Nice days for P, C & C new team (IV): Clarence Öfwerman interviewed

Maria Gahm and Sofia Björk, from the Swedish newspaper Passagen, interviewed Clarence Öfwerman on 10th February. He talks about his life and about music.

Clarence Öfwerman was born 22th November 1959 in Malmö. Clarence's father was jazz musician and he grew up with jazz music (like Frank Zappa) but also listening to The Beatles amongst others. His father teached Clarence how to play piano since he was 7 years old, but it was her mother who educated him when his parents divorced. Clarence went to the local Music School and learned to play piano and guitar.

In the seventies, Öfwerman began playing in the band Andromeda (pop-folk fussion) and then in Uvertyr (synphonic rock). In Uvertyr Clarence played the piano and sang. Other members included: Bengt Lundberg (guitar and vocals), Mats Reiniusson (bass), Mats Ström (vocals) and Hans Alsing (drums). Clarence met Hans' brother, Pelle Alsing, drummer in Dan Hylander's group, Raj Montana Band. Between 1979 and 1984 Clarence played keyboards in Raj Montana Band.

In 1985 Clarence began playing in Passagerarna with Mats "Myrdal" Persson, Micke Jahn, Pelle Alsing and Tommy Cassemar. He also played in tour and in studios with Ulf Lundell, Ratata and Hansson de Wolfe united. In 1986, thanks to Kjell Andersson from EMI, Clarence (keyboards and producer), Tommy Cassemar (bass), Anne-Lie Rydé (backing vocals, from Raj Montana Band), Jonas Isacsson (guitars) and Pelle Alsing (drums) began playing with Roxette. Mats Myrdal would join them in some tours. Passagerarna also recorded in 1988 the song "Never say goodbye", composed by Clarence and Per Gessle.

Clarence says that his preferences are obviously now his wife and his one-year-old daughter. He is listening to music ... and child's shoes (he laughs). Clarence's interests include music, travel and good food (Italian, Japanese, ...).

LJdM

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (V): ewing.1 - First gig in Lund

According to its web, ewing.1 , the new band from Lund, Sweden, has had in January its first gig.

This January 1999, we have got our first gig at the Palladium in Lund, Sweden, beloved hometown. We had then played together as a real band for approximately a month. This, our first gig, has drawn quite a crowd, and has been also a big success. We feel we are ready to record our first demotape.

Remember that ewing.1 are:

• Magnus Tingsek (from Sideshow Bob) - vocals, acoustic guitars, pedal steel.
• Helena Josefsson (from Plastic Soul) - vocals, tambourine
• Mårten Dahl (from The Pang) - bass guitar, harmony vocals
• Johan Svensson - drums
• Jens Hellgren (from Sideshow Bob) - electric guitar

LJdM

Nice days for P, C & C new team (III): Brainpool is here

According to The Daily Roxette, Brainpool has recently released their new single, “You Are Here”, on the Internet.

The new track is sung by Brainpool’s guitarist David Birde. Janne Kask, band’s former lead singer, left the band in the August 1997. He has just got his own solo album to the shops.

When Janne Kask left the band, the other band members were looking for a new lead singer for a while, but they soon gave up.

The band not only decided to stay together after Kask left, but they decided to change their style and their music. The new Brainpool is formed by Christoffer Lundquist (guitars), Jens Jansson (drums) and David Birde (vocals).

Brainpool was found by Per’s record company Jimmy Fun Music in the early 90’s. Brainpool’s bass guitar player Christoffer Lundquist plays also on Roxette’s new album.

LJdM

It didn't take long for us to realize that it would be impossible to let another person join. It would have to be the three of us, or split up. At first we thought about changing our name, but that turned out to be difficult - Sony Music had already paid for the recording of You Are Here and they wanted us to keep the name. We had to choose between ditching the recordings and lose our record deal or go on calling ourselves Brainpool. We cowardly chose the latter.

We have realized our audience is getting younger. We are 26, we were smelly and unshaven and drunk. There were 11 and 12 year old fans who wanted a hug, we have just thought it was so wrong, that's when we realized we had to do something else. It is time for our music to reach the level of maturity that we are at.

