Interview

Per Gessle interview and “The Loneliest Girl In The World” premiere on P4 Extra

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Svjetlana Pastuhovic did an interview with Per Gessle on Swedish Radio on 2nd June. PG was guest of the day on P4 Extra and he talked about PG Roxette, the debut single, Marie, Roxette, the Roxette musical, Gyllene Tider and songwriting. The interview starts at 28:39 into the program. Listen HERE!

Svjetlana welcomes Per and introduces him as a small town guy who showed great interest in music at a very early age. His nerdiness led him to success and worldwide fame. Now he returns to one of his biggest successes, Svjetlana says. Per thanks for having him on the show. Svjetlana is uncertain, maybe „return” is not the right word when it comes to PG Roxette. Per tells one can say it’s a new chapter in Roxette’s history.

PG can be pronounced the Swedish way or if you want to make it sound cool, the English way, Per says. He laughs. Svjetlana asks Per how HE pronounces it. PG then pronounces the initials the Swedish way. The debut single is out the next day (3rd June), but Swedish Radio got the chance to play it for the first time on radio and they are very happy about it. Svjetlana asks Per how he feels about it. Per tells the whole PG Roxette project is a new chapter, as he already mentioned and it’s based on him and the old Roxette band. He brought in several people who helped him e.g. with the singing and production. It took about a year to record the album and it was much fun. He looks very much forward to release it. Per got very good response from those around the world whom he already showed the songs. It feels great.

Here they premiere the The Loneliest Girl In The World. Svjetlana tells she becomes happy when she hears this song. Per says it’s nice to hear. He tells it’s an ear candy. The album comes out in September. Mr. G tells he tried to write an uptempo album and it’s a challenge to write such pop songs. Especially when you are getting older, because it’s something that you do very easily when you are 20. It becomes harder when you get older, because you have written so much and you become too sophisticated in your writing when you know all the tricks. Svjetlana is curious what Per means by this, if it means you get more serious when you get older. PG tells pop music builds very much on instant energy and it’s just there when you are younger. When you have written hundreds of songs, you learned all the crafts very well and it’s hard to write these 3-chord pop songs when you get a bit older. Per thinks Svjetlana probably has also noticed it regarding other artists that the finest and fastest songs they wrote in their twenties. Svjetlana asks PG if he was struggling with this a bit. Per tells he had the idea that he would make a sibling to Roxette’s albums they recorded at the end of the 80’s, beginning of the 90’s, so he tried to think about how he was working back then. Then he sat down and spent time with writing. Actually, it went very well. The Loneliest Girl In The World was the third or fourth song he has written that immediately felt it had a great chorus.

Svjetlana wants to know if it was an obvious choice to go on as PG Roxette. Per tells it wasn’t obvious at all, because it was really tough when Marie passed away in 2019, so he didn’t really know what to do with Roxette. He knew there is the legacy of Roxette that someone has to take care of. Also, he devoted 30 years of his life to Roxette and he has written almost all the Roxette songs and it would have felt weird not to go on with Roxette in a way. He has the ambition to take PG Roxette on tour and play the old Roxette songs. There is a huge amount of people around the world who still like those songs.

Svjetlana tells Marie was ill for many years and she is curious if Marie and Per talked about the future of Roxette. Per asks if Svjetlana means about the future without Marie. Svjetlana says yes, because Marie was ill for a long time, however, when she got better, they went on tour together again. Per tells Marie was ill for 17 years before she passed away. She never really got better, but despite the doctors’ advice, she went on tour between 2010 and 2016. It was fantastic that she did that. In 2018 Per went on a European tour that was called Per Gessle’s Roxette and Marie had no problem with that. She thought like Per, that someone has to take good care of the legacy. If you look at other artists who kept their audience, they worked actively, e.g. Queen with the Bohemian Rhapsody movie or ABBA with the Mamma Mia! musical and movies and now also with the Abbatars in London. Per thinks you have to work actively to keep the legacy alive. You just have to let it go on and who else could take better care of the legacy than Per himself. It’s not about replacing Marie with another singer – even if Per worked together with several female singers on this record. Dea Norberg and Helena Josefsson appear the most on this album. Both of them worked with Roxette as backing vocalists on tours. But there are other female singers as well, so it has Per and his songs in focus.

Svjetlana asks how it was to look back on the 80’s and 90’s, those crazy times when they were touring so much with Roxette. Mr. G says it was crazy indeed. They had their peak for 8 years between 1988 and 1995. They were touring all around the world, they had 4 US No. 1s and they were the most played artists for 3 years in a row. It was a fantastic period. Svjetlana asks how they could cope with their success. PG tells when you are in the middle of it, you don’t think about that. You are working, you go on. He was anyway triggered by it back then. When they toured with and promoted Look Sharp! he wrote Joyride, when they toured with Joyride he wrote their next album, Crash! Boom! Bang!, etc. Svjetlana notices that Per wanted to do more and more. She asks how he felt about it back in the days. PG says he travelled all around the world, but didn’t really see much. He was mainly in hotel rooms and at the concerts. When you are in such busy period, you just can’t make it. After the pandemic it’s fun to travel to cities he knows he had been to before, but doesn’t remember much. When you wanted to keep everything at the same high level as they did their things, you had to work 24 hours a day and stay focused and keep yourself in top shape. It’s like what sportsmen do. They enjoyed being up on stage every night and perform to tons of people who loved what they were doing. That’s the best reward ever. It’s a fantastic job Per has, he says. Even if it was tough at times, it only has positive sides.

