TV

Per Gessle and Molly Hammar on Nyhetsmorgon

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Per was Jenny Alversjö’s guest on Nyhetsmorgon, TV4 this morning. Molly Hammar joined them via Zoom. Watch the interview HERE!

Jenny informs that Per is back with a new single, Beredd. On Friday we got a taste of what’s to come this autumn, because PG will release a new album, Sällskapssjuk. On Beredd we don’t only hear Per’s beautiful voice, but also Molly Hammar’s, Jenny adds.

Here they play a short part of the video to Beredd.

Jenny welcomes Per and asks how it feels to release this song. Mr. G says it feels great. There are only very positive reactions and it’s wonderful to have Molly in this. Per is very happy. Jenny understands that and she says now he works in Swedish again. PG says he has also done some Gyllene Tider in between, but it’s been seven years since he made his Nashville records that were in Swedish.

Jenny says Per is always active. Now this is the first taste from the album Sällskapssjuk, which will be out this fall. Jenny is curious if there is any special reason why the first single is released now. Mr. G says it’s mostly because he wanted to release different duets before the album is out and this way he needed some leadtime. The next single comes in May.

Jenny wants to know more about the background. Why Molly? Because that’s pretty much the only thing they can talk about now, since Per is so secretive about the other collaborations.

PG tells Jenny that he wrote a lot of songs and felt it would be fun to have a different angle this time, to do duets and work with different male and female singers that he likes very much. So he called around and found a bunch of singers that he likes. It’s been an incredibly fun project.

Jenny asks if it was difficult to find these partners. Per says it was easier than he thought. PG says you want to work with people you like, but who have something to add. When you write a song and another personality comes in, things happen with the song both lyrically and musically, so it’s important to find the right one. He thinks it has turned out very nice in this case.

Jenny says it sounds like no one refused to collaborate. Per confirms that and says smiling that it’s unbelievable.

Jenny asks how Per has chosen Molly. Mr. G says Molly is a favourite. She is an absolutely magical singer. She has this magnet, when you hear her voice, you can’t stop listening to her. Jenny says Per mentioned Molly could sing a phone book. PG says she is the classic one who could do that. She is a bit like Adele, she has that kind of voice. You can’t help, but listen to it. So Per is glad she wanted to join him.

That’s a nice compliment according to Jenny. Here they call Molly via Zoom. She is in London. They greet each other and Molly thanks Per for the compliments. Per asks Molly how she is. She feels great, and asks if she doesn’t look fresh. PG says she does look fresh despite that it’s Sunday morning.

Jenny says Molly looks splendid and asks her about how it feels to hear what Per has just told about her. Molly says it’s huge. When Per called her, it was a very big deal for her. Because Per is a legend and a fantastic musician. When they got to meet and then hung out in the studio, then she started liking him as much as a person too. Molly thinks it’s fun that you can be a legend and be incredibly nice at the same time. So she is very happy.

Jenny asks Molly what she thought when she heard the song for the first time. Molly says she loved it right away. She thinks that it’s a classic fine, cross-generational pop song, because it’s a theme that everyone can relate to.

Jenny is curious about how they did the recordings, if they were in Stockholm or in Halmstad.

Per says they met in Stockholm and tested some keys and such. Then Molly came down to Halmstad. The whole album was recorded in Halmstad, by the way, with lots of local musicians. So Molly came down to Halmstad and they had a good day in the studio and a very nice dinner in the evening in Tylösand. Molly confirms it was super nice.

Jenny asks Molly how important she thinks it is to hang around when creating together. Molly thinks it’s important to have a lot of fun together when making music. Otherwise it just gets weird and she doesn’t think this magic could happen then. You have to have fun and laugh together.

Jenny says they would have loved to see Molly in the Nyhetsmorgon studio, but she is in London. She is curious what Molly is doing there. Molly is running around writing songs and she has a great time. Jenny says she should come to the studio when she gets home. Molly says it would be her pleasure.

Jenny says it’s great that they could have her on the show this way. She knows Molly has a lot to do, so they will let her go now and wish her to have a nice time. Molly thanks for that and says goodbye to both Jenny and Per.

Jenny says Per has been in the business for a very long time, but she wants to know if Per has learned anything from this collaboration. PG says it’s hard to say that you learn something, but as he said before, songs grow and change when you work with other people. And as everyone knows, he has worked a lot with duets in Roxette. He wrote so many songs for Marie that changed and raised the quality of the songs simply because of her voice and her personality. And it’s the same here. All these people he has worked with have changed his songs. It’s not like he sat down with seven or eight people and wrote new music together. It’s his songs and his lyrics that they come in and sing to. So there is a big difference here.

