P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (VII): children and iPods

In the same marvelous personal interview by Jan Gradvall translated by Thomas Evensson for TDR's readers, Per Gessle speaks about iPods and children. You have to read it.

By the way, the Son of a Plumber website reveals that the European release of the album is planned for March 6, 2006. Per writes on Son of a Plumber.com that the next Swedish single will be “Hey Mr DJ (Won’t You Play Another Love Song)” with an anticipated radio date of mid-January. The b-side is a “rehearsal medley” so to speak, called “Plumber in Progress #1.”

LJdM

My first iPod was the all-black U2 iPod, but I filled that in a minute. During 2004 I started uploading my entire CD collection onto iTunes. More often than not I was so absorbed in it that when I checked the time it was 5 a.m. I get to hear a lot that I’m so meticulous. That my albums are sorted alphabetically and things like that. Sure, they are. But in the middle of that I also have a totally different side to me. I can’t handle when my time is expected to be in order. The worst thing I know is schedules. I don’t like deadlines. I don’t like when I know in advance what will happen. I don’t understand people who write songs 9-5. To sit there for six hours, sometimes you write something, sometimes you don’t. I refuse to work like that. Instead I sit in front of the TV with my guitar in my lap. If it’s a semi-crap movie I turn down the volume and strum the guitar. I read the subtitles, don’t concentrate on what I do and then suddenly a melody can appear. Damn, what was that?

When I uploaded his record collection into iTunes I rediscovered a lot of old music. Things I had listened to on my headphones in my old bedroom. In the old days on the radio you could hear Chicory Tip followed by Harry Belafonte and then Deep Purple. It’s so damn boring with this format-thinking these days. Who likes just one thing? Who wants to eat the same thing the rest of his life? The old monopoly radio! At the same time I believe that the Internet and digital music can turn things around. On the web you can find, like radio in the olden days, random new songs and music. It’s too bad that iTunes Music Store still has so little older music. I don’t understand why companies like EMI or Warner don’t open their own versions of iTunes Music Store. They should upload exactly everything. Imagine if everyone got a possibility to click around there, go through the entire catalogue, discover all the music that’s hidden in the archives.

I have an eight-year-old son, Gabriel. It’s very fun to see what music he finds and why he likes it. On Cartoon Network they apparently have some music. He can come to me and ask about for instance The Rembrandts. A while ago I played “Smoke On the Water” for him. He had never heard it before. The live version from Japan. Duh-duh-duh… It was amazing to witness someone hearing that riff for the very first time in his life. I saw his eyes light up. Because what is it really that makes you stick to different songs? What was it I liked in different songs when I was eight. That feedback loop in “I Feel Fine.” What’s cool with that?

The b-side of next single, Hey Mr. DJ, is a “rehearsal medley” so to speak, called “Plumber in Progress #1.” This will feature Gabriel and me jamming on ’Substitute,’ lousy guide lyrics beyond belief to several songs, etc etc.

Per Gessle