Svjetlana says it’s almost unreal what happened with Roxette abroad, all their success. She asks if there is melancholy besides pride when Per thinks back at those times and if such thing can happen again. Per says it can’t happen again, because we live in different times now. It’s 30 years of his life he has devoted to Roxette and he is very proud of Roxette. As he already said, when you are thirty, you are at a certain stage in your life, now that he is 63, he is at another stage. He of course hopes that the new album works well, but it’s not the most important, it’s not why he made it. He made it because he wanted to have fun and he tries to follow his way as a songwriter and artist. He is doing several things at the same time. He has just finished an acoustic tour in Sweden with 31 gigs, they had a Gyllene Tider tour earlier, many other things.

Here Svjetlana plays What’s She Like?, which she knows is a special song for Per. After playing it, she tells how wonderfully Marie sings. Per agrees, she sings fantastically. Svjetlana asks if this song will appear in the Roxette musical. Per laughs and says it’s a very exciting project. There is a very nice script that the musical will be built on, a book written by Jane Fallon. Per thinks that Roxette’s music matches very well in such a conetxt. There are so many nuances in the Roxette song catalogue, one could use really many of them. It’s gonna be tricky to match the songs to the story though. What’s She Like? could be one of the songs used, they both think.

Svjetlana tells Roxette sold more than 80 million records, they had an international career, there are millions of Swedish crowns on their bank account. She is curious what is Per’s driving force still. PG tells it’s about finding your place in life. He is super grateful that he could work with music fulltime, writing songs and playing them since he was in his teens. It’s not just a way he is following all the time, it’s not like he has plans that in 5 years he has to reach this or that. He has a lot of ideas and tries to implement them as well as he can. Svjetlana says, so it’s not fame, not money, not such things. Per says it mattered when he was young, e.g. when they started Gyllene Tider. When they played at schools, they dreamed about playing in Stockholm or Gothenburg, when an album became gold, they wanted a platinum, when they had a platinum, they wanted to have a double platinum. That’s how people work. It was the same with Roxette. The idea at the beginning was that they wanted to go abroad, because he himself felt he covered Sweden with Gyllene Tider’s success. But when Marie and Per talked about abroad, they meant Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands. Or maybe playing in Copenhagen. Svjetlana laughs and asks „no South America or China in your thoughts?” Per laughs and says no and also not the success that they had in the US.

Regarding keeping the legacy alive, Svjetlana asks Per if he is doing it because he thinks Roxette would be forgotten. Per says he knows there is a fantastic power in Roxette’s music. Also in his Swedish music. It’s not that he thinks that „oh, maybe in 30 years we would be forgotten”. He wants to experience it again, to be standing on stage, singing his songs and feel the communication with his audience. It’s the most awesome feeling. The acoustic tour he did was one of the most amazing things he did so far. It was so intimate in those small theatres in an acoustic arrangement. Sometimes it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. In certain songs he played only one string at a time, because it was so quiet. It was awesome that people were sitting there and listening. It was also fantastic that he played some old Gyllene Tider songs in a totally new arrangement. Lyrics of songs like Ljudet av ett annat hjärta that he wrote when he was 22, had a totally different meaning, both  for him and for everyone else, now that he sang it as a 63-year-old. There is another thing in there what wasn’t there in Gyllene Tider in 1981. There is a different energy as well, but the core of the song changes. And it also feels good for Per as a songwriter that the time goes by and the lyric becomes a different thing. It’s the same with What’s She Like? When he wrote it, he wrote it for Marie, because he knew that when Marie sings it, it will have a totally different meaning when he sings it. If he sang it, it would have been What’s He Like? That’s awesome in music. You can change it all the time.

Svjetlana tells she asked people about Per and most of them said he is an ordinary guy. She asks Per if that’s correct. Per says he doesn’t know what „ordinary guy” means and it’s hard for him to judge, but he is happy that people think so, because he doesn’t think he is an unusual guy, even if he has had an unusual life. He had much luck in many ways, but he is also very ambitious. His family and friends often say that he is working too much, but that’s in his personality and he knows you have to work much to get to where you want to be. He is not talking only about commercial success, but also about his writing. He wants to do his best all the time, otherwise he can’t sleep well at night. He laughs. Svjetlana notices Per has high expectations of himself. Per agrees. Svjetlana says the other thing people mentioned was they were wondering how Per keeps himself in shape. PG says he tries to pay attention to what he eats. When he was a kid, he looked quite like a meatball at school. That was always his Achilles heel, but especially during the past few years he tried to shape up. Svjetlana asks if Per is training. He quickly reacts he isn’t at all. He is rather walking and listening to things he is working with or tries to hatch an idea and to find answers to all the weird and stupid questions about his projects. So he sticks to his headphones, he is antisocial and he is in his own bubble then.

As a last question, Svjetlana asks Per about Gyllene Tider. PG says it’s a nice little band. Svjetlana thinks it’s a damn good band. Per says it’s also something he is very proud of. He is very proud of them being good friends and that they have fun when they meet. He can’t promise anything, but he hopes that there will be more Gyllene Tider in the future. But he doesn’t know anything yet.

Svjetlana thanks Per for coming to the show, PG also thanks for having him.

Aftonbladet interview with Per Gessle about PG Roxette

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As Per Magnusson from Aftonbladet informs, Per Gessle had just been in Halmstad City to leave a picture for framing before the interview. He had just got back from London where he saw the Abbatars (ABBA Voyage – and thought the first twenty minutes were absolutely fantastic) and met his British record company (which is very enthusiastic about his new music). He also discussed the upcoming Roxette musical with author Jane Fallon (who is Ricky Gervais’ partner).

But above all, Per is in full swing to start a new chapter in Roxette’s life. Before he has come to a decision, he had spent lots of months staggering back and forth about what he would do next.

I’ve been thinking for a long time about what I should do with Roxette. It’s not an easy question and there is no obvious answer, because Roxette is so much the bond between Marie and me. But I’ve been writing these songs my whole life. Leaving them behind and not using the legacy feels very strange. But replacing Marie with another girl and starting a new duo has never been on the agenda.

