Helena´s second solo album is on its way.

In May I gave up posting here. Nobody seems to keep on writing about Helena and "les mouches", so today I have decided to write a new article. There are some things to write about from May.

Let's begin with TODAY. This is the marvelous message we can read at helenajosefsson's official website:

"Welcome to helenajosefsson.com. Helena´s second solo album is on its way. The site is being updated. Moohhoohaaahaaa ..."

So things are going to happen very soon.

Picture by Sandy Mouche, September 2010

Sandy Mouche's boys (and girl) have been recording a new album this summer 2010 in Per Blomgren's home studio. They even wrote a blog about it: http://sandymouche.tumblr.com/. According to the band, they are "in the proccess of recording new songs" and getting ready for a new gig.

Sandy Mouche guys and girl added: "We're currently recording new material and intend to put up some samples here. Stay put for updates!"

Meanwhile, other "friends", Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist, have been touring and recording with Marie Fredriksson as Roxette. This time, with Pelle Alsing (drums) and Malin Ekstrand (backup vocals). Maybe you remember Malin because she took part in Helena Josefsson's Dynamo solo tour some years ago.

Helena said goodbye to P, C and C last 18th June 2010 at Princess Victoria and Daniel's wedding in Stockholm. Roxette played "The look" with Marie Fredriksson on the stage.

Sadly, Helena Josefsson didn’t have a microphone in the beginning of the song so it was a sad goodbye to the "plumbers".

Finally, Helena takes part in the last single of Arash, "Broken angel".

According to Arash’s facebook, the song was recorded in May 2010 and will be the new single for his upcoming album in 2011.


So good things are going to happen very very soon. And "Le Journal des Mouches" wants to be there, don't you? Keep up with Helena and "les mouches".

Alberto Fuente (aka Lantartida), - LJdM

PS: I am not sure if this article means the come-back of LJdM. I said goodbye six months ago. I don't promise to update this blog usually. Help is still needed. I am sure you can do it better than myself. Does anyone want to write articles or publish his/her opinion in this blog? Thank you in advance.

• Updated January 2011: The second album of Helena Josefsson will be released in February 2011. You can find more news in the official websites and in Roxetteblog - HJ.

• Goodbye, Mouches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
  
  History: Main sources: helenajosefsson.com; RoxetteBlog; Updated: 8.11.2010: New picture;

Goodbye, Mouches

Yes, this could be the last article of this blog, unless a new editor or new writers want it to be alive. Does anyone offer himself/herself as a volunteer? Le Journal des Mouches' editor and creator transfers the blog.

Picture by Alberto Fuente

Some days ago, I was in Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK. Well, at least my train and my camera were there, I just continued to London King Cross Station. It's not much for an article indeed, but I didn't want to give up this blog forever without any "goodbye post".

Obviously, this station made me think about Sandy Mouche and Helena Josefsson. As Adela Toplean told me in her blog "Sandy Mouche are – almost – back and Helena herself has made quite a good and danceable album which is (almost) out." Almost back, almost out, ... It explains why this blog has been "almost" a Journal. ;D

Three hundred people (well almost 300, lol) seem to have watched Sandy Mouche's last gig online and we have just got a few comments from the band on Facebook.

• "Är i studion och spelar in en av de nya låtarna." - 11.03.2010
• "Ännu en torsdagkväll i studion med inspelning - härligt!" - 18.03.2010
• "Har varit i studion. En låt färdiginspelad nu..." - 25.03.2010

I am improving my English not far from Sandy, Bedfordshire, so my Swedish is not very good yet, but Google translator is marvelous and let us imagine that the band has been spending March Thursday's evenings at Per Blomgren home studio, recording new songs.

Meanwhile, Helena Josefsson celebrated her 32th birthday last month and received some congratulation message in her guestbook. She briefly answered: "I just want to say thank you for all the birthday-greetings :o)!! I wish you all a happy Easter!".

Easter was over and we (we?: the few readers of this blog and its editor) have been waiting for something new from "Sandy Mouche Camp". Aren't we? I hope the wind could give us more new songs and no more Eyjafjallajökull's ashes.


