P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (IV): Son of a Plumber released today

LJdM wants to review the new album of Per Gessle with Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist. P, C & C team rocks again. "Son of a Plumber" is made with the same musicians as Per Gessle’s Swedish album “Mazarin,” but now in English and as a double-CD. Per Gessle wanted this album to feel like an old-time LP where you had to switch the side in the middle. With 2 CDs, it brings the vinyl experience back a bit. And we really enjoy it!

LP 1:
1. Drowning In Wonderful Thoughts About Her

LJdM: Hurry yea! This wonderful album starter begins the travel to the late '60s and early '70s. And it's alright! Very positive lyrics although "to kick the cryin’ has taken forever".

2. Jo-Anna Says

Per Gessle: "It’s a sort of a McCartney-song. We’ve had long discussions about what to really think about him. I’m more of a Lennon man myself, but like his early solo stuff."
LJdM: Catchy single. Very McCartney and the Beatles. Yes, Gessle is not "like the other guys". And the lyrics are sad and funny at the same time.

3. I Have A Party In My Head (I Hope It Never Ends)

Per Gessle: “My favorite from the album. It turned out just the way I imagined it. It feels very special.”
LJdM: Pleasantly surprised. Someone called this song "neo-folk music". Is it Gessle? Wow! Maybe too much time listening to Simon and Garfunkel then! This is our favourite as well. We wanna come by and hope the party never ends.

4. C’mon

Per Gessle: "You can’t tell it’s me. So people can get a feel for it, regardless of their relationship to me. I sing in falsetto for the first time. It happened that way when I wrote it… and it was fun to sing it that way."
LJdM: We are looking for the 'lite'. No, we can't tell it's Per Gessle singing. Not one of our favourite, although we love the rythmic melody.

5. Week With Four Thursdays

LJdM: The first instrumental, ambient music with nice '70s keyboards. It seems the soundtrack of a film.

6. Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song)

Per Gessle: “A country pastiche. Sounds like Chicago, no? These songs very easily turn into parodies and we were in bad shape for a while there, but I think we got through it. It sounds very lovely. Well, I just wanted to write an old-fashioned country song for Helena and me. I never expected Clare & Chris to like it but they really did… I was so surprised. And, of course, it turned out to be one my fave songs on the album.”

LJdM: No DJ here. We love the beginning with only Helena singing. An absolutely brilliant country ballad or a wonderful Burt Bacharach duet? Helena Josefsson an Per Gessle's voices go together and complete each other so perfectly. Some TDR editors call this "one of the best duets Per has written ever". At least, we believe in every word Gessle and Josefsson laid on us.

7. Late, Later On

LJdM: We got lucky to meet this song. Acoustic instuments and beautiful lyrics. Another young love story.

8. Ronnie Lane

LJdM: The second instrumental on the album, with Helena's voice as one of the instruments. It could suit a film very well.

The Junior Suite (9-13):
9. Are You An Old Hippie, Sir?

LJdM: Happy, stupid lyrics. Just the way we love it. Yes, we think Gessle is the old hippie he sings about. We can listen to the nice ba-da-ba-ba-ba theme that runs through the entire album.

10. Double-headed Elvis

LJdM: A strange falsetto blues. Don't ask us about the meaning of the lyrics. Who knows!

11. Something In The System

PG: "“Something in the system” was a slight mistake so I didn’t want to use it at all. I recorded it at Tit&Ass in Januray 2002 for Roxette. I never really liked it, dunno why. But when the medley-idea came up (I guess it was Clarence’ brilliant brain at work!!) I thought it would fit quite well. Shorter, more in-your-face, like a nice little bridge between “Double-headed Elvis” and “Speed boat to Cuba”. This is how it sounded when it was born."
LJdM: It was written for Roxette but P, C & C got to give the sound of the 60's to it. And now it's inside our mind too.

12. Speed Boat To Cuba

LJdM: Jo-Anna is back and tells him that he's still not the one. Speed kills in this rocker song. The main theme is back at the end, a very nice touch like all the production.

