Interview

Interview with Fredrik Etoall and Per Gessle in Tylösand Magazine

by

Joakim S Ormsmarck had a busy interview period and he also met Fredrik Etoall and Per Gessle to ask them about their collaboration. The result of this conversation was published in Tylösand Magazine.

When Fredrik Etoall discovered the camera at the age of 16, it was like the missing piece of the puzzle. Finally, he could express himself and capture the moment that he always lives in the middle of. Two years later, after finishing the media high school, together with a friend they took a car down to Höganäs to see the legendary photographer Christer Strömholm’s exhibition. A trip that would change his life.

It was fantastic. We insisted on getting an internship and I stayed there for periods until Christer passed away three years later. There I got to learn the craft for real, manage Christer’s legacy, retouch prints by hand and work with the images that would be passed on to buyers around the world.

This is where Fredrik and Per Gessle crossed paths for the first time when it dawned on the young photographer that the picture he was working on was going to Per Gessle and his hotel in Tylösand. A hotel filled with photos, he had to go there at some point…

My first memory connected to Per and Roxette is “Look Sharp!” on vinyl. I was eight years old and my mother had bought the record. We listened to it and danced at home in Vänersborg. But what caught my attention the most was the cover, the glamour, that’s where I wanted to be. On tour around the world.

Per interjects:

A fantastic cover. It was Mikael Jansson who took that picture!

For those who know his photography history, Mikael Jansson is a well-known name who has created iconic images over the past thirty years that have been published in all the major magazines around the world. It almost feels a bit typical that he was the one who took the picture for the cover of Roxette’s international breakthrough. Surrounding himself with the best photographers has become something of Per Gessle’s signature. Not uncommon at the beginning of their careers.

To Joakim’s question regarding how Per and Fredrik found each other, Fredrik replies:

In the fall of 2011 I worked with Icona Pop and made the video for “I Love It” which was very different from everything else that was being made at the time, rawer and less tidy. We had almost no budget, but the song and the video were a total hit and I followed the group around the world. In the middle of this, Marie Dimberg, Roxette’s manager, got in touch and wondered if I wanted to shoot the band for their album “Travelling”.

Per continues:

I thought it was fun to work with Fredrik right away. He’s a nice guy and he made sure we looked awesome in the pictures, hahaha. He has a feel for good light and a little fix, but not too much. He has the eye and there’s almost not a single picture that’s been published by Fredrik that isn’t good.

Fredrik laughs:

Thank you, I’ll send you money via Swish for the compliments.

About the photo session, Fredrik says:

We had lots of different things to do. When it came to picture four, Marie couldn’t take it anymore. Then I thought, damn it, it went wrong and I didn’t get any pictures at all. But it turned out that we still managed to take some pictures that still live on.

Per adds:

What Fredrik managed to capture with Roxette there and then were pictures of us that we hadn’t really done before, it was special in a way. Take this picture, for example. I have my black nails and yawn, Marie is standing in the background looking a bit uninterested. It’s a really lovely picture from that session.

In retrospect, everyone who was there that day agrees that something happened there and then. A special connection and trust were created, which led to new collaborations. Over the years, Fredrik has worked with Per and Marie solo as well as Roxette, PG Roxette and Gyllene Tider.

Per remembers:

When we made PG Roxette, we worked for two days. But we didn’t use anything from day two, because we had such a great first day with an incredibly good amount of material. It’s different when it’s just me. It’s easier. When I felt like I wanted to change pants, I just went and got another pair of pants. Or when Fredrik had an idea that I should have something that matched the curtain in the room, we solved it. It’s that simple.

Fredrik agrees:

That’s true, every session is unique. There is a big difference between working with one person or with a whole group, then the dynamics in the group become so important. I have been on jobs on other occasions where there may have been some fuss in the group before I came, and then it is so clearly noticeable. With Gyllene it has been a lot of fun, because there are five such different personalities who together become what is so special.

Fredrik tells Joakim what Marie Fredriksson has meant to their collaboration. How her elegance and power combined with humility led to a special relationship.

When I photographed Marie for what would be her last solo album at Grand Hotel, I took the picture of her standing in the window looking out towards the castle. It’s one of my absolute favourite pictures. It symbolizes both freedom and strength, how she carries both herself and me in that picture.

