Per Gessle

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – September 2023

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Per Gessle and Sven Lindström recorded the next episode of Nordic Rox in Halmstad. They are featuring one of Per’s favourite bands from the ’60s, a Stockholm based band called Ola & The Janglers. Sven says here comes the 10,000 dollar question: what does jangler mean? PG hasn’t got a clue, but he thinks it sounds cool. Sven agrees. He says they know the „jingle jangle morning” that Dylan had in his lyric and he also thinks he saw some definition that the jangler was some person who was useless in doing something. Sven: „You know, he’s been jangling with this forever.” PG: „Like you.” Sven: „Haha. Exactly. Another version pointed out a guy like you, and that was the dark web version that a jangler was someone who kicked another guy in the balls.” PG: „Alright. Thank you very much.” Sven says that since they are from Sweden, they don’t actually have a clue, they just accept that the band is called Ola & The Janglers.

The guys start off with one of their favourite artists who is on repeat playing on Nordic Rox. It’s Adiam Dymott and the track is from her self-titled album from 2009 and it’s called Pizza.

Swedish ’90s pop, Fishtank by This Perfect Day comes next. It’s a great song, Per thinks, taken from their album C-60 from 1997. Sven asks Per what C-60 makes him think of. PG replies cassettes, of course.

The latest and greatest single from First Aid Kit called Turning Onto You is next. It’s taken from their latest album Palomino.

Before the guys sink their teeth into Ola & The Janglers, they take a look at Gyllene Tider and play Sunday Driver, Yea. The English lyrics to a song that Per wrote for his Swedish band. PG explains that the album is in Swedish, but one song was originally in English, so he decided to make an English version as well. Waking up the power pop monster that’s been dormant for a couple of years, Sven says. As they mentioned on the last show, the band has been on a successful tour around Sweden for 6-7 weeks, winding up doing some festivals in Finland and a big show in Norway as well.

Chris Craft No 9 by The Shanes comes next. The Shanes is a ’60s band from the northern part of Sweden. Sven thinks that this is one of the best original Swedish pop songs that came out in the ’60s. Mr. G thinks it still sounds good. Sven says no wonder, because it was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios. Per thinks it’s cool.

Endeavor by Timo Räisänen, a great indie track from the mid noughties is played next.

Speaking about cool bands, Ola & The Janglers from Stockholm, Sweden are today’s featured artist. The guys play 4 tracks from them that sort of paint a picture of what they were all about. Per says he liked this band a lot when he was a kid and he actually had their first album, Surprise Surprise. It was based on this old Rolling Stones song called Surprise Surprise. It was Ola & The Janglers’ first hit record in Sweden. It brought them into the Tio i topp show (Top10 show). That made them instant pop stars in Sweden in 1965. They were a great live band as well and had a very distinctive sound, because they had this Hammond organ, which was great. Johannes Olsson was an amazing player and they sounded really good. Most of the stuff they did was original material, but at the same time, many of their hits were cover versions. But they had a really, really gifted songwriter in the guitarist Claes af Geijerstam. He eventually became the front of house guy for ABBA. When ABBA did their world tours in the late ’70s, he was the front of house guy. And to add even more credentials, he won the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden with another guy called Göran Fristorp in 1973. Sven says Per didn’t ask for that kind of information, but he got it anyway. Per says we could have lived without that. Haha. Here they play Surprise Surprise.

The second Ola & The Janglers song was written by Claes af Geijerstam. It’s a 1966 track called Bird’s Eye View Of You. Sven asks Per if he can remember listening to his transistor radio when this came on the air. PG can remember it, he definitely heard this song on the radio when he was young. This is from an album called Limelight and he had that album and loved it. It’s a really cool one, he thinks. Sven says the singer, Ola Håkansson was really original. He could sound a bit punky in the rocker numbers, but also being rather sweet in the ballads. He had this Mick Jagger style, Per adds. You could tell that he was influenced by Jagger. He went on to be the lead guy of the band called Secret Service in the ’80s. Eventually he became a record executive in charge of the TEN record label, which hosts, for instance, Sara Larsson these days. He worked a lot with Robyn as well. He never lost his magic hit touch, he is one of the big guys in the Swedish music industry.

The guys stick to 1966 when Ola & The Janglers were fresh out of school. Sven says Per claims 1966 is the best pop year ever. PG confirms and adds 1971 as well. Sven says he is not totally convinced. He claims 1965 is a contender, but they don’t go into that debate right now. Haha.

Ola & The Janglers made two albums in 1966. The second album was Patterns. It’s a great album too, Per thinks. They did a magnificent version of a Jackie DeShannon song. They actually did a couple of Jackie DeShannon songs, but this is Per’s favourite, Come And Stay With Me. A great track. You just get reminded what an amazing songwriter and artist Jackie DeShannon was. Per adds that when you hear this band, it’s a great little pop band. Johannes Olsson who played the Hammond organ made this great sound. It reminds you a little bit of The Zombies. Speaking of The Zombies, Ola & The Janglers did a version of She’s Not There very early on. They were heavily inspired by them. Sven likes the guitar sound here. By late 1965, the guitarist and songwriter Claes af Geijerstam had entered the band. He replaced the original guitarist. Sven thinks he does a really great guitar solo on this track. Per agrees. The ’60s guitar style is all over the place as well, so it just became a really, really good pop band.