Per Gessle began writing songs that eventually ended up with Clarence Öfwerman, Roxette’s producer and Magnus Börjeson, bass player in Roxette. The music became like a sibling to the records “Look Sharp!” and “Joyride”. The rest of Roxette’s live band came in: Jonas Isacsson, Christoffer Lundquist, Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg. The result is PG Roxette, a development of Roxette based on the frontman. The first taster was released on 3rd June. In the 3:01-long single, “The Loneliest Girl In The World”, it feels like Per Gessle has released all the wounds and sad memories. Just another classic pop song, one last time.

When such a chorus is born, you become so happy. The most difficult thing that exists nowadays is to write uptempo songs. It’s probably because you have used all the tricks already and it’s hard to surprise yourself. It’s easier to write a sophisticated ballad, it’s more where you are in life. But writing a clever three-chord song is tricky if you’re not 22. I already thought so when I was 35.

Per Magnusson is wondering if one can even make such happy and uncomplicated pop music in 2022. At the same time there is a bittersweet undertone that goes all the way back to “Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång”.

It’s fun that you say that, because there are many who have said the same thing. The production is very ’89-’91. But the presentation feels modern, I think. What is retro is my style of writing songs. Almost no one writes pop music that way anymore. The album is übercatchy, but doesn’t sound like anything on Spotify’s top 50 – and I think that’s good.

Aftonbladet asks if Per can tell anything more about “Pop-Up Dynamo!” coming in September.

I won’t reveal too much, but there are more singers on the album that fit into the context. In the end there will be eleven songs. It’s same as the single. Classic Roxette, just like we worked on “The Look”. There is an acoustic song, but otherwise it’s full blast. I’m very happy with this record.

Aftonbladet is curious if it was a difficult decision to make the album without Marie.

Yes, it was difficult to make the decision to take the step. But I hope to be able to play Roxette songs around the world more times. Of course, I can play twenty-five Roxette songs and call myself Per Gessle, but the brand is still Roxette. It feels strange not to use something that I’ve been involved in and built since 1986. But of course, there is nothing I want more than that Marie was involved and sang on this record. On the other hand, I know how difficult it was for her to work with “Good Karma”, the last Roxette record. It is as it is. What can you do? But sure, it’s hard.

Per Magnusson tells Per Gessle is extremely productive as a songwriter and artist. The projects have taken turns throughout his career. He is curious what PG’s driving force is.

I actually don’t know, it’s an interesting question. I just like playing pop music. I just got home from these thirty-one gigs we did acoustically. It was great to sit down and feel the power of, e.g., “Juni, juli, augusti”. Many of these songs mean so much to me that I just have to do it. That’s me. There is no direct driving force, I just can’t help it.

Aftonbladet wants to know if it’s more about the creative process than a fifth Billboard No.1 nowadays.

I want everything to be as big as possible, but it must be based on it being fun. The way Roxette succeeded is completely incomprehensible. But I have no idea how it happened. Therefore, I can’t try to do it again. If you want to do music for a long time, you have to do different things and stop staring blindly at old successes.

Per Magnusson is curious what the dream scenario looks like with this project.

I hope to be able to gather the whole band and play live someday. Now, unfortunately, Pelle Alsing, our old drummer, also passed away. Huge loss for all of us. But it would be fun to tour for real. These songs still have their power. It would be great fun to do a world tour of course. Damn, I’m young!

In the article Per also tells he has no special plans for the summer. He will probably spend most of his time in Halmstad.

Album image “Pop-Up Dynamo!” PG Roxette. Photo by Fredrik Etoall.

Per Gessle wants to “keep Roxette’s legacy alive” – SpotOn News

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SpotOn News did an interview with Per Gessle about PG Roxette. Here you can find the original text in German.

The first single is here! Per Gessle takes off with his new band, PG Roxette. After Marie Fredriksson’s death in 2019, it was not easy for him to decide on the new project, as he explains in an interview.

Per Gessle (63) is back with his new band, PG Roxette. After the tragic death of singer Marie Fredriksson (1958-2019), the cult duo, Roxette was also history, but Gessle is now reviving their legacy with his new project. The single “The Loneliest Girl In The World” is released on June 3rd. It is the first taster of the upcoming September album “Pop-Up Dynamo!”. In an interview with the news agency SpotOn News, Per Gessle reveals how difficult it was for him to decide on the new band. With PG Roxette he wants to “keep the legacy of Roxette alive”.

SpotOn News: Title of the first single is “The Loneliest Girl In The World”. What is the song about?

Per Gessle: Well, that’s really up to you to decide. I never explain my lyrics. That’s the magic of songs, the lyrics mean something different to everyone. I don’t want to destroy that. Sometimes I hear a song that feels like it’s written about me and only me, a song that goes straight to my heart. I keep hearing the same thing from people listening to songs I’ve written. It’s amazing. That’s the power of music. So you have to interpret all my songs yourself, including “The Loneliest Girl In The World”. Maybe it’s about you?

SON: What role does Marie Fredriksson’s legacy play in PG Roxette?

PG: Well she was half of Roxette so she will always be there in spirit and in my heart. She was one of my best and oldest friends. After Marie passed away, I had two options for Roxette. One was to close the door and stop, the other was to keep going. I decided to keep going. I wrote almost every song Roxette ever recorded and it would have felt strange to turn my back on more than 30 years of my life. My goal for the future is to write more music and lyrics, make new recordings, play live and keep the Roxette legacy alive.

SON: Are you still in touch with Marie Fredriksson’s family? Did they support your decision on PG Roxette?

PG: Yes, I know them very well and of course they support what I do. Why shouldn’t they?

SON: What can fans expect from the new album?