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Tylösand Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Thanks a lot for helping out with the physical copy of the magazine, Chrissie Röhrs!

Interview with Åsa Gessle in Tylösand Magazine

by

Joakim S Ormsmarck visited Åsa Gessle at Hotel Tylösand for an interview in the reborn Tylösand Magazine. Katja Cherkasova styled Åsa and Anders Sällström took some amazing photos of her.

Åsa loves black, but it should be soft and always with the guest and the heart in focus. Inspiration is drawn from hotels around the world, but also from the grass outside in the sand dunes and a striped Italian stone that was used to lay the foundation for the latest project.

July 1995. Two months earlier, Roxette’s second world tour had ended with two concerts at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The news hit like a bombshell, the unexpected duo Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand are buying Hotel Tylösand and they both emphasize that the reasons are both emotional and business oriented. Now the hotel is to be lifted to new levels and the one who immediately takes the challenge regarding colour, shape and ambience is Åsa Gessle.

Åsa and Joakim have settled down at Titus Tapas with a view of Solgården.

I have always loved hotels and we have stayed in so many different ones around the world, both privately and on tours. You learn a lot about what you want in a hotel room and what is good. Often it’s the small details and simple things that make the difference. When we bought the hotel, it felt like we were getting to enter that world and being able to start creating these ambiences.

It all began with the green apples. The apples and the toilet rolls in Strandhuset, but Joakim starts with the fruit, because it has become something of a green thread through the thirty years that have passed since the first ones landed in a bowl on the reception desk.

We loved a hotel in Miami Beach called Delano and I was hooked, because in every room they had a small stand on the wall with a green apple with the sign “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Even though this was a real party hotel, they had thought of this little detail.

Hotel Tylösand in 1995 was, however, quite a long way from an exclusive beach hotel à la Miami. Åsa talks with an undertone of laughter about stuffed birds, artificial plants and pink carpets with fish patterns. From the ceiling in the restaurant hung heavy burgundy curtains which, when taken down, turned out to have collected a lot of dust over the years. But the old stuff went out and the new was introduced step by step.

Joakim asks about those toilet rolls and Åsa smiles.

It’s one of the strongest memories from when we took over. This was the old strip along the beach and when you entered the toilet in the rooms, there was a mirror straight in and on a little shelf underneath they had lined up extra toilet paper rolls. So what you saw was yourself and the toilet paper. We bought holders and put them next to the toilets instead and then it was solved.

This whole thing about creating ambiences and working with interior design has always been a part of Åsa Gessle’s life. From dollhouses as a child at home in Trelleborg, to when she was 13 years old, she went around the shops in town and asked if she could do their shop windows, which she did and gave it her all. But Joakim comes back to the mid ’90s.

The first major project after we had removed all the stuffed birds, and cleaned endlessly as I remember it, was to take care of the hotel rooms. Architect Johnny Andersson and I started sketching and that was the first time I realized that my preferences didn’t always match everyone else’s, haha.

I like black, but our CEO at the time was clear that we have so many business people as guests so it has to be blue. And I hate blue. The compromise was cherry with a blue bedspread and I realized that I didn’t know the industry the way he did and the guests always come first.

With a smile, Åsa notes that the blackness was gradually incorporated so that blue would be appreciated more by the guests than black, she has never found any evidence for this. Blackness has become her signature in design and it permeates all aspects, it has even become so that the concept of Åsa black is now available as a color in the local paint store.

Joakim is curious what sets this blackness apart from all other blackness. Åsa shows and lifts a pillow against the black wall.

There is a little brown in it to make the black warm.

And of course the difference is visible now that we know about it.

If you just look at this sofa, you probably won’t see it, but it becomes softer to the eye and I feel like we ground ourselves through the black. Then we can contrast with a tulip, a pillow or a green apple. And sometimes we play around with some natural colours, but the black is always there as a base.

Today, Åsa sees herself as a Creative Director for the hotel and is involved in everything related to the interior design, new construction and renovations. Here she works closely with architects, cabinetmakers and craftsmen. A way of working that has existed since the Gessle family designed and built their own villa.

Our first project was Per’s and my rental apartment on Torsgatan in Halmstad. The house was to be renovated and we were given the opportunity to merge two apartments, design and choose materials the way we wanted it.