Sven says 1966 was a great year for pop music and a very young Per Gessle who was glued to the transistor radio. Haha. The guys wind up the Ola & The Janglers tribute with a song from their first album written by guitar player Claes af Geijerstam. This one was a big hit, the first number one single they had in Sweden. Love Was On Your Mind is a beautiful little pop tune, Sven thinks. Per mentions that the band had an American hit in 1969. They did a cover version of Let’s Dance by Chris Montez and it peaked at No. 92 on the Billboard chart. One of the first Swedish artists entering the Billboard Hot 100.

Garage rock explosion delivered by The Peepshows in the shape of Cheap Thrills comes next. Then it’s Power Man And Astro Girl by Kristjan Eastman. Snack by Sydkraft from Halmstad, Sweden is played next. A short lived new wave band active in the late ’70s. The song title translates to something between hot air and pure bullshit.

Slowing things down a little bit, the guys play a beautiful cover of Broder Daniel’s Shoreline by Anna Ternheim. The Cat by True Lies, a band from Malmö is next and that wraps up this episode of Nordic Rox.

Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – August 2023

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In the middle of Gyllene Tider’s Hux Flux tour, Per Gessle and Sven Lindström sat together in Halmstad to record the August episode of Nordic Rox.

Per asks Sven how he is doing. Sven replies he is fine, but he can hear Per is a bit hoarse. It’s because he is touring at the moment, singing four or five times a week, so at his age this happens. Working hard, Sven says. Mr. G says it’s cool, it’s been a great tour. Sven informs that he was there in Malmö and he also saw the premiere in Halmstad and Per seems to be in top shape with the band. PG says it’s a great little band.

Mr. G says he always tells the crowd that this is the 8th summer tour they are doing with Gyllene Tider, his Swedish band and it’s the 5th comeback tour. They disbanded in the mid ’80s and had 5 comeback tours since then. Sven asks Per what he thinks, why they are still so popular. Per says quite a lot of their songs have become sort of classics in Sweden. It’s the back catalogue they are playing. They released a new album a month ago, which is going fine. It’s just that people prefer the old stuff, which PG can understand. It’s the same thing when he goes to watch his old heroes, e.g. McCartney or the Stones or Springsteen. He wants to hear his favourite songs from the past. He doesn’t want to hear the new album.

Sven says he saw Nick Lowe in Malmö half a year ago and somewhere in the middle of the show, he said „I’m now going to say the most dreaded words in show business: and here’s a new song”. The guys are laughing. Per says it’s like that and it’s a bit unfortunate, because for him as a writer, he is always trying to look forward and trying to be living in the now thing. But Gyllene Tider in particular, when it comes to that band, it has become very much a nostalgic act. Which is fine, he is not complaining.

Sven says GT has a new song in English. Per explains he wrote this song in English and when they recorded the new album, he translated it into Swedish. So it’s on the album in Swedish, but they did a version with the English lyrics as well, just for fun. They put it on the B side on a vinyl single. The guys play Sunday Driver Yea.

The next song is He’s Peculiar by Vibeke Saugestad, power pop queen of Norway. Great track, Sven thinks. He says he checked out a few of Vibeke’s albums. Per’s bandmate in Roxette, Magnus Börjeson was playing with her and producing her. PG thinks she is very good.

Then comes Staffan Hellstrand’s beautiful song, Lilla fågelblå, which translates into tiny bluebird. Staffan was on the same label as Per, on EMI. Sven thinks the Swedish garage rock band, The Nomads was playing with him on this one, which made the whole thing a bit edgier than it had been before. Per thinks it’s a great song.

Getting back to Sunday Driver Yea and the new album of GT, Sven mentions that every time Per buys a new guitar, he writes a new song. Per confirms. He doesn’t really buy that many guitars anymore, but every time you pick up a new guitar, you start to play in a different manner. You find new things on an instrument. He bought an old Gretsch guitar, this sort of square guitar of Bo Diddley style and he plugged it into his little amplifier in his office and out came these guitar riffs. Out of nowhere, it just happened. Sven thought with that guitar, it was destined to become a Bo Diddley beat, but it went the other direction. It went to a punk rock thing instead, Per says. He doesn’t know why. It’s just the way it goes.

Sven says GT is going to finish off their tour in the upcoming weeks with a majestic gig in Gothenburg on 5th August. Per says they are playing at the Ullevi football stadium there and it’s the fourth time they play there. It’s a big venue.

Making a soft transition to the next song, Sven mentions that the next song is by Tages, a group from Gothenburg. Per thinks Tages was probably the best Swedish band in the ’60s.

They wrote their own material most of the time and they were a great band. Every Raindrop Means A Lot is a brilliant song even today, PG thinks. Sven says they looked rather cool. He thinks they went over to London to Canopy Street to get their gear. They really had a sharp mod look to them. PG agrees. Sven says Tages is probably the worst group name in the pop world in Sweden in the ’60s. It’s an old Swedish name dated by far already then. But he thinks they chose this for ironic purposes, because nobody else would come up with a name like that. Per thinks maybe someone in the band had Tages as a second name. Sven says they have to check that out. Anyway, the song is brilliant Swedish pop from 1967.