13. Come Back Tomorrow (And We Do It Again)

LJdM: It's a remake of Gyllene Tider’s old bonus track from “Puls” - “Bara vara nära" ... 23 years ago! Modern arragement for closing the first half of an album.

LP 2:

1. Kurt - The Fastest Plumber In The West

Per Gessle: “An instrumental, with film score touches. It’s a little spaghetti western-ish. And Kurt, the plumber, that’s of course my dad. Thought he needed a tune.”
LJdM: Wow! We remember Sergio Leone's spaghetti western films. Kurt was Gessle's father.

2. I Never Quite Got Over The Fact That The Beatles Broke Up

LJdM: We didn't get it either. Per and Helena sing in circles around each other. No real chorus in this one, but it’s got a beautiful airy sound to it.

3. Substitute (For The Real Deal)

LJdM: It should be a substitute for "C'mon" as real single. Great music. It is Gyllene-Tider-and-Tom Petty-Per.

4. Waltz For Woody

Per Gessle: “Another instrumental, dedicated to Åsa. She’s called Woody. I really don’t know why. It’s just the way it is.”
LJdM: One of the few pieces Per plays the keyboards. Lovely!


5. Carousel

LJdM: History repeat itself at the beginning with Per and Helena voices. According to Visa from TDR, "you can hear the touch of Christoffer Lundquist on this one as well. I could swear the sound of the seagulls on the background is the same sample as in “High” by Brainpool". After a song like this, you can go home and listen to it again.

6. I Like It Like That

Per Gessle: “The strongest chorus on the album. Maybe it is the one that sounds the most like ’classical’ Gessle. I started working on “I like it like that” with some, quite annoying, drum-loop in mind. It all put me in a somewhat bad mood. Drum-grooves usually do! However I really adored the song and did an acoustic version the very same day at the Tits&Ass studio in January 2002 (it was made for Roxette). Here it is! I think I’ve changed the lyrics a bit along the way."
LJdM: The song makes you feel in love. This is Roxette-Per in a mid-tempo power pop ballad. A happy lovesong with one of the most beautiful phrases: "To be with you is all I have, all I am".

7. Something Happened Today

LJdM: Very personal, straight-to-the-heart song, almost entirely acoustic with an organ in the backgound. It's a big song because it's small at the same time. As Visa from TDR says, we can imagine "Per and Helena sitting by the fire, Per playing his guitar and Helena singing like an angel, far away from any worries." After SOAP, Gessle will never sound the same again.

8. Brilliant Career

LJdM: More tea anyone? Yes, please, with lots of sugar. Sweet song. Very simple lyrics that keep repeating over and over in an airy beatiful melody.

9. Burned Out Heart

LJdM: I deal with it the best I can. Gessle could be thinking about Pink Floyd.

10. Drowning In Wonderful Thoughts About Her (Reprise)

LJdM: Back to the beginning! Just like The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper the album starts and ends with a reprise of the same song. More wonderful thoughts abut her in a traffic jam.

11. Making Love Or Expecting Rain

LJdM: Finally, a Bob Dylan quote and Per en Français. Childhood memories to tell to your lover. It's time for candles and wine.

(12-hidden track) Jo-Anna Says Farewell

LJdM: Just a pun of an old Gessle song “Jo-Anna farväl” which was released by Gyllene Tider under the name Pers Garage back in 1989. It scares you a bit after almost ten minutes of silence on the last track.

(13-LP bonus trak) Keep The Radio On (This Is The Perfect Song)
Per Gessle: “The song itself was written for Gyllene Tider back in 1980 (called ’Gå hem innan du lägger dej’ which means something like ’Go Home Before You Go to Bed’…) but GT never used it. Mainly because of the terrible Swedish lyrics if I remember the history right. However, it was recorded by the Lonely Boys for the LB album but I’m sure y’all heard that! And just recently it became rejected once more when we mixed the SOAP album. That version didn’t really make me tick!”
LJdM: Very Buddy Holly. It is taken from “The Lonely Boys”’ album from 1995, and it’s been re-recorded with slightly, insignificant, changes to the lyrics. It is a nice song but it doesn’t fit the album.