Then when we were going to build our house we were recommended to contact Abelardo Gonzalez and we did. We visited him and the house was not our style, but on the other hand his architecture was very exciting. He did things differently and he has such an openness in his way of thinking. So he drew and we adjusted. We worked very closely throughout the whole process and I have learned so much from him.

One lesson that stuck is that everything can be built. Even though others said it was impossible, Abelardo Gonzalez didn’t listen and he built, an attitude that fits well with Åsa Gessle’s determination and conviction. Like the blackness, for example. Today, Åsa herself draws much of what is being built at Hotel Tylösand. As long as it is not structural construction, it is her drawings that are used.

We do as much as we can ourselves, then it will be the way we want it. When it comes to water and sewage, electricity and such, we bring in external help. The same thing as when I design a bar, I know how it should look but then everything has to work for the people who work there with machines and all the functions. Then I work together with, for example, Kay Linghoff, who I have worked with a lot over the years.

To Joakim’s question regarding how much time Åsa spends at the hotel, she replies:

I’m here a lot. It’s been a little less now when we are on tour, but otherwise I feel like I’m here almost all the time. I want to make sure the ambiences are as they should be. In a hotel, things have a tendency to move around all the time, and then I have to carry the chairs back, fix the cushions and stuff like that, haha.

This particular laugh recurs often during the conversation. It’s clear that Åsa is truly passionate about the hotel and the experience, and that she finds it just as much fun today as it was thirty years ago when the green apples first appeared.

Everything is in the details and often there are details that you don’t see as a guest, but you experience them anyway. Like cleaning, you don’t think about it when it works, but if you have ever stayed in a hotel where it didn’t work, you know it’s noticeable right away.

Joakim asks Åsa about the cushions.

We have a karate chop that needs to be done, so that the pillow gets its fold. Then the zipper should always be downwards, and I have to struggle with that a bit. But like I said, it’s all in the details.

One of the hotel’s major projects in recent years is the completely new SPA department, which was inaugurated last year. Both floors have received a major facelift and Åsa says that one of the goals was to connect the interior with the sea, which is so close, but still on the other side of the large glass areas.

I think many SPAs are a bit boring, our spa should be like the rest of the hotel. A little cozier and a little more Asian, a social SPA where everyone can enjoy themselves.

Åsa tells of a dinner just after the inauguration. She was sitting with Per and eating when a family came up to thank them for the experience. Or rather, the children wanted to thank them.

They were lyrical and described it as them never being able to go to a SPA before and now it was like being at a nightclub with music, a cinema in the pool and so on. It was something different from the bathhouses they had visited before.

When she started planning the new SPA:

It started with me finding an Italian black and white striped stone that really laid the foundation for everything. Materials are important in a SPA, like the Kolmården marble that has its motion in the pattern and meets the grass outside on the sand dunes.

Above the pool, the lighting forms a heart. A heart that Åsa originally wanted to have at the bottom of the pool, but which was not possible for technical reasons. It is now reflected in the water surface instead, creating a completely new effect.

The heart is in a lot of my designs, I guess no one has been able to escape that. It probably reflects me quite a bit, but also the feeling we want it to have here at the hotel. It should be warm, cozy and absolutely not stiff and boring. The heart has to be in there.

Thirty years have passed since that July in 1995. The projects have succeeded one after the other, and perhaps a feeling of satiety could have set in now that everything is finished. But that thought doesn’t seem to have even crossed Åsa’s mind or any of her colleagues’ minds.

It can always be developed and I always have ideas that stretch a number of years into the future.

Åsa concludes and points across Solgården towards the SPA building.

There I would like to build a sun deck with only glass sections around it. I have seen exactly one like that at a hotel in Sao Paulo. It is really cool, so we must have it here in Tylösand too. People will love it!

All interview text is written by Joakim S Ormsmarck for Tylösand Magazine in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Thanks a lot for helping out with the physical copy of the magazine, Chrissie Röhrs!

Interview with Per Gessle in Hallandsposten about the Roxette In Concert tour

by

Jan-Owe Wikström did an interview with Per Gessle for Hallandsposten almost ten years after Roxette’s last concert in Halmstad. Per brings the Roxette band for two gigs at Brottet.

Then it was with Marie Fredriksson, now he performs with Lena Philipsson.

Lena has grown into the role in a fantastic way. Marie can never be replaced, but Lena really does it in her own way so we are not a cover band. In addition, Jonas (Isacsson) is back, who is very much Roxette’s guitar sound.