Jenny thinks that many people, including her, will forever associate Per with Marie, of course, even if he does duets with other artists. She asks Per what it was like working with others. Per says it’s always exciting. Before you go into the studio and you have a song, it might not feel right. The keys might not fit or there might be too much modulation for it to work. When he chose certain singers, he listened to what kind of voice they have and in theory he tried, this person fits this song, that person fits that song. And some have not worked at all. Then he already knows in advance that it won’t work. Jenny asks if there were a lot of singers on Per’s list to revise, if he had to revise Molly. Per says no, it was simple with Molly.

Jenny can imagine that when Per and Marie worked together, they must have known each other inside and out, so Per rarely got to revise things there. Per says no, but he was listening to the Roxette catalogue and sometimes he heard some strange key changes to lower and higher, so that they can both sing. You can do such technical tricks. The songs Marie sings herself, they are in her register what she enjoyed the most.

Jenny can imagine that there might be an extra reminder of Marie when Per has collaborations and someone else is at the microphone. Per says not really. It’s been so long since Marie and Per have worked together. It was a lovely era in his life that he preserves. But he doesn’t think too much about it now. But the loss is still there, definitely.

Jenny says she knows that Marie wrote some of the music on the new album. Per says it’s actually a song that is not a duet, but he sings it himself. Marie and he wrote it together in the ’80s. Per wrote the lyrics and Marie and Per wrote the music. So it is also a bit special. It was written long before Roxette, when Marie and Per hung out in his attic apartment in Halmstad in the early ’80s and watched Dallas and Dynasty and stuff like that in the evenings. Jenny finds it lovely and she can see Marie and Per in front of her like that.

Jenny wants to know how Per finds such a song. If it was on paper or they recorded it on cassette. Per says it was on cassette and there have been a few demos on it over the years. It has been a little too good to throw away, but it has never found its rightful place.

Jenny asks Per if he has an overview of everything they have worked on. Per says he doesn’t. A few things have appeared in recent years that he has forgotten about, but they are somewhere on cassettes and strange minidiscs. There has been a lot of technology over the years. It’s such a long time.

Jenny asks if the song that Marie co-wrote is also a duet. Per says it’s not a duet, he sings it himself.

The album will be released this fall. Jenny asks Per about the title, Sällskapssjuk. PG says he wrote a song called Sällskapssjuk and he thought it’s a good title when you have a lot of duets. He also thought it was a nice expression, a nice word.

Jenny says Per mentioned before that he worked on the album in Halmstad, he recorded it there. So some of the songs are probably very organically recorded. Per confirms it. He has worked a lot with local musicians to try to find a new angle, a new sound on the record. Everything is a bit homegrown. It’s hard to explain music, but it’s very organic. There is a lot of lap steel and there is a lot of violin. It’s good.

Jenny wants to know how Per finds inspiration again and again. Mr. G says he doesn’t really look for inspiration, but it pops up from time to time. He is not the kind of person who goes and sits down to play the piano and guitar and writes every day. He usually says that he writes as little as possible. Because when he has something on his mind, he becomes very focused and it goes quite quickly. So Jenny says this means Per doesn’t really like sitting and writing like that. Per says he doesn’t like it at all. He has to do it only sometimes. It’s something that has to come out in some way.

Jenny asks how it is to record in Sweden and elsewhere. There must be a big difference between Sweden and the rest of the world. Per has experienced both. PG says there really isn’t that much of a difference. It’s a completely different thing to work in the studio and to be on stage, of course. This communication that you work with when you have an audience in front of you, it’s fantastic. Many people always ask if it’s fun to play Sommartider or The Look, which you have played a thousand times. When you have an audience in front of you that gives so much back, it’s clear that you love to play your hits. That’s why you work, so to say. Jenny says it must be amazing to see those songs live on through different generations too. What a gift!

The album is coming this autumn, there will be more duets. The next single comes out in May. Jenny asks who will be Per’s partner in that, but Mr. G doesn’t reveal. Jenny asks for a hint. Per says it’s a fantastic male or female singer. Haha.

Jenny thanks Per for coming and hopes to see him again in spring. Per says it’s always fun to be here.

Stills are from Nyhetsmorgon.

