Per Gessle on Fredagsbubbel, RIX FM

Per Gessle was a guest on RIX FM on their Fredagsbubbel show on Friday. Program leader Martina Thun also invited Shirley Clamp on the program. Listen HERE!

Martina welcomes Per and Shirley and explains that she always starts by asking if her guests have known each other from before. Per says they don’t know each other, but he knows Shirley has recorded one of his songs. Shirley confirms. She says she was scared when she was going to do that, because they were waiting for an OK from Mr. Gessle. She thought it would probably be a no, just because she was quite young. The song was It Must Have Been Love. Ingela “Pling” Forsman translated the lyrics and the title is När kärleken föds. Shirley still sings it at her gigs. Per thinks she made it great.

It’s the first time Per and Shirley meet, at least it feels like the first time for PG. Martina says Shirley put on a lot of perfume to impress Per and turns to Mr. G to ask if he feels impressed that Shirley smells so good. Per says he is a bit impressed actually and he notes the champagne glass in front of Shirley and is wondering how many she has drunk before. They are laughing. Shirley says they have run into each other over the years, but never talked. So it’s very nice now. Martina says now they get the chance to get to know each other on live radio. She looks at Shirley and says she looks terrified. Haha.

Martina asks Per about his album release and how his week has been. PG says it has been quite normal, that is to say busy. Martina is curious what a normal week is in Per Gessle’s life like. Per says it depends on what you are doing. This week he has started rehearsals for Roxette’s tour next year with Lena Philipsson, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist. They have run an acoustic rehearsal. Martina finds it exciting.

Per is also releasing an album today, so there has been a bit of promotion and stuff like that.

Martina turns to Shirley and asks how her week has been. Shirley can’t even remember what she has been doing and asks what day it is. Haha. It’s Friday, Martina says. Shirley is in the middle of selling the house and in the middle of rehearsing for Mamma Mia! – The Party, to jump in for Sussie Eriksson, which will be great fun. Martina thinks it’s such a perfect role for Shirley. Martina says they will talk more about Mamma Mia! and she informs that Shirley also releases a song that they will get to listen to in a while.

Martina turns to Per again and says his album contains a lot of collaborations. Per says it consists of duets. Before they talk more about the album, Martina starts playing one of the duets, Har pa? ka?nn by Per Gessle and Uno Svenningsson and says that’s a really long intro, but she doesn’t dare to talk during it when the artist is sitting here. After the song ends, Martina asks Per about how artists feel when program leaders talk over the intro on the radio. PG says it’s foolish. He doesn’t like people doing that, because you spend a lot of time making a very good intro. Haha. Martina informs that this song has an intro of 20.9 seconds, so there she has time to just talk and tell a funny anecdote about herself. Haha. She says Per could think about that in the future, if he doesn’t want people to talk over the songs.

Shirley says there aren’t that many intros in modern music. Per agrees. Shirley loves intros and solos and long outros. Shirley explains that she was sitting there listening to the radio when Per was at his best, in the beginning of his career and recorded the tracks. And then the program leaders talked both during the intro and the outro. It destroyed the whole thing. Then came Kaj Kindvall and was going to tell some shit about the song. She was so angry. Per laughs. Shirley says to Martina that she doesn’t want her to talk during her intro. Haha.

Martina asks Per how it is to work with other artists. Per thinks it’s lovely. The whole of Roxette is based on collaboration. Martina says that regarding Roxette, it was like the same collaboration all the time, but now it has changed. PG says when he starts doing anything, he starts from himself as a songwriter. That’s what they are building on. So was Roxette, too. When Marie came in and sang these songs, she turned them into her own songs, in her way, the way she sang. It’s a bit the same here when Per has chosen collaboration partners for this record: Amanda Ginsburg, Lena Philipsson or Molly Hammar. They come in and sort of make the songs their own. At least that’s the vision.

Martina asks Shirley about musical collaborations. Shirley loves it too. Even though she knows that she sings really well, she is afraid of asking for collaborations, because she doesn’t want them to say no. But now that she is 51, soon 52, she has promised herself to just ask the question. The worst can be that they say no, so what. She wants those collaborations to be as Per says, unique meetings. Then you can reach new levels together. Then it must be something that you haven’t heard before, she thinks. She has a list of people. Martina asks if she can reveal any name from the list. Shirley says Titiyo is one of her first ones that she would like to record something with, but she doesn’t know about it.

Martina wants to ask a thousand questions from Per. She is curious what it was like when he called Lena Philipsson and asked about collaboration in Roxette. PG explains Lena was in the studio with him in Halmstad and sang on the title song of his Swedish album Sällskapssjuk. Per was very impressed with her capacity, the way she thinks and the way she works. Then this token fell on him if she could imagine singing Roxette songs, because it would suit her very well. Per has been thinking for many, many years if he is going to do anything at all with the Roxette catalogue. Then he thought heck, he would talk to her. They met and he asked Lena if she wanted to… not to start a new band by any means, but mostly to go with Per and do concerts and sing Roxette songs. The girls ask Per what her reaction was. PG says she changed color. Haha. She disappeared rather quickly from that meeting, went home and thought for a bit. But then she came back after a few weeks and thought it was interesting. Then they met again.

Shirley thinks it’s an honourable task of its kind. Martina says it must feel so exciting to go out with this constellation. Per says that’s one of the reasons he thinks Lena went along with this. It’s something she hasn’t really done before. She has been around for so long, too, but she has never stood in front of 10,000 people in Melbourne or Cape Town. The girls say there aren’t that many Swedish artists who have had the chance for that.