David Birde - Junk Musik

Nice days for P, C & C new team (II): Gessle's 40th birthday

To celebrate that Per Gessle turns 40 next Tuesday, 12 january 1999, the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has started a special article series about his life called 'From 1 in maths to 1 in the USA', written by Tore Börjesson.

As it is said in the article, Per Gessle was the youngest of three brothers and sisters. He loved reading, painting - and not least - listening to music. His first record was The Kinks' 'Kontroversy', which he bought from his brother for SEK 5,-. That album can nowadays still be found in his record collection. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion: music.

According to Tore Börjesson, it was important for him to peak out, not to be one of the mass. So he painted his hair in weird colors, he dressed so it was noticed who he was. He was a little lonely child, more interested in his lists of hits than in hanging around with other kids. and he knew already then what he would become: a rockstar. He spent hour after hour learning to play guitar. But when he started grammar school, social sciences direction at Kattegattskolan in Halmstad, he didn't choose music, but painting and got the highest note, a five. He also got that for a scription that he made about David Bowie, his biggest hero. English was also one of his better items, but for the rest it was just average, threes for the most except for maths, where got a 1 in. Nobody then thought the he would 'get a 1' in the USA.

It was inevitable that Per in the end would start his own band. From the beginning they called themselves Grape Rock, but soon Gyllene Tider was the name that ruled. all started on a Friday night, 12 May 1978 at cinema Reflex, Getinge, Sweden. The first concert with his band Gyllene Tider attracted only 20 spectators to pay the entrance fee of SEK 10,-. Then EMI Sweden AB got its eyes on the pop band from Halland. At about the same moment Per met Marie Fredriksson for the first time because her band Strul shared a rehearsal room with Gyllene Tider.

Two years later, Per Gessle had become Sweden's hottest pop star and public hysterie around him had begun. Gyllene Tider's first album in 1980 became an enormous success. The year after were Micke Syd Andersson, Mats MP Persson, Per Gessle, Anders Herrlin and Göran Fritzson already megastars. The whole Gyllene Tider hysterie reached its top sin on Valpurgisnight 1981 when three people where trampledto death at a concert. In 1983 Gyllene Tider splitted up. Per tried out a solo career, but his more Lundell-inspired records sold not very well. When his career was going down Per met Åsa Nordin. and though he said it time after time that he was no family type, his son Gabriel Titus changed his life in 1997.

Neverending Love was the song that got him up out of the career depth. This duet with Marie Fredriksson became an enormous hit in Sweden in 1986. With the album Look Sharp! (1988) came the international breakthrough and soon Per had little further one of his dreams, to become one in the USA. 'The Look' showed off on no. 1 in April 1989. 'Listen To Your Heart' did it as a prestation. That list was continued with the massive hit 'It Must Have Been Love' in 1990. The 1991 album Joyride turned to be a worldwide success and got Roxette both a fourth no. 1 in the USA and a mass of Rockbjörnen awards. In 1993 Per married with Åsa Nordin in Västra Strö's church. In Sweden he and Marie were printed on stamps.

Per Gessle also anwered some questions to Aftonbladet. You can read Per Gessle's words below.

The first single of the new album, Have a nice day, will be Wish I could fly and it is now in the radios of almost all Europe, although it will be released on 1st February. This is the first Roxette's single since 1995.

LJdM

When I was a child I was quite lonely. I sat at home and wrote down the topscores in the TV puck and the handballhall Sweden. Then I started writing poems. I lived in my own world, but although that I was life-afraid, I decided to paint my hair and wear the highest platform shoes. I have never been a band human. Picasso is the biggest artist of the 20th century, He put everything else out of the game and made a strong impression on my interest in arts.

Gyllene Tider? We were five pimpy ugly idiots from Halmstads outsides who wanted to become Sweden's Kinks. But we couldn't play instruments. We laughed about Noise and Magnum Bonum and those that couldn't play. I got a paternitypurpose on my neck, completely idiot charges. But I never lived a Keith Moon-life. I also don't look like Keith Richards in my face. Probably he has had more fun than I. Drugs? I have never spit into the glass. But I'm a little too afraid to prove something else. I'm the type who wants to controll. Can be usefull in this business.