By the way, in London, I walked by On The Beat, 22 Hanway Street, near Tottenham Court Road Tube Station. It is the record shop that appeared in "Son of a Plumber" album. I could not help thinking about the new plans of Gessle, Lundquist and Öfwerman with Roxette. The new Rox album will be released in 2011, but Roxette will play live this summer. I am happy Marie is back but I miss the sound of "Per Gessle Solo Band", with Chris, Clarence and Helena. I didn't like the last songs of Roxette. IMHO, One wish and Reveal were poor quality and lacked the breath of fresh air that meant "Mazarin" or "Son of a Plumber".

I hope Gessle would decide to record again a personal album without the pressure of what Roxette fans are waiting for. Maybe in 2012, after the Rox fever, P, C & C could join again to record an album in Swedish together. And Helena should be there, of course.

I also miss Brainpool, the band of Christoffer Lundquist, David Birde and Jens Jansson. They recorded new songs in January for their rock opera, Junk, that could be premiered in Stockholm and London very soon. Last 22th April, David and Jens were the DJ's in Kick-Start, in Malmö.

I have decided to stop . The idea of a blog began with the Helena Josefsson's Official Forum. in June 2007, just some months after other of my favourite sites closed (Junk Musik website). I loved Helena Josefsson's forum but I needed more space to write about Helena and "The Mouches". I have tried to do a compilation of news of the story of Helena, Sandy Mouche and Per Gessle's solo band between 1997 and 2010. More or less, this compilation looks like I wanted it to look like 3 years ago. But there is no need to continue with a blog when there is not much to write about. I want to thank you for being patient with an unexperienced blogger that had made so many mistakes (I have always tried to solve them. Sorry anyway).

Maybe I will write again in this blog, maybe not. The only thing I know is that I have more important things to do right now and that writing here without readers is not funny anymore. If you have read this blog and find it useful to understand Helena Josefsson's music, just write a comment, please, anonymous if you prefer. If someone wants to tell me something or somebody wants to become the new LJdM's editor, write me an e-mail: lantartida(at)yahoo(dot)es. It's free! :D

Goodbye and good luck, mouches.

Alberto Fuente (aka Lantartida), - LJdM

Sandy Mouche is back (II): Kickstart my heart

No Journal without "mouches" anymore. Yesterday night Sandy Mouche was back. It's has been 3 years since the last concert of the band and they offered a vibrant spectacle in a wonderful club in Malmö, Kick-Start (Banco de la Musica, Stortorget). Le Journal des Mouches was not there, but we followed the full concert live in Kick-Start Media website.

According to Patrick, from Banco de la Música's blog in Swedish: "Finally time for the big day. Since Our First Guitar, The Luxe, and Sandy Mouche. And most of all ... we were able to stream the concerts! Past nights we had always had problems with internet. Sandy Mouche came at 17:30 and began to rig up their stuff on stage. At 18:00 it was time for soundcheck. We opened the club at 20:30. 21:30 The Luxe, 22:25 Since Our First Guitar and 23:20 Sandy Mouche. Everything went well. Lots of audience, great sound and lighting and especially rapid changes between bands. That was only two things that went bad. Right subwoofer did not work very well, but the sound still was pretty good. The second thing was that there must be someone connected wrongly to the speaker in the basement. DJ played low but not bands. There will be concerts at the Banco de la Música every Thursday evening until mid-May. So just come!"

At 21,30, the night began with two lovely bands from Malmö, Since our first guitar and The Luxe. Magnus 'Cardigan' Sveningsson, was the righteous DJ boy before and after every band. At 23,00, Martin, Helena, Per and Ola made their appearence and prepared all their stuff before the "kick-start".

A few minutes later, Helena, followed by Martin, Ola and Per, showed up on stage; Helena and Ola, black-dressed, Martin and Per white-dressed. They played 7 songs, 5 were new and 2 previous hits, in a 45 minutes concert. We can summarize the songs of the gig, although we are not sure of the correct titles of the new songs.