Martina wants to know how the fans reacted. PG says there are of course many who wonder how it is possible to replace Marie. But she won’t replace Marie, that’s not the idea. As said, the idea is to manage the song catalogue. Per slowly but surely feels that people like this idea. A lot of tickets are sold, however, people don’t really know what they are buying tickets for. They are laughing. The girls say, but Per will be there. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but it’s going to be good, the girls say. It will be very exciting.

Here they play Shirley’s version of Blinka lilla stjärna. Martina thinks it’s very nice and emotional.

Martina and her guests start talking about melodies. She says this topic came up with other artists before, when they have a melody idea, they quickly record it on the phone. Martina wanted to listen to other artists’ such recordings, but they didn’t show them to her. Shirley says it would be fun if she sent one to Per and Per sent one to her and then Per would do her recording and she would do Per’s. Shirley says she hardly even understands herself, what she meant by some of these recordings. Both Shirley and Per sing in such cases. PG says it’s maybe one out of five that can be listened to. Four out of five sound like the vacuum cleaner is running. Haha. But sometimes it turns out nice. It can also be that you sit at home at the piano and then you come up with something and record it. But when the taxi is waiting, you just record it on the phone. Then you let it go and listen to it maybe three weeks later and realize it wasn’t that bad. Shirley says the vacuum cleaner demos that Per records usually turn out to be huge. Haha.

Martina is very curious about the archives filled with music, if Per and Shirley save everything or also delete files. Per says he listens to it and if he doesn’t get it, he deletes it. Shirley does the same. Only those remain of which you benefit from. If Per plays something on the piano, he writes what kind of chord it is or what date it is, because he won’t remember that three weeks later. Shirley says she doesn’t name the files, so when she scrolls down, there are files from the beginning, ever since her daughter was two. Then comes a file that says nothing, so she would delete it. She should go through the files and maybe name them now. Per asks her what she would name them then. Shirley says no clue. Maybe vacuum cleaner 241. Haha. Now that Shirley is cleaning the house, she found newspaper clippings as well and thought, why has she saved them. She is not the best at keeping things in order.

The girls are curious how Per is. If he collects things and if he is a hoarder. He doesn’t think so, but his wife is, PG says. Shirley doesn’t see it as a problem. She says that in Per’s case, he probably has a thousand awards and gold records and all that. Mr. G says he has only one gold record at home. It’s Flickorna på TV2 from 1980. All others are in a warehouse and at Hotel Tylösand. Martina asks Per what he collects at home then. Per says, as he said, he doesn’t think he is collecting anything. And he is pretty good at keeping things organized. He has his shoes where the shoes should be and the shirts where the shirts should be. Martina says he does seem like that. So this means Per doesn’t have a room that is filled with shit when you open the door. Per confirms there is no such room. Shirley says Hotel Tylösand sounds great for her stuff. She asks Per if she could have some space for her stuff there. They are laughing. Shirley realizes that she should get herself a hotel.

Martina says that during the songs they talked a lot about celebrities and being impressed by celebrities. Both she and Shirley have lived with Per Gessle and his music throughout their lives, so they have asked a thousand questions and praised Per a lot during the songs. Shirley has claimed that she is absolutely not one to run after celebrities and chase them, but there are two-three stories. One of them is related to Pink. Shirley tells a story when she met Pink in Sundsvall where they had a festival gig and went after Pink to the elevator and asked for a pic, but Pink didn’t want to have one. Shirley is not interested in celebrities, but Marie Fredriksson, Pink and Bette Midler meant a lot to her.

Martina asks Per if he has met anyone who has made him starstruck. Shirley laughs and says it was probably today, when Per met her. PG smiles and says, of course. He met some like Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen. These are big names, Martina says. She knows that Per is a calm person, but she wants to know if Per gets nervous when he meets these guys. PG says he becomes a little fan then and he would really want to sit down, have dinner with them and ask a thousand questions. But it never happened. The girls are happy to see that Per is human. He is a hit machine, but calm and human. They are laughing and Per says he is happy to hear that.

Martina says it turned out that Per is an ordinary person and it has also come to light that he is pedantic. They are the complete opposite with Shirley. Shirley likes it if there are a lot of things around her, while Per likes it to be clean, when there aren’t too many things around.

Per is also good at cleaning, he doesn’t stick to old stuff. Sometimes he finds himself sorting out old books from 1988 and old CDs that you never listen to. It just takes up space and you need space for other things. It’s the same with clothes. Martina was just about to ask about Per’s wardrobe. She asks Per and Shirley if they keep their stage clothes and clothes they were wearing at photo sessions. PG says he saves those. Martina says Per must have a lot of clothes like that. Per laughs and says Shirley probably has more. Martina asks if those clothes are also at Hotel Tylösand. Mr. G says most of them are at a warehouse. Martina says people would probably want to see those clothes. Per says they should expand the hotel. Martina says expand the hotel so that it becomes a museum with outfits and such. It would be fun.

Shirley organized a flea market where she was selling her clothes. There was a piece of clothes that she didn’t want to sell, just wanted to see how much it is worth, so there was an auction and the price went up to 25,000. She didn’t sell it in the end, it was a fake auction. Martina says it’s strange to joke with that. Shirley says it was very strange, because the one who put the highest bid there thought he got it. Per says, of course, because that’s how it works with auctions. Haha. Martina says this is not something she recommends, running fake auctions.