PG: I wanted to make an uptempo album based on the sound that’s in my blood and DNA. That’s the sound of the late 80’s and early 90’s. But I wanted to give it a modern twist. I didn’t mean to sound too retro or nostalgic, but you can definitely hear the classic Roxette elements in it. I have a specific writing style that shines through. It’s always like that, no matter how hard I try to develop it.

Musically, I used the “classic” Roxette musicians: Jonas Isacsson on lead guitar, Clarence Öfwerman on keyboards, Magnus Börjeson on bass and Christoffer Lundquist on guitar. They still sound great. I love working with these guys. I’m sure you can hear that. We had so much fun making Pop-Up Dynamo! The production was in the hands of Clarence (who has produced all the Roxette albums since 1986!), Magnus and myself.

SON: How difficult was it for you to decide to continue with PG Roxette after Marie Fredriksson’s death?

PG: It’s been a tough few years in the Roxette camp. Not only has Marie passed away, we’ve also lost our original drummer, Pelle Alsing. That came out of the blue. It was a difficult decision because it’s impossible to replace Marie. And that was never my intention. But I still wanted to play my Roxette songs and keep the legacy alive. Of course, if Marie were here, she would have been a big part of all of this. But that’s not the case. It’s really sad, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I have to carry the Roxette torch myself.

SON: With PG Roxette you have two singers, Helena Josefsson and Dea Norberg on board. What do you appreciate about the two and how is your cooperation with them?

PG: PG Roxette is not based on the voices of Dea and Helena. I also have other female singers on the new PG Roxette album. And I do most of the singing myself. You’ll find out.

Helena and Dea are both fantastic. Both as people and as musicians. If you compare their voices, they sound very different. They have completely different styles. I like that. When mixed together, they almost sound like a “third” person. It was the same with Agnetha and Frida in ABBA. When you combined their voices, the result was very different vs. how they sounded individually.

Helena and Dea have toured a lot with Roxette, so we’ve all known each other for a long time. I’ve been working with Helena for more than twenty years now. Time flies when you’re having fun. I’m glad to have her around.

SON: Roxette’s last concert was in 2016. How do you feel now ahead of a tour with PG Roxette?

PG: Excited. Curious. Happy. Blessed.

SON: How happy are you to be back on stage with Roxette songs, among other things?

PG: If it happens, I’ll be a happy man. I look forward to meeting all the fans around the world. Roxette has some of the best fans out there. So many of them come to Sweden and follow and support my Swedish band and solo projects year after year. I can’t thank them enough.

SON: The pandemic has paralyzed the music and events industry. How did you survive the long lockdowns in the corona pandemic?

PG: Of course it was a psychological nightmare. Everyone has suffered. Last summer, after a year of isolation, I finally started to think positively and decided to play some small acoustic shows at Hotel Tylösand on the Swedish west coast. The restrictions allowed us a maximum of 500 seated guests (with plenty of space in between) and I was supposed to do two one-hour evenings. Before I knew it I had made ten! And that 60 minutes turned into a two-hour show. It was incredible to be back on stage.

So I expanded the whole thing into an acoustic tour in theatres and concert halls. Then new Covid restrictions came along and we had to postpone them. Finally we started again and in May this year it was over after 31 shows.

And of course I’ve spent much of the last two years writing and recording the PG Roxette album. I think I wrote about twenty songs before I chose the eleven that are on the album. I’ve been lucky.

Per Gessle breathes new life into Roxette

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Per Gessle gave a Zoom interview to TT News Agency in Sweden. You’ll find it in several Swedish newspapers now, e.g. in Borås Tidning.

After almost 30 years with Roxette, it’s time for a new chapter in the band’s history.

It actually results in two questions, says Per Gessle on a Zoom meeting. It’s possible to think about how and when or in what way and to find out if there is interest out there.

But if you go back to square one, the real question is: should I quit Roxette or should I continue?

For his part, he has come to the decision that feels right. With Marie Fredriksson’s blessing, Per Gessle continues to play Roxette’s songs and also releases new material.

The first single “The Loneliest Girl In The World” is released on Friday, 3rd June along with a new video. The song is the first taster from the upcoming album “Pop-Up Dynamo!”, which follows in September.

Big challenge

The idea was to write poppy uptempo songs, with an ’80s and ’90s feel, which turned out to be a big challenge.

It’s very difficult to write three chord songs at my age. When you have worked with music for several decades, you become too sophisticated in your writing. You know all the tricks and have found your style.

Per continues:

But when the chorus to “The Loneliest Girl In The World” was born, I felt “shit, this is a good chorus”. I was so happy when I wrote it.

Per Gessle emphasizes that the decision to start Roxette again was not something that “came about yesterday”.

I’ve tried to do it in a way that feels relevant. That’s why it felt important not to hire Belinda Carlisle or Annie Lennox or someone to replace Marie. It should be different, but still the same and that puzzle should be solved.

“30 years of my life”

TT: But why not just continue under the “Per Gessle” flag?

Because in the long run I want to tour and play my old Roxette songs. If I tour like Per Gessle, then I play my Per Gessle songs. It’s still almost 30 years of my life that I have given to Roxette and the songs are my little babies. This is a Roxette project, but to mark that it’s not the old Roxette, I have added PG.

And the craving for more Roxette seems to exist. Per Gessle points out that Roxette still means a lot to tons of people, which can be seen not least in the streaming statistics.

It would be stupid to turn your back on it. In my industry, you have to activate music all the time. You have to have people working towards Netflix and Hollywood. Look at Kate Bush who got a US No. 1 now with her song after “Stranger Things”. You have to be active and the one who can be most active when it comes to Roxette is me.

“The world’s biggest band”

TT: But why does it feel so important?