1984 85 was an extremely difficult year. I had to withdraw my creditcard and sell my guitars to pay the rent. Not a single idea what would have happened if Marie Fredriksson hadn't showed up and Roxette would not have been formed. Life exists of coincidences. But some way I would had got myself forward, I think.

Suddenly I realised i had missed something in my life. The important thing is that life has a meaning. On that day that you are tired and fulfilled, everything is lost. I'm on my way to that side and tired of the musicbusiness. I feel myself like Pete Sampras, exhausted and unmotivated. I have worked and toured with Roxette almost uninterrupted for seven years, from Look Sharp 1988 until 'Greatest Hits' 1995 and that was a hard pressure on me. Never a break, never time for reflection. I never could afford the luxury to sit down and enjoy what I did. I needed a change, had to get some new energy kick. Everything went over its limits... it was just about forgetting the rockstyle and nightlife. Suddenly I understood that I had missed something in my life. Since Gabriel is born I'm a completely different person. I have got my reward: a family. 'Changing diapers is an overestimated. But the Nobelprice for the one that invented the T-shaped diaper!

Roxette are heading for a new success period with their forthcoming album. This one is fabulous. Marie (Fredriksson) sings better than ever. We've signed a 10-year contract with EMI. We've got much left to offer. The songs on the new album are typical' Per Gessle-songs. Though more fresh. We have a modernised sound with a new adding in the production. It's filled with trash, strikes and other stuff. But since I'm still a pop beast, it will recognise even if our bagpipes would be seen.

We have written 40 songs, recorded 19 and 14 appear on the album. Five of them are strong single candidates. Which one you then choose to release first is always a try. My voice is a disaster. Though I must say I sing really well on the new album. I wouldn't mind to have the voice of John Lennon or Otis Redding.

Biggest Happenings in 40 years? That was when Kjell Anderson of EMI Sweden AB called to offer us a recording contract with Gyllene Tider in January 1979, exactly twenty years ago. Then has Roxette been one long-term project on its own. The best memory is when we played in front of 60,000 people at the football stadium in Saõ Paulo in 1992. And of course the day on which Gabriel was born. An extremely nice day.

Per Gessle

Nice days for P, C & C new team (I): Rox forthcoming album

Something changed after recording "The world according to Gessle" (between September 1996 and January 1997). Per Gessle and Clarence Öfwerman, of Roxette, began working with a new team, including Brainpool's members.

It has been quiet around Per Gessle's most successful project, Roxette on the international music scene since their hits collection Don't bore us - Get to the Chorus in 1995, but they will be back next month with a new single, Wish I Could Fly, taken from the forthcoming album Have a Nice Day .

Roxette's modernisation includes changing members in the team around Marie Fredriksson, Per Gessle and Clarence Öfwerman. Michael Ilbert, previous producer of Brainpool's hit Bandstarter, has joined in as a co-producer after having already taken part in Gessle's She doesn't live here anymore, The Lonely Boys and the last new songs of Gyllene Tider in 1995. Christoffer Lundquist (from Brainpool) plays several instruments (including cittra!!). Remember that both Michael Ilbert and Chris Lundquist have worked in the "The World According to Gessle".

It has been a long journey yet: the recordings began in January 1998 in Marbella, Spain. During the next six months, Roxette will be doing promotion around the world, except for the USA where the album Have a nice day is supposed to be released before earliest autumn 1999.

LJdM

'So it's (finally? ) time for a new Roxette-album. We have recorded 19 songs from the 42 songs written. The work on this record started in January 1998 and the album was ought to be released already last autumn (1998). I blame my son Gabriel. I never thought that children and family would take that much of your time. It's hard to focus on the music when there's so much else around. Marie and I also thought that we had written all songs for the album when we started recording, but we were totally wrong. We scrapped most of those songs and wrote new ones while recording. According to the happy mathematician Clarence Öfwerman, we've spent over 200 days in the studio and one grabs the red Gretsch guitar as a reflex when he hears this album.

Our ambition has been to preserve all the 'trademarks' of Roxette, but at the same time to give you new freshness and an update of production and arrangement. We used to be a guitar band, but the guitars are almost gone now. We tried to make an album that sounds really up-to-date and therefore have we built much on modern technology and programming. Since there are also many strains used. This album sounds more up-to-date. We're trying to update our sound all the time. It will become unimaginably great. There are many more recording tricks nowadays than there were in the past. One can do almost everything. It's hard to hit the stop buttons every now and then. Still, this is no record that you can just program, the production work was very tough.".