Yes, Son of a Plumber is much more and better than just Per Gessle. The die-hard Roxette fan probably will not love the concept of this album, this is not for sure what they expected. Gessle and C & C are back to their roots with the vocals of a "childish girl", Helena. Helena Josefsson sings here better than ever.

LJdM

P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (III): Brainpool's anthology of failure

We started to record the world’s longest krautsong & kept working on it for an eternity. We tried a lot of different things, but ended up with just a few instruments. Usually, we don’t edit our music, but this time we let the computer play a part. It is rather dull to sit and look at a screen though…. At first we had the idea that this would be an instrumental. But I think we have abandoned that idea. When it was time to record the vocals, we got stuck and started to talk and listen to other people’s music instead. We will continue to record this week and will probably be able to finish it in the next couple of days. Its fun to work this way: not knowing exactly what you want to do, even if it takes somewhat longer time. If we are lucky, this record will be fantastic. If we’re not lucky, it will just be great. One thing is for sure: it will not sound anything like the rock opera.

Jens Jansson - Junk Musik

After having spent four days in the studio, we are forced to admit that we have failed this time. This is what happened. We started to work with the Kraut-ballet (which we by the way called “The Anthology of Failure” – now isn’t that ironic?). The process was enormously creative. We worked like animals & played instruments we didn’t even know the names of (we couldn’t play them either). The song ended up being nearly ten minutes long. We edited it down to five. When we listened to the result, it stood clear that this was THE WORST SONG EVER RECORDED. After a while, we realised that this actually is the way we get things done. Both “You Are Here” and “Junk” were preceded by a number of grave errors before we found our way into the material. And since we persist in constantly reinventing ourselves, we will just have to accept that this is going to happen now and then. We have saved some clips from the recordings. We will post one of them tomorrow, so you can listen to the rubbish!

David Birde - Junk Musik

Picture by Emelia Olofsson, sydsvenskan.se - November 2005

What happens when a band decides to do a ten minute long kraut-ballet-song? Listen to a clip of Brainpool’s “The Anthology of Failure” and you will know. No, it will not be released. We will add this music to our loops section. Use it – make a kraut ballet of your own! Anyone who decides to make a ten minute kraut ballet has A LOT of guts to start with. It actually sounds like a theme song to a childrens show on tv. And a fun one too! Maybe we could try to pitch it?

Brainpool has got great musicians, great singers, great songs & words and a great producer.
So why is it so much fun to listen to something that didn’t work out, something that normally never would leave the studio? Personally, I would love to hear more failures. There is a common thought that music turns out exactly the way the musicians have in mind. This is seldom – or never – the case. Music goes its own way. Sometimes it goes wrong. Terrible wrong. Deadly wrong. One one man can save it…oh, hang on, this isn’t a movie trailer. But sometimes – or very often– it goes wrong. If people could hear the wrongs a little more often, I think they would understand the right ones better.

Anders Mildner - Junk Musik

There is something beautiful in “wrongs” for sure. The concept of the ballet “The anthology of failure” is partly about that. It’s a big hooray to those who invest their lives in something that in the end turns out to be not such a good idea after all. (Painfully autobiographical, a cynic would comment. :-)) It would be great to hear other bands’ “failures”. On Beatles Anthology, are a few examples of early versions of songs that sound quite ridiculous. Tomorrow Never Knows, for instance.

David Birde - Junk Musik

This is one of the best posts on this blog ever! A true success!!! There are plenty of failures already. “The Anthology of Failure” showed lots of potential…the first 3 bars :-) Well actually I quite like the rythm section!

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik

P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (II): Chris, Mom & Dad, Magnus & Per, Anders ...

More news about Christoffer Lundquist and friends' record company.

According to Anders from Junk Musik and the newspaper Sydsvenskan, David Birde and Jens Jansson of Brainpool are going duo. David and Jens have a new project called Mom & Dad. The Austrian artist Florian Horwath will guest on some of the songs.