The next track is Say Lou Lou’s latest single, which is a cover of the old Kate Bush song, You’re The One.

Here comes this episode’s special. The guys feature Teddybears with four songs. Sven asks Per what his relation with Teddybears is. PG says he didn’t really know anything about them until they had their first hits. He knows they started in the early ’90s, but it was later on that he heard about them, the Punkrocker song. They have an album called Rock ‘n’ Roll Highschool, which Per thought was really cool. Sven explains that that was the album they broke through in 2000. It was actually their third album. Sven says neither he, nor Per is into the metal world or too much in the hardcore punk world, but he just checked them out a bit and it’s interesting to see how they are described. They started out as a grindcore band in 1991. Sven says then you question yourself, what’s a grindcore band. Per says he hasn’t got a clue. It’s an extreme form of hardcore punk and metal with a connection to both death metal and crust punk, Sven informs. The guys don’t get any wiser by this info though. Haha. The Teddybears made two albums in the early ’90s as this kind of grindcore band until somebody came up with a brilliant idea that maybe they should change style. Then they got a very distinct sound to them when they had their breakthrough with Punkrocker and all those songs that the guys are going to listen to, Cobrastyle and Rocket Scientist. These sounded very typical Teddybears. It’s a bit hard to describe the style. It’s rock and it’s also a bit of pop. There is a bit of electronica to it too. And it’s an interesting, very individual, personal style. Great productions as well, PG adds. So here comes Punkrocker, the song that dominated the Swedish airwaves in the early noughties.

The next song is only 14 years old. Get Mama A House is a brilliant track from 2009, Per thinks. Great single and typical of the Teddybears late style, Sven thinks. They got their inspiration from Jamaica. But they have influences from and you could hear Devo a lot, Per adds. Sven agrees, you can hear all these electronic sounds. Almost like toy sounds. Per always loves these productions. He finds them cool. The weirder sounds of the new wave stuff, Sven says. When the band performs, they hide themselves behind gigantic bear masks. They look really cool. Per doesn’t really know how they look for real, but it doesn’t really matter. The brothers Jokke and Klas Ålund are in the band. Per knows Klas produced Swedish singer Robyn and he also worked with Britney Spears.

Get Mama A House is featuring Desmond Forster. One of many collaborations of Teddybears. They always seem to collaborate with a lot of interesting artists. On the album called Devil’s Music in 2010, they worked with The Flaming Lips and The B-52s. Rocket Scientist, the opening track on that album they did with American rapper Eve. This could be their best song for Per. It’s a brilliant, very cool track.

The 4th and final song on this episode’s special is Cobrastyle. Proof that things can only get better, especially if you are talking about Teddybears. The song features Jamaican dancehall musician, Mad Cobra. Sven asks Per how is that for an artist’s name. PG finds it cool. Sven jokes, „your name is Per Gessle. His name is Mad Cobra.” PG says „he wins”. Haha. Mr. G says this song pops up here and there. You hear it in different movies, commercials, computer games. It’s just a timeless style and it’s really cool and very original.

Sven says they forgot to mention that Iggy Pop did the vocals on the American version of Punkrocker. How is that for punk rock royalty!

The special is over and the song the guys play next is I’m Kingfisher’s The Pain Of Happiness. Then comes Kaleidoscope Dream by The Northern Belle.

The last song on the show is Wailing Wall by Todd Rundgren. Per says the big question is, how on earth Todd Rundgren wound up on Nordic Rox. It’s not easy, Sven says, but if your name is Todd and your last name is Rundgren (pronounced in the English way) or Rundgren as Sven would say in Swedish, then it’s easier, because Todd’s father is of Swedish descent. This makes it easier to slip into the Nordic Rox playlist. Wailing Wall is a beautiful song.

The guys thank everyone for listening, then Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Interview with Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand in Hallandsposten

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Jan-Owe Wikström from Hallandsposten interviewed Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand. The hotel was originally built by court photographer Johan Hallberg as Restaurant Tylösand in 1915 for 13,000 SEK. Until 1929 it could only be accessed by boat. Today it is one of Halmstad’s strongest brands and tourist magnets, but also – the hotel in the hearts of Per and Åsa Gessle.

The hotel has come a long way until it has transformed into an exclusive spa hotel.

Per notes that there is nothing worse than a hotel where you are greeted by an empty entrance or a deserted reception. He explains:

We want a wow feeling when you enter Hotel Tylösand. You can directly see the car hall, fantastic works of art and sculptures. And we’re going to build a bar in the reception where you can hang out a bit. Sometimes there will be a pianist, so that you automatically end up in a lively environment when you check in.
Because it’s just like with everything else, album sleeves, intros to songs – the first impression is the most important.

Åsa agrees:

The reception is important, the first contact. No matter how shabby hotels are, the reception almost always looks reasonably nice. We also have a nice reception, but it has been there for many years, so it’s time to rebuild, so that it blends in with the new “Front House”.