Martina turns to Per and asks him what he thinks, how it has been to get to know Shirley Clamp on live broadcast. Per thinks it was absolutely fantastic. They will be friends next time they meet. Martina asks Shirley how she feels. Shirley says what the listeners don’t see now is that she is sending some money to Per now to bribe. They are laughing. Shirley thinks it was great, it feels nice. Next time they meet, they will say hi. Shirley says Per seems genuine and he seems so nice. Some giant artists like hime are not so nice. Per says he is super nice. Shirley says she likes Martina as well, every time she comes here. Martina likes both her guests too.

Martina asks PG what his weekend plans are. Per says since he has released his record today, he has TV on Sunday. He will be on Efter fem. Then he will have a lot of IDs to record with Lena. IDs when you say „hi this is Per and this is Lena”. So they are filming these for Australia and different cities. And then there is F1 from Mexico. He likes F1. Martina says how exciting. But they just drive round and round. Per says they do, but it’s not that bad. Haha. It’s definitely not boring. Martina asks Per if he loves engines and cars and likes to drive really fast. PG says he likes cars, but he doesn’t necessarily need to drive very fast. Shirley says it’s good, because she wants to hear more music in the future. She laughs at how dramatic she was here, but if you drive too fast, accidents can happen and she wants to hear more music. It’s good not to drive too fast.

Shirley is free at the weekend. She might go to the flea market. Martina reminds her that she is cleaning the house now, so she doesn’t need any more stuff. Shirley says maybe she doesn’t need to buy anything, but she gets inspiration. Then there are rehearsals for Mamma Mia! – The Party.

Martina summarizes that there is a new album by Per, there will be Roxette concerts next year. Shirley asks Per how Martina and she could go to Per’s concerts. PG says he will fix that. Sommartider is available on Viaplay from November.

Here the girls and Per thank for the show and say goodbye.

Stills are from RIX FM’s instastories.

 

Per Gessle and the creators about “Joyride – The Musical” on Swedish Radio P1 Kultur

Swedish Radio P1 Kultur did a reportage about Joyride – The Musical before its world premiere on 6th September. Besides the main characters, the director and the costume designer, they also talked to Per. Listen to it HERE!

The program starts with the introduction of Roxette, a Swedish duo that took the world by storm in the late ’80s. They formed their band in 1986, but the first time Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle sang together on a record was five years earlier. Here they play Ingenting av vad du behöver, a Gyllene Tider song from 1981. Five years later they formed Roxette and became one of Sweden’s biggest pop exports.

Now their music has been revived in Joyride – The Musical at Malmö Opera, which has its world premiere on 6th September.

The program brings you behind the scenes, so you can take part in the preparations for the premiere. Before that, Jenny Teleman talks about good old MTV, her memories of those times and then Roxette’s history and heydays.

The script of the musical is based on English author Jane Fallon’s novel Got You Back, published in 2008. It’s a triangle drama that touches on topics such as infidelity and double life. So a lot of emotions are involved, which Roxette’s music fits perfectly. There are a few days left until the world premiere and you will get to accompany reporter Johanna Olofsson to take part in the preparations for Joyride – The Musical.

In one of the halls at Malmö Opera, rehearsals for Joyride – The Musical are in full swing. Jessica Marberger and Alexander Lycke, who play two of the main characters, are on stage and three child actors as well. The musical is not about Roxette itself, which Per Gessle is happy about.

Per says:

There has never been any discussion about writing a story about Roxette in particular. It’s not a documentary thing about Roxette. I think it’s more fun if it has an independent story and you use the music as the spice of this story.

The script is based on the novel Got You Back written by British author Jane Fallon. It has been reworked into a musical script by Klas Abrahamsson and then adjusted by director Guy Unsworth who wants to find a world where the music leads the drama.

Guy says:

This is my kind of adaptation of the piece, turning it into something that feels like it is a part of the music and related to the music. I wanted to find a world where the music would really lead the drama.

The story revolves around Stephanie who lives in London with Joe and their teenage daughter Stella. One day, Stephanie finds a note in Joe’s pocket that makes her suspect that he is cheating.

Jessica Marberger, who plays Stephanie, says:

I don’t want to reveal too much, but by accident, she discovers that her husband is in another relationship and everything she thought was very good was apparently not very good. So her world is turned a little upside down and then the whole story takes off.

When Stephanie contacts the note’s sender, Katie, it turns out that she is also in a relationship with Joe, who has been living a double life. The women then decide to join forces and take revenge on Joe played by Alexander Lycke.

Alexander says:

It’s basically infidelity, but I think it can hit quite a lot of people on how you feel in such a situation, also how you act, like these two women do. Roxette’s songs fit perfectly a story like this with broken heartache and such stuff. So it will be fun.

Guy says:

I think what’s amazing about Roxette’s music is particularly Per’s lyrics of a glimpse into the abstract world, or the non real world. The world of people’s minds. The music is expressing what people don’t say in real life. That’s really nice to have the dialogue representing the real world and then this music opening up that real world and exploring something more abstract and more magical inside.

Director Guy Unsworth believes that Per’s lyrics with their abstract qualities stand in good contrast to the dialogue in the musical that represents real life.

When Per Gessle is asked which songs will be included in the musical, the answer is:

It’s not that hard to guess, perhaps, but the big songs that are the sharpest in the musical world are of course our big ballads, Spending My Time, Listen To Your Heart, It Must Have Been Love,  Queen Of Rain, Fading Like A Flower. There are as many as you like. I write very melodic music and there are big gestures at times. It should fit in the musical world very well.