It’s my whole life. It started with Gyllene Tider and then Roxette. And Roxette was one of the world’s biggest bands for a couple of years. Everything I do today is based on Roxette’s success. Not continuing would feel like giving up and it would be such a defeat for me personally not to be able to complete my journey.

Hopefully, there will be a tour as well.

We are looking at getting a European tour together, but it’s tricky to find venues. I hope to know more about it soon.

The World According To Gessle 25th anniversary – RoxBlog interview with Per Gessle – “You have to stick to what you do best”

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When The World According To Gessle came out 25 years ago, I was 17. Lived in a small town, no internet in our house yet. Any info about music releases I found in either Bravo or Popcorn – usually well after the release date, but our local record shop was of great help. In TWATG’s case it was the record store guy who brought new material to the shop and told me he has something I might be interested in. He saw the sticker on the CD saying “Per Gessle from the band Roxette”, and thought he had a customer who buys everything related to Roxette, so he just grabbed it at the wholesaler or wherever and brought it to town. I was very excited seeing the CD and couldn’t wait to get home and listen to the first English solo album of the man from Roxette. It was an amazing first listening experience and now, 25 years later it still brings me much joy when I listen to this record.

I thought this anniversary deserves a RoxBlog interview with Per, so I put together a collection of questions related to TWATG and shot them at PG. No matter how busy he is, he didn’t keep me waiting so long with his answers. Enjoy!

Patrícia Peres: – Hej Per! “The World According To Gessle” celebrates its 25th anniversary! How about that?

Per Gessle: – Hey. Yes. Amazing. There are so many anniversaries around me, I’m getting all dizzy!

PP: – We know it from the “Att vara Per Gessle” book that first you wanted to make a cover album with your absolute favourite pop songs. Could you tell us a bit more about why a cover album?

PG: – Really? Can’t remember. I probably had this idea to do my own “Pin Ups”-album, like David Bowie did in the 70’s. I’ve always loved that album. But then again, I changed my mind. I had too many songs floating around in the bathtub I guess.

PP: – Did you record any covers for that project?

PG: – No, I didn’t. I had a list with a few songs, though. Paul Revere & The Raiders’ “Kicks” + Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” + Balloon Farm’s “A Question Of Temperature” + The Who’s “Dogs”. Whistle friendly stuff like that.

PP: – Where is the title “The World According To Gessle” coming from?

PG: – “The World According To Garp” probably. Or that wonderful Bowie-track “The Gospel According To Tony Day”. Can’t say.

PP: – Was it TWATG from the beginning or was there a working title?

PG: – I had no working title. I think it was Kjell Andersson (A&R guy at EMI in Stockholm) who came up with the title. It wasn’t me. I actually never really liked it that much. But I didn’t have anything against it either. It wasn’t really my style, though. Not my choice of words.

PP: – For so many years, Roxette was in focus, on your mind 24/7. After the CBB tour with Roxette, while you had a short Gyllene Tider comeback and The Lonely Boys project was also on, how did you get to the point that it was time for some solo?

PG: – Well, I didn’t really want to take a break with Roxette. It was Marie who wanted out. I had mixed feelings about it but she just had her second child so who could blame her.
Most of these songs could have worked very well for Roxette. Definitely better than with me alone. Two of them actually made it to Planet Roxette; “June Afternoon” + “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”. I wrote them more or less at the same time as TWATG.

PP: – It was your first English solo album. People around the world knew Roxette very well, but Roxette was Marie in most people’s eyes. What were your expectations as a solo artist in 1997?

PG: – Well, I didn’t really think like that. The options were to wait a couple of years for Marie to return or to do something else. I went for the solo freeway + doing some stuff with Gyllene Tider + The Lonely Boys project + producing Belinda C etc.
I had very good support from EMI Europe and EMI Germany in particular. TWATG became a big budget album with three very expensive video clips. It felt good.

PP: – How did it feel to release something internationally as a solo artist?

PG: – Fine. Exciting. Thanks for asking. I’ve always preferred most of my songs to be sung by Marie but since she wasn’t around I might as well have a go on my own. Today Sweden, tomorrow the world. Still applies.

PP: – While your originally planned third solo album became Roxette’s first, TWATG became your real third solo record. However, it sounds like Roxette, just rawer. Can we say it would have had become Roxette’s 6th album if you don’t take a break?

PG: – Absolutely. I wrote most of the songs with Roxette in mind anyway. Just in case.

PP: – Did you ever feel it was a burden for you to write solo songs after working with Roxette for so long?

PG: – No. I just followed my path. The only limitation I felt was in my own vocal abilities. I was very spoiled having Marie just a phone call away all the time. And I didn’t want to bring in anyone else at that point. It would have been very confusing. Too many different t-shirts to sell.

PP: – After all the success you achieved with Roxette in the 80’s and 90’s, what was your trigger in this project?

PG: – To make a great guitar driven power pop album. When Marie wasn’t there I could expand this style a bit more since she wasn’t really into that kind of music. If these compositions would have become Roxette songs I’m sure the production + arrangements would have been quite different.

PP: – Producers of the album are Michael Ilbert, Clarence Öfwerman and you. How did Ilbert come into sight for this project and how was it working together with him? TWATG wasn’t the only album he was involved in.

PG: – I started working with Ilbert with Gyllene Tider in 1995. “Solens vän” was the first song he was involved in. Then, of course, he went on to be part of several major GT-tracks like “Kung av sand”, “Gå & fiska!”, “Juni, juli, augusti” and “Det är över nu”. I really liked his sound, he’s a brilliant engineer, so he was an obvious choice together with Clarence when TWATG started to roll.
However, Marie never liked to work with him that much. She had a really hard time making the “Have A Nice Day” sessions in Spain a few years later. She and Michael clashed a bit.

PP: – Yes, Marie wrote it in her biography as well that she indeed had a very hard time when Ilbert joined the Rox sessions. How does the world according to Gessle sound on this record if you could summarize it in 3 words?