15,000 people saw the concert on July 22, 2015 at Örjans Vall, which would be Marie’s last with Roxette at home when the following year she was forced to step down due to health reasons and then tragically died on December 9, 2019 from the consequences of her illness.

To keep Roxette’s song collection alive, including four US number-ones, Per went on tour in 2018 under the name Per Gessle’s Roxette. But it was in connection with the recording of the duet album Sällskapssjuk that he realized that Lena Philipsson was the right person to take the place next to him on stage.

Since then, Roxette has had two concerts in South Africa, nine in Australia and ten in Europe before the tour reaches Sweden; Gothenburg on July 23 and 25, and Halmstad on July 26 and 27.

Out in Europe, Lena is a completely unknown name, but the fans have received her in a fantastic way. But here at home, Lena is a big name in her own right, so it will be very exciting to see her meet her home audience.

I mean, there’s a big difference between her today and the first gig in Cape Town, and that’s how it should be. Because it’s on stage that you grow together as a band and learn how everyone behaves, what roles they take. You can never work that into rehearsals, and it’s the same with the social side – that it works there too.

Then we have deliberately included some songs that Marie never sang live. “What’s She Like?”, which is very strong in the musical, is one that Roxette never played live before. Likewise “Vulnerable” – mostly because I thought it was boring to sing, but the audience loves it, hahaha.

During the journey, he has also received confirmation of how strong Roxette is as a band with sold-out concerts in most places.

Yes, we are reaching a new audience, which is fantastic. In January 2024 we had 10.4 million unique listeners a month on Spotify, now we have 17.8 million, which is almost a doubling with 70 million listens every month.

To Jan-Owe’s question what he thinks the reason behind is, Per replies:

On the one hand, it’s a treasure trove of songs that shouldn’t really be possible to fail with. On the other hand, we represent a kind of music that is becoming increasingly rare, because pop music is no longer made in the same way, with a bridge before the chorus or a key rise. And that benefits people like me – especially with the song catalogue that we can build on.

I saw a documentary about Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys who recently passed away. It would have been impossible for him to have a hit today, when most things are artificial and programmed with many songwriters for each song. And it will get worse with AI.

When Roxette reaches Sweden, it will be standard concerts, while in Europe it has been about festivals where Roxette has in many cases been the headliner.

It’s different to play at festivals. Partly because it’s a shorter set, and partly because the audience is there for many different artists, unlike when it’s pure Roxette concerts where everyone has come for us. So if you play a lesser-known song, some people go and buy beer.

Initially, the second Halmstad gig was the end of the tour, but it is already clear that there will be a continuation in the autumn with gigs in Linköping and Stockholm in Sweden, among other places in Europe.

Yes, for each gig, five new offers appear, so the schedule will be filled afterwards. Because if you want, this is just the beginning of the continuation…

Pics by Åsa Gessle

Per Gessle interview in Dagens Nyheter – “It’s truly amazing that everything I’ve done means so much to so many people. You should never take that for granted.”

by

Early May, Christopher Garplind from Dagens Nyheter met Per Gessle at Hotel Tylösand to do an interview with him and he also followed Per and the Roxette gang to Munich. Read the original and more detailed article in Swedish HERE!

Christopher describes Hotel Tylösand, Leif’s Lounge, the reception and his hotel room as well, where he finds a book on the bedside table that contains song lyrics and illustrations by Per. In that book there is an interview in which he talks about his mother Elisabeth. She used to write fairy tales for Per which she illustrated. One story was about Ferdinand the ant who was about to be stepped on by a heel, but who just barely escaped. This story comes back at the end of this Dagens Nyheter interview.

It is Per’s wife, Åsa who meets Christopher at the reception the next day and she takes him to a room that is wallpapered with pictures of Dolly Parton. Christopher informs that even though it is only Per and him who are going to meet, Åsa has set out coffee, sandwiches and cakes for about ten people.

Per enters the room and greets Christopher. He looks as he has always looked for the past 20 years, Christopher thinks: slim, tanned and with that hairstyle that brings to mind both Noel Gallagher and a middle-aged woman employed in the public sector in Linköping. He smells good, but doesn’t want to reveal what perfume he uses because “then everyone will just buy the same one”.