The music has been reworked by Per Gessle’s extended arms in Roxette, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist in collaboration with Joakim Hallin, who is the conductor of the orchestra.

Per says:

I haven’t had any direct wishes or opinions about how it should be other than that I think it should be very much Roxette. I think the worst that can happen is that it sounds like a Roxette cover band playing this. You want it to sound like the soul of Roxette is present in some way. It sounds fuzzy, but I’m a little fuzzy sometimes.

To the question what the hardest part of the process has been so far, Per replies:

For me it’s getting used to the fact that you leave things to other people who decide. I’m quite used to doing what I want. When working with Malmö Opera and directors and orchestras, there are a lot of people involved. It’s a different way of working than I’m normally used to.

The program brings you to Malmö Opera’s costume studio. Costume designer Torbjörn Bergström says:

This is where all the costumes are made and now we are inside the actual tailoring. Here are all the tailors sitting, working feverishly on the Joyride costumes now.

300 costumes will be used in the show and half of them will be made from scratch with designs by Torbjörn Bergström.

Torbjörn continues:

Roxette for me is very colorful. Therefore, I immediately felt that it is important that there are a lot of colors in the performance. It’s 1994, but you can say that everything between 1989 and 1994 is part of this performance.

It was also in the ’90s when Roxette had its heydays, after they broke through in the US in 1989 with The Look. Today they have sold more than 80 million albums with a string of chart-topping hits.

In the costume studio, the work continues and the tailors ask Torbjörn for help in making a decision. This is how they work. It’s part of the job, Torbjörn says.

You have to make a lot of decisions all the time. Much of what you decide, you cannot change on stage, because once something is cut, it’s cut. And as a costume designer, you also design masks and wigs. If there is one thing that’s very definitive, it’s cutting a wig. It doesn’t grow back. Haha.

At the moment, ten costume designers and four tailors are working on costumes for the Joyride musical. Johanna talks to one of them, who test sews a T-shirt for one of the actors. She says it’s common to test sew things, especially when you are a little uncertain about the fabric and its characteristics. Test sewing makes you feel safe. She thinks it’s super fun working on the Joyride costumes, because they are very varied. All are individual costumes.

Torbjörn says:

It is very grateful that the set is in a world of fashion. That’s a very, very big advantage of this show. It would be difficult to bring in so much color and shape in other contexts. This way there is no limit to how much fashion and high fashion you can get into the show.

During the course of the musical, Stephanie’s character goes from working as a stylist to working as a designer, so the sewing room is filled with her half-finished costumes. Costume designer Torbjörn Bergström is standing at a workbench, flipping through his many sketches of models in colorful, pattern-softening creations.

Here you can see all the intricate patterns and then accessories on top of that. It must not be messy. It is very important. When I make a sketch, that’s why I often copy it down so that it’s quite small and I can see how it looks from a distance. You must remember that it is a very large theatre with many seats and many sit very far away. It is important that even those who sit very far away can take part in everything.

The reporter mentions that Roxette will go on tour and Per brings Lena Philipsson as the singer. Marie Fredriksson passed away in 2019, but Per thinks she would have liked that Roxette’s music now becomes a musical.

I think she would have thought it was amazing. She was much more interested in musicals than I really was from the beginning. So I think she would have thought this was really cool. I’ve never been a huge musical fan myself. It’s a new chapter in the book of my life and it’s exciting to step into it.

The first request to make Roxette into a musical came back in 2016.

There were different versions by several people. They have written scripts and they have even showcased it to me and performed eight songs with dancers and an orchestra in London. I have turned it down, because I didn’t like the script. So Malmö Opera was not the first one on it, but it became Malmö Opera, because it is a fantastic organization and it has a very fine and large orchestra. I was there at one of the previous orchestra rehearsals and it’s really cool to sit in the middle and hear a big orchestra play your music. It will be a completely different trip than two guitars and drums and bass that I’m used to in the rehearsal room.

To the question how important it is to him that Roxette’s music becomes a musical, Per replies:

It’s a big thing and it’s exciting. It feels great and I have a good feeling about it in every way. I hope this musical will be a success, so that it can go on around the planet, just like Roxette did once upon a time.

Per Gessle on RIX MorronZoo

Per was a guest on RIX FM’s morning show RIX MorronZoo on 7th May. You can listen to the podcast HERE!

PG enters the studio at 8:06 am and program leaders Laila Bagge and Roger Nordin feel honoured to have him on the show. They introduce Per as the superstar, the car collector, the podcaster, the summer boy, the hitmaker, Sweden’s sharpest songwriter. Per thanks for the warm welcome. Roger wants to know what Per thinks about early mornings. PG says he can hear it from his voice (he has this hoarse morning voice). Roger thinks Per looks lively and fresh.

The hosts say it’s starting to be Per’s season, summer soon, but they are wondering what he is doing during winter. Writing songs, Laila says. Roger asks PG if people spontaneously sing to him when they pass him in town. Per replies, „no, thank God.”

Laila mentions that she was at Per’s house when he was very, very young and asks Per to tell about it. It was more than 20 years ago. Mr. G tells the story that Laila’s ex husband, Anders Bagge got in touch and wondered if they could write a song together. Per almost never does that, writing a song together with someone else, because he likes to work by himself. But then he said of course and invited Anders to his home and he came to say hello with Laila. Then either Anders and Laila ended up at some party in the evening, so Anders cancelled the job the day after. Laila is still wondering how one can book time with Per to write a song and then cancel it. PG says Anders was a little tired. Roger asks Per if it isn’t good to write music when you are a little hungover. Per says it can be good. Laila says that instead of writing a song, they went to see all of Per’s cars and that was nice.