David and Jens have been backing Florian Horwath this fall on a big tour in Germany, Austria and Schwitzerland. Florian is much younger (he's "the son") and David and Jens feel they are mom and dad.

Florian Horwath Tour

• 20.09.05 AUT – Vienna, Chelsea
• 21.09.05 AUT – Graz, PPC
• 22.09.05 AUT – Klagenfurt, Kamot
• 23.09.05 AUT – Lustenau, Carini Saal
• 24.09.05 AUT – Weyer, Bertold Saal
• 27.09.05 GER – Karlsruhe, Die Stadtmitte
• 28.09.05 GER – München, Zerwirk
• 29.09.05 GER – Konstanz, Kulturladen
• 30.09.05 GER – Würzburg, Pleierhof
• 01.10.05 SWZ – Zürich, tba.
• 02.10.05 GER – Neu-Ulm, Salon Hansen
• 03.10.05 GER – Köln, Blue Shell
• 04.10.05 GER – Darmstadt, Oettinger Villa
• 06.10.05 GER – Jena, Kassablanca
• 07.10.05 GER – Berlin, 103
• 08.10.05 GER – Halle, Objekt 5
• 09.10.05 GER – Hamburg, Schilleroper

Brainpool’s Christoffer Lundquist recently released a great solo EP. It is supposed that Jens (Mom) & David (Dad) will record new material under the name “Mom & Dad” this winter.

Jens Jansson (Mom) says:

It will be based on drums, guitar and harmonica, Florian Horwath will be Mom & Dad’s guest on some of the songs. – We have completed a couple of songs. They are called “Gutenmorgen Alexanderplatz”, “Was ist mehr pop?” and “Servus Motherfuckers". What will Mom & Dad sound like? It will be kind of minimalistic. Here are some keywords: Kraut, white blues, rock.

According to Junk Musik, it is not the end of Brainpool. Brainpool is still active and actually has plans to record new material soon, perhaps this autumn.

By the way, Anders Mildner also writes about the recordings with a "secret artist": this secret artist is no other than Per Gessle himself. Anders gives some important advices that Per could consider in his forthcoming album

LJdM

Magnus Börjeson (Metro Jets) & our secret artist completed the recordings yesterday. They did an amazing amount of work in just one day. (I thought it would take three days!)

Worried that crazy suburbia gangs would rob him, Magnus took a taxi to the city & met me outside Mondo, where New David played with Bo Sundström. Later, it turned out that they were only a support act. After some Sundström songs, Sundström, New david & A LOT of other people went on stage to celebrate that Neil Young now turns 60. We got an hour of Neil Young songs, had a nice evening and celebrated a day of good work.

I was thinking about the things I hate in music.

1) Cover versions of well known songs, featuring an actor reading the lyrics.
This was, of course, an actor’s idea the first time around, but now it it is just an easy way out for lazy people with too many gigs: “Let’s make something completely different!” Yeah, right. Let’s be honest. Everyone hates this: the audience, the musicians – probably even the actor. A strange example is found HERE.Please stop it now.

2) Songs that are called the same things as the genres they are trying to be.
Example: In the last Eurovision Song Contest, Sweden had a really disturbing song (it didn’t win, thank you God) called “Tango, Tango”, which, of course, was a tango. We would have guessed this anyway, but just in case somebody would miss it (despite the in-your-face tango-choreography), the words in the chorus was “TANGO TANGO”. You can name every genre – there will be a song for you. Sang in a jazzy-ish, reggae-ish (etc) way. As if we would’nt get it anyway. Everyone, please stop calling songs the same things as the genres they are trying to be. It doesn’t work, and it will not make the songs sound like they actually belonged in those genres. Even a guy like Neil Young, who – you must admit it – knows how to rock, sounds like he doesn’t have a clue when he sings “Keep on rockin´ in the free world”. Oh? You meant “rock”? I thought you meant tango!

3) People performing in long shorts and bare chests.
This is so hard to relate to. I can’t relate to it at all. No pop bands are doing this. Only tattooed “harder” rock bands. But what’s the idea here? Are these guys coming directly from the beach? And is that “hard”?