The guys leave the sandwiches and pastries alone and have a double espresso each. Christopher says to Per that he has to tell Åsa that he is on a diet and can’t eat any of this. It feels really rude to just leave it. Per understands Christopher. He says he was overweight when he was a kid and it was really tough. Christopher is not exactly “overweight”, but the answer makes him think of something he read, that Per had gained so much weight just before the turn of the millennium that he refused to tour or be in any of Roxette’s music videos in connection with the release of the album Have A Nice Day. He asks Per if it was so, because he felt so ugly.

I haven’t really thought about it that way, that I “felt so ugly”, but I didn’t feel comfortable in myself. You see yourself all the time. When you are in public and working with videos and making different appearances, you have to feel good, both mentally and physically. I didn’t feel good, so I didn’t want to be in it.

It was Anton Corbijn who directed the music video of Stars. He finally persuaded Per to appear for a few seconds as a homeless man, covered in garbage.

We did the next video with Anton in Portofino. By then I had managed to lose eight kilos and was able to participate again.

Christopher is curious how PG could manage to lose weight and asks him for the best dieting tip.

It was mostly just about getting in shape. I’m a bit like that: if there is candy at home, I’ll eat it. It takes a huge amount of mental strength not to do that, and you don’t always have it. I still gain and lose weight, but I try to keep track.

Christopher asks Per if he is grateful every day that he still has hair. Per laughs. He is rather happy that he still has hair. Nobody wants a bald Per Gessle, Christopher adds. Per agrees, but he says it can happen, you can get ill. Christopher asks if Per would wear a wig then.

Ugh, what should I answer? I have no idea. Horrible thought.

The past year has been – as usual – hectic for Per. 2024 saw the premiere of both Sommartider, the biopic about Gyllene Tider, and the musical Joyride, which is based on Roxette songs. He released a solo album Sällskapssjuk, and has toured with Roxette in Australia and South Africa.

After the other half of Roxette, Marie Fredriksson, died in 2019 from a brain tumor that was discovered in 2002, Per has been thinking about how to manage the Roxette legacy. In 2021, he launched the project PG Roxette, but since 2025, it has only been Roxette that applies again – with Lena Philipsson on vocals.

I’ve been thinking for many years about trying to bring Roxette forward in some way. I haven’t really been able to decide how. It was terrible when Marie passed away, and also when our drummer Pelle Alsing passed away a few years ago. The whole idea of taking Roxette forward is based on keeping the old band as much as possible. But the token actually fell when I worked with Lena and when she sang on the song “Sällskapssjuk”, because she was so damn good.

Christopher thinks it’s Per’s band and he does what he wants with it, but Roxette is very much Per and Marie, and now someone else is standing there. Christopher is curious if that could be perceived as a bit unsentimental.

Sure, I can understand that some people think so. But at the same time, it’s my song catalogue. You could also turn the coin around and say: “I’ve spent 30 years of my life writing these songs, will I never get to play them again with another voice?” But I understand, I’ve also thought along those lines. What’s right and what’s wrong? But this catalogue exists, and it’s really my life’s work. Let’s try it and see how it feels, shall we? What harm can it do?

Christopher is curious if Per asked Marie’s family for permission, or whatever you want to call it, to do this thing.

Yes, absolutely.

Per stood and sang these songs a million times together with Marie on stages all over the world, so Christopher thinks it must feel strange that she is not there. He wants to know if Per feels sad sometimes.

No, not really. It’s been so long since we did it at the level we were at when we were at our best. Marie got ill in 2002, and after her first operation there wasn’t that much difference, she sang just like before. But her second operation changed her a lot, and after that she was never the same. When we started again in 2009, it wasn’t quite the same Marie anymore. There were problems with keys and with not remembering lyrics. She still had days when she was amazing. But at the end she had to sit down on stage. The Marie I want to keep in my head is from the big tours, “Joyride” and “Crash! Boom! Bang!”. It was magical. But what we’re doing now is something different. It’s not that we’re out there launching new music, but we’re doing, just like many other successful artists who have been around for decades, a kind of emotional journey back in time. We’re managing the Roxette legacy in the best possible way. We make it as close to the original as possible.

Christopher asks Per if there will be a Roxette album with Lena on vocals.

I don’t think so, I can’t imagine that. It would be fun to release a song or two. But that’s not what Roxette is about today, it’s about nurturing our catalogue. It’s a fantastic treasure trove of songs we’re sitting on.