Regarding writing music with others, Roger is curious if it is hard to tell the others if you feel that it didn’t turn out well. He asks PG if he is afraid of conflicts. Per says he doesn’t think so. Writing songs for him is kind of a private process. He wants to do it for 30 seconds and then he wants to do something else. Then he goes back to it. He is not sitting like they are sitting here now. So Roger says it’s not like Per goes to an office and writes three hits. Haha.

Laila says Per is about to release a new album. Roger asks PG what he is up to now. Per says there is a lot of stuff going on. Last Friday he released a single in Swedish with Lena Philipsson. It’s the title track of his upcoming LP, Sällskapssjuk. It’s out this fall. It consists of many duets with various Swedish artists. Roger is curious what those artists said when Per called them and asked if they wanted to join. If there was anyone who said no. PG says he didn’t call them, he sent emails. Haha. He says it has been a very cool process. This song was actually recorded a year ago, so some time has passed. It was very cool. For every duet he has done, the style of the album has changed a little. It’s a really cool album, he thinks. It’s among the coolest records he has been a part of.

Then there will be a tour as well, in a year. That’s a completely different thing. Roxette is going on a tour together with Lena Philipsson. Laila asks Per what made him feel that Lena should join them on this tour. Per says he has been thinking for many years how he should manage the Roxette songs. He came to the conclusion that there are really only two ways to go. Either you leave it at that or you continue in some way. And it’s not so easy to continue, of course. If Marie had existed, they would certainly have been out on tour. When Per worked with Lena and recorded Sällskapssjuk, he thought shit, she ticks all the boxes. She is a great singer, she is great on stage. She is experienced and they come somewhat from the same generation. So Per asked her and of course she was terrified. Per invited her to his home and they sat by the piano and tested some Roxette songs. It was magical, he thinks.

Roger asks Per if he discovered Lena’s greatness already in the ’80s when he wrote Dansa i neon for her. Per says it wasn’t him, he wrote Kärleken är evig. Roger says sorry and asks if they will perform Kärleken är evig on tour. PG says no, they will perform only old Roxette songs.

Here they listen to Sällskapssjuk.

Roger says Per is a living legend. He explains how to say living legend in Swedish. Roger says Per works more than ever. There is a musical in progress with Roxette music and it premieres on 6th September and then there is a film about Gyllene Tider that premieres this summer. And then there is the duet album. And then there is this Roxette project together with Lena Philipsson. Laila says one would think you take it easier and do things calmly when you get a little older and just enjoy it. Roger wants to know if Per will ever stop working. Per says this is really a bit much that is happening now.

Roger says there is a big trend right now that artists and bands want to live forever with the help of avatars. There is ABBA, there is Kiss. They will be on stage forever with the help of this new technology. Roger asks Per what his plans are with Gyllene Tider, if he is working on something like that. PG says, no. Then maybe Roxette, Laila asks. Per says, no, he doesn’t know. It feels a bit far-fetched, he thinks.

Roger says they thought to check how much Per knows about his own music. He says the intro quiz is very cool, but now they thought to run an outro quiz with PG. So he gets to hear the last second of some fantastic Gessle songs and he gets a Cosmopolitan for every correct answer. Because it’s Cosmopolitan day today. Here comes outro number one. Laila says it wasn’t easy, but Per knows the answer, it’s Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång. Roger finds it cool that Per wrote a song about Cole Porter. PG says he saw a movie with Jack Lemmon called Save The Tiger, a fantastic film. Per thinks Jack Lemmon won an Oscar for his role. There is a scene where someone asks him if there is something he missed that hasn’t happened in his life and he looks into eternity and says, I want that girl in a Cole Porter song. PG thought shit, that sounds good.

Here comes outro number two. Per doesn’t really have that, but he says it sounded like a good guitar sound. Roger shows what song it was, Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång). Roger loves how Per sings „här kommer alla känslorna på en och samma gång”. Per doesn’t really know why it became like this, it just happened. He even heard that Bert Karlsson thought it was elaborate, but it wasn’t.

So Per has one Cosmo so far and here comes outro number three. PG immediately says it’s Leva livet. Roger says maybe we will hear this song in the GT movie. Per says, absolutely.

There is one last outro, a guitar ending again. PG says it’s Tycker om när du tar på mej. So Per has three Cosmopolitans. He says that’s enough, it’s only Monday. Roger says they will drink it in Tylösand in summer.

Roger asks PG some quick questions too. Per has to choose between two things.

Listen To Your Heart or The Look? Per says, „shit pommes frites”. He likes The Look.

Halmstad or Stockholm? He says that’s hard too. He likes Halmstad. But he likes Stockholm too.

Ferrari Testarossa or Ferrari 212 Inter? Per takes the Testarossa. It’s his childhood. The other one is so very old, even he is not that old. Per loves Ferrari, Roger says.

Grit your teeth or break up? Grit your teeth, Per says. Laila says you see a clear difference in the answers of different artists or actors. There is an age limit where people start saying break up, because nowadays you have to break up. Laila’s whole generation is grit your teeth.

Per Gessle competes as an artist in Melodifestivalen or Per Gessle competes in Hela kändis-Sverige bakar? PG says his wife would have loved to see him bake, but both are totally unlikely. But he is absolutely in love with the baking show. Roger says they will sign Per up for that then. Haha.