Åsa – spider in the web

The Front House is a new part of the hotel, with large brown-glazed terraces, the Ronnie Peterson conference room and the car hall with Per’s exclusive Ferrari collection. The rooms in Strandhuset and in Stora huset, the reconstruction of Solgården, Bettan’s Bar, Leif’s Bar & Grill and the new The Spa, but also details such as the small unique room signs, the wrought iron fence around the hotel, the color of the staff’s different clothes, the porcelain in the restaurants and of course – the green apples. Everything bears, in one way or another, Åsa Gessle’s signature. She says humbly:

I don’t think many people know what I do apart from the lamps I have designed. After all, I’m here on an almost daily basis and see things that are good and things that can and need to be improved.
I guess I’m a bit of a spider in the web, as far as aesthetics are concerned. Then when it comes to the actual design of, for example, a room, the architectural firm is responsible for the shell and I for the details, the choice of materials and the colors.

But despite all that, Åsa has no official title at the hotel.

No, not as far as I know. I’ll probably have to ask Jonas.

She laughs, referring to the new CEO Jonas Karlén, who a while ago replaced the long-standing CEO Elisabeth Haglund, who has now in turn replaced Björn Nordstrand as chairman of the board.

To have a significant role alongside Per is extra important for Åsa.

When you live next to a famous person, like Per, you easily become just his wife. But for me it goes without saying to have my own identity. It’s fundamental in my life. I started working more when our son Gabriel was ten years old and I felt that I could be away more than before. And Gabbe – who is just as motivated as his father – once said: “Mum, I don’t want to be known for being my father’s son, but I want to be known for having done something myself”. That’s exactly how I feel too.

At the same time, Per has become more actively involved in the hotel in recent years.

Yes, Åsa has always been involved, but in the last ten years I have taken up more and more space, had more and more ideas and opinions. We have had a strong and common line that our hotel should not only be a place where you sleep and eat, but also a place where you can be creative, socialize and have new experiences.
What makes Hotel Tylösand so special is the diversity. We have a huge art and photo gallery. We have a Spa with skin and hair care, various treatments, laser technology and a Spa shop. We have 230 rooms and suites, we have four restaurants, 32 conference rooms with room for up to 750 people at the same time. Then there is Solgården, the amphitheater, all the DJs and the Roxette and Gyllene Tider museum. Plus Northern Europe’s coolest car hall is now located in the hotel.

Jan-Owe asks if it’s only Northern Europe’s coolest car hall.

Okay then. The only one in the world I know. I think a hotel in Las Vegas had a Ferrari store once upon a time, but that hotel is torn down now.

Took over the run-down Reso hotel in 1995

But it wasn’t like that in 1995 when pop star Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand took over Hotel Tylösand. It was a run-down Reso hotel with simple rooms, a restaurant and Tylöhus that reeked of the old ’80s.

Åsa says:

We had travelled around the world and stayed in many nice hotels and seen many fun interior details. But when we took over the hotel… the old house was rotten. The rooms were spartan with small, small bathrooms with a small mirror and a shelf underneath with toilet paper rolls on them.
So the first thing I did was fix and place the toilet rolls where they belong, a little further down. And to introduce green apples in the hotel. Philipe Starck and his hotel had apples and in their receptions it was written “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I liked that. At first, people didn’t think I was smart. But I got through it. It’s only for Christmas that I give in, but then the apples have to be dark red, haha.

Hotel Tylösand 2023 and Hotel Tylösand 1995 have not much more in common than the name.

Åsa remembers:

No, we have added a lot during these 27 years. But we have also removed a lot. All the artificial plants that collected so much dust. And the entrance in lime green and pink, with tiles that looked more like a bathhouse entrance.
At Tylöhus there were mirrors on the ceiling. And the restaurant had pink carpet with seagulls in burgundy and burgundy velvet curtains. It was horrible.
But now we have a line, a common thread in all activities at the hotel and I think it creates a sense of calmness for the guest when there is completeness.

Craftsmanship in the blood

Jan-Owe doesn’t think that Åsa is a trained designer and has attended a lot of great courses.

No, no, I’m just like my husband is in music, self-taught. And we both take help when we need it. It is important to find the right people to collaborate with, preferably personalities who inspire and think a little differently. It is of course also important that the employees understand your vision, so that we pull in the same direction.
And there, Abelardo (Gonzalez), the architect who designed our house, has been a great inspiration and teacher. I rejected eleven kitchen suggestions from him when we built the villa before we agreed. He likes cold materials while I like warm, but eventually, there was a tension where he taught me to keep my eyes open and that nothing is impossible.

Although with a mother who was a seamstress, a great-grandfather who was a slipper maker and a grandfather who was a blacksmith, Åsa already had craftsmanship, creativity and a sense of color and form in her blood.

Well, I was always tinkering around my bed at home, making sure it was nice. After all, we were four children and we grew up with a single mother in very simple conditions, so if you wanted something, you had to be creative and fix it yourself, learn to do well with small tools.

Åsa, who eventually got to display a few stores in Trelleborg, has also brought that thinking to the hotel.

Creating environments doesn’t really have to cost a lot of money. I’m not a geek for branded furniture, but the important thing is that it should feel right. Then if I go to Myrorna and shop, it has no significance. It’s all about the feeling.

