Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (X): Plastic soul's gigs and single

The band Plastic soul - Helena Josefsson (singer), Johan Duncanson (guitar), Fredrick Whitling (leadguitar and keyboards), Olof Martinsson (bass) and Per Blomgren (drums) - has had an intense year.

Firstly they have had some Summer gigs. The most important are: Mera Hitlåtar 99 (Handen 1999 - 06 - 05) and Augustibuller Festival (Lindesberg 1999 - 08 - 13), two important Swedish indie Summer festivals. Plastic Soul also played in the Kalas-tour in Ribersborg, Malmö, in the summer, a succesful gig that allows them to be booked to Malmö's Popstad Festival next February 2001.

And they have recorded and released their first single Uneasy (1999). It seems they are going to release an album soon with the company Stockhouse.

LJdM

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (IX): ewing.1 summer gigs

According to its web, ewing.1 , the band has had some gigs this summer. Two of them have been in Lund (July) and Malmö (August).

* Mejeriet, Lund - 1999 - 07 - 08

* Malmöfestivalen, Malmö, 1999 - 08 - 15

Some members of the band speak about ewing.1.

Magnus Tingsek (vocals) says: “What I like about ewing.1? Everything, I suppose. The energy, everybodys joy of playing, the 100% struggeling towards our goals. And of course the music. My favourite song is Stuck”.

Mattias Jepsson (electric guitar) agrees: Stuck is my all time favorite song. ewing.1 for me is everything. I love the way everyone express their feelings vocaly and musically.

Marten Dahl (bass) favourite song is The Spring: “I think it's got everything. I like the artistic freedom i'm being given and that everybody is participating with the arrangements of a new song. And I'm also very pleased with me, Helena Josefsson and Magnus. When it comes to arranging harmony vocals. That always brings me in a good mood.

Johan Svensson (drums) jokes: “What I like about ewing.1 is that we all have similar goals in life. We're all determined to reach stardom, glamour, riches that we could live from for the rest of our lives, and a cloud right next to God's when we die... and the songs... yeah, I like the songs too... and our beautiful friendship!”

LJdM

Nice days for P, C & C new team (VIII): Roxette, summer stars

On 27th July, it was released Stars, the third single from the last album of Roxette, Have a nice day. The previous single, Anyone, a very good song, got bad sales. They try this time with a dance floor hit with some mixes.

Since January, Roxette has not play live many times.

In Germany, they played Wish I could fly in a gala (Böblingen, Germany, April 23^rd) and Stars in a TV show (Cologne, Germany, July 31^st)

In England, Roxette has had two real concerts. The first one, a mini-concert (100 spectators, March 10^th) by the UK radio station Capital FM in Leicester Square, London, where they played “Wish I could fly”, “Listen to your heart”, “The Look”, “It must have been love” and “Church of your heart”. In the second mini-concert, three songs were in the tracklist: Wish I could fly, Anyone and The Look (Party in the Park, London, July 4^th). This was the most crowded live performance: they played voice-over versions for over 100,000 people in Hyde Park. No real concerts, no real band, no "Have a nice Tour". We miss the "team": Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist, ...

According to Marcus Jurgen, from Roxette Service, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle are thinking of another album before touring, as a tour would be so far after the album release that it wouldn't be fresh anymore. Marcus talk to Per and Marie in Cologne last week and he thinks Roxette will probably experiment a bit with forthcoming recordings, bringing in use the crashing guitars again for some songs.

Last July 15^th, Per Gessle confirmed it: “We have started to write songs for the new album and no, there won’t be any tour this year”

BTW, the song "It will take a long long time", from HAND, is in the film Runaway Bride - cinema premiered on 30 July 1999 -; the director Garry Marshall has re-united with leading lovers Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, from Pretty Woman. But the song by Roxette won't be in the soundtrack because of the problems the band has with their disco label in the United States.

LJdM

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (VIII): Lund's Harvest includes ewing.1

According to its web, ewing.1 :

Mattias Jeppsson joined the band just in time for ewing.1's second gig at Blekinska Nationen in Lund, a well reputated place for contemporary live music. This particculary night (7th May 1999) has been for, according to Blekingska Nationen, the four best unsigned bands in Sweden at the time.

* Klubb Indigo, Blekinska Nationen, Lund - 1999 - 05 - 07
- Demogala #4: Ambulance, ewing.1, Kingsize, Tribeca

ewing.1's song, This Spring (lyrics by Helena Josefsson; Music by Tingsek), played in Klubb Indigo, has been chosen for Blekingska Nationens promo-CD, 4'th Harvest.

We have thought it is the time to record our second demotape, again with talented Matthias Oldén to help out in the studio. On this demotape the band will show that that we have grown both individually and more importantly together as a band. With this new five-song promo, ewing.1 shows a much more emotionally mature side of themselves and our music. With Magnus constantly writing new songs and their determined struggle to live of what they all love, their music, you can be sure that this isn't the last time you've heard the name ewing.1.

ewing.1 promo-2 (recorded in May 1999) includes these songs:

1. stuck (Tingsek)
2. suicidal highway (Tingsek)
3. always unexpected (Tingsek)
4. breathe (Tingsek/Josefsson)
5. the role of a soldier (Tingsek)

LJdM

Nice days for P, C & C new team (VII): Anyone and HAND reviews

Today Roxette releases the second single of their album Have a Nice Day.