• 1. Follow the Rainbow: Vocals and bass by Martin; vocals and keyboards by Helena; guitar by Ola; drums by Per. A sweet ballad with lots of positive feelings. Most of the parts of the songs are sung by Martinique, but it's a duet in the chorus with a magic music ending.
• 2. I'll wait for you: Vocals by Helena; backing vocals and keyboards by Martin; guitars by Ola and Per. A rhythmic danceable popsong with Helena singing into the audience.
• 3. Living in a world: Vocals and bass by Martin; backing vocals and keyboards by Helena; guitar by Ola; drums by Per. The chorus sounds like an American TV Serie theme of the 80s. Really nice ending with a disco touch.
• 4. Oui, c'est nous: Vocals and keyboards by Helena; bass by Martin; drums by Per; introduced by hand-clapping and a guitar solo by Ola. Their new song in French, a nice pop song with an original chorus.
• 5. I can't find the fire: Vocals and keyboards by Helena; bass by Martin; guitar by Ola; drums by Per. My favourite new song of the show. Catchy melancholic song. Helena singing really well as always. Per's drums are also marvelous in this song.
• 6. Spiderweb suit: Vocals by Helena; keyboards by Per Blomgren; percussion by Martinique and guitar by Ola Blomgren. A great version of one of their best songs ever. Touching.
• 7. Le Mistral: Vocals and bass by Martin; keyboars and backing vocals by Helena; guitar by Ola; drums by Per. Martinique had played it during his European Tour in 2009 and it was a good final song for this gig.

The audience firmly applauded after the show. We will try to update this topic with new pictures and comments. If you were there, tell us your experience in the comments. Don't be shy! By the way, become fan of official Sandy Mouche’s page on Facebook – join here.

LJdM

Picture by Emma Sonesson, administrator of the HJ Unofficial Fanclub
in Facebook (Link clicking the picture)

Yesterday we had a concert after 3 years. See it in Le Journal des Mouches. Oh wow we didn´t know that it was recorded...! Ooops then you also hear that the lyrics aren´t finished yet. The same verse goes round and round and round :o) Some lyric-polishing and than we can start recording and write more songs. And we´re looking for a cover- any suggestions?

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

History:

• Main sources: helenajosefsson.com; Kick-Start website; HJ Unofficial Swedish Fanclub in Facebook; Banco de la Música's Blog;

Sandy Mouche is back (I): rehearsing for a new concert on March 4th!!!

According to Helena Josefsson, Sandy Mouche will perform for the very first time in three years on the club Kick-Start-Banco de la Musica festival on Stortorget in Malmö on March 4th. They have been rehearsing since Christmas and prepared new songs that they would like to perform. Please, become fan of official Sandy Mouche’s page on Facebook – join here.

We have tried to translate the official add of Kick-Start club (read the original one in Swedish in the comments of this article):

March 4th, 2010.

Club Opens: 20:30; On Stage: 21:30; Club Closes: When everybody is happy .
Admission: SEK 60, SEK 40 (Kick-Starts members).
On Stage: Sandy Mouche; Since Our First Guitar; The Luxe.
Evening DJ: Magnus Sveningsson (The Cardigans)

The concept is just as before. We are presenting the best local live bands interspersed with the occasional interesting live bands from outside. When the Kick-Start was started later (1997-2002) won the live music venue Nöjesguidens Malmö / Lund price and was also named to the 'Net live club " in both the Evening Post and the process.

Sandy Mouche is a pop band based on the joy of music and friendship. The music is a combination of realized and shattered dreams, things that happened and things they hope will happen, hope and a solitary walk in Twin Peaks' wet air. Band consists of two dear brothers (Per & Ola Blomgren) and lovebirds (Martin and Helena Josefsson), resulting in a very dynamic and responsive style of play. Two albums, three children, three-four years since they last test new material before an audience of Kick-Start. Much has been made with their personal development that affects how their music sounds. But the fun is at least as great as when they first started nine years ago! -http://www.myspace.com/sandymouche

Since Our First Guitar is a band with one foot in Malmö and the other in Seattle's Indie-swamp. They are in an old barn in the countryside, where they recorded their debut album, The Sound of Trees. -http://www.myspace.com/sinceourfirstguitar

The Luxe: Once born a child. His childhood consisted of porridge and joy. At his first love taught it to write poems and letters with rhyme and rhetoric. Farther ahead drank champagne and made mistakes, jumping from ledges in hopes of capturing something significant. Eventually realized that it all takes time. Sometimes an entire lifetime. In the end it was no more than skin, bones and scars. Recommended for those who appreciate The Killers, Coldplay and Kent. -http://www.myspace.com/theluxeband

Le Journal des Mouches has not confirmed it, but maybe the concert will be streamed alive through Kick-Start Media website.

