Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Malmö's studios (I): The Ark - In Lust We Trust

The Ark is a Swedish glam rock band from Malmö formed in 1991 by Ola Salo, Mikael Jepson, and Lasse "Leari" Ljungberg, when Ola Salo and Leari were only fourteen years old. Martin Axén officially joined the band in 1997, and Sylvester Schlegel in 1999. Their first album, We are the Ark, was released in 2000, with five singles: "Let Your Body Decide" (2000), "It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane" (2000), "Echo Chamber" (2000), "Joy Surrender" (2001) and "Let Your Body Decide" (2001). After dedicating most of 2001 to touring and promoting "We are The Ark", the band withdrew to prepare the next assault.

The new album, "In Lust We Trust", unleashed today in Sweden, has been recorded with the producer Peter Kvint in some famous Swedish studios: Polar (Stockholm), Sandovie, Jailhouse (Denmark) and 9-Volt. (Malmö) The backing vocals include Helena Josefsson, Gladys Del Pilar , Paris Gilbert , Pelle Ankarberg and Sara Isaksson.

Helena Josefsson, from Sandy Mouche, sings in 7 out of 11 songs: Beauty Is The Beast; Father Of A Son; Tell Me This Night Is Over; Calleth You, Cometh I; Disease; 2000 Light-Years Of Darkness; The Most Radical Thing To Do.

Calleth You, Cometh I, the first single, was released in February 2002. This week we can listen to the second one, Father Of A Son, about homosexuals' right to have children.

LJdM

P, C & C wanna be Ramones' boyfriends (X): Something in Swedish with a small band

Roxette has been recording this summer two new songs and the video of one of them: A thing about you.

According to Judith Seuma, from The Daily Roxette, Roxette is coming out soon with two compilation albums (Ballad hits and Pop hits), but Per Gessle has said today in Swedish newspapers that he is thinking of releasing a solo album too. Maybe in Swedish. The article states that Gessle has worked hard this summer. He has worked a lot with MP Persson in the Tits&Ass studio in Halmstad, to write songs and record them.

Some years ago he released a solo album in English, the report continues, but this time he wants to write it in Swedish, and release it in Sweden. According to Gessle's words, something in Swedish with a small band (he does not mention Gyllene Tider) ... and with the style of "I wanna be your boyfriend". It could be a new album with Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and Jens Jansson. This "little" band could have its Swedish chance.

LJdM

This new single of Roxette, A thing about you, will be a quite untypical song for Roxette, with acoustic guitars and a cello. I'm actually singing, while usually Marie takes care of the ballads.

I would like to do something in Swedish again, I havent done it for a while. I’m a bit tired of all the German TV shows. There´s something ’cooking’ - something getting ready. I have written for both Swedish and foreign artists. I can´t say anything else now, but I think you will hear them soon.

New songs for a solo project would sound like 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend' (my cover version of the classic Ramones' song). The style is so obvious and it would be nice to keep on working with a small band. Some of the songs I have written for Roxette are in that style. Power pop like ’Sleeping in My Car,’ but a bit more ’alive’ or ’pushing.’ However the record company was nagging about a compilation album. We have so many songs and have been aroud for so long that we thought it would be nice to separate the slow from the fast songs. I have written so many songs, and if we had thought about it - organised it a bit - we could have really released a new album instead. I think it’s funny, since in the pop business there are many artists who come and go. It´s proof of a kind of ’substance’ to be able to do such an album and besides be able to divide the two albums. It’s more like knocking on the door to say ’Hello, don’t forget that we’re still here.'

Per Gessle