Christopher informs that it’s not just Marie Fredriksson and drummer Pelle Alsing who have passed away in recent years. In the 2010s, Per’s mother Elisabeth, his sister Gunilla and brother Bengt also died at short intervals. Since then, he has been the only one left in his original family.

You become a different person when many people around you pass away. You are reminded that time passes. When Marie passed away and Pelle passed away, all my siblings and mother, the parameters of existence changed in a way.

Christopher starts talking about Per’s immediate family today that consists of his wife Åsa and their 27-year-old son Gabriel. He says that when Per became a father in 1997, there was a bit of a mini-drama after he said in an interview that he didn’t plan on changing a single diaper.

I’ve never changed a diaper. Because my wife always did it first.

When Per turned 40, he said that he was very spoiled and that he had never washed clothes.

I don’t think I’ve ever washed clothes. I’ve always lived in my own little bubble.

Christopher is curious if Åsa got a little irritated by this.

Hm, but you’ve met her, she’s the best person in the world. There has never been any conflict. Then you shouldn’t forget that we toured and toured, travelled and travelled, so we used a lot of laundry service at hotels.

To the question if they have any staff at home, Per replies:

Yes, we have help with cleaning. But I don’t want a lot of assistants, because I want to be at peace. I don’t want to be disturbed by people who are in the way and who want to talk to me about dentist appointments and such.

When Per and Christopher walk around the hotel, people turn around and behave very strangely. Christopher notices that Per seems unfazed by the attention.

I’m used to it. I know that as soon as I leave home I’m on public ground. If I go to the pastry shop and buy rolls for the studio, there’s always someone who wants to take a selfie. I almost always say yes in such situations, but I don’t always do it at one in the morning in restaurants. I usually have a curfew after 10 pm. I can get annoyed when people come up and just interrupt in the middle of a discussion to take a photo – wait until you see that we’ve finished talking! Often they also want to talk about themselves: “I’m also a musician, my parents got married to this song, my dad had this song as his favourite”. I can feel guilty that I’m not more interested in it, because I actually should. It’s truly amazing that everything I’ve done means so much to so many people. You should never take that for granted.

Christopher says that Per comes across as very likeable, and there is very little crap about him compared to others of his caliber. The only thing he can find on the internet, and which is hinted at in some biographies, is that he was completely obsessed with money and very stingy, but that’s it. Christopher’s prejudice that PG was zero percent worried during the ‘metoo-autumn’ in 2017 is confirmed by the fact that Per doesn’t seem to understand the question.

I don’t even remember when it was. That’s both a good and a bad thing about me: I’m so completely ignorant about things. It’s like when people were talking about the financial crisis in the early ’90s, I was like, “Wow, was there a financial crisis? I’ve been on the ‘Joyride’ tour, I didn’t notice a thing”. I don’t even know what year you’re talking about?

When Christopher says it started in 2017, Per asks:

OK. Was it Harvey Weinstein and that? No, I haven’t actually thought about it.

Christopher says that the image of Per is that he is very rich and very stingy. He asks Per if he thinks he is stingy.

No, I don’t feel like that at all. I feel like I am very generous.

Christopher mentions that in the biography Att vara Per Gessle from 2007, Gyllene Tider bassist Anders Herrlin says the following about the stinginess accusations surrounding Per, which often come to the surface when it comes to how Gyllene Tider’s money is distributed between the band members: “He is absolutely not stingy, but rather incredibly generous, but he is greedy. As if he is afraid of losing something he already has.”

When the band’s drummer Micke Syd Andersson got married in 2005, a year after Gyllene Tider’s reunion success and 25th anniversary the year before, he invited all the band members except Per and told Aftonbladet that it was a “conscious decision”.

It was annoying. I thought then and still think Micke was very unfair, and he knows I think that.

To the question how they solved that, Per replies:

We took a break for eight or nine years, then we got back together and toured again. Well, I really love the guys in Gyllene. I have constant contact with all of them. They are wonderful people and fantastic musicians. Of all the drummers out there, Micke is probably my favourite.

Christopher is curious that if Per loves them so much and they are childhood friends and all that, why can’t they just split those Gyllene Tider tours equally.

I can’t sit and talk to you about our financial arrangements in Dagens Nyheter, you understand that, right?

