Per Gessle

Per on tour – En vacker kväll poll #1

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Per’s summer solo tour is around the corner. We know that it’s going to be a special evening and Per plans to play songs from all his catalogue, when Per announced the tour, he said: “I thought of playing songs that I wrote that meant a lot to me. From Roxette, Gyllene Tider and solo.” And this means there is a very extensive catalogue to choose from. So we thought it may be fun to start a series of polls and tell Per which songs are special to us and we would love to hear during the tour.

The big question was, how to put the polls together? So after some thinking we decided the polls will look like this: solo albums, Gyllene Tider, demos & other, Roxette and last but not least the new album.

  1. Per Gessle
  2. Scener
  3. The World According to Gessle
  4. Mazarin
  5. Son of a Plumber
  6. En händig man
  7. Party Crasher
  8. Gyllene Tider (incl. Pers Garage)
  9. Roxette (normal album songs only)
  10. Demos and other songs (that are not included in the above)
  11. The new album when we have it in our hands

Some of them will be huge polls but we will manage!

The target is to choose the songs you would like to hear live and we will present the results to Per hopefully soon enough for him to maybe include at least the top top favourite 🙂 (of course, we also wish that he plays at least 2,5 hours, why not 3, there is enough material for a one-day-concert…).

Looking forward to your input and of course the tour. And have lots of fun while voting for the songs and listening to the albums for the xxx-th time.

Thanks in advance for participating.

Here goes the first poll: Per Gessle – Released in 1983. Choose up to 3 songs from this album.

[yop_poll id=”21″]

This one will run until 22nd of January 2017.

Goodbye 2016, welcome 2017

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2016 was a sad year for music fans, many “big ones” left us, artists like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen or Prince that influenced Marie and Per in a way or another.

It hasn’t been a perfect year for the Rox-world either. Roxette officially started in 1986 with the release of Neverending Love and they were celebrating these 30 years together with an amazing tour that had started in 2014 and took them all around the globe – once again and for the second time since Marie’s came back on stage (with Roxette) in 2009. They were about to embark on the last leg of the tour and meet the audience in Europe once again when the bad news came: touring if over for Roxette. News that we all somehow expected one way or another, but it hurt when it eventually happened.

And I won’t deny it, I think I still haven’t gotten over it and finally understood that there is no more Roxette live anymore. There will be Per performing Roxette songs, as it was already in 2009, but it will simply not be the same. It’s nothing against Per, I loved the 2009 shows and I will surely love the upcoming tour. It’s just not the same without Marie. Roxette are two great friends making magic together and there is nothing that can replace that.

But not everything were bad news. And since I like to concentrate on the positive, here is a summary of what happened in 2016 (hope I didn’t forget any highlight) and what we can expect in 2017 (that we already know of):

  • Roxette visited South Africa early 2016 and gave five concerts there, including two sold out ones and new plectrums that you can find on the PLECtionary.
  • The RoXXXette on the road tour photo book was released in June. It even came with a special edition for Roxers, limited to 300 copies, numbered, signed by Per – all packed in a nice box. We are collecting pictures of all of them here, so if yours is still not featured, send it in!
  • Roxette released an amazing new album in June: Good Karma. Three singles have been released so far off this album. Roxette also recorded a very nice video for the first single “It Just Happens” and asked fans to participate to make the “Why Don’t You Bring Me Flowers” video, probably inspired by Jakub and Dawid who recorded a funny fan video for “Some Other Summer”.
  • Per launched a new record label, Space Station 12, together with Marie Dimberg.
  • We also interviewed Per a couple of times, regarding Good Karma and SS12.
  • Marie’s book was published in German with an additional chapter for this version where she tells she is fine and working on the issues with her leg. We wish her all the best!!
  • Following the announcement we gathered thank-you messages for Marie. Kirsten also organised a surprise for Marie’s birthday, with the participation of tons of fans it was possible to send her bunches of roses. Marie responded with this video on her Facebook page <3.
  • In the background many things have happened to the website, we have had some hiccups with the server but nothing that couldn’t be solved. I had to postpone the project to redesign/update the website due to an accident but … let’s see what 2017 will bring 🙂

2017 so far…

  • More or less out of the blue but somehow expected, Per announced a new album and tour for 2017. The album is planned for Spring, the tour will be (for now?) in Sweden and will start on July 6th in Helsingborg, check the tour dates here
  • A DVD-box containing Roxette live recordings will be released this year. In connection to this, fans got busy and creative already on January 2nd as you can see on this article.