Speed camera or speed bump? Per hates both equally. Roger says there is this rumor about the speed bumps in Tylösand and asks PG if it’s true. Per says no. Laila doesn’t know about this rumor, so Roger explains it’s about these speed bumps that Per demanded to be removed in Tylösand, because the cars were damaged. But that wasn’t true.

Champagne or beer? PG picks champagne.

Halmia or Halmstad BK? Per picks Halmia.

Roger thanks Per for stopping by the studio this morning. PG says it’s always a pleasure. Roger plays a morning applause on the computer and tells Per to make sure he takes some time off this summer too. Laila will possibly come by and check out Per’s cars. Per says welcome and Laila promises she won’t be hungover this time.

Stills are from RIX MorronZoo’s instastory.

Per Gessle on Lotta Bromé’s show at Mix Megapol

Per Gessle was a guest on Lotta Bromé’s show at Mix Megapol last Friday. John Lundvik and Daniel Paris were on the same program and them 4 talked about Per’s upcoming album, duets, the GT movie and the signs of spring among other fun things. You can listen to the show HERE.

When Lotta welcomes her guests and asks who wants to talk about their week, Daniel is shocked. He says it’s huge, because he has never heard his name in the same sentence as Per Gessle. The only time was when they said, „Daniel, please stop calling Per Gessle”. Haha. He had a stalker period where he called up celebrities. Lotta asks Per how it feels that they have brought a stalker here today when Per is on the show. PG says he is in shock. Haha.

Lotta asks Per how he feels and Mr. G replies he feels great, he loves Fridays. Lotta agrees that it’s perhaps the best day of the week, especially now that Per releases new music. She says they will listen to it in a moment.

Lotta turns to the other two guys and they talk about Semmelchips, because Daniel brought it to the studio. Per refuses to even taste it. He says it’s not for him. He smelled them and it was horrible. Lotta asks him how much of a gourmet he is. PG says he is a pretty basic type of person. So he likes pasta and ketchup and instant macaroni, Lotta says. Mr. G says maybe not so much ketchup, but pasta and instant macaroni, there are days when he eats such stuff. John is trying to sort out that Per Gessle is basic. They are laughing. John has three kids, so they eat a lot of pasta and meatballs.

Space travel pops up as a topic. Lotta is curious if Per is longing for travelling in space. PG smiles and says he isn’t, he stays in Halmstad. Haha.

While Daniel is still starstruck by Per, Lotta starts talking about Per’s upcoming album, a record with many duets. Mr. G says wanted to try something new. At his age, he tries to find a new angle in every project he does. He had a lot of songs that he thought would work well as duets, so that became the angle. Not all the songs became duets, but there will be seven or eight duets on this record. The album title is Sällskapssjuk. Lotta thinks it’s such a great title, she loves it. She says Cher released a Christmas album with duets last year, but she never met anyone who sang along. Lotta is curious how it was with Per’s duets. Mr. G says it was the opposite for him. He met everyone in Halmstad and they were together in the studio and had dinner then. He had a good time with everyone. Lotta wants to know how he chose who to work with. Per says the first thing, of course, was that he liked their voices. The second was that it would work reasonably well with keys and such, purely in terms of arrangement. Some songs he had to re-work a bit to make it work, but it has been very nice all the way. Lotta asks if Per could reveal any more duet partners. Per says he could if he wanted to, but he doesn’t want to. Haha. Lotta says she will ask that question again before Per leaves, so Mr. G should be prepared for what he will answer then, because he can’t say the same answer twice. PG says he can use another language.

Lotta asks John about duets. He says one of his big moments in life was when in 2010 he had to write a duet for the wedding of Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. [The song is When You Tell The World You’re Mine. /PP] He is a real sucker for duets. Lotta asks him if he is on Per’s new album. John laughs and says he can’t say anything. Lotta says he can’t answer the same when she asks this question again. Haha. Lotta assumes Daniel is not Per’s upcoming album of duets. Daniel says he doesn’t kiss and tell or sing and tell on the radio. He likes the title of the album Sällskapssjuk. It’s with great humor, because it’s called Sällskapssjuk and then there are a lot of guest artists.

Lotta asks Daniel how sociable he is. Daniel says he can have very introverted periods where he just wants to be devoted to himself and then he has periods where he is really extroverted, his emotions burst out and he wants to hang out with people.

Lotta is wondering if anyone was surprised when Per called them and wanted to do a duet with them. PG says he didn’t ring, but sent an email and a text and stuff like that. Daniel laughs and says they probably thought they were AI-hacked and they could have asked Per to send them a picture of the daily paper to get proof it’s not AI.

Lotta says John has a bottle of his new wine with him, named after him, Pour Toi John Lundvik. She asks John to open it so everyone can taste it.

 

Lotta starts talking about Melodifestivalen with John. He was the winner a couple of years ago and he says he tries not to be that involved sometimes, but he automatically gets into it every Saturday. When he won, it was a door opener on many levels. Lotta turns to Per and says he was also involved, but not as an artist. He helped write the lyrics to Kärleken är evig. And Lasse Lindbom participated with Per’s song, För dina bruna ögons skull. Per laughs and says that became the last song that year. Lotta is wondering if Per ever feels like he wants to be there. Per’s answer is a clear no. It’s not really his cup of tea. In fact, he hasn’t seen any of the Melodifestivalen episodes in the last ten years. Lotta is surprised, but she says Per saw Madonna at least, as they were talking about concerts before. He was at the concert for twenty minutes or so, then he left. Lotta asks John if it happened to him too. John says he never left a concert, but he has friends who did exactly the same as Per. Lotta says she and Daniel stayed, but people left, because Madonna was really late. Daniel thinks that’s why people left. It was a working day the next day.