Åsa glances at one of the large Monstera plants and smiles:

SEK 299 at Blomsterlandet. So I took the shuttle service there.
In this environment, you also can’t have too expensive things, because they get broken, they are used a lot. There is a huge amount of wear and tear everywhere in a hotel. This is why function is important. And we buy large quantities.
I also don’t like to throw things away, so we reuse what we can.

Sketches by hand

There are also lots of Ferrari details on the shelf inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge.

Åsa says:

Apart from three books, everything is taken from our private collection. And we had the coasters for the conference table in the hotel’s hiding places. They were unused for some reason, but now they fulfill a function. Super stylish as well.

In the new part of the hotel, The Front House, there are several large sun terraces inspired by the Whitby Hotel in New York, the car hall and the Ronnie Peterson Lounge conference room are Åsa’s latest creations.

I wanted the Ronnie Lounge to be “masculine” and “with a motor feel”, but still with a lot of warmth. Stone is quite cold and cars are tough, so it automatically becomes masculine. And the big screen was really important. When you come from outside and look in, I think it’s beautiful and important that you see movement. Cars and life are always in motion.

The giant conference table inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge is one of the things that Åsa has designed by hand.

Unlike the rest of the family, I don’t like computers but still sketch with pen and paper. I love to draw and then have it built. A bit like Per. He sits and tinkles on something and then, out of it, comes an idea that eventually becomes a finished text or song. For me, it’s the same when I sketch. I have everything in my head. I can see it in front of me, but cannot present it technically, like a construction drawing. Then it’s important to surround yourself with sensitive people who understand me, such as Östra’s Carpentry here in Halmstad when it comes to fine carpentry.

Inside and outside must meet

The large glass partitions also allow visitors outside to see in and those inside to see out.

It is important that the inside and the outside are connected and become a unit. The greenery outside plays a big role, how everything looks outside the hotel. Here we have boxwood, grass and ivy – not so much flowers, but more evergreen.
When I made a display apartment for HFAB (Halmstad’s real estate company) in 2007, that was also one of the basic ideas. And the person who eventually bought the apartment ended up keeping everything as it was presented. Including all furnishings. Then I felt that I had succeeded.

The end wall inside the Ronnie Peterson room is adorned with huge black and white photos from Peterson’s Formula 1 era. And the walls in the hall are made of granite.

I want a basic tone based on earth and nature and instead add the colors in the details. I basically have a rather sacral taste and am convinced that calm colors make people calm. And stone is very soothing. I designed the statues and the bench from scratch where visitors can sit and relax and look at the cars through the windows. It’s fantastic. A bit like in a museum.

The car hall top secret

Åsa reveals the fact that it would become a car hall was well hidden for a long time:

Yes, it was top secret. We designed it as a conference room, because even the builders wouldn’t know about it from the beginning. We didn’t want it to leak out.
Then it became a long process. I started building a fitting room in November 2019, which was ready in January 2020. But when we were about to put the shovel in the ground, the pandemic came and shut down Sweden in March 2020.

The inauguration of the new hotel part happened this spring, where there are now also guided tours of the car hall held by Dick Jönsson Wigroth, well-known in the motor business.

Per says:

I have known him for many years. When his name came up I thought I hope, hope, hope he wants to do that. Dick is both an aesthete and a technician and is cut and ready for the job.
And I have spoken to a lot of staff in connection with us building the new Front House. Both Åsa and I want it to feel special to work at the hotel and when many people said that they were proud to be part of this fantastic new building, then of course I’m proud that they are proud!

Today, Hotel Tylösand has 120 employees, which during the summer will multiply to over 400.

Per points out:

We are basically full over summer until August. December is also a party month when we serve over 9,000 Christmas dinners. But it’s not like that in January, February or in October or November. It is during those months that we have to be extra creative and invent things so that, above all, companies will come here. We want to keep our staff even when it’s not peak season.

Pay attention to the details

Even though Per, with the support of co-owner Björn Nordstrand, together with the CEO and the board is responsible for the big brushstrokes, he also, just like Åsa, pays attention to the details.

Yes, every time I’m at Hotel Tylösand I do some check-ups, I won’t say where. But I can, for example, go into a toilet and check that the toilet lid is attached, that there are towels and that it is generally fresh. If there is something crazy, I report it immediately and then it will be fixed right away.
Because it’s important that it’s clean and tidy everywhere. It’s invaluable that the staff learn how we think and that everyone helps to ensure that the guest has a maximum experience. If you pass a pillow that has been sucked down, you lift it up and puff at it. Not everyone sees that because not everyone cares. But exactly that is the key to people saying “I’ve never been to a hotel like that in Sweden!”. We hear that often.
Therefore, it’s also important to get involved for the entire Tylösand area, that it is neat on the beach, safe and inviting, that there are good rescue routes if something were to happen. Everything has to work, because the more we invest, the more people come here.

New projects underway

More to come. In December, the pool project will start when that part will be renovated.

Åsa says:

Then I would like to build a sun roof on top of the spa with a staircase up the side. But also extend the roof over Bettans so you can sit and enjoy and have a drink or coffee. In that case it would be called Bettan’s roof.
So I constantly have new projects and wishes. Then you can see if you get through with them. The board is tough, haha…

To own a hotel of 23,000 square meters is an ongoing process. Or as Per himself puts it:

It’s a bit like washing windows on a skyscraper. You will never be finished. Because when one thing is done, it’s always time for the next.