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (I): C'mon / Jo-Anna Says

Today the first double single from Son of a Plumber is released, including the songs C'mon and Jo-Anna Says. Per Gessle is in New York these days trying to find a contract to release a Roxette collection in the USA. He speaks about the SOAP album and the single to Aftonbladet.

C'mon is sung in falsetto. 60's are there. It reminds us of the Beatles and sticks to our mind inmetiately. It will be playback showed in this year’s edition of “Fotbollsgalan” on November 14.



Jo-Anna says has an extremely catchy chorus. It's not an English version of Gyllene Tider’s “Jo-Anna Farväl”.

You can watch the official video of Jo-Anna says just clicking the image above. The video was filmed in the Aerosol Grey Machine with all the band: Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist, Jens Jansson, Helena Josefsson and Magnus Börjeson.

Christoffer Lundquist was interviewed by the Swedish journalist Lars Thulin in an article published today in Trelleborgsallehanda.se.

Let's read Per and Chris words to the Swedish media.

LJdM

I’ve worked with Clarence Öfwerman since 1986. We know each other very well. One of the things that Clarence always has thought was negative is that I’m always too prepared before starting a record. I make very advanced demos. Demos that sometimes sound exactly like the end results. Now we decided the ultimate change in my world. I made no demos at all for the “Son of a Plumber” album. The only thing I had before the recordings commenced were three instrumentals. The rest is stuff that were made during our work. I played ideas for Clarence and Christoffer who now got a much bigger chance to influence them. I wanted to avoid spearheads on the album. Our idea was to make an album where the whole was the principal, a double-album with a few songs too many. Music doesn’t have to be effective.

I have an older brother so I spent a lot of time on my own, listening to pop. I had 100 LPs when I was ten, all the money I earned selling newspapers and such, everything was for records, records, records. Then as a teenager I started to write songs, but couldn't play anything, I had the melodies in my head, then I started to play guitar, and started my first band.

It all started when I transfered my album collection to my iPod, it took about six months, and I found many songs I had forgotten about, songs I grew up with, it brought me back to my childhood '60s, '70s… and I decided to make a tribute to that era.

I really wanted to do an album that’s me. The lyrics are mainly about me and my life and they feel very important. At least to me. We never had a target group in mind when we did this album, and that was very liberating. If I hadn’t made this album in English I hadn’t made it at all. Because another summer in Sweden wouldn’t have worked. But now when it’s done, it’s of course nice if someone outside of Sweden wants to hear it. We’ve discussed about a tour with Son of a Plumber. If the album is received well abroad it would be nice to do a little club tour. We would play a little bit of everything. No Roxette stuff though, that wouldn’t work without Marie.

It was almost impossible to find a first single, because there isn’t really a song that represents the album. But we took this glamrock song, C'mon, as one of two A-sides because you can’t tell it’s me. So people can get a feel for it, regardless of their relationship to me. I sing in falsetto for the first time. It happened that way when I wrote it… and it was fun to sing it that way.

Jo-Anna says, the other A-side of the single, is on it because… well, if you vomit when you hear “C’mon” maybe you can like this instead. Ha ha! It’s a sort of a McCartney-song. We’ve had long discussions about what to really think about him. I’m more of a Lennon man myself, but like his early solo stuff.

Per Gessle

Pictures by Emelia Olofsson, sydsvenskan.se - November 2005

Moving to the countryside (Vollsjö, Skäne) in 1997 is the best I have ever done. I have completely changed my approach, I felt uncomfortable in the city (Lund). Here it is quiet and peaceful, a wonderful way of living. In my studio, "Aerosol Grey Machine", the quiet of the forest and the chance to work concentrated influence the music you can record. Sometimes I sit and listen to my old vinyls while smoking my pipe: Phil Spector's "Back To Mono", Abba, Led Zeppelin, Ratata, Janis Joplin, Peter Gabriel, some classic music, Beatles, The Who, Yes, Genesis, Marillion, ... Vinyl sounds much closer to how it sounds in the studio. I feel like crying every time I am forced to mix down to a recent recording from the fully analog studio into digital form. It's like baking a cream cake, and then pour it into plastic.