PG: – Ba Da Bam.

PP: – How come that besides the guys in Gyllene Tider, Brainpool also joined you in the recording sessions?

PG: – Brainpool was signed to my publishing company (Jimmy Fun) and was produced by Michael Ilbert at the time. I loved their records. And I felt like trying out new players with fresh input.
Christoffer Lundquist came aboard. He turned out to be a master of arrangements and a superb musician with a great sense of humour. At least when it came to his wardrobe hahaha.
Jens Jansson played drums in a style I’ve always liked. Very 60’s. He’s not a heavy hitter, he plays very melodic. I worked with him on several occasions later on, touring and recording, as you might know.
David Birde came along as a guitar player as well but I didn’t need him that much. I already had MP who played a lot! And I had Jonas, Micke Nord and Pelle Sirén. And I wanted to play guitar myself as well.
Most of the backing tracks were made by Gyllene Tider minus Göran. I guess I couldn’t get enough of those guys after the 1996 tour. Also, this was a way to NOT make it sound like the previous Roxette albums.

PP: – How do you see your first collaboration with Christoffer now looking back? Would you have thought that 25 years later you would still work together with him?

PG: – Hahaha no. However, he made a huge impression on me. I’ve always looked for collaborators who know their craft much better than I do. He certainly did. Just like Clarence did way back in the 80’s when we first met. And MP in the 70’s.

PP: – How was your cooperation with EMI at the time?

PG: – Really good in some countries in Europe. Totally blank in the US. We didn’t have a recording deal there anymore at this point.

PP: – To me the album sounds like it could have been a big hit in the UK. What was the situation there upon the release?

PG: – So so. The English record labels in those days always wanted to rule the world on their own terms. It was hard for us to fit in. We wanted to rule the world on Roxette terms!

PP: – You always say that besides 2 other ingredients (talent and luck), timing has to be right. No doubt about talent, but do you think the timing was right? And how about luck?

PG: – TWATG wasn’t a big seller. It was a tough time in the late 90’s for artists like us. The grunge movement has happened, MTV had changed, radio had changed, a new generation of artists and writers had popped up. So I guess the timing wasn’t really there.
But in the end you have to stick to what you do best no matter what’s fashionable at the time. You have to listen to your heart (great song title!) and your gut feeling. Not the promotion guys.

PP: – Gut feeling is a great song title too, just saying. Haha. While the album wasn’t released on vinyl, were you still thinking in LP format when recording it?

PG: – Always. I love the idea of two opening tracks and two closing tracks. And a proper sleeve. It’s in my DNA.

PP: – Is there any chance TWATG will see the light of day on vinyl either for this or for another anniversary? Or just anytime?

PG: – I’m sure it will happen eventually. The same with “Room Service”. It will eventually crawl through your window.

PP: – Yeah! Both records deserve to be out on vinyl. 3 months after the album release, your son, Gabriel was born. How did it change the world according to father Gessle?

PG: – Wow. That’s something you can’t prepare yourself for. Amazing. Still is.

PP: – You dedicated the album to Åsa (For Woody!). How do you remember that period when you both were expecting babies? I mean both of you expecting Gabriel and you another baby too, your album.

PG: – Hahaha, it was a great time. Lots of laughs. The whole 90’s was a blast. I’m blessed.

PP: – From the demos, one can hear how you wanted the album to sound. How was the recording process? How could Ilbert, Clarence and the whole team, including GT, Brainpool and also Jonas Isacsson add to your ideas?

PG: – Well, I think they all got the message when they heard the demos MP and I had made at Tits & Ass. On some of the demos Micke Syd already played the drums.
What we basically tried to do was to make the songs communicate even better. Sharper. More focused. In some cases we succeeded. In some cases I prefer the demos. It happens all the time.
We recorded TWATG in three different studios in Stockholm; Atlantis + Polar + EMI. Mixed it at ABBA-Benny’s Mono Music studio on Skeppsholmen, also in Stockholm. Some songs were mixed in London at Battery Studios. But I think we only used the “There Is My Baby”-mix from England.
The sessions started about a month after the “Återtåget”-tour with Gyllene Tider. So I was definitely in a power pop mode!

PP: – “Stupid” is the album opener, a great one. Later you also recorded it with Roxette (“Room Service” extended). Which version do you prefer and why?

PG: – I prefer the TWATG-version by far. I think it was a mistake to re-record it with Roxette. I think I just felt that this particular song deserved a second chance. But it wasn’t necessary. We didn’t need it.

PP: – “Do You Wanna Be My Baby?” was the first single. Who picked it as the lead single and why this one?

PG: – Can’t remember. Could have been EMI Germany. Helmut Fest, who was head of the company at the time, and his closest people always had great ears. They were the ones who picked “Wish I Could Fly” as the first single off HAND a couple of years later if I’m not mistaken.

PP: – The song has these double choruses. Can you tell us a bit more about this trick?

PG: – Glad you noticed this little wild card from the magician’s hat! Sometimes it works. Sometimes it just makes the song too long. It worked very well for ABBA creating “Mamma Mia”. Two great choruses in one go. Mutt Lange used it a lot with Def Leppard. Max Martin seems to like it. It’s old school but pretty smart when it works.

PP: – “Saturday” is a cool weekend song and I’m wondering how someone who doesn’t have a 9 to 5 job can grab the essence of the real Saturday feeling, kickin’ the working week away. How do you do that?

PG: – Oh I always hated getting up in the morning to go to school or to work. It’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to be “my own boss”, to be able to dictate my own working hours.

PP: – How does a perfect Saturday look like for you?

PG: – Right now, as I write this, I want every Saturday to be a day on the road. I look forward to this short unplugged tour so much. I’ve missed touring and performing really bad.

