3 Jan 1997

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (I): Jive with Clive

On 1st December 1996 people from Lund, Sweden, could listen in Radio P3 a new indie band from the city.

Jive with Clive are
  • Helena Josefsson - singer
  • Johan Duncanson - guitar
  • Fredrick Whitling - lead-guitar and keyboards
  • Olof Martinsson - bass
  • Per Blomgren - drums
The members have been working together since they were at seventh grade at School. Firstly, in 1995, Johan Duncanson and his friend Elin Almered began the forgotten project The Radio Dept. Last year, Johan talked to other partners to form a band. They needed a female voice and this time Helena joined instead of Elin as singer.

They have some gigs with this name, Jive with Clive. You could have listened to their most famous song at Sveriges Radio P3 Pop: The poster (in their list on 23rd September 1996) and Take a dive (on 28th October 1996).


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The most important performance of Jive with Clive was on 31st October 1996, in Mejeriet, Lund. The Scandinavian Indie Digest reported it last November:

Jive with Clive was recorded at Mejeriet in Lund the last Thursday of October. Elin Olson (Elin_Olson@skola.agora.se) was there and has not much to say more than: Don't miss Radio P3 Live on 1st December 1996 (the Mejeriet show was recorded and it would be in the radio). Erik Soderstrom (chief@lysator.liu.se) was also there and says that Jive with Clive were great but they should rename their band. Erik can't compare them to any other bands, but he is sure they're not alone in this genre ("I guess it's some sort of pop)". According to Erik, Jive with Clive have a fantastic female singer and the average age in the band is 18. They have appeared on Musikjournalen Pop twice.
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Jive with Clive also played at Klubb Indigo, the Friday club in Blekingska Nationen (Province of Blekinge student community in Lund). The performance was on 8th November. Now they are working in more stuff for future gigs.

1 Jan 1997

Are Per, Clarence and Christoffer gonna start a new band? (I): New Year's Eve

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I think i'm gonna start a band.
The great depression is at hand.
People will mourn across the lands.
Yeah, i'm gonna start a band.
Bandstarter, Brainpool


The lyrics from Brainpool's song could be a premonition. Yesterday, New Year's Eve (December 31st, 1996), the Swedish indie pop band Brainpool played My sweet lord and She's so fine in TV4, Sweden. And they did not play alone.

"My Sweet Lord" is a song by former Beatle George Harrison from his triple album All Things Must Pass. The song is primarily about god, but about any religion god. The single was released in 1970. Following the song's release, musical similarities between "My Sweet Lord" and The Chiffons hit "He's so fine" led to a lengthy legal battle over the rights to the composition. The Chiffons would later record "My Sweet Lord" to capitalize on the publicity generated by the lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, Harrison bought the rights to "He's So Fine".

I really want to know you
Really want to go with you
Really want to show you lord
That it wont take long, my lord (hallelujah)
My sweet lord

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Yesterday, the surprise came in the backing vocals: Eggstone and Gyllene Tider!!!! (the 80's Swedish band of Per Gessle) sang with Brainpool.

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I think it is the first time Per Gessle plays together with Brainpool, although Brainpool was the support band in the Roxette Crash! Boom! Bang! European Tour (1994-1995).

A nice performance indeed.



In fansites, it is said that Per Gessle has been recording his new English solo album with Clarence Öfwerman (Roxette producer), some members of Gyllene Tider (MP Persson, Micke Andersson and Anders Herrlin) and other members of Brainpool (Christoffer Lundquist and Jens Jansson). They began the recordings last September 1996 and the album will be ready very soon.

Sooner or later
I hope it's not later
We gotta get together
The sooner the better
I just can't wait, I just can't wait
He's so fine

P, C & C: Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist working together. Could it be the beginning of a new band? Oh yea.