Lotta is getting back to Melodifestivalen and asks Per if he knows about Fröken Snusk. Per has no idea about her. Also doesn’t know about Gunilla Persson. John says he was in Fort Boyard, on the TV show “Fångarna på fortet” and they competed with Gunilla at the same time. She was nice to talk with. She was also nice to John the other day when he posted a cover of Whitney Houston on Instagram. Then she spread it further and John thought it was very nice. Gunilla Persson is Sweden’s kindest and most misunderstood person, Daniel thinks. This woman has a heart of gold, he thinks. Lotta says she has met another person who had been with Gunilla at the Fort and who had slightly different types of stories related to that. Daniel defends Gunilla and he thinks in Sweden, people are a little too hard on her.

Lotta plays Too Late For Love, song of John Lundvik that was the winner 5 years ago at Melodifestivalen. John says it’s still fun to hear it, however, when you have a hit, it’s a little love and hate. He is looking at Per. For example, he thinks of Lionel Richie when he sings Hello. It might not be fun for him to sing it every night, but he still loves it somehow. Lotta asks Per how he feels about this. He has a lot of hits. Lotta is wondering if there are any songs Per got tired of and never intend to perform again. Per says he thinks a bit like what John says, that you have to respect that it’s actually music that a lot of people like. When you stand on a stage and play Sommartider with Gyllene Tider, it might not be the most fun musically, but the communication create with this song is priceless. He thinks all artists feel the same way.

Now that John mentioned Lionel Richie, Lotta asks if he was in the movie that both John and Per recommended on Netflix. Yes, it’s a documentary about the recording of We Are The World in the happy ’80s. Lotta asks what is so special about this docu, because there are several who say don’t miss this. Per thinks it’s a very cool movie. It was a cool decade with very cool shoulder pads in the jackets and high hairstyles. John says you get an insight in that room, the reason why he sings today. It’s the absolute elite in that room and everyone went there after a party. Daniel thought this was a Julia Roberts movie. Haha. Lotta asks Daniel about Britney Spears. He says he has just read her book for the seventeenth time and he sees new shades all the time. Daniel asks Per what he thinks about Britney Spears. Per says he doesn’t think anything about Britney Spears. She was damn cool when she broke through. She had very good songs that Max Martin put together at the time. Daniel’s reaction is „did you all hear? Per Gessle approves of Britney.”

Lotta starts talking about Per’s upcoming movie about Gyllene Tider. Per says it’s not his movie. Haha. Lotta asks if PG is happy with the actor who plays him. Per is really happy with him. He is Valdemar Wahlbeck. He has the same ridiculous dialect that Per has, so that helps, Mr. G says. Lotta adds he is Peter Wahlbeck’s son. Per says he is super talented. Lotta goes on and says there is a Parnevik boy who will play Micke Syd on drums. Phoenix Parnevik. Lancelot Hedman Graaf plays Anders Herrlin, Sweden’s most handsome guy in 1981. Lotta asks when the movie will be finished. It’s still in cutting phase, so it will premiere at the cinema in July. Lotta is wondering how Per will feel when he sees it. Per doesn’t really know what he got himself into with this one. Haha. Lotta asks whether Per has approved the script or he has given free hand. It’s not a biography, PG explains, but it’s based on a true story with some artistic freedom taken. But it will be fun, Per thinks.

Now Lotta and the guys are talking about the signs of spring. For Daniel, the biggest sign of spring is that many of his old friends have started contacting him. Haha. John has broken down after this answer, so Lotta gets down to Per. Mr. G says it’s a little hard to top Daniel’s answer, but for him it’s that the Formula One season starts. He is crazy about Formula One and it starts in Bahrain next weekend. There are test days this weekend. It’s a fantastic thing according to Per. Lotta asks him if he is going there, to Bahrain. Per won’t go there, but he tries to go to at least one race a year. Lotta asks where he has planned to go this season. Per doesn’t really know, but he would love to go to Las Vegas. But it’s not until November. Lotta says that dude, the one who is supposed to be the best has switched teams, if she knows it right. Per asks if she means Lewis Hamilton. He will switch teams next year. It will be exciting.

John’s spring sign is left for last. John says he is now talking as a father, so the spring sign for him is when the gravel is swept away, because the kids are out skateboarding and riding bikes.

Here Lotta plays a new song, Misstag by Miss Li. She is curious if any of the three guys would put this song on their playlists. John would add it to his playlist, he thinks it’s cool and it would be great to hear it live. It would be sweaty. It’s almost like a rap. Daniel likes Miss Li a lot, he thinks she is very talented. Lotta says that the texts of all Miss Li songs work even when they are translated into English. It’s really special. Per agrees that it’s special, but it isn’t really his cup of tea. But he can hear the charm of this one. But it probably wouldn’t end up on his playlist. He has a lot more older songs on it. Daniel says he likes it, Per likes it too, although it’s not his kind of music. You can still like things. Not everything is for everyone. We have to respect that. But we love Per Gessle, Daniel says. They are laughing.

Lotta asks Per if Miss Li is one of his duet partners. Mr. G says, unfortunately, he can’t answer that. As Per said earlier that he would reply to Lotta’s question in another language, Lotta asks him in English, then Per says „sorry, I don’t understand”. Haha.