"Aerosol Grey Machine studio" remembers Van der Gaaf Generators' Pawn Hearts, from 1971. A time when music could be great and important without being ironic or selfish. The Beatles' fault. Beatles went in that direction and 70s symphonic rock became my musical education. We loved it not because it is difficult to play, but because of the melodies and moods. I have Toto's music in my playlist and it's strange according to Swedish musicians' standards, because the more one sells, the more it must be rejected. Commercial success is a sort of 'kiss of death'. This idea of "right" and "wrong" music is something kids do. If adults do it, it is stupid. Stop! The timeless values of pop music? Good songs and melodies, of course, but also the "presence". You have to hear that someone is at home. Otherwise it is musically just empty posturing.

Christoffer Lundquist

P, C & C lay down some harmony (VI): weird music from AGM Studio

Like The Daily Roxette reported, due to technical issues the new album "Son of a Plumber "has been delayed for one week; the new release date is November 23. There are plans for the upcoming album to also be released as a vinyl record – both double – with a bonus track not available on the CD version.

Per Gessle has videoed most of the time during the recording process of the album “Son Of A Plumber.” So far it is not decided whether the material will be included as bonus material on the album or not. Per and the band has spent two days down in southern Sweden shooting. Today Musikbyrån SVT2 will visit Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christopher Lundquist in the Aerosol Grey Machine studio and we’ll get a first preview of the new Son of a Plumber album.

The album goes in so many directions that it has been hard to find a single but it will be released two weeks before the album: it will be - in good old Gessle-fashion - a double a-side featuring the tracks “C’mon” and “Jo-Anna Says.” The album has been fully mixed and mastered during September and October with the help of Magnus Börjeson.

Magnus Börjeson and David Birde (Metro Jets) have been lately working in the soundtrack of a movie about the Rolling Stones.

LJdM

This is the most beautiful and important album I’ve ever done. It is original and weird, many people will probably think it’s weird. It’s sort of a homage to the music I grew up with 1968-1972.

It actually wasn't my intention to make a double album, but we had so much material, and then I asked EMI if I can release a double album for price of one. They said yes, so I thought, 'Shit, that's great! Let's make two albums, 30 minutes each!' It's actually 60 minutes, and you could put it on one, but it was nicer to make it like this, more of an LP feeling.

A tour? It will depend on how the album will be received. A small club tour would be great, don’t you think?

Per Gessle

How much do I contribute to Per Gessle’s songs? That’s so difficult to tell. It’s an organic process, very collaborative, it’s always the three of us in the same room working. I think people who listen to the songs can tell better. I don’t really know who does what when we work.

I really prefer recording an album without demos. I think it’s a lot better in many many ways. If you make demos, the chance is you are going to listen to them many times, and then your mind is sort of set, you cannot take off from that, then you start to like things from the demos, arrangements, little details, vocals, and then you want to recreate that, so your hands are tied. It ruins a lot of the creativity. So when I get demos I listen to them once or twice and then throw them away.

I believe in the first impression, somebody sitting on the sofa in the control room and playing you the song. And then you go from there with the inspiration. Some fans love demos, that’s fine, they can listen to them, but not me. Haha! But actually, often demos are even better than the final song. That is because that’s the first time the artist records the song, so for him that’s almost the birth of the song, and I like to save that for the record. That shouldn’t be on the demo, because demos aren’t meant to be published.

The first time Per Gessle recorded without demos was Son of a Plumber, it was the same way of working. That was really really creative. He was sitting in the kitchen writing while we were recording in the other half of the building and so on. That was like a boiling pot.

Christoffer Lundquist

Malmö, Sweden, 1965. Some kids having a party. New found friends arrive: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Brian Jones. 40 years later: The movie “Like a Rolling Stone” by Magnus Gertten & Stefan Berg shows footage from the party and tells us the whole story. Coming VERY soon: A NEW JUNK RELEASE – the Soundtrack EP from this movie, written & produced by METRO JETS (Magnus Börjeson + David Birde).