Photo of Åsa and Per by Linus Kamstedt Lindholm.

Per Gessle interview in Västra Nyland

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Before Gyllene Tider perform in Ekenäs, Finland, Kjell Ekholm from Västra Nyland did an interview with Per Gessle. Kjell met Per in his Stockholm office on Strandvägen.

As Kjell says, Per is a music addict. He has lived and breathed music since he was a child. In addition, he is the only artist who has managed to keep three different careers going at the same time and succeeded in all of them.

Together with Marie Fredriksson, Roxette became bigger than ABBA themselves in the US. The duo managed to get a total of four songs to the No. 1 position on Billboard Hot 100 and over the years, as a solo artist, he has given us many immortal pop classics in Swedish. Now Per Gessle is coming to Finland and Ekenäs for the first time with Gyllene Tider.

According to Kjell, it’s always fun interviewing Per, because he is still so enthusiastic when talking about pop music. Already as a child, Per was able to experience various forms of creation via his mother. She wrote a fairy tale about Ferdinand the ant for him and made her own illustrations for it. As an 11-year-old, he started writing his own songs, but without music.

I have always liked to express myself and when I started school, I also liked to write essays. I created pop music first through lyrics, because I could not yet play an instrument.

He tried to translate songs by David Bowie and Leonard Cohen. He admits that the result would hardly stand the light of day today. But the fact is that Gyllene Tider got their first record deal largely thanks to Gessle’s lyrics.

Per Gessle has always been obsessed with pop music. He says himself that it has meant everything to him since childhood. He and his older brother bought a lot of records, by the time he was ten, he had 100 LPs, while his friends owned five at best.

He earned money for the records by handing out newspapers. Sometimes he managed to get the records a little cheaper when he bought them from his brother’s friends, who needed money for cigarettes. That’s how he came across Lovin’ Spoonful’s album and Los Bravo’s single Black Is Black. But he didn’t just invest in records.

When I was ten, I started buying the English music magazines Melody Maker and later, when punk came along, also New Musical Express. I actually still have those magazines.

20 years ago, Per Gessle coined the expression that a new song must be better than the previous one. Kjell is curious if he still thinks that way today.

Oh no, that no longer applies. I was talking to my wife the other day and stated that if I were to stop making music now, I could probably feel quite satisfied with the songs I’ve written.

I am in the same situation as, for example, Bryan Adams and Tears for Fears. I’m simply not what you could call mainstream anymore. Pop music must always reflect its own time. When I was a child in the ‘60s, the entire youth culture was dominant. It influenced visual arts, film, theatre and clothing. Everything belonged together.

In today’s digital era everything is controlled from our phones and laptops and you notice that in music too. All the music on the charts today sounds the same. There is no place for madmen like Brian Wilson, David Bowie and Frank Zappa. Other artists, who are the same age as me, like Belinda Carlisle and The Bangles, have fallen into the classic “vintage guys and girls” category. We represent a different era.

When Per was 16, he received a Spanish guitar as a gift from his mother and when he learned the basics, things quickly progressed. After school, he was unemployed like so many other young people in Sweden. Quite surprisingly, he and a friend got employed as troubadours at the county council in Halmstad. They went around to nursing homes and hospitals and played and sang. Gessle says it was a great school for him to play at four locations a day and entertain the patients and the elderly.

It was a success and their contract was extended to six months. The repertoire was a blissful mix of Drömmen om Elin, Svarte Rudolf and Streets Of London, but they could also throw in the occasional CCR classic.

He laughs when he suddenly remembers a special event in the long-term care ward at the hospital in Halmstad. They had never played there before and when they arrived, there was no one to receive them. They went in, took out their guitars and started playing. They thought it was a little strange, because in the great hall there were only two beds, and the people in them did not take much notice of the young troubadours.

We settled down and played “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. At the same time, a nurse arrives and asks what we are doing there. At the same moment, one of the patients sits up in bed and looks at us. The nurse is completely shocked. It turned out that we had come to the wrong place and in this room there were two patients who had been in a coma for a long time.

The nurse lost her temper, the troubadours quickly scurried out of the room and a whole medical team came in to confirm that a small miracle had happened to that patient.

It was fate that wanted us to be there and this is a proof of the strength there is in music.

When Gyllene Tider started their career, the whole band went to London to buy guitars. In a guitar shop far outside the city, Per bought a burgundy Gibson Les Paul Custom. It was a similar one that Ray Davies had in The Kinks.

They also bought amplifiers, which they had shipped to Sweden, but they wanted to take the guitars home as hand luggage. When they arrived in Sweden, they had no money left and tried to smuggle the guitars in without paying customs.

Of course we were caught for it and customs seized all our new instruments. We were completely devastated. When I got home, I wrote an emotional letter to customs and explained that we had no money left and that we were still young and ignorant. They were human and we got the guitars back, but I was fined 2000 SEK, which was a lot of money at the time.

Today, the financial situation for Per Gessle looks different. He is a partner in eleven companies and has built up a fortune and millions of assets. His music business is divided between three companies, of which he is also chairman of the board. Together, they have assets of over 30 million euros.