Sounds exciting huh? As always, thanks for reading and participating! See you on the road latest in summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Per Gessle’s Top9 Christmas songs

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Somehow we could sense it wasn’t just a random post by Per yesterday when he shared the whole lot of the podcast series of Gessles nio i topp. Now we can see it was because there is a Christmas edition! Woohoo! Per and Sven sat together and had some Xmas fun their own way. They say they did it because of the very successful first season of Gessles nio i topp. Listen to the podcast HERE!

Per actually dislikes Christmas songs, but even in his career one of the biggest hits started out as a Christmas song. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted) came out in 1987 and it became a gold record in Sweden. But the song became a worldwide hit only after it appeared in the movie Pretty Woman.

Mr. G’s Top9 Xmas songs:

9. Sjömansjul på Hawaii (1945)
8. The Who – Christmas (1969)
7. David Bowie and Bing Crosby – Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy (1982)
6. Wizzard – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (1973)
5. John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (1971)
4. Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (1973)
3. The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale of New York (1987)
2. Joni Mitchell – River (1971)
1. Charles Brown – Please Come Home for Christmas (1960)

 

The only Swedish Christmas song Per thinks is quite good is Sjömansjul på Hawaii from 1945. The music played on Hawaii guitar is quite cool, he thinks. Next song on Per’s list is The Who’s Christmas. One can find it on the double album, Tommy. Per says he is fascinated by that album and he can still listen to it from A to Z. The 7th best is Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. The single became one of Bowie’s best selling in his career. Since Bowie hated Little Drummer Boy, he didn’t want to sing it and this way it was Crosby who sang that part and Bowie sang Peace on Earth which was written and added to the song especially for Bowie and Crosby. Per suggests you watch the video of the TV show. He understands why it became such a classic hit.

Song No. 6 is I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard, one of the best British glam rock bands. Per tells when Gyllene Tider got a contract at EMI in 1979, Lasse Lindbom was the producer and they made a Christmas album, Glitter, Glögg & Rock ‘N’ Roll with various EMI artists. 24:de December was GT’s debut song and Per also wrote Swedish lyrics to the Wizzard song and it became Om Jag Bara Fick En Elgitarr Till Jul performed by Lasse Lindbom Band on the album.

5th fave Christmas song is Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band. Per still has the original single in his collection. The coolest glam rock single according to Mr. G is Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade. Per thinks one of the most known Christmas songs is Fairytale of New York by The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl. Joni Mitchell’s River is magical music. And the No. 1 Christmas song is a fantastic one from 1960, Please Come Home for Christmas from Charles Brown. Even Eagles and Jon Bon Jovi did covers of this song.

It turns out Sven likes Christmas, he thinks it’s wonderful. Per asks if it isn’t sad that Christmas starts already in September nowadays and Sven says yeah it’s strange that Christmas songs start playing when birds are still singing. Per says he thinks Christmas is terrible nowadays, but he remembers it was nice when he got e.g. records for Christmas like Patterns by Ola & the Janglers in 1966. It’s an awesome album, he thinks.

Besides hearing some lovely ho-ho-ho’s, we get to know that the guys continue with their podcast on Swedish Radio in spring 2017. Awesome news!

 

Interview with Marie Dimberg and Per Gessle about Space Station 12

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ss12Marie Dimberg and Per Gessle launched the label Space Station 12 in February 2016. Since then, three artists have released their single at SS12. You may have seen Per posting about SS12 on Facebook quite frequently this year, so we thought of asking Marie D. and Per a bit more about the company.

Judith: When did you have the idea and how did it all start?

Per: The music industry is changing so much at the moment I felt like I, before I go to sleep, should take part of the new revolution. There’s a window at the moment for indie labels. And for indie way of thinking. I like that.

J: What was your motivation?

P: Same as with everything else in my musical life; to take part of music that I like and enjoy.

J: What do you want to achieve with SS12?

P: A great logo and a few gold records.

J: What are your tasks/responsibilities?

P: I’m the DJ, I am what I play!

Marie D: I run the daily operations with my team Lotta and Josef and we work together with our great license partners at BMG. We also have independent press- and radio people.

J: What is the story behind the label’s name?

P: The name comes from a Montrose-song, “Space Station #5” but I thought 12 was cooler since it’s my birthdate.

J: So far, 3 artists have released their latest singles at SS12. Their styles are rather different, who is involved in the A&R process and how does it work in your case?

P: We all are. But I have the last say. If I don’t like it, we won’t release it. But I’m pretty easy to convince.

MD: We all listen and try to convince Per if he doesn’t agree…! A good song, a great voice and an artistic expression are of course key ingredients. No matter what kind of “genre”

J: What are your main criteria when picking an artist up?