When Christopher asks Per if he is a billionaire, PG thinks for five seconds and replies “no”.

Another image of Per, as Christopher says, is that he only writes stupid, happy pop songs.

Hahaha, I’ve heard that many times. Those who think that haven’t listened to much of what I write. “Gå & fiska!”, for example, is not really a positive text. But people just think “Go and fish, tjoho!” It actually is about someone who is seriously depressed, but people don’t read the lyrics.

At this point, Åsa enters the room and Christopher is struck by how much she and Per – or “Pelle” as she calls him – seem so damn close. They kiss each other several times. Christopher apologizes that they haven’t eaten anything from what she prepared in the room. She says it doesn’t matter and that the people in the staff canteen will be happy. Christopher asks if she was upset that Per never changed a diaper.

No.

And never washed clothes.

No. Or made a bed. There are many. But we help each other. Per does a lot of things and I do other things. That’s how it is in life. Although cooking is the only thing I wish he did…

Per can only cook rice and pasta. When he is in Stockholm and Åsa is not in town, he goes to a restaurant at Karlaplan where there are two dishes he likes – fish soup and salmon sashimi. But he likes homemade food best, adds Åsa.

—

The next time Christopher and Per see each other is at the end of June in Munich. During the night before, Christopher watched the documentary Roxette Diaries which consists of videos that Åsa and Per filmed from 1989 to 1995. In one of the scenes, Marie Fredriksson, alone with just a piano, performs Spending My Time for 60,000 people in Johannesburg. She sings incredibly, Christopher thinks. It’s starting to feel strange that Christopher will soon be seeing a Roxette concert without her.

However, the audience has received Lena Philipsson unexpectedly well. There are certainly some posts on the band’s social media where hardcore fans declare that “this is not Roxette”, but in general the atmosphere is surprisingly positive, and so is Munich.

Backstage, the band eats and prepares for the gig while Per takes a nap. Christopher meets him in his dressing room half an hour before the show, where he warms up with a cup of tea with grated ginger and honey, which is “good for the throat”.

To the question what the future looks like and if there is Gyllene Tider in it, because statistically, they should come back again in 2032, Per replies:

Now it’s Roxette. Then I don’t really know. But we are starting to get old. So far it’s not a problem, but sometimes when I see really old people trying to play their songs, it doesn’t sound so fun anymore. I’ve stopped going to The Rolling Stones, because the last time I saw them it wasn’t good. And I have a hard time listening to Paul McCartney now.

Christopher asks Per if he has enough self-awareness to quit on time.

I hope so.

Christopher is almost shocked by the crowd reaction and that they sing along to every single line of the lyrics in Munich. They cry, scream, dance. No one is like Marie Fredriksson, but Lena’s voice suits the songs unexpectedly well, he thinks. After almost two hours, the show is over.

As usual, Åsa has spent most of the concert filming and taking photos for Per’s and Roxette’s social media. Afterwards, she hands out plectrums to the hardcore fans at the front and collects gifts for the band. Everyone seems happy with the gig.

The tour manager has set out buckets of ice-cold beer and a tray of cheese and cold cuts. Lena drinks a steamy glass of white wine and Christopher is ashamed that he is sweating the most of all even though he is the only one who hasn’t played.

Christopher asks Per if life sometimes feels unreal, because he has succeeded in something that people usually don’t, especially not if you are a guy from Halmstad. It’s like one in a million.

I recently picked up something from Billboard. There are 18 songwriters in the world who have written three or more US number-ones on their own. Of the 18, four were from Europe, and they were Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, George Michael and me. Then I thought, “Shit, what the hell is this? This is really sick!” Then I can really pinch my arm.

To Christopher’s question, if Per has ever thought that his life is a kind of “The Truman Show” just because everything has been so crazy, Per replies:

Well, maybe not that far. I’ve been reflecting on the meaning of this. But it… has been a nice life.

As a last question, Christopher asks Per if he has any illustrations of Ferdinand the ant left.

No, I wish I had some. But I can see it in my mind. I can see how he just manages to escape the heel. The heel is huge.

Thanks for this great and extensive interview, Christopher Garplind, Dagens Nyheter and for the photos in the article, Veronika Ljung-Nielsen!