In addition, he is a partner in Tylösands Havsbad and Tylösands Kompaniet Aktiebolag, which are estimated to be worth over 50 million euros.

He has a passion for cars and owns 15 exclusive cars from brands such as Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and McLaren. His favourite car is a Ferrari Dino from 1972. His interest in cars had been awakened when he saw the pictures of John Lennon’s psychedelic painted Rolls-Royce as a child. Then he had to settle for collecting Corgi Toys toy cars and building car tracks with his older brother.

The guys discuss the beginnings of Gyllene Tider and the early songwriting. Kjell claims that the style he had then was a combination of The Beatles’ melodic loops and the energy of new wave music. Per agrees, adding that he always liked bands that could combine good melodies with energy, like the Ramones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The latter became the house gods of the entire band.

I’ve always had lousy self-confidence when it comes to my music and especially my voice. I’ve always hated my singing voice. What punk and new wave music did for me was that I realized that you didn’t have to be very good. I felt safer when I heard that everyone else also had faults and shortcomings.

If you have a band that is not super competent, there is often more energy and adrenaline in the playing than technical quality. I still like that today. For example, I never liked Mariah Carey’s singing style. That’s the expression I want in the singing and playing.

Kjell is curious what the secret is behind Gyllene Tider’s success.

There is something strange that happens when we play together. I know I sing differently when I play with these guys. There is some DNA molecule in all of us that is activated when we play together. It’s impossible to explain, but it feels absolutely magical. Age and experience certainly play a role as well. We now have a film in the works and then we have gone through old memories and it is a wonderful journey we have made together.

Kjell says the guys will probably never say it again that they are quitting.

No, I didn’t like it either when we said in 2019 that now we are saying goodbye. It was our drummer, Micke “Syd” Andersson who thought we should finish with the flag at the top as long as everyone was alive and well.

Over the years, I have learned that it’s not good to paint yourself into a corner. I remember an American lawyer I hired once upon a time used to say, “my preliminary opinion is”. Then you can always change your mind. Then came the corona pandemic and nothing was the same anymore. In addition, we made a new record and therefore it felt good to go on tour again.

Per Gessle’s parallel universe in Hallandsposten

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As it always happens before a tour starts, Jan-Owe Wikström from Hallandsposten did an interview with Per Gessle this time again.

There was a sneak premiere of the Gyllene Tider tour at Leif’s Lounge in Hotel Tylösand last Thursday, release of the new record “Hux Flux” the following day and tour premiere of Gyllene Tider at Brottet in Halmstad on Friday. It is the present.

New solo record already completed for release next year, premiere of the Gyllene Tider movie in 2024 and then also premiere of the musical in Malmö, based on Jane Fallon’s novel “Got You Back” with Roxette’s songs as a basis. It is the future.

Come along into Per Gessle’s parallel universes.

This is how the industry works today. Everything must be planned a year in advance. Least. It’s studios, venues, hotels, staff and everything around that needs to be booked, so it’s important to always be one step ahead.

Per and Jan-Owe are sitting in Per’s house in Sandhamn which, surreally enough, turns 30 this year.

The summer of 2023 lies ahead of Gessle and Gyllene Tider. A new tour awaits. Even though everything was really over that evening on the pontoon outside the Opera House in Oslo on 18th August 2019. Until a red, rectangular Bo Diddley model Gretsch guitar in the fall of 2021 changed everything again. And Hux Flux was Gyllene Tider back.

For some reason, I usually come up with something new when I’ve got a new guitar and these songs screamed for “Gyllene”.

But if he hadn’t suffered from tonsillitis and new covid regulations hadn’t been introduced, there might still not have been a comeback.

That’s how it was. In November, at the end of my 2021 acoustic concert tour, I got tonsillitis and had to cancel the last concerts in December. And when they were to be implemented in January instead, new pandemic restrictions came and everything was moved until April.

That gave me a lot of time to spare, so between December 2021 and April 2022, this album was created. I recorded demos together with MP, where we worked in a completely new way. Since we had so much time this time, compared to the recording of the last record “Samma skrot och korn” in France, we devoted a lot of time to the guitars. We went back, tested, redid and tested again.

Then, when everything was basically ready, we sent the material out to the band. Some songs were just finished in form, but not arranged, then everyone got to make their mark and that’s where Anders came into the picture, who modernized the sound on some.

The rest was recorded at Staffan Karlsson’s Sweetspot Studio outside Harplinge. And the result: an energetic pop album full of string guitars and of course – Farfisa organ.

I was doing the acoustic tour at the time and in parallel also finished PG Roxette, which was an ’80s-90s synth-based pop record. So this became an outlet to play that kind of totally dying guitar pop that I’ve always loved. Old fashioned, a bit punk and edgy where the song “Gammal kärlek rostar aldrig” almost sounds like Plastic Bertrand and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

It’s difficult to balance between silly and fun, but I try to get on the right side of the line because Gyllene should be a little more fun, a little more kick-ass, which isn’t always easy when you’re 64.

I noticed in retrospect that on the previous Gyllene album from 2019 I had too many songs that were better suited for me as a solo artist. A little more sophisticated and more serious. Gyllene sounds best when it becomes a little more classic power pop, a little more 3-chord fireworks!

