!!! SMALL APARTMENTS SOUNDTRACK digital release date (Spotify + iTunes etc) March 18. CD will be out here and there March 27. Exclusive numbered and signed double-vinyl album out very soon as well. Have to decide which colour to use on the records first….. /P.
Looks like the SMALL APARTMENTS SOUNDTRACK double-LP, in coloured vinyl + signed + numbered in a limited edition will be out April 17! Sort of.
Some fans already received the double LP and say there is no signature on it. It was already strange that none of the online shops mentioned anything about the vinyl being exclusive. Now we’re wondering whether limited edition also means the copies are numbered or they are not. Many fans ordered SA vinyl together with the CD just because of it’s being extremely unique and now they seem to be disappointed, which is fully understandable.
Well, the album is a masterpiece, double vinyl is coloured and it’s a limited edition (being numbered or not; as Per says “It’s very limited. Only 350 copies were made.“) and Mr. G for sure will sign everyone’s copy in person if there is a chance to meet him, but still. What if there is no chance for a fan to meet him…?
Update (16:30, 29th April, 2013): Per replied to the question on Roxette Official:
Dear all, no SA vinyl soundtracks have been signed. They went straight to the “record stores” without passing that sharp pen of Mr G. A couple got signed at the Gyllene Tider instores last weekend. That’s it so far.
The problem is/was that the vinyl LP’s are not manufactured in Sweden anymore…… They went straight from Holland (or Germany) to international stores and internet shippers. I still haven’t got one!!!! /P.
We’ve been already kidding with it since last May or so that – with his actual hairdo – Per reminds many people of Mr. Snape from Harry Potter movie. Yeah, even a bad Photoshop pic was made back then (by me, sorry…).
Can’t be a coincidence that Per visited Grindelwald 2 weeks ago. 😉
Now, after Mr. Gessle appeared on Gyllene Tider’s press conference with his freshly dyed, trimmed and straightened hair, Twitter and several blogs (why should we give it a miss?) are bursting with short notes on the similarity (see tweets and blog links after the picture). Judge it yourself:
Well, it doesn’t matter until he himself likes it and those ruthless G majors sound better on a Rickenbacker while he’s shaking his hair. 😉
Links to some tweets & blogs:
twitter 1 twitter 2 twitter 3 twitter 4 twitter 5 twitter 6