Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (VIII): Swan Lee

Swan Lee is a trio based in Copenhagen (Denmark). The members are Pernille Rosendahl on vocals, guitarist Jonas Struck and Emil Jørgensen on drums. Originally no record label would sign them, so they created their own, Gogo Records. Their debut (Enter, 2001) received an impressive 6 DMA nominations (Danish Music Awards) in 2002, and Swan Lee also won The Danish National Radios P3 Prize, the main prize awarded every year to Denmark´s most outstanding musical artist.

Not only did Swan Lee’’s debut album, “Enter”, enchant both critics and a broad swathe of the Danish record-buying public, but it also gave Denmark a new rock diva. With her big voice and captivating aura, Pernille Rosendahl was the strong female presence that the Danish music industry had been sorely lacking.

They release today their second album, "Swan Lee" (2004), produced at the Tambourine Studios in Malmö, Sweden, with Per Sunding (producer of The Cardigans, Eggstone, Superheroes, among others). The recording team included Patrik Bartosh (String Arrangements), Mads Hyhne, Sven Andersson & Kasper Tranberg (Horn), Jonas Berg (keyboards) and Helena Josefsson (vocals, background). It was mixed by Mikael Ilbert & Lars Overgaard at Medley Studio, Copenhagen.

The first single, in the radio since March, is I don't mind.

Pernille's voice is simply magic. And Swan Lee's music brilliant.

LJdM

P, C & C back in the AGM office (VIII): GT25 and Metro Jets are out

According to TDR, Gyllene Tider is celebrating the release of “GT25 - Samtliga Hits” album today. The big news is that they are actually celebrating the release of two albums: June 2 they will release their brand new album with brand new songs, titled “Finn fem fel” (“Find Five Errors”). The new album is being recorded in Christoffer Lundquist’s studio in Vollsjö, Skåne, the same studio that baked “Mazarin”.

The first single out of "Finn fem fel" is “Sitter på en sten vid en sjö i en skog” (“Sitting on a Rock by a Lake in a Forest”). Anders Herrlin - bass guitar, says that the album “sounds like how we wanted to sound in 1980…” and "most of the songs were recorded in less than half an hour. We also decided that no other instruments were to be used than our own. The synthesizer sounds are actually all made by the Farfisa, for instance.”

Micke “Syd Andersson” - drummer thinks that the 25th Anniversary "is so big that we cannot comprehend what’s going on. We are truly overwhelmed. Weird that we even had a career looking like that!”

Meanwhile, Magnus Borjeson and David Birde (= Metro Jets) have released their first single in Sweden on Aprin 2: THE MORNING SHOW. It was also recorded at AGM studio and produced by Christoffer Lundquist.

According to Indie Spin Zone:

"This single by the Metro Jets is the perfect pop fix for those of you who are waiting patiently for the new Beagle album. Magnus Borjeson from Beagle and David Birde from Brainpool bring you this slice of power pop perfection which is actually the theme song for Sweden's new hit TV sitcom "The Morning Show". This song has the biggest 70's AOR rock hook we've heard in years! The B-Side "The Midas Touch" is also brilliant."

Listen to these songs in Metro Jets' myspace

LJdM

P, C & C back in the AGM office (VII): old GT, new Metro Jets

According to TDR, Gyllene Tider is beginning the celebration of their 25th anniversary by re-releasing their first three LPs – “Gyllene Tider,” “Moderna Tider” and “Puls” – with re-mastered tracks. At the same time, they’re releasing a new CD: “GT 25 - Samtliga Hits!” (“GT 25 - All the Hits!”) on March 24th.

But old hits are not enough for this band. While it hasn’t been officially announced, The Daily Roxette has reported previously that Per and others have talked about new material that they are recording, so the widespread expectation is that a new album/single/EP will be released later in the spring, just in time to help promote the tour. Gyllene Tider members are recording new songs in AGM studios with Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman. Helena Josefsson could take part in some songs as background singer.

The summer of 2004 will see Gyllene Tider tour the country of Sweden again, eight years later.

Meanwhile, a new band is born: Metro Jets. They are Magnus Börjeson (from Beagle and Favorita) and David Birde (from Brainpool) and are produced by Christoffer Lundquist. Read the story about this new band.

LJdM

During the hardest rains that central Europe had seen for nearly a century, David Birde, the guitarist and songwriter of Brainpool, tried to get from Amsterdam to Prague. David had left Sweden a couple of weeks earlier, using his last savings to get away from the usual problems of a musician (lost love and, eh, strange band members). It didn´t work very well. Lost love tend to be haunting and these days even band members got cell phones. When the train finally arrived to Prague, almost 30 hours delayed due to the storm, David decided to get something to eat. He heard live music coming from a cellar and went over to take a look. This was the ”Maijtjenaliv”, a club that the medical students in Prague was running. David went inside and stayed the whole night. Somewhere between a strange and a stranger beer, he started talking to the bartender, who immediately responded ”From sweden? That´s funny, do you know the guy in the black shirt over there?” In the other corner, Magnus Borjeson, former lead singer of Beagle, was talking to a stunning looking German medical student. Magnus had left Sweden for the same self-obsessed reasons as David, after his band favorita turned out to be one of the world´s best hidden musical secrets. The coincidence was almost too good to be true. Two days after the night at Maijtjenaliv, David and Magnus had a plan. They wanted to live in a place where it never rained. They wanted to play, record and write music. (they also wanted to find love, but we´re asked to leave that out of this text). A couple of weeks later Magnus heard about two free apartments in Malmö and phoned David. they moved in next door and started writing music. They also found love (but we´re told to leave their wifes out of this text). And here´s the happy ending: Metro Jets are actually working on their first album. Metro jets want to send out a special thank you to Maijtjenaliv (cheers Josefa & Jamila!) for making this possible :)

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Magnus Börjeson - David Birde
Metro Jets

P, C & C back in the AGM office (VI): Gyllene Tider's recordings begin

I am surprised: I was nominated as the Halland Resident of All Times. It’s like trying to compare Picasso to the painters a long time before him. You can’t really do that.