PP: – And we’ve missed seeing you on tour really bad. By the way, who came up with the idea of the barking dogs at the end of the song?

PG: – Probably me. I had this vision of myself delivering morning papers on Saturdays and getting barked at all the time. I used to be a paper boy in the 70’s, you know. God, I hated those dogs and early winter mornings!!! Vicious.

PP: – Hahaha. So now we know why you are a cat person. “Kix” was the second single. Jonas Åkerlund directed the video to it. He said without “Kix” he doesn’t know where he would be in the music video world, because he was invited to make more videos after that. What was your feelings about MTV’s censorship and being forced to re-edit some of the scenes in the clip?

PG: – I just thought it was an amazing video. Jonas was (and is) such a great director. In those days his ideas were really fresh and you hadn’t seen anything like it before. And the way he edits is a work of art.
I’ve always loved “Kix”. I thought it could be a monster Roxette track with Marie on it! It sounded cool with a great groove. Jonas Isacsson played an amazing guitar riff and Jalle Lorenson’s harmonica is a treat.

PP: – There are two mixes of “Kix” (“Lovely Pair Mix”, “Horribly Pear Shaped Mix”) by Ben Chapman on the extended version. Can you tell us about these two tracks, what they add to the “Kix” feeling according to your opinion?

PG: – I think both of them were fine. As always, when it comes to remixes, I just want them to be different and up-to-date. Hopefully they can add something to the original song. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

PP: – “I Want You To Know” is a beautiful ballad, the third single. The demo contains an extra verse. What happened to that?

PG: – I probably felt it made the song too long. Kill your darlings. Has to be done sometimes.

PP: – Regarding “Reporter”, it’s always interesting to hear a demo where even the title is different to the final one. At what point did “writer” change to “reporter” and why?

PG: – Well, I realized that the lyrics were actually about a “reporter”, not a “writer”. Simple as that.

PP: – Do you remember in what circumstances you wrote this one?

PG: – No. The first demo was made in July 1994 and that’s just after we released CBB and a couple of months before the CBB tour. It was probably written for Roxette.

PP: – “B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B” is a homage to Brian Wilson, as you told before. What does he mean to you?

PG: – Well, I’ve always loved The Beach Boys and Brian was the mastermind behind it all. Christoffer is also a massive Brian Wilson-fan and he arranged the backing vocals to sound like a Beach Boys-record. Hence the tribute.

PP: – Who would you wanna be if not yourself?

PG: – Tough one. I don’t know. Pikachu?

PP: – Haha, well, you do have electrical abilities… The demo to “Wish You The Best” is titled “Drum”. There is this beautiful lyric: “Inside my heart you’re a sorrow that grows / In every beat you’re the drum no one knows”. How come you skipped this part in the final song and so you changed the song title too?

PG: – Can’t remember. I liked the title; “Drum”. I guess I got tired of the song. It happens.

PP: – There is a very interesting change in the lyrics: remember in the demo became September for the TWATG song and then September became April for the “Good Karma” song, “April Clouds”. What is your relation to this song that you kept on changing it and got back to it after a longer time?

PG: – It was written for Marie to begin with. After many years had passed by I thought we should give it a go with Roxette. I re-wrote the lyrics a bit. I wish we had recorded it with Rox before Marie got ill. She had a real hard time doing her vocals on the Good Karma-album.

PP: – “Elvis In Germany” 1994 and “Elvis In Deutschland” 1996. Why are there 2 demos? The 1994 version is a happy one, the 1996 sounds more melancholic. Why did you decide to go the 1994 direction?

PG: – Oh my God, can’t remember. I thought those lyrics were the funniest I’d ever written so I probably couldn’t get enough of them! I prefer the original version though. Do you know that Slade (Magnus Börjeson’s favourite glam rock band) wanted to record it? Never happened though. Such a shame.

PP: – Oh wow! That would have been quite cool. Why did you feel you should pay homage to Elvis on this exact album, dedicating an entire song to him?

PG: – Elvis is The King! Don’t you know?

PP: – There are other Elvis references in your song catalogue, e.g. “Crash! Boom! Bang!” (from “Jailhouse Rock”), “Double-Headed Elvis”. How much Elvis Presley were / are you listening to and how much of an inspiration was he for you?

PG: – I was never a big Elvis guy. I only listened to “Jailhouse Rock” when I was really young. My sister had it on a 45. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. That one and The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine”. And Connie Francis’ “Lipstick On Your Collar”. And Michael Cox’ “Stand Up”. All these were vinyls living dangerously in my sister’s bedroom. Must have been 1965 or 66 or so.

PP: – Did you like Presley more as a singer or an actor?

PG: – I like him as an idea.

PP: – Talking about Elvis, when I first listened to the album and heard “Kix Cha-Cha”, the ghost track, it indeed felt like a ghost entered the room. Scary at the age of 17. Haha. How much did you practice before it turned out like this, your Elvis imitation?

PG: – We found an old Mellotron in a dusty corner in the Polar studio and this very weird rhythm came up and I felt like singing like Elvis. These lyrics popped up in my head. It was just for fun.

PP: – What was the inspiration for “T-T-T-Take It!”? I like it that one can think about the future of the 2 characters, whether the girl left her husband or the guy was buried and gone in the end. Where did the idea come from for the lyrics?

PG: – You got me there. I don’t know. You’re always looking for ideas to lyrics, new angles, new stories, new point of views, new everything. Feed your head!

PP: – This song was written for Roxette and as far as I remember right, Marie liked it. Is there a version with Marie on vocals?

PG: – No.

PP: – When hearing the demo, Kjell Andersson said “T-T-T-Take It!” deserves a better chorus. Comparing the final version to the demo, we can hear you didn’t change it. Why did you stick to the chorus the way you imagined it first?