PER: So how did you approach the whole thing?
Gessle: I wrote some songs and then got in the best pop band in Sweden - Brainpool - to help me kick some butt. Mine, that is. But I also used my former band Gyllene Tider. We were teenage heroes in Scandinavia shortly after the heydays of punk, but re-formed for Scandinavia's biggest tour ever in the summer of 1996. And I figured it was a good idea to tap that well of energy and creativity right after the tour finished in August. So I've been lucky to record with two of my favourite bands.

PER: What did Marie Fredriksson (Roxette) say when you told her you were going solo?
Gessle: I guess she knew it was coming after the "Crash!" tour. We'd been working together almost non-stop since 1988 and had tremendous success. Sooner or later you have to do something else to get new inspiration, to avoid getting stuck in the rut. Marie never gave up her Swedish solo career, but I've always focused everything on Roxette. So I figured it was time to take some time off and just see what I could do on my own.

PER: But it's not the first time, is it?
Gessle: Well, I've done two Swedish solo albums before, in 1983 and 1985, and Marie has done five. So I figured it was about time to catch up.

PER: Speaking about pop. Do you listen to new stuff as much as you used to?
Gessle: As you might remember I started collecting pop records early. I had 100 LP's when I as 10. A manic collector and chart-follower from day one, which must be when "I Feel Fine" was released. And so it went on until Roxette broke through. But five-six years ago, during the "Joyride"-days, so much time was spent on writing, touring, recording and promoting that I hardly had the time to listen to anything new at all. At the end of 1995 I started buying new records and today I'm reasonably hip again. But time passes, one gets older and gets new hobbies. I've built a beach house, got me a canary bird, discovered vintage port and bought a Ferrari. Spoiled brat, you know.
Per Gessle



By chance in 1991 a friend of mine (David Birde) who played in a band called Brainpool that none had ever heard about asked me if I could be the stand-in for their bass player. He was going to do military service for a year. So I joined them and when the time came for the original bassist to come back I'd gotten so involved in the music the rest of the band felt I should stay permanently. I did and two years later we released our first album.

Brainpool signed a contract with Per’s new publishing company in 1994. He started it to invest some money in music that he liked; I think he wanted to be a part of the music industry in a positive and creative way by starting this publishing company that would deal with good music, real music. Not music as a business. Brainpool was the first band he signed to his company and he was sort of a fan of Brainpool. So he asked us to be the support act for Roxette's 1994 Crash!Boom!Bang! tour and then we started to get to know each other. I got to know and be very good friends with Clarence Öfwerman on that tour.
Chris Lundquist (Junk Musik)
Christoffer Lundquist

Welcome to Le Journal des Mouches!

My name is Alberto Fuente, I am from Spain and this is the first post of a new blog about Helena Josefsson, Sandy Mouche and Per Gessle's Solo Band.

It is made ...
  • Because I wanted to put in order the information we can get about Helena, SM and SOAP in the net. It is not easy to look for information about them in so many pages. With this "Journal" you can keep yourself udated.
  • In order not to saturate the HJ's Official Fan Forum with too much information and pictures. The idea really began there.

I began posting here in 2007, but I thought it was easier to put the dates of the events as a Journal: Le Journal des Mouches (that means, the Flies Journal, but it actually refers to Sandy Mouche and Helena Josefsson).

I have been working in this project from Madrid (Spain), Paris (France) and London (UK). I should improve my language skills anyway! I am no journalist, but just a "teacher man in Antarctica".

Welcome!


PS1. Journal des Mouches is only a blog made by a fan. It is not official, but it takes Official and Unofficial sources. It does not want to substitute these great websites. Visit them:
PS2. If you find any photo or information that you think it shouldn't be here, please tell me and I will change it for sure. I do not earn anything for being the editor of this blog and I just put this information because it could be interesting for other fans. Thank you

PS3. If you want to publish an article in this simple Journal, just send me an e-mail lantartida(at)yahoo(dot)es

Alberto Fuente (Editor) -LJdM