Per Gessle on Nyhetsmorgon on TV4 talking about Pugh Rogefeldt

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Per Gessle was a guest on TV4’s morning show, Nyhetsmorgon on 13th October, release day of his new single, a cover of Pugh Rogefeldt’s Vandrar i ett regn. Program leaders Sofia Geite and Steffo Törnquist interviewed him.

The interview starts with premiering the song’s video and after they play a short part of it, Steffo says it’s such a good song choice, because one could think it could have been written by Per. It fits Per very well. PG agrees that it’s a fantastic song. Steffo says Pugh was great and Per discovered him early. Mr. G says the first time he saw Pugh must have been 1974 in Halmstad’s folk park. He played there with his band, Rainrock. He had a scarf on his head and a long ponytail and after a few songs he took off the bandana and everyone saw he had shaved his hair and was bald, just had the ponytail left. The whole audience was shocked. Per says you had never seen anything like that before. Pugh took a bet with his brother, but when his brother saw how Pugh looked, he withdrew himself from the bet. Haha.

The following year Pugh was on tour and played at Halmstad Theatre. There they played, among other songs, Vandrar i ett regn, Per says. Steffo says it’s a song that makes you happy and it’s lovely. PG thinks it has fantastic lyrics and it’s a wonderful song. Pugh was a great songwriter. Steffo mentions a word Pugh uses, “gamman” for happy. “Glad och gamman” in the lyrics, Per thinks it’s a nice expression. He had to check what that meant.

Steffo says Pugh was purely musical too and very innovative. Per agrees. He says Pugh actually created his own language, Pughish. That was even the title of his second album, Pughish. He simply wrote lyrics in his own language. It’s very unique. So there was a musical madness in all this fantastic melodic work he did. Per likes his songs a lot. He thinks there are similarities between Pugh’s lyrics and for example John Lennon’s lyrics. Sometimes there are these kind of nonsense lyrics that you can make your own and you can interpret them as you want. A bit like how Per tried to write The Look. That song isn’t about anything, but you can make it your own. That’s the cool thing about pop music and PG thinks Pugh was a master of it.

Sofia mentions that there will be a tribute concert for Pugh at Cirkus in Stockholm. That place has been chosen for a reason, also because it was where Pugh had his last concert. Per was there in the audience then. He says it was a great concert, but it was a bit strange, because Pugh behaved a bit odd. Per doesn’t know why. He says he was there with his producer, sitting in the first row of the gallery and at one song Pugh went out into the audience and sang the song. He caught sight of Per, walked up to him and then he hugged Per. PG doesn’t really understand why. It was a long hug and a bit magical in a way. In retrospect now it feels super wonderful.

Steffo says Gyllene Tider and Pugh toured together. Per smiles and says Pugh wasn’t a support act, because he was too good for that, he was a special guest for Gyllene Tider in 2004. It was a huge tour. They of course met during the tour, but they didn’t travel together. On a tour it’s when they play, you are in the dressing room, changing clothes, you are getting ready for your part, putting on your make-up and stuff, Per says, so you often miss out on each other.

Sofia says that the big hug Pugh gave Per must have been a surprise for PG, because he and Pugh didn’t have a very tight relationship. Per confirms he was surprised. Pugh was 5-6 metres away from him when he caught sight of PG, so he doesn’t know why he got the feeling. Sofia says probably this relationship meant a lot to Pugh.

Per tells Sofia and Steffo that Pugh asked him to help put together the setlist of what he would play as the special guest on the GT tour. He knew Per was a big fan. Mr. G made a list based on the early records that he loved, Pughish and Hollywood. Pugh always wondered why Per chose these weird songs that he had basically forgotten about. But those songs were so good.

Sofia aks Per what it was like to meet his idol when he was young. Because she knows PG had the chance to meet Pugh in some hotel foyer. Per says when Pugh played the folk park in Halmstad, he and his friends knew that they would be staying at a hotel in Vallås, outside Halmstad. They went there to the hotel and waited for the band to come. The band came and then they walked half a metre past. The guys sat there and were too shy to say anything at the age of 14. They just wanted to be close to the pop gods. Haha.