I isolated myself for a couple of days and wrote four songs in Mauritius. But on my birthday we went out on a catamaran ride. It was a huge difference compared to the cold weather of Halmstad!

Currently, I am working in the studio with Gyllene Tider. We have been here for two days. We are still trying to find the sweet and airy sound. We just played a song, but it sounded too good. It can’t sound like that with Gyllene Tider! I have written a lot of songs and we’ll see what happens. Our goal is to accomplish a single or – if we’re extra lucky – an EP. An album is still a dream, although we do have enough material. If we are to record a full album it needs to follow a red line at least. I don't know the exact dates for the Gyllene Tider summer tour yet. It’s EMA that sets up the tour plan, but of course we’ll be performing here in Halmstad and along the west coast. The premiere will be in the middle of July and then we’ll keep going until the middle of August.

Per Gessle

Interview from: Hallands Nyheter; Source: TDR

P, C & C back in the AGM office (V): Per turns 45 - Gyllene Tider’s comeback planned for eight years

Per Gessle turns 45 today. And 2003 has been a great, special, amazing year for him. TDR remembers other special moments in Per’s life.

• January 12, 1959 Per is born.
• 1978 First record ever - The “Billy” EP.
• 1979 Gyllene Tider’s first single on EMI - “Flickorna på TV2”.
• 1979 First #1 on the Swedish charts - “Flickorna på TV2”.
• 1983 Per’s first solo album, “Per Gessle” is released.
• 1986 Roxette is born, first single “Neverending Love” is released.
• March 28, 1989 “The Look” goes #1 on Billboard and breaks Roxette worldwide.
• 1993 Roxette plays MTV Unplugged at Cirkus in Stockholm.
• August 21, 1993 Per marries Åsa.
• 1996 Gyllene Tider reunites for Scandinavia’s biggest tour ever.
• 1997 Per’s first solo album in English, “The World According To…” is released.
• August 5, 1997 Per and Åsa’s son, Screamin’ Lord G (Gabriel) is born.
• June 16, 2003 Per releases “Mazarin” and creates a mass hysteria in Sweden.
• 2004 Gyllene Tider turns 25 years, a new album and a tour is in the pipeline.
  

The year of 2003 was a huge success for Per Gessle. The hit single “Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)” was the most played song on Swedish radio stations, both on SR (Sveriges Radio) and commercial stations, during 2003. It’s the first time since Music Control started this list in 1996 that a Swedish artist is #1 on that year list. At second place came Robbie Williams with his song “Feel”, and at #3 Blue and Elton John’s hit song “Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word”. All in all four Swedish songs were on the top ten.

According to Expressen, after having spent Christmas with his family in Halmstad, Per Gessle says it’s now time for him to work on the new Gyllene Tider record that will be released to coincide with this summer’s upcoming 25th Anniversary tour. The article claims that the comeback was planned – or at least considered – as early as 1996, during Återtåget. The tour will start in July, local venues are being booked now, and the only worries are that they might not sound good or that it will rain.

LJdM

My receding hairline tells me taht I have reached middle age. I thought this was something that only happened to one’s father. It’s important so that the tour with Gyllene Tider isn’t only a retro thing, even if we will be playing the old hits. How far along the process is? I won't comment it. Then you won’t have anything to write about the next time.

Per Gessle

P, C & C back in the AGM office (IV): From Roxette to Mazarin, from Mazarin to Gyllene Tider

Roxette’s most recent single, “Opportunity Nox,” scored big in Germany. On 20th December, the song came in as #3 on the Jump Radio Charts of the Year. The station is generally considered to be the second largest in Germany. Also this weekend, on the biggest radio station of Germany, SWR3, “Opportunity Nox” also showed up as #3 on their year-end chart. It was on the charts for 12 weeks and made it to #1 nine times.

The third single off “Mazarin”, “Tycker om när du tar på mej”, was released on 10th December. Mazarin is still selling and the chart also confirms that “Mazarin” now has sold four times platinum (240,000 copies).

As widely expected, Aftonbladet published on 16th December that Gyllene Tider has indeed decided to tour Sweden next summer to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Members of the group met over the weekend to make the final decision.

According to The Daily Roxette, it is expected that the tour will be preceded by some new material, perhaps an entire new album. Per and MP Persson will start recording demos after Christmas. Some are already done, Per says in Aftonbladet, where he also answered some questions about the best of 2003.

LJdM

After all, 25 years are really quite a lot, and that has to be celebrated. It’ll be cool to bring Gyllene Tider into the 21st century, and I hope the Summer Swedes would like to join us in our celebration. One summer is enough for god’s sake! Gyllene Tider doesn’t exist anymore, we only put it together again for this project. We live under enormous expectations, but I think we can live up to them.

• Best CD: The Cardigans “Long Gone Before Daylight”. Should’ve been number 1 all over the world… why wasn’t it?
• Best song: Outkast “Hey Ya!” Although one’s getting tired of it now….
• Best concert: The Stones at the Cirkus. Can anyone beat this?
• Best retro: Polanski on DVD. Plus the fact that the 60s more and more seem like, believe it or not, UNDERESTIMATED….. art… literature… music… film….design…. cars…. clothes…. etc., etc., etc.!!!
• Worst: The Britney-Madonna single will probably not be historic. But if you mean something that isn’t really a “musical” experience one can mention that one gets terrified of that Michael Jackson district attorney…..help!
• Best pastry: Muffins are nice too.

Per Gessle