PG: – Because I liked it. I never paid that much attention to Kjell when it came to my English work anyway. He wasn’t very interested. He preferred to work with Swedish material for the domestic market.

PP: – In “I’ll Be Alright” you sound so fab together with Marie, as usual. Why did you decide for this song for Marie to sing on while there were several others you originally wrote for Roxette?

PG: – “I’ll Be Alright” was not written for Roxette as I remember it. It was written for me and I tried to convince Agnetha Fältskog to do the female vocals. We spoke about it over the phone but eventually she didn’t want to do it. She didn’t feel comfortable with her voice at the time. I know the feeling. No worries, she’s such a nice person.
Then I asked Marie if she wanted to sing instead and she gladly came aboard. She sounded awesome. Of course.

PP: – Did you show Marie all songs you planned for this album? If so, what was her opinion?

PG: – No, I didn’t. We took time off from each other for a while.

PP: – The “June Afternoon” demo was recorded in this period, but was released with Roxette already before TWATG came out. How was it picked for Roxette?

PG: – I think we needed uptempo songs for the “Don’t Bore Us”-compilation. “June Afternoon” came in handy, it was very catchy. I think it’s basically Gyllene Tider who plays on it, just like on “She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”. It’s definitely Micke Syd on drums on both of them. And MP is there. And Anders.
At this point Marie was pretty busy with her Swedish solo album + her family so she wasn’t that involved in the recordings. However, she popped up in the videos, thank God!

PP: – Do you remember how “There Is My Baby” came about?

PG: – Yep, I wanted to write a very cool song in my favourite Tom Petty-style. The guitar riff is played by MP. Brilliant. It sounds like Gyllene Tider in English, doesn’t it? And it is.

PP: – From the beginning you said “Lay Down Your Arms” was an important song. Why is it so important to you?

PG: – It isn’t. I’ve always liked the “flow” of the song but nowadays I’ve written many songs in the same style that are way better. So… it doesn’t mean that much to me anymore. Sorry.

PP: – Which one do you feel is your most personal song on this album?

PG: – I think “Wish You The Best” and “Stupid” are the best songs. I can’t say they are that personal but I still like them. On a good day.

PP: – Any track(s) on TWATG that started out as a Swedish song or maybe you made a Swedish version for some reason later?

PG: – No, I was in the English mode at the time. Made a few GT tracks as you know but they were exceptions to the rule.

PP: – Which song do you think is your best one on TWATG poetically?

PG: – “Poetically”? “POETICALLY?” “Elvis in Germany” is pure poetry in my book hahaha. And “B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B” has got some cool phrases. Ringo is in a verse. And I love the fact that “Marie + Per” made it to the middle-eight in “Reporter”!!! Who knew??

PP: – Is there a song on the album that could be the title song if it wasn’t “The World According To Gessle”? Or one that you think represents the album the most.

PG: – Nah, I didn’t have a good album title. “Be Anyone You Want To Be” is not bad, though. That’s how I felt.

PP: – Among the extras there is “Always Breaking My Heart”. You wrote it for CBB, so you definitely wanted it to be a Rox song. How come it ended up with Belinda Carlisle instead, together with “Love Doesn’t Live Here”?

PG: – “Always Breaking My Heart” should definitely have made it to TWATG. When I look back I think it was Clarence who didn’t like it. He thought it sounded too much like “Dangerous”. And I guess we eventually skipped it because Belinda wanted it.
I couldn’t sing “Love Doesn’t Live Here” properly. It’s a simple song but needs an expression I didn’t have. I’m not too fond of Belinda’s version either to tell the truth.
Belinda btw was great, we had some fab days in Stockholm. She’s a wonderful singer, great pitch, great personality.
Do you know Mono Mind has done a quirky version of “Always Breaking My Heart”? Might pop up one day! Crawling through your window.

PP: – Quirky sounds exciting. Let it crawl one day! The extended version contains the demos “Every Day Outside My Window” and “Beautiful Things, Terrible Things”. You gave these songs to Marie later and she wrote music to them. How did you like what she turned these two songs into?

PG: – Oh, she wrote much better music to them than I did! Sometimes you get stuck when writing. Even if you have a proper lyric you can’t move forward for some reason. I gave the words to Marie since she always had a hard time writing lyrics in English. She did a great job with these two.

PP: – Some more thoughts on the 3 TWATG videos. How was it working together with Jonas Åkerlund? How do you remember the shooting days?

PG: – Wunderbar. Creative. Expensive.

PP: – How much were you involved in the pre-shooting phase? Did you approve of everything Jonas suggested or were there any crazy ideas skipped?

PG: – No, we discussed everything in detail. He’s very good at presenting “moods” of what he’s trying to achieve.

PP: – How do you think the videos helped to spread the word about the album?

PG: – I don’t know. I still think those three videos are amazing. Jonas’s edge is shining through. I’m proud of them. But the album didn’t sell that much so in the end of the day they didn’t make any commercial difference.

PP: – There was no TWATG tour. Did you plan with a tour at all at some point?

PG: – No, I guess I would have toured if the album had been a bigger commercial success. But I went back to my workshops writing + preparing for HAND instead.

PP: – Now that your unplugged tour continues, I’m just curious which uptempo TWATG song you would consider as an interesting choice for an acoustic arrangement. Not on this tour, but in general.

PG: – “Stupid” could be fun. And “Wish You The Best” could be amazing even though it’s not uptempo. Good ideas. Thank you.

PP: – Thank you so much for your time during this yet another busy period, Per!

PG: – You’re welcome. Always a pleasure.

 

Listen to the extended version of The World According To Gessle HERE!
Do You Wanna Be My Baby? video HERE (censored / uncensored comparison here)
Kix video HERE (censored / uncensored comparison here)
I Want You To Know video HERE