Regarding the Gyllene Tider movie, Per says the shooting lasts until next week and the movie is out next summer. Steffo asks how it feels. Per says it’s scary, but it’s cool. He has seen a bit of it and it’s amazing. The script is awesome, so he hopes the film will be as good as the script is. It’s a movie about 5 crazy guys in a small town who start a band. But in the end, it’s not like a documentary about Gyllene Tider. It ends with Sommartider released in 1982, so it’s kind of about how the band got there. Sofia asks Per if he recognizes himself or he sees new sides of him in the movie. [Here they show the group picture of Gyllene Tider and the cast.] Per points at the picture and says he recognizes himself there. Haha. PG says the actors interpreted the film well and they are incredibly talented. The director is also wonderful. The program leaders say it’s fun and they look forward to it. They also wish Per to have a good time at the Pugh gala.

Stills are from the morning show.

Per Gessle and Anders Herrlin about Gyllene Tider on Efter fem – TV4

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Per Gessle and Anders Herrlin were guests on TV4’s Efter fem on 1st June. You can watch it HERE!

The program leader, Axel Pileby says 4 years ago Gyllene Tider was out on a farewell tour and said goodbye in packed venues around the country after 40 years. But if you are one of Sweden’s greatest bands, you can make a comeback as many times as you want and now a new tour awaits and also a new Gyllene Tider album. He says it’s great to have Anders and Per on the show and asks them if GT is still as much fun. The guys say it’s a lot of fun. PG adds it’s a wonderful little pop band of the type that isn’t formed anymore.

Axel says they will talk about the GT film later, but he heard on the radio that yesterday Anders was going to meet the guy who will play him. Anders says it felt a little strange, but it was nice. The guy studied him thoroughly and they talked a lot. The guy was staring at him to check Anders’ moves and behaviour and so he felt watched.

The program leader says they will talk about the film and many other things soon, but first comes a little nostalgia and his colleague will tell a bit about magical Gyllene Tider. So here comes a compact history of GT. After the introduction of the band’s career, Axel asks the guys if they sometimes stop and think, wow, what have we done. Anders says when they see such presentations, they do. Seeing the 2004 Ullevi picture there, it’s just fantastic. Axel says he wasn’t there, but just by looking at the picture he gets goosebumps. It must have been extraordinary. Per says the first time they played Ullevi was absolutely incredible. So it has been an awesome trip.

Axel asks the guys how often they think back to GT and such things as Ullevi. PG says he is reminded about Gyllene Tider all the time. You hear GT music all the time, e.g. now when it’s graduation time of secondary schools (studenten), the students still sing Sommartider.

Axel says the band is back again after their 2019 farewell tour and he is curious what happened, why they changed their minds. Anders says the pandemic happened after their decision. Everything became so sad, everything was shut down and it was boring. Then this idea was born that they should fix themselves and bring back some light. Anders remembers when he hit the last note at the last gig in Oslo, he thought, „shit, what have we done? This is really sad, we should continue”. Per says people have a different way of thinking because of the pandemic. You started to appreciate things that you have in a different way. Time passed and so they started talking about why not recording a new album and play a bit more together. All of a sudden it felt obvious in a way, so it wasn’t really planned, but Hux Flux just happened. Axel says they maybe somehow realized it even more how much they miss each other, how much they mean to each other, because they have been a part of each other’s lives for so long. Per says such thoughts popped up during the pandemic in different ways. PG thinks a lot of people can identify with it.

Axel asks if there is any fear related to Hux Flux. He means that they said goodbye in 2019 and there was a big hype around it, a lot of people went to see them. Now they come back again and they are Gyllene Tider, but Axel is curious if they are afraid that the interest will not be as great. PG says you never know. Every time you do a new project, you can’t take anything for granted at all. Per thinks they have such a huge song catalogue that it feels completely right to do this. PG also hopes that there will be more things, so that they won’t go on another farewell tour.

Axel asks the guys how it is touring these days compared to 40 years ago. Anders says it’s a little easier now. Back then they carried their own stuff themselves. Maybe not Per, but the rest of them carried Per’s guitars too. Haha. Now they just go along and stand on the stage playing. Per says the only fun thing about touring is being on stage. Everything else is waiting to be on stage. It is the communication and energy that you get from the audience and that you feel the love. You live for this in a way. The rest is just sleeping pills… waiting for the flight, long bus rides, all that and new hotel beds every night. As he said before, you can never take anything for granted and it’s very cool to be in this band and to play on these stages and meet the audience. Anders says when they went on tour in their little tour bus 40 years ago, it was also cool, this little gang going around. They stuck together and learned a lot during those times.