Lotta asks the guys what they are going to do today. Jan Lundvik, what are you going to do today? They are taking it easy. Lotta turns to Per and asks him in English if he is making some international phone calls. Per answers yes, of course. He says, jokes aside, he is going to take it easy this weekend. He will do Nyhetsmorgon on Sunday morning.

Lotta thanks everyone for coming and the guys say goodbye.

Pic from Janne Innanfors’s Instagram

Per Gessle’s single premiere on P4 Extra

P4 Extra premiered Per Gessle’s new single, Beredd last Thursday. Titti Schultz invited Per on the show. You can listen to it HERE, 43:24 into the program.

Titti welcomes Per and offers him some sweets. Some remaining candies from the Eurovision panel where they discussed the songs. Per points at a sweet and says it looks completely life-threatening. He loves sweets. Titti is curious if there are any of those in the bowl that Per is particularly fond of. Per says he actually likes all of them. He likes everything with chocolate. He also likes liquorice, black liquorice, salty liquorice and sweet liquorice. He points at one that he doesn’t like. Titti says it’s peach. Mr. G says it’s the kind of nonsense he doesn’t have. He says he has reached the age that he likes Bridge Blanding and stuff like that. Titti says it’s something you grow up to. Haha.

Titti says she has claimed today that Per has become a bit sociable (longing for company). Sällskapssjuk. At least that’s the title of the upcoming album, coming this fall. The first taste comes tomorrow. Titti says Per sings a duet with Molly Sandén, but Per corrects her that it’s Molly Hammar. Titti excuses herself and says it’s her who read it completely wrong. She laughs and says they will have to cut that out later.

Titti asks Per if he considers himself a sociable person. She is curious if it’s more fun to work with others than to work alone. Per thinks he is sociable, like anyone else. But he is quite much of a lone wolf as well. It is a rather solitary work that he has chosen, to write and compose and think about ideas. He is pretty much to himself. Titti says there are artists who gather in large groups and are working on creating songs together. She wants to know if that would have worked for Per. Mr. G says he has tried that, but he gets tired, because there is so much compromising and that doesn’t suit him. But of course, he also needs feedback. If we look at his entire career, he has been very dependent on collaborators. Producers, Marie Fredriksson, the entire Gyllene Tider band, not to mention all the people behind the scenes who have helped him. So he is not alone in that way. Titti asks if it is always Per Gessle who has the last word. Per asks back if she means on planet earth. Haha. Titti says, knowing Per, the world would look different if he had the last word. She referred to having the last word regarding Per’s music. PG’s reaction is „absolutely”. He has always been lucky and privileged to be in the position of being able to do so.

Titti wants to know how Molly Hammar and Per found each other, how this collaboration came about. Per says it came about because he thought of writing an album in Swedish. After a while he realized that it would be fun to do a lot of duets. And that’s why the record is called Sällskapssjuk. It contains seven or eight duets. He can’t really remember, but it doesn’t matter. Haha. And if he had this song, he thought he would love to work with Molly, because she is a fantastic singer. She has that little extra that makes you want to listen to her. He met Molly in a TV show a few years ago, then he got into contact with her and asked if she wanted to join. Per was so proud and happy that she said yes. Then Molly came to Halmstad and they spent a few hours in the studio. Then they had a good dinner in Tylösand and now Per is sitting here.

Titti says we have to wait a little longer for the album, but the first single is here. It’s called Beredd. Titti is curious if there are only newly written songs on the album or if Per has picked up any favourites from the past. Per says there is an old Gyllene Tider song that they did on their English record in 1984. He translated it into Swedish and he has recorded it in a completely different version, so you might not even recognize it. That sounds exciting, Titti says.

Titti asks Per if he could tell about some more duet partners that he has worked together with, but Per doesn’t reveal any other names. You’ll have to wait and see. Titti accepts that she shouldn’t be nagging Per.

Titti mentions that the last time they met, they were talking about the Gyllene Tider movie that was in the making back then. Now the premiere is getting closer, the film is out this summer. Titti is curious how much of it Per has seen. PG says he hasn’t seen much more than 5-6 scenes, which are much fun. He is really looking forward to this movie. He thinks he said that when they last met that the script is great fun and he really hopes that the film will be as fun as the script. Because then it is a home run and everyone will love it.

Titti and Per start talking about Joyride – The Musical, the Roxette musical, which has its world premiere at Malmö Opera this autumn. Titti is happy that it comes true, because earlier there were thoughts about a musical, but it has been scrapped before. Per says, many people have contacted them and wanted to do a Roxette musical, but it has always failed on the script, that the script has not felt good enough. It’s not that easy to make a script where you have to add this song catalogue in the right way. But now they have succeeded. The story is based on a book called Got You Back, written by Jane Fallon from England. It’s a very exciting project. Per says anything can happen, but he thinks it will be amazing. Titti guesses Per is pretty much involved in it. PG confirms. Last week he was down in Malmö for two days and attended the readings and met people and listened and discussed. So he is absolutely involved. After all, these are his songs. Titti says Per has to have the last word there too. They are laughing.

Titti thinks it will be lovely to hear the whole album of duets. Now they should listen to Per and Molly Hammar. It’s the premiere, because this song is not out yet. It is released tomorrow.

Before they play the song, Titti thanks Per for coming and says it was nice to see him. PG says it’s always fun. Titti offers Mr. G the remaining sweets. They are laughing.

Photo by Helen Ling, Swedish Radio

Thanx for the hint regarding the interview, Martina Letochová!