LJdM

Sandy Mouche concert! Welcome to Banco del Musica 4/3 2010, Stortorget, Malmö. After 3 years of silence and 3 children richer- Sandy Mouche is back! Since christmas we have been rehearsing and we have a handful of new songs that we would like to try together with an audience! Be Sandy Mouche´s friend on facebook!

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

History:

• Main sources: helenajosefsson.com; helenajosefsson.com - Guestbook; RoxetteBlog; Kick-Start website

HJ: "Kyss mig" - "One song from the new album"

The new song of Helena Josefsson is called “Kyss mig” (Kiss me). The video was directed by Cecilia Nordlund (Cilihili) and you can spot Helena’s husband Martin in one of the main roles.


According to Helena herself, there will be more informations on the song and even English translation of the lyrics. It could be the beginning of an album in Swedish. This is the crew of the video featuring in the credits:

• "Director: Cecilia Nordlund; Photography: Thomas Busk, Thomas Romlöv; Costume designer / Stylist: Dyvecke Berg; Make up: Sasha Panic, Dyvecke Berg, Johanna Knutsson; Rekvisita: Linda Ceccon; Grip: Pelle Bevmo, Jonas ?
• Actors - Sagonymf: Helena Josefsson; Prince: Martin Josefsson; Nymphs: Emelie Persson, Johanna Knutsson, Monica ?; Dancers: Carola Guilheim, Anja Berndin; Catering: Lina ?
• Thanks to: Thomas Bekker; Gunnar Berg i Rörum; Gustav Nilsson"

LJdM

Everything is fine! Just a bit baggy under the eyes but having as much fun as possible! I would really like to sing a lot more and have a lot more concerts and I hope one day I will have a break-thru so it can happen! I do my best anyway :o) In the meantime I try to follow my heart and do music and videos that give me and hopefully someone else some joy or inspiration.

I am no good at keeping secrets :o) If I have a surprise I just get so happy and I tell about it too early :o)

One song from the new album! This song is called Kyss Mej! (Kiss me!) The video is directed by Cecilia Nordlund (Cilihili). I was having a lot of fun, both writing the song and making the video, actually it was one of the funniest experiences I´ve had. More info and translation soon :o) I hope you enjoy it!

Have a great time!

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Comments by fans:

It’s quite unusual for Helena – she’s rapping there. I’m not a fan of her as a person, but as the artist I give her my big wow and take a bow. I find this what she’s been doing through the last few years as the amazing example of good music. In other words – would love to be on this concert, but don’t feel like meeting her afterwards.

Tomasz Wysocki, from Warsaw, Poland
- RoxetteBlog.com

Very nice song and amazing video!! You sing as brilliant as always, but the music is too much pop.... Can't wait to listen to the whole album, I believe you'd do it perfectly!!!! Thanks a lot and have a splendid Spring!!)))

Ilya Volkov -(a.k.a. Kreecher)

History:

• Main sources: helenajosefsson.com; helenajosefsson.com - Guestbook; RoxetteBlog; HJ Youtube Channel;

Helena Josefsson and her plans for 2010

Some of our few readers could be asking themselves about Helena Josefsson. She is busy like always. Helena answered to a message from Kamila Aleksandrowicz in the Guestbook of the Official website. Read it below. The picture of Charles-Didrik was taken by his aunt Sofia Josefsson.

LJdM

I have been busy, studying in Copenhagen, to become an opticitian like my younger sister! I want to work part-time with it along with music, because as a parent I want to give my family more possibilities. And studying takes a lot of time :) But it is fun to learn new stuff! On top of this we live at my mother´s place because of a large renovation of our flat which is really needed.

About my second album I don´t know, who or when it could be released... But the good part is I am working on more music videos for it with friends, and we have started rehearsing with Sandy Mouche which I enjoy more than ever! Just for fun, like when we first begun playing together. And I am planning for a show with my friend Malin Nilsson the magician.

PS: Help Haiti people by purchasing my music on CDbaby
If you buy music from me, my band Sandy Mouche or anyone through the site CDbaby 1 USDollar will go to helping Haiti survivors of 12th January earthquake.

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

History:

• Main sources: helenajosefsson.com - Guestbook; Sofia Josefsson's blog