Axel goes back to 1985 and asks about why the band split up. Anders says they kind of felt like they were not getting anywhere with their music. There was so much happening in music at the time with synths and more electronic stuff, but they were kind of stuck, so then Anders thought it’s better that they take a little break and they did.

Anders moved to Stockholm and started working in a music store and learned a lot about synth music, because he was very much interested in it. Then he started working with Per again for Roxette and added his knowledge to the music they made. And it was good.

Axel asks Per about 1994-1995 when they were on tour with Roxette and Per was writing music in Japanese ice hockey halls for GT again. PG says it was during the Crash! Boom! Bang! tour. They were to take a break with Roxette, because Marie wanted to have another child. So Per wrote songs for GT. Det är över nu he actually wrote in an ice hockey hall in Japan. All these songs, Kung av sand, Juni, juli, augusti, Gå & fiska! were written back then. It was a great time, PG says.

Axel mentions that Per often writes in unexpected places. PG says ideas can come anywhere, as long as you are motivated.

Axel asks the guys to tell a bit about the GT movie that premieres next year. Anders says it won’t be a documentary. It’s more about 5 guys from a small town who succeed against all odds. Per says it’s a film about 5 teenage guys who meet and start a band and suddenly end up in Stockholm in their clogs.

Axel wants to know how much the guys in GT are involved in the film. Anders says they get to read the script and think. Per says they have been there the whole time, because that script is their story, so it’s clear that they have to be there. They have told a lot of anecdotes and so it has become the script in a way. But it’s clear that the story is written in a way that it becomes an interesting and funny movie. It’s a very funny script with lots of laughs and cries, just like it was for real. Per thinks it will be a great movie. PG says most people who are in a film like this have already died, so it will be very strange to see this. Anders has already met mini Anders. Per has also met mini Per and he thinks that guy is amazing.

Axel says the movie will be exciting and he speaks for many people out there when he says it’s much fun that GT is back again. The new album is out soon and the tour starts on 7th July in Halmstad. Axel thanks the guys for coming to the show. Per says it’s their pleasure.

Stills are from the video.

Per Gessle on Nyhetsmorgon interviewed by Jenny Strömstedt

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Saturday morning Per was invited to Nyhetsmorgon, TV4’s morning show and Jenny Strömstedt interviewed him. You can watch it HERE on TV4 Play if you are in Sweden or HERE on TV4’s website if you live anywhere else or you have troubles with VPN.

Jenny introduces Per as one of Sweden’s most beloved artists. She says one of Sweden’s most beloved bands went on a farewell tour 3 years ago, but this week the happy news came about Gyllene Tider’s comeback. Here comes a little footage from previous tours and when the camera shows the studio again, Per is already sitting on the couch enjoying GT’s music that plays in the footage.

Jenny welcomes Per on the show and Mr. G thanks for that. Jenny holds up the Pop-Up Dynamo! vinyl and says Per also releases a new album under PG Roxette. She asks PG when he sleeps at all. Per replies he sleeps as rarely and as little as possible and admits he is busy with many things at once. There is always something going on.

Jenny says Per was on Nyhetsmorgon together with Micke Syd approximately 3 years ago and they talked about their farewell tour that was coming and now they reunite again. Never say never, Jenny adds. Per explains that it was really meant to be a farewell tour, but he thinks the pandemic changed everything. It brought him a lot of new thoughts. The whole new GT thing came after he bought a guitar. He bought the guitar and wrote two amazing songs that screamed for Gyllene Tider. The 5 guys met more often lately because of the upcoming GT movie and Per just asked them if they should record some new songs. Everyone thought it was a cool idea. This lead them to record a new album which is called Hux flux and a summer tour with the same name next year. The album is already finished. Jenny finds it exciting. She asks Per how he felt that those two new songs were Gyllene songs. PG says it’s a special kind of style, a sort of power pop style that sounds like only Gyllene Tider sounds. It’s very cool. Jenny is curious about what happens when the guys gather in the same room. Per smiles and says that not much happens when they just gather in a room, but a lot is happening when they play together. It’s just awesome. It’s cool to be in a band. He wishes all young people would try it, to play the same song at the same time and have a role in a little band. It’s actually a magical feeling.