I just got the new Metro Jets EP! It’s funny to listen to a soundtrack when you haven’t seen the film yet – you get all kinds of pictures in your head. I can tell you one thing for sure: this music is going straight to my iPod, it’s a p-e-r-f-e-c-t soundtrack for november.

Check your paper for “Rolling Like A Stone” if you want to see the movie. Check this page for more info about the release of Metro Jets EP. It’s really just the mastering that is left before we can release it. Christoffer Lundquist is hiding/working/going crazy/recording/etc in his studio, but as soon as he can push some buttons for us, this music will be all yours.

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

Sandy Mouche's Junk singles (II): In the sand

In the sand ( 2005 · 10 · 18 )
Second new single for an upcoming album

“Available for download. Martinique came up with the photo idea (Photo: Hanna Blomgren)”


01. In the sand (Helena)

Anders Mildner from Junk Musik has interviewed Sandy Mouche today:

Q: Tell us about the recording of your new album, from which the new single, “In the Sand” is taken.

Martin: We recorded the album in ten days. We mostly worked weekends.Most of the recordings were done live, so we managed to finish it off in less than two weeks.Ola, Per, Helena and I played almost all instruments, but we got some help – with harp and strings for example – from some really good musicians that we know.

Q: Your two singles released here at Junk, “Une Historie” & “In the Sand” are really different from each other. What will the album be like?

Martin: All songs go their own way, in some sense, but the album still fits together.It feels like we have found a Sandy Mouche sound, which allows us to take each song as far as possible – in any direction. One thing that is different from our first album is that me and Helena haven’t written anything together this time.

Q: When will the album be released?

Martin: January 2. If everything works out…

Q: On some songs you sing in french…

Martin: I have a cousin in France. I spent all my summers there as a kid. I learned French and got a lot of impressions that surface now that I’m older.We tried French on some songs and liked it. Some songs f-e-e-l french and sometimes everything falls into place when you try this language in a song.

Q: Helena, you’re taking part the much talked-about Per Gessle-project “Son of a plumber”. Any news about that?

Helena: The first single is released soon. I hope there will be many fun gigs after that! That’s about all I dare to say at the moment…

Autumn 2005 Göteborg Gig
in Ullevi

* Ullevi, Göteborg 2005 · 10 · 12


Ullevi or Ullevi Stadium, formerly named Nya Ullevi, meaning New Ullevi, to distinguish it from Gamla Ullevi, is a stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, the biggest stadium in Scandinavia. It has an all-seated-capacity of 43,000 and a total capacity of 60,000 for concerts. The record for the stadium after being partially rebuilt was set by Swedish rock band Gyllene Tider on 7 August 2004, with an attendance of 58,977.

Here is the info to the 20 online questions that I did with Sandy Mouche on the www.itsatrap.com website which talks about Scandinavian music in general. Published: 23.10.2005

Sandy Mouche is a breath of fresh air from the Swedish music scene. They've put out a few demos, a number of singles, an ep and an album called "White lucky dragon" which was one of my favourite albums of 2004. They just released a new French single called "Une histoire" ("A story") which will only available online at www.cdon.com. The single is a pop dream delight, filled with sweet hooks and beautiful melodies. It's taken from their forthcoming album called "…and poems for the unborn" which I can't wait to hear. Sandy Mouche sing in both English and French, sometimes even in the same song. I asked them 20 questions that will hopefully explain what makes Sandy Mouche tick... we'll see if they consider themselves more "pop" than "rock", why they sing in French and what inspires them.

a little side note: vocalist Helena has also worked on Per Gessle's (Roxette) new project.
another side note: these questions were answered in December 2004, but it was published on October 23rd, 2005.

01. Where does Sandy Mouche come from? name? concept? meaning if any?

The name was born on a Greek island when Martinique, Helena and Per were there on vacation. They decided to start a band. Per played with the sand and came up with Sandy and Helena saw that all three of them had Mouches (brown Madonna dots in the face). The result was the band's name Sandy Mouche. We have realised that it's not just a name but a person as well. A person who lives in every member of Sandy Mouche and who helps them when time seems pointless and grey. We're all together on a journey to make the world a better place. (See website for fairytale version).

