Interview

Per Gessle about Roxette: “Marie decided to go on with Roxette after Amsterdam”

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German newspaper Aachner Zeitung published an article including some quotes of Per Gessle during the presentation of “Charm School” which took place in Cologne some weeks ago.

Per explains Marie’s illness was a big shock for him, and he took two important decisions after the first schock-phase. He decided he would not go on with Roxette without Marie, because “our interweaved voices had contributed to the big success of our songs.” And that it would be up to Marie to decide if she wanted to go on with Roxette or not.

His view on Roxette is that when they work together, “there is this magic in the air, this idea of easy to recognise but still meaningfull pop.” The new album is released when Roxette turns 25 years, “I think we can really affirm that our carrier has been a joyide.”

Marie didn’t join Per during this visit to Germany, “the reason is that she is unsure,” Per explains. He thinks that the music business can be sometimes merciless and that one has to function (100%), “and this is for such a sensible person as Marie hard to bear.”

Of course, we all agree that it is a miracle that a new studio album is being released next week. Per explained how and when Marie took the decision to go on with Roxette: it was at his Party Crasher Tour concert in Amsterdam, where Marie joined Per on stage to play two Roxette songs, “the audience cried of the emotion,” he adds showing goosebumps on his arm, “we were so touched about this reaction, that she decided that evening to go on with Roxette.”

He also tells that if there is anything they have learnt during the 25 years of Roxette, “then this must have been patience.”

Roxette to perform 6 songs in Warsaw

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According to roxette.pl Facebook fan page user – Krzysztof Charchuta, Polsat TV broadcasted a new interview with Per Gessle in a showbiz programme “Sie kreci” yesterday. Per Gessle said that Roxette would perform 6 songs in Warsaw and he named 5 of them: “Joyride”, “It must have been love”, “The look”, “Listen to your heart”, “Sleeping in my car”. Unfortunately, he did not want to reveal the 6th song’s title.

At the moment it is still not possible to watch the programme online. The programme will be available on ipla.pl service on Wednesday, December 22nd

Update: Here is the photo from the interview. Per said that they would sing 6 biggest hits, so I do not see a possibility to hear “She’s got nothing on (but the radio)” in Warsaw.

Interview with Magnus Börjeson: “We just want to have fun on stage.”

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Kirsten and Judith met Magnus Börjeson a few hours before the concert in Halmstad to talk about his career as musician and how he sees Roxette at the moment. We picked him up at the station and sat down at the station café to chat. It was actually us who wanted to know more about him, but he started asking about us:

Magnus: So where are you from? Germany?

Judith: I come from Spain, live in Austria.

Kirsten: Germany.

M: So when you are not Roxette fans, what are you doing for a living?

J: I work as project manager in a bank.

M: And you?

K: I am a journalist.

M: For a newspaper..?

K: Yes, for a local newspaper, sports mainly.

M: Where is that?

K: North of Frankfurt.

J: What are you doing, when you don’t work with Roxette or Per?

M: I do music, that’s all I do. Haha! In different shapes and kinds, I do a lot of music for films and TV commercials, that’s what I’ve done the last couple of years.

J: Could you explain us how did you get into music?

M: I started playing when I was a kid with my neighbour, we played in his basement. Then I had a band at school. I had a lot of bands, I had a band called Beagle in the early 90ies, we had two albums out, that’s the first time we really had a record deal.

K: I saw the videos from that time, they are funny.

M: Yeah, we did a lot of videos. It was the age of the video. And yes, they were fun. I had a lot of hair then.

K: It looks better now anyway.

M: haha, thank you! I think so too. That was like my first real major thing. We signed with Polar, which was ABBA’s record company. We were at ABBA’s manager’s to sign the deal, everything was very intense. It was really fun for a couple of years. Then it wasn’t fun anymore, so we quit.

K: Can you really make a living from music?

M: yes, I do. I’ve done since then. It’s a lot of work; I’m into a lot of things. But I cannot imagine doing anything else, I have always wanted to do this since I started playing, so I couldn’t think of anything else to do. That would be horrible.

J: How many instruments do you play?

M: I play bass and guitar, and some keyboards. I started playing drums when I was a kid, that was my first instrument.

 

K: Do you still play drums?
M: I know how to play, but you know, when you haven’t played for a while, you get very bad. But give me six months and I think I would manage.

J: So you mentioned you don’t do anything else but music, meaning you also compose your own stuff?

M: yes, that’s what I do when I am not touring or doing something with other artists. I compose a lot of music for films.

J: Do you prefer to play live or studio?

M: Well, both. I love to play live, I think it’s funny, you can show off a bit, be a rock musician, haha! But I work a lot in the studio as well, I have my own little studio at home, so I work there every day and I enjoy that immensely too.

K: You mentioned music for films, can you tell us about this film you presented in Cannes?

M: We’ve been working long on this project. We first made a short film, which you can find on YouTube. It was about six drummers breaking into an apartment and starting to play songs. We did that in 2000, with a couple of friends of mine who made short movies at that time. And then a French production company suggested we should make a feature film about this. So we started about four years ago and we just finished before Cannes, where we presented it. It’s called “Music for one apartment and six drummers” and it’s going to have its premiere in Sweden and France this December.

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