Jenny says she thinks the band reunited so many times because the audience that has been following them over the years needs GT. When she saw Gyllene Tider’s last gig, which wasn’t the last one in the end, she looked around and everyone in the crowd was moved. She feels that the audience and the band strengthen each other’s life, they made this journey together. She asks Per what role he thinks a band like Gyllene Tider has in this generation. One big role is certainly what Jenny mentions, Per thinks. Mr. G says that the fantastic thing in his job, writing music and songs is that they really communicate with people, when they are getting married or meet or cry, etc. Songs mean a lot to people. That’s the power of music. So of course it’s amazing and it’s almost impossible to quit if you once started. It’s impossible to imagine that he would stop writing music or be on stage.

Jenny asks Per if he gets any kind of feedback now when he is on stage with Gyllene Tider and plays the old songs again. Per says, not really. He sings texts he wrote when he was 23, so he realizes that time has passed and he probably wouldn’t express himself the same way today. He tells he was on an unplugged tour earlier this year and played a lot of old songs in acoustic arrangment. He realized it’s very different when you are 63 and sing a song you wrote 45 years ago, because the song suddenly means something else. Even if it’s the same lyrics, it gets a different angle. For example, Ljudet av ett annat hjärta or När vi två blir en, these are songs he wrote when he was 20 or so. When he sings them now, he tells the story in a different way vs. when he wrote the song. Jenny repeats the title När vi två blir en while thinking about the next question and Per starts singing „… känna din kropp emot min…”, then he asks Jenny if she knows the song. They are laughing. Per explains the expressions in the lyrics are young, the declaration of love is young, those are young thoughts and young vibes. He thinks it’s important to find something you can stick to all the time while time goes by.

Jenny says Per goes on with Roxette under the name PG Roxette and releases a new album next Friday. Jenny heard there is a fan forum where a tough discussion went on if it’s right or wrong that Per continues without Marie. Per thinks it’s a relevant question. He tells that Marie quit Roxette in 2016 and it wasn’t obvious to Per to continue, but time passed by and he felt that he wanted to keep Roxette’s legacy alive. There are so many people all around the world who love Roxette’s music and he now tried to make a record that is kind of a sibling to Look Sharp! and Joyride. Mr. G says he didn’t try to replace Marie. He works together with the classic Roxette band and let the two girls – who were on tour with them during the „modern times”, if one can say so –, to come forward when they are needed.

With GT there were two most intense years, with Roxette eight. Per tells Roxette started in 1986 and ended in 2016, so it was altogether 30 years. It’s not more than half of his life, but almost. So all his adult life he lived with Roxette. Gyllene Tider ended actually in the mid ’80s and it became project-based. So it’s Roxette Per worked with the most. Jenny is curious what has shaped Per the most. PG says the success and the opportunity he got through Roxette in life has shaped his whole life and the whole life of his family. It became his destiny in a way.

Jenny asks Per if he sometimes can look back and reflect on all the huge success he had. If he allows himself to do that. Per says he doesn’t do that, he doesn’t like to sit and look back that way. Of course, sometimes when he talks about it, he reflects on it, but he doesn’t sit at home and looks at the golden records, for example. It’s the future that counts. It’s that he is a songwriter first of all. He started writing songs when he was a teenager.

Jenny asks Per where he gets the driving force from and that he can’t help it. Mr. G says he wanted to enter the pop world when he was a kid – 6-8 years old –, because the pop world was much more exciting for him than the real world. He thinks it’s still a bit like that. He likes to live through his songs. It’s tragic but true.

Jenny closes the interview with mentioning the GT tour next summer and she asks Per about the upcoming GT album. PG tells it will be released next spring, PG Roxette album is out next Friday and tickets for the GT tour go on sale on Tuesday.

Jenny thanks Per for coming on the show and wishes good luck with everything. Per says it’s always a pleasure and sends his greetings to Niklas [Niklas Strömstedt, Jenny’s husband].

Stills are from the morning show.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

Per Gessle on Carina Bergfeldt’s talk show on SVT

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Per was a guest on Carina Bergfeldt’s talk show on SVT on 21st October. Actresses Lena Olin and Tora Hallström were the first two guests on the program, then Mr. G was the fourth, right after opera singer and actress Marianne Mörck.

You can watch the episode online HERE all around the world! Per’s part starts 27m 37s in.

Carina introduces PG as a music icon and before he enters, there is footage from his career shown, starting with him singing Flickorna på TV2 cut from Parkliv! 1981. Fun fact is that Parkliv! was directed by Tora’s father and Lena’s husband, famous director Lasse Hallström. Then comes a shortcut to an old TV report where the reporter tells Per „your lyrics are very much about sex” and Mr. G’s reaction is „well… are they?” Then comes a little Roxette and part of the news from 1989 that they became No.1 in the US. Per says „one of our dreams was to become No.1 in the US. That we have achieved.” From Sweden only ABBA and Björn Skifs succeeded with that before Roxette. Then comes a snippet from PG Roxette’s The Loneliest Girl In The World video.