After the successful "Wish I could fly", we can listen to another ballad, "Anyone". The single carries the 60s air, including the demo of "Anyone" and the Abbey Road Version of "You don't understand me" (recorded in the Beatles Studio in London in 1995 by Marie, Per, Clarence and MP). In Japan, there would be a double single: "Pay the Price / Anyone".

The promotion of the album has continued these months. Per and Marie have performed "Wish I could fly" and "Anyone", usually playback, in London (The Radio Café, Leicester Square, March 10th), Lisboa (Coliseu dos Recreios, April 11th), Böglingen (TV, Germany, April 23th) and Aalsmeer (TV, the Netherlands, May 5th). Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist have been with Gessle and Fredriksson in some performances.

Since HAND was released, we have read some reviews about the album, good and bad reviews.

"After a five years' break they still make hit after hit. As never before, Marie Fredriksson's voice is at its best in the ballads like Salvation. However, the theme park techno with childrens choir, Stars, could have been left out. Listen to Anyone instead. Powerpop from Sweden, undestroyable like a Volvo." - TV Movie, Germany

"Anyone" is Gessle at a party with Burt Bacharach and Hal David. As the title says, you are dangerously close to Dionne Warwicks hit 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' from the 1960'S." - Kvällsposten, Sweden

"With less guitars and more keyboards, the new album doesn't sound like Roxette all at once. The opening track is a cool dancefloor track, not typically Roxette" - Allgemeine Post, Germany

"With a few exceptions, the album offers not much of their typical sound. There were e.g. never before there were so little guitars. On the other hand, about half of the songs are ballads with lots of strings, beautiful arrangements, catchy melodies and Marie who has never sung better before. Not completely unexpected, the lyrics reflect two settled people, living with their own families, who seem to feel good. However, the attempts to play with dancable rhythms make it difficult to adapt to Roxette's permanent desire to update, but the desire to an upgrade to 1999 unfortunately overshadows the entity." - Hallandsposten, Sweden

There's nothing particulary original on this offering. Stomping beats paving the way for Marie Fredriksson's painful solos, but if their success story to date is anything to go by, expect a wave of chart battering singles and gap toothed wailing on the television for quite a while to come. - FHM, the UK

I myself am mostly surprised of the emotional coldness on the album, despite the technical brilliance. A smaller problem is that there isn't any obvious hit on the album. - Hufvudstadsbladet, Norway

Nice, clever, but totally without excitement. - Passagen.se, Sweden

HAND shows that Roxette did not want to step onto new musical territories at all and that actually everything remained the same. How often can one duplicate one song several times, almost unnoticed?! - RTL, Germany

Good. However, who needs a new Roxette album right now? - Popcorn, Germany

The guitars are left in their boxes. Instead of them, there are all kinds of beats and samples that aren't really up-to-date. No strong rock songs, but no beautiful ballads either. Not really a highlight - Hitkrant, Netherlands

Supergroup Roxette have swapped their usual rousing guitar licks for a Euro dance beat. It has been six years since their last hit and on this form it will be another six before their next one. - The Daily Star, the UK

According to LJdM editor, there are too many goals in this album. They wanted to create a retro and a modern album at the same time. Some songs get it, some songs don't. I like the influence of old bands ... but sometimes it does not fit with the synthetizers or the wearisome string arrangements. Gessle's and Fredriksson's demos sound much better: the simplicity is broken.

LJdM

First time that I played with Roxette, I was very nervous; Marie started to sing “It Must Have Been Love” and than, after a few lyrics the song began. I was bass player and I had to sing a low key note, but I started to panic and I couldn't remember what key I was in so I hit the worst note ever in combination with what she was playing. It took a few weeks to regain confidence in me.

Christoffer Lundquist - AGM Studios

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (VII): ewing.1 promo-1

According to its web, ewing.1 has released its first EP, promo-1, recorded in March 1999.

After our first gig in Lund last January, we felt we were ready to record our first demotape. With our dear friend Matthias Oldén (from The Pang) behind the controls, we have recorded a four-track promo-CD, wich will make our existance known to the record companies all over Sweden. A lot of people loves the fresh and energetic sound of ewing.1.

After this, Jens Hellgren (electric guitar) has decided that he has too many things goin' on at this time, to dedicate himself full-time to ewing.1. So the search began for a new lead guitarist, and after several auditions we have found exactely what we were looking for in the extremely talented guitarist Mattias Jeppsson, who has gladely joined the band this April.

So this is ewing.1 now:

• 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
• Mattias Jeppsson - electric guitars

And these are the songs included in the first EP:

1. this spring (Tingsek/Josefsson)
2. mount yurway (Tingsek)
3. she devil (Tingsek)
4. back home (Tingsek)

LJdM