P: Personality. Intelligence. We don’t want artists who strive for fifteen minutes of fame.

J: Why did you choose these 3 to start with? How did you discover them?

P: Alex was number one. He’s the best songwriter I’ve heard in years. He wrote “Sinking Deep” for Fanny. That’s how Fanny came aboard. She turned out to be a great communicator with an interesting voice. Good Harvest stand for something a little bit more “classic” and organic. That’s very rare to find these days. They’re amazing.

J: Marie, you mentioned that Fanny’s single has almost reached 400.000 plays on Spotify, which is amazing for a new artist. How are you promoting the artists? What are the target audiences and countries?

MD: We start with Scandinavia as a home market but make the release available worldwide digitally. Together with the BMG team, the press- and radio people we try to get exposure wherever suitable for each individual artist.

J: The three artists are rather young and newcomers; are you focusing on this kind of artists or are you also looking to sign up established ones?

MD: We’ll see… our focus is great talent with great songs and I’m sure we’ll eventually embrace established acts as well.

J: Per, you co-wrote the lyrics of Alex Shield’s and for what I understood from an interview with him, the song was finalised and has been released as a single because of this.

P: Yes, I co-wrote the lyrics and the music to “New York City Ways” but that’s not the reason it was released as a single. Who writes the song doesn’t really matter. What matters is if it’s a good record. It has to communicate.

J: In what way have you been involved in the final results of (so far) the singles? Do you get to give input / feedback during the recording/composing process or final outcome?

P: Sometimes. I’m there if I’m needed.

MD: Per’s input is extremely important given his long and successful career both as a songwriter and an artist!!! In my mind, it’s a fantastic opportunity for young artists to have an artist/songwriter of Per’s magnitude as your “wingman”

J: Are more songs co-composed by you planned?

P: I’ve written quite a lot of songs together with Alex which are really cool. You’ll see.

J: What are SS12’s plans for the future and what is in the pipeline?

MD: We’re currently focusing on these three for the rest of 2016. There will be a new song by Good Harvest released in December penned by themselves; “Charly”. They will also perform at the Eurosonic in Amsterdam. Alex “New York City Ways” will be accompanied by a lyric video this week. Fanny is writing and recording and will make her first performance at Musikhjälpen in December.

If you want to know more about the three great artists go on reading.

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Per Gessle on tour and new album in 2017

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Just in! Per is going on tour next summer! A new album is also on the way.

En vacker kväll. Sommarturné 2017 is the name of the tour. Tickets go on sale on Thursday November 24th. Here are the dates.

6/7 Helsingborg
7/7 Oskarhamn
8/7 Örebro
13/7 Rättvik
14/7 Töreboda
15/7 Karlskrona (festival)
21/7 Grebbestad
22/7 Göteborg
23/7 Fredrikstad (festival)
27/7 Stockholm
28/7 Östersund
29/7 Piteå
1/8 Borgholm
2/8 Malmö
3/8 Arvika
11/8 Halmstad
12/8 Linköping
18/8 Uppsala
19/8 Eskilstuna

Message from Per:
Så här skriver Per själv om turnén:
Det är dags att ta en musikalisk selfie!
Jag har skrivit låtar och varit artist i 37 år. Helt klart lyckligt lottad. Tre karriärer har det blivit. En med Roxette, en med Gyllene Tider och en alldeles solo. Alla tre är olika men ligger lika nära mitt hjärta och bär mitt personliga DNA och nu, till sommaren 2017, tänkte jag blanda om i min gryta och spela låtar jag skrivit som betytt extra mycket för mej. Både från Roxette, Gyllene Tider och från min soloresa. Det känns rätt. Och på tiden.

Det är tio år sedan jag gjorde ett svenskt album och en turné i Sverige på egen hand. Hoppas vi syns någonstans i den vackra sommaren.

P.

English:
It’s time to take a musical selfie!
I’ve been writing songs and has been an artist for 37 years. Clearly fortunate. It has been three different careers. One of Roxette, one with Gyllene Tider and solo. All three are different but as close to my heart and bear my personal DNA, and now, in summer 2017, I thought to make a mix and play songs I’ve written that have a special meaning for me. From Roxette, Gyllene Tider and from my solo trip. It feels right. And the right time.

It is ten years since I did a Swedish album and a tour in Sweden alone. Hope to see you somewhere in the beautiful summer.

P.

A new album will be out in spring 2017. Per comments: “I recorded it in Nashville, I was there for a month and recorded it. It doesn’t mean that it will be a country album, but of course there will be influences from Nashvile in the arrangements and feeling. One can say it is the small cousin to Mazarin.”