Carina welcomes Per and the audience is very happy to have him on the show. Earlier on the program they talked about riders, lists of requirements. Carina is curious if Per can beat bathtub and Thai food. Mr. G says he is bad at riders. He doesn’t have any riders anymore, but rather anti-riders, what shouldn’t be in the dressing room. There shouldn’t be candy, because he would eat it up. He has no requirements at all, really. In the past, he tested the organizers a bit, if they could obtain expensive wines, but only one of them could do that, in Switzerland. Mr. G is still good friends with him. [Everyone laughs.] Carina says that considering them being world stars with Roxette, they could have asked such things as Madonna, e.g. repainting the dressing room. PG says they didn’t ask for such unnecessary things. „We came from small towns”, he says. Marianne pats Per on the shoulder and says „good boy”. [Everyone laughs.] Carina asks if Gyllene Tider had any list of requirements. Per’s reply is a no.

Carina informs that Gyllene Tider goes on tour again and asks Per how many times they will retreat. Mr. G tells 2019 was the last time, but then came this terrible pandemic and he had some second thoughts. It felt natural to go on with this band. He missed them. Per started writing songs and felt they sounded like GT songs. It’s a fantastic, lovely band. „I’m so happy that we are still alive and kicking. It’s wonderful.”

Carina says GT is a „democratic band” and is curious what it means. „It means that everyone agrees that I decide.” [Everyone laughs.] Carina says „so you are the president” and Per says „exactly”. Per says they have been working together for so long and they try to make decisions together. No one can be replaced and everyone has to have their say.

Carina asks if Per is as democratic at home as in the band. PG first thinks and then suddenly says of course he is. Haha. „When does your wife get annoyed with you?”, Carina asks Mr. G. Per says „often, I think”. He is quite busy and obsessed with his work. He works a lot. He is in his own little bubble and Åsa says he is giving birth all the time. He carries on his songs and projects and he is his work in a way. It has always been so.

Carina asks Per if he is fond of order and tidiness. Mr. G says he is, it’s good. Marianne asks Per if he is virgin. Per replies no and asks back if she is. Marianne explains she meant Virgo in astrology. Per laughs and says he understood that [everyone laughs] and says he is a Capricorn. Marianne thanks for the answer and explains it’s a sign of Virgos that they are cleaning and cleaning and deal with theatre an music. Marianne is a Virgo. Tora is Gemini, a typical Gemini according to her mom. Marianne asks for changing topic. Carina asks Per how we should imagine order in his home. PG explains he has always liked order and tidiness around him. Vinyls are in alphabetical order, photo books are here, music books are there, magazines are over there, in order. Yellow shirts are here, white shirts are there. Carina asks if Per is cleaning all the time. „Absolutely”, he replies. He always checks if there is a ring left by the glass on the table and he cleans it. Marianne asks Per if he has her number. Per says he got it earlier. [Everyone laughs.] Marianne also explains what order means to her. While she says she can find Christmas greetings from 1997 under her dining table, because she never sets the table (because she doesn’t have guests) and she eats in bed or in the bathtub, Per is not impressed. Haha. Marianne shares the info that on the other side, she prepares the tax declaration in advance and she makes notes of taxi bills with date, how long the way was and to where she went and why she was using a taxi. Here Per nods approvingly. Marianne says she shouldn’t share this info, but she has a collection of almost 40,000 Kinder egg figures and she will sort them out when she gets old. She thinks it’s fun. [Everyone laughs.]

Carina asks Per about what he is collecting. Mr. G says he is not a collector, but over the years there has been a lot of stuff and he has a collection of everything from records to guitars. He is getting old, he says. Carina is curious how many guitars Per has. He replies „way too many”. He doesn’t know, maybe a hundred. Carina says a little bird told her that he has exactly 125. „Was it my wife?”, Per asks. Carina tells she knows they are sorted in a very well organized way with photo and text. Per confirms. He says you have to keep track of your stuff. [Everyone laughs.] Guitars mean a lot to him. Some of them mean more than the others. He has written a lot of songs on them. Each guitar has its own personality and sounds in a special way. He has his favourites of course, which he plays every day, but others he doesn’t even know they exist.