Per Gessle

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (IV): ewing.1 - rehearsals

We have no news about Plastic Soul, but Helena Josefsson seems to be a "bandstarter" again. According to its web, ewing.1 , a new group from Lund, Sweden, has been formed.

ewing.1 has been formed in the fall of 1998 by members of amongst others Plastic Soul, The Pang and Sideshow Bob. Helena Josefsson, Magnus Tingsek, Marten Dahl and Johan Svensson, have long wanted to play together, and have decided to start a band. Magnus have already written a couple of songs, straight forward pop-songs with some influences of american country music. Since Magnus mostly plays acoustic guitar it feels natural to ad an electric one to boost it up a little. With this, Jens Hellgren, also a former member of Sideshow Bob, has joined the band, now known as ewing.1. Being a huge Dallas-fan, Magnus came up with the name, that originated on the licenceplate of JR Ewings car.

The Pang has been a "powerful melancholic guitar-based rock" band of Lund. Its members were Mattias Friberg (guitar and vocals), Mathias Olden (guitar), Mårten Dahl (bass) and Rasmus Liedbergius (drums). They have played since1997 and they were reported by the Skandinavian Indie Review in October 1998, after recording live in late 1997 some demo songs in the Klubb Indigo of Lund with other bands as Plastic Soul.

Sideshow Bob was Tingsek's first project in Lund, with Gustaf Kjellvander (lead vocals and guitar), Stefan Isaksson (bass), Jens Hellgren (electric guitar), Peter Eriksson (drums). They have played since 1996, released a single (Bored beyond belief, 1997) and published their debut album this year (Invasive Confusion, 1998). It seems Gustaf Kjellvander - maybe thinking about Oasis and the Gallaghers - has decided to work with his brother Christian (from Loosegoats and producer of Invasive Confusion) and is not by the side of Sideshow Bob anymore. Magnus' brother, Anders Tingsek, is other member of Loosegoats. Sideshow Bob seems the brother-band of Loosegoats. But without the lead-singer, the band seems to have finished its story.

Sideshow Bob in 1996

The Pang and Sideshow Bob met in some Swedish summer festivals (Sideshow Bob played Emmaboda, Hultsfred, Arvika, Tullakrock ...) This was the beginning of ewing.1. Helena Josefsson, from Plastic Soul, another band from Lund, joined then. Magnus, Helena, Mattias, Marten and Johan were born in 1978 and grew up in Lund.

This is ewing.1:
- Magnus Tingsek (from Sideshow Bob) - vocals, acoustic guitars, pedal steel.
- Helena Josefsson (from Plastic Soul) - vocals, tambourine
- Mårten Dahl (from The Pang) - bass guitar, harmony vocals
- Johan Svensson - drums
- Jens Hellgren (from Sideshow Bob) - electric guitar

Magnus Tingsek (vocals, guitar)

I was born 19th of december 1978 in Lund, Sweden. I play guitar, Pedal steel, Drums and bass. Born and raised in Södra Sandby outside Lund with a beatiful family. Dropped out of school when I was 16 because I wanted to dedicate more time to my music.

Helena Josefsson (vocals)

Helena Marianne Josefsson. I was born in Kalmar, Sweden (1978.03.23). My parents divorced when she was 7 and they moved with mom Margaretta and her new love to a village called Björnstorp (outside of Lund, Skåne County, southern Sweden) when I was ten. I have got four sisters. I am left-handed and can play keyboards, tambourine and harmonica.

Marten Dahl (bass)

Born in 5th of june 1978 in lund, sweden. Ever since i was a little boy I've always dedicated lots of time for music. I did three years gymnasium, music-class and i was involved with lots of different bands but have now put my main intrest in ewing.1.

Johan Svensson (drums)

Born 18th of november 1978. I was raised in the country with mom, dad, my brother and my sister. I was innocent and free until sometime during... when I was struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky. It was Metallica that had elctrocuted me, and I felt an urge to start playing drums. And so I did. I didn't have any drums or even sticks, so I hit my legs until my fists bled.

LJdM