02. Do you prefer to be described as pop or a rock band and why?

Pop. Our music is a bit softer than standard rock and it's not all based on loud guitars.

03. What Swedish bands have most influenced you?

None. Only Fairytale music for films of the Swedeish writer Astrid Lingren.

04. What band (outside of Sweden) would you all agree is a big influence on the band?

The French singer Joe Dassin, France Gall, Cindy Lauper, The Twin Peaks music, Beatles, Michael Jackson, Type o Negative.

05. Besides music, what influenced the band to start making music? movies? books? media? sex???

Some movie music is just great. We have all grown up with fairytales and music to the fairytale movies and that is very powerful. Besides that it's the fact that we just love to create music and play together. We have always had a dream about music being our daily job.

06. What movie would best describe Sandy Mouche if you had to pick one?

Astrid Lindgren's "Bröderna Lejonhjärta"

07. Why did you choose to sing in French and English? Is it popular in Sweden to sing in your native tongue nowadays? why not sing in Swedish? Did you make a conscious decision to sing this way?

We like both the English language and the French language so we do a combination of the two. French is beautiful. Martinique has relatives in France and he went there every summer when he was a little boy. So he has great memories and inspiration from that time. We want our music to fly over the borders of Sweden and reach the whole world so therefore we don't sing in Swedish. But if you want to break in Sweden, Swedish is probably the best way.

08. How has technology influenced the band?

We can do simple demos at home very easily thanks to computers, so that is great.

09. Do you prefer analog or digital? for recording, gear and aesthetics?

"White lucky dragon" was recorded in an analog studio. We liked it. But it's not a must for us. I think you can create magic digitally as well. When were playing live it's a mix of vintage and digital stuff.

10. How does Sandy Mouche fit into the Swedish music scene? Are you considered underground or outsiders?

Hmmm... We think we fit in perfectly but we need more money (for promotion) to break through the fog of all mainstream radio hits that torture the Swedes every day. At the moment we are somewere between underground and overground we think.

11. What are the other cool bands in Sweden these days?

Logh.

12. Describe an average Sandy Mouche fan. What kind of person would dig Sandy Mouche?

Maybe a person who needs a little more love in life? Maybe a really macho guy with bad self-confidence. Or maybe the average person with a 9-5 workday that enjoys life. Hmmm, I think all kinds of people actually =)

14. How does art affect your daily lives if at all?

As in paintings it doesn't affect but maybe plays at the theatre or ballets. Everything that makes us react.

15. If you would describe the band in only 3 words (no more no less) what three words would they be?

White lucky dragon (It has nothing to do with rasism I assure u =)

16. In your opinion, who is the most famous swedish person? (alive or dead, musical or non musical)

Abba or Alfred Nobel maybe?

17. What is the coolest places in Sweden that most Swedes don't know about?

An island called Valö with orange cliffs and a big bird.

18. What does the future hold for Sandy Mouche? (keep in mind these questions where answered in December 2004...)

We have just finished the video for the song "Papillon" and it will be out in Sweden in the beginning of January. In February we return to the studio to do our second album. We will try to get a deal with a major company here in Sweden so that they can help us reach other countries.

19. Since I'm from Canada... what do you think of when you think of Canada?

We think of a calm beautiful place where you can speak french and where there is snow. Calm in the sense of more calm then USA where it seems that everyone must own a gun to feel safe and so on. Maybe a place more down to earth. Icehockey! We like Canada =)

20. Since I'm French I have one last little question: What would be your favorite French word or phrase? (each member please list at least one)

Helena: Tarte au pomme

Martinique: Planche a voile

Per: Révolution

Ola: Amour

Marc Xavier Leblanc, from Canada - DJ Bones

Lund Poker Tour is a friends poker club of Lund, including Martinique Josefsson (Sandy Mouche).

Video by

Björn Folbert, from Löddköpinge, SE
- folbertdotcom