Carina says she has understood that Per knows his life through his records, so she has prepared a test with some single sleeves. She wants to know what year it was released and what guitar was played on it. Per is happy to do the test. First is Joyride. It was released in 1991, recorded in 1990. It wasn’t Per playing the guitar, it was Jonas Isacsson and he played a red Arvidson guitar. Carina asks how life was in 1991. Per tells they had their first big world tour in 1991-1992. Those were crazy times, an 18-month long tour, 2 million people came to see them. Years 1988-1995 for Roxette were absolutely amazing. They travelled around the world several times and it was awesome to be part of the success.

The next sleeve shown is Neverending Love. It’s 1986, the first Roxette single. It’s not him playing the guitar, it was MP from Gyllene Tider and it was certainly a Stratocaster. Per explains he doesn’t play that much on the albums. [Everyone laughs.] Carina is curious about the story behind Neverending Love. Mr. G tells he was asked to write a song for Pernilla Wahlgren who had just been signed by a new record label and he wrote a song called Svarta glas. The record label refused to use it, which then felt tough, but Per translated it into English and that became Roxette’s first hit. Everyone is impressed and cheers Per. Mr. G thanks for that.

Carina asks the others if they have a special favourite Roxette or GT song. Lena points at Per and says they are approximately the same age. She says one of her favourites is „Jag vill känna din kropp emot min” [När vi två blir en]. It hits right in one’s romance and heart. Lena tells when she and Per once met in New York, Lena told Per she loved Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång). It also hit her right in the heart and it really touched her. There are many other songs, but these two are her favourites. Marianne asks Per if it was him who wrote a song that he wants to sleep with the girls on TV2. [Per’s facial expression is priceless here. Haha.] Carina corrects Marianne: „turn on” the girls on TV2. Marianne says she said it in an older way. [Everyone laughs.] Per also laughs and confirms it was him. „What were you thinking when you wrote that?”, Marianne asks. „It was kind of nice”, Per replies. „Maybe you meant to turn the TV on?”, Marianne asks. „Yes, that was the case.”, Per replies. „Is that a post rationalization?”, Marianne asks. Per replies: „Absolutely not. It’s your fantasy that carries you away.” [Everyone laughs.] „Is that right? You’re getting a little shy, I see.”, Marianne says. [PG’s facial expression is priceless here too. Everyone laughs.] Per says „it’s tough”.

Carina continues with Per’s new album under PG Roxette. Per goes on with Roxette without Marie. Carina asks Per what Marie would have thought about the album. Per thinks she would have liked it, because it’s kind of a cousin to Look Sharp! and Joyride. The style and the sound are very much the late ’80s, early ’90s. Marie really loved that kind of music. Carina asks how it was to make this record without Marie. „At first I didn’t want to do it, but then time passed by and I felt I wanted to go on with Roxette. But it doesn’t work to replace Marie, so I tried to find another form. I used my own voice, but also worked together with the two girls who were in Roxette’s band during the past 8 years when we were on tour. They have taken a step forward and sung when needed. I haven’t thought much more than trying to make a good Roxette record.”

Carina tells Good Karma was the last album Per recorded with Marie before she passed away in 2019. Carina is curious about how the recording session was. Per explains it was complicated. Marie was in a quite bad condition, but at the same time it was awesome that she was an Amazon in the way that she wanted to work all the time. They didn’t stop touring until 2016 and the album was recorded in 2015. It was an amazing session, but it wasn’t easy. Carina asks Per how he and Marie talked about life back then. Mr. G says when they talked about life, they rather talked about the past, the fantastic journey they did together. All their adult life they have dedicated to Roxette. They went through so many things together. They always felt like siblings, the same way as them 5 are like brothers in Gyllene Tider. When you go through so many things together, it’s like that. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to have that relationship in good or bad. Carina asks what Marie has thaught Per. Per says it’s a tough question. Marie gave him self confidence. She always made sure that what Per does gets a little bit better than it is.

A new tour is in sight, a new album is coming, as well as a Gyllene Tider movie and a Roxette musical. A lot is happening. Carina thanks Per for coming on the show.

Mr. G stays sitting on Carina’s sofa with all other 3 guests until the end of the program, so you can see him during the talk with the fifth guest, soccer player Pawel Cibicki and also watch him enjoying music while Hannes feat. Waterbaby play one song live.

Stills are from the TV show.