All interview text is written by Christopher Garplind for Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Per Gessle about the Roxette musical in Expressen – ”Marie is sitting there on your shoulder. Her whole being, her spirit is there.”

by

Expressen met Per Gessle in what was once EMI Studios in Skärmarbrink. This is where Roxette’s first three albums were recorded, and on the now bare facade, the alert eye can catch a commemorative plaque engraved with the simple lines: “In memoriam Marie Fredriksson”.

On press day for Joyride – The Musical that premieres on 11th September at China Teatern in Stockholm, Maria Brander from Expressen talked to Per about the show. Before the get down to the hot topic, Expressen informs that Per is in the middle of a Roxette tour with Lena Philipsson, and has a 25-hour journey home from Melbourne behind him.

The time difference means that you get one day twice.

Expressen asks him if that is how he prolongs his life. Per answers:

Or shorten it, hahaha.

Regarding the musical in Stockholm, Mr. G says that the biggest thing is that it’s a completely different type of venue. Then it’s a different translation.

We thought there were some awesome things in the original book that didn’t really come across in the Swedish one, so we made a new version.

In addition to this, there is a largely new ensemble including Hanna Hedlund who was also on spot in the studio. She says:

My background is musicals, and I often get asked what my dream role is. But you have realized that you may be too old for some of them, and then suddenly a dream role appears that you didn’t know was coming.

She will sing one of her favourite songs, Listen To Your Heart.

Per turns to Hanna and says:

It’s a great role, the coolest in the musical, and it will be great with you.

Mr. G was not involved in the audition part, even though he can now call himself a co-producer.

It’s actually a way for me to show that I care. I really want to be part of Joyride – The Musical’s journey around the world, because I hope it will reach outside of Sweden.

To the question how many times he has seen the production in Malmö, Per replies:

Four, five times, and it’s been good all the way through. But it’s been a long process over many years that has led to “Joyride”. Before we ended up in Malmö, there was an English production company that wanted to put on a musical. They made one with eight songs just for me and Marie. She was still with us at the time. I was struck by how well they fit into this format, the choreography and gestures. Then I stopped it anyway, because I didn’t like the script. It was too depressing, and it was a depressing time, because Marie was sick. At the same time, it didn’t really suit Roxette either.

To the question if Per can feel that Marie is still with him in this musical, he replies:

Yes, it’s her and my journey, and the legacy from it is being carried forward. It’s the same with my tour with Lena. Marie is sitting there on your shoulder the whole time. You can’t get away from that. And all of us who work with this – actors, singers, choreographers – we talk a lot about Marie: “Marie would have liked this. These clothes are so typical of Marie”. So her whole being, her spirit is there.

Expressen is curious if Per feels that the memories have been strengthened now during his and Lena’s Roxette tour.

No, when you play live you look forward, not back. Lena and I didn’t even have a rehearsal before we stood on stage together for the first time in front of 10,000 people in Cape Town. Anything can happen, and you have to learn along the way. For us, there was a huge difference between the first and now eleventh gig, in how relaxed we were.

Earlier Per said said that musicals are not really his area of interest.

No. How can I put it without stepping on some toes now? There’s a kind of manner in the musical world where you sing nicely and cleanly. I myself come from a different tradition, where it’s a lot about personality instead. But in Malmö we’ve gone around it a lot with different types of singers, and it will be the same in Stockholm.

Maria thinks Per seems careful and she wants to know if Per’s word is law in the production.

No, my whole career has been built on being careful, as you say. But I have also put a lot of focus on finding collaborators. I could never have written all these songs for Roxette if Marie hadn’t had the capacity to sing them. I also needed a producer like Clarence Öfwerman. It’s the same with the musical. I need help, but in my life I have succeeded in finding good people and long-term relationships. Whether it’s my business manager, my record label or my wife.

Per says Åsa thinks that the musical is fantastic. She has also seen it five times.

Yes, damn it. I’m not allowed to see it myself. Haha.

PG about what Jane Fallon, who wrote the book, thinks:

Both she and her husband Ricky (Gervais) were at the premiere in Malmö. He was quite serious as a person, but proud to be next to Jane. I have met her several times at meetings in London, and she has been super positive since day one.

To the question what he feels when he sees the musical, Per replies:

I feel proud. That it works, and that the audience stays and sings along. You are reminded of the power of these songs. To get a response from an audience, it is magical.

Stills are from the video included in the original article.