And actually, this time I haven’t written a single song that didn’t make it.

Just like the previous record, “Hux Flux” is also available as a vinyl LP in several colors. But the song order on the vinyl version differs from the CD and streaming.

Yes, on an LP there are two opening tracks and therefore you always want a strong, exciting ending on side A to get curious about side B. Otherwise, with the CD and not least streaming, it has easily become that you featured too much music. The LP format is perfect.

The fact that Per still buys vinyl records is due to one reason in particular:

It’s for the album covers. Then I usually play the records on Spotify anyway because it’s easier.

At the same time, he misses the romance of the physical records.

I come from a generation that has a romantic view of the record itself and therefore it is so difficult to accept that it hardly means anything anymore. Without the album covers, the music becomes much more obscure and is consumed in a different way. Most young people probably listen to even more music than my generation did, but they don’t always know WHO they are listening to. Or what the songs are called. Or who wrote and produced. Everything has become one big anonymous stream of music since streaming took off.

In the past you went on tour to promote the records because it was on the records that you made money. Now it’s the other way around. Major tours are very lucrative. Few people care when old artists release new material because it’s the old hits that the masses want to hear. I can only look to myself and have no idea, for example, about the last decade’s Elton John, Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney records.

Jan-Owe is curious how Per has managed to “survive” despite the fact that the music industry has completely changed, both in terms of listening, consuming and the way of writing.

I don’t know. I’ve tried both to try to develop myself and my creation in the digital world while at the same time “going backwards” sometimes and staying with the acoustic and organic in my music. I’m interested in both ways because they bring out different sides of me and my creativity. I absolutely believe that as long as you have fun and work consistently, a certain amount of success will come naturally. But of course, if you want to reach the top of the charts around the world, all the stars must be aligned. It is completely out of my control.

Jan-Owe asks Per how he knows if a new song fits his solo project, PG Roxette or Gyllene Tider.

I actually try to write as little as possible. But I always have the antennas out. Sometimes an idea pops up when I’m strumming the guitar in front of the TV and I save the idea on my iPhone. When I’m working on a project, I go through everything I’ve collected and use some for what I’m working on at the moment. This is a pretty typical scenario how I write songs. I do puzzles.

I almost never sit down and write lyrics or complete songs if I don’t have a project going on. That way, I almost always know from the start what I’m looking for.

For the audience, Hux Flux, the album is brand new. But for Per, MP, Anders, Göran and Micke Syd, it is already fifteen months old when Per reveals which minute is the most important at a concert:

It is the last 30 seconds before the concert starts and the first 30 after it has started. Then the expectations are maximized and that is why the first impression is so extremely important.

There are more songs that can be played live this time compared to the last record. But at the same time, over the years, we have built up a treasure trove of songs that means we can’t skip “Leva livet”, “Tylö Sun” or “Sommartider”. People expect them as they have such strong nostalgia value and many have lots of memories and connections to those songs.

Then the old songs are on so many playlists. It’s the same with Roxette, we’re constantly increasing on Spotify. If we release a new single, it gets 30-40,000 streams in the first few days, while “It Must Have Been Love” gets 400,000 streams on any given day. Then you think: Why can’t people listen to the new song instead? But it doesn’t work that way.

That Gessle, when “Hux Flux” was finished a year ago, would take it easy and wait for it was not on the map either. Instead, he has spent the winter and spring completing his new solo record, which he just finished with a planned release sometime in 2024.

I wanted to finish this record before I enter the Gyllene bubble that lasts until September.

Per gives a hint of how it sounds:

It has a bit of a summery Mazarin feel. I play many instruments myself but have the help of many new acquaintances. It’s a super exciting project.

The start of filming for the new Gyllene Tider film is in the pipeline with the band bringing the cast to the stage at the sneak premiere at Leif’s Lounge last week.

It starts filming in August with a premiere next year and if the film is as good as the script, it will be awesome. The film is not a documentary depicting Gyllene’s enormously long career, but is about the early years, from when I meet MP and we form Gyllene Tider until 1982 when “Sommartider” is released. A lot of anecdotes and craziness run past, it really was a special time that I hope can be portrayed in an equally special way.

In autumn 2024, there will also be a premiere at Malmö Opera for the musical with Roxette’s song catalogue based on the novel “Got You Back” by the English author Jane Fallon and reworked for a musical script by Klas Abrahamsson.

I have met her a few times and she is fantastic. To my great surprise, I have discovered that my music works perfectly in a musical context. I’ve never been particularly interested in musicals because the style itself can be very pompous and slightly annoying. It’s never been my thing. But songs like “Spending My Time”, “Crash! Boom! Bang!”, “It Must Have Been Love” and not least “Listen To Your Heart” work superbly with a large orchestra and grandiose arrangements. They are big melodies with strong and intense emotions.

So I’m grateful that it happened. Back in 2015, we got the first offer, but it always turned out that the script wasn’t good enough. Up until now. Because this is a wonderful way to nurture Roxette’s music and the ambition is also for it to go abroad.

However, whether there will be a solo tour in the summer of 2024 before then remains to be seen. Per cryptically smiles and says he can’t say anything about it. But in Per Gessle’s parallel universe and future calendar, it may already be inscribed, Jan-Owe says.