An unofficial box of news about the singer / songwriter Helena Josefsson, her work with Sandy Mouche and Per Gessle's Solo Band ... and other related projects
(Between 1997 and 2010) - by a fan.
If you need further information, go to the official websites
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.
"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".
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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!
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"
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!
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.
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!!)))
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.
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.
Photo by Cornelia Haslinger - Roxetteblog.com - Germany, 12.2009- NOTP
Christoffer Lundquist will be 40 y.o. this week (btw, just one day before LJdM's editor 's 30th birthday).
Born January 16th, 1970, the producer from Lund was interviewed in December by Judith Seuma and Kirsten Ohlwein, from roxetteblog.com. We want to take some of his words of this great interview about his life and career. Since January 2nd, Brainpool is working together again with Shakina Nayfack in the new arrangements and songs for Junk Opera, that will be premiered in New York soon. Works will finish January 23rd. You can watch the first recordings here: "Writing more JUNK - Part 1" of JUNK: A Rock Opera. Brainpool and Shakina work together to expand the show with 4 news songs and 9 sung scenes.
It's our first post of the year, so we wanted to know more about P, C & C's plans. Today it is Per Gessle's birthday. Per was interviewed in Radio Halland in December (TDR tranlated the interview) and in Expressen today (translated by tomos85, from rb). Clarence Öfwerman also spoke to roxetteblog.com before Christmas about 2010. These interviews are a good source to follow P, C & C team.
Lundquist will work with Brainpool until January 23rd and will begin the new Roxette's recordings with Gessle an Öfwerman the last week of January. Busy birthday, dear Chris, but for LJdM readers it is not a surprise. The mix of snow, cats and musicians is becoming a common situation during AGM Studios' winters.
So far Helena Josefsson is not involved in P, C & C's 2010 projects and fans are still waiting for her second solo album.
Picture by Shakina Nayfack - AGM St. - January 2010
MUSICAL INFLUENCES
To begin with, when I was a kid it was a lot of Beatles and a lot of ABBA. I loved ABBA, I still do, I listen to them a lot, I think it’s great music. I was also into all this prog rock stuff, so that was also part of my music information, I listen to that still. But now I listen to pretty much everything. I am not that much into dance music, I don’t get that, I need chords and melody. I sort of discover new music all the time, Per Gessle is such a music maniac, so he is constantly playing new music to us when we are working together, I discovered a lot of new stuff thanks to that. It’s difficult to cover anything. If you really love an artist you can’t take the cover versions. I don’t want to hear Beatles covers. It’s horrible.
I collected albums when I was a teen. I bought a lot of records. But now – it’s not so much fun anymore. I do as everyone else – I have the computer and iPod and sort of stuff. But I bring out the vinyl sometimes. Then I play the music I loved when I was a kid. I prefer CD than digital songs. It’s more fun, but it’s disappearing. I mean, our kids they don’t care anymore. They want the good songs and skip the bad songs. Things change..
I used to go to concerts. Not so much anymore, mainly because I work so much, there’s never time. And when I don’t work I want to be with my family. And then I live kind of off. The place where I live, where the studio is, is in the middle of nowhere. No other people ever. And I have gotten so used to it, I like that so much and when I am home I sort of never leave the little farm. I find it difficult in big cities now. I don’t like it. I feel sad. Everything is ugly and it smells bad. When you don’t know the city you only get to see the bad parts, because you don’t know where to go. So you only see the horrible, tall buildings.. I have a house even more in the countryside, on Gotland. We have a 400 year old storage building there, with just cold water and no shower and we’re there for six weeks every summer. Not checking emails, if possible. I have become more and more like that over the years.
I am not into buying stuff and all the consumer blablabla. I think it’s a sad development. People should have more time and spend more time with their family and less time with making money to buy unimportant things that are made by kids in China. That’s my agenda. We behave very badly. I’m ashamed every day, actually, honestly. It’s really sad. A couple of years ago me and wife counted the objects our kids owned when they were 6 or 3. And I can’t remember the figure, but it made us feel “uuuh, we are bad people, what are we doing to ourselves and the planet”. So we are trying hard to change. But it’s difficult.. All the people who disagree with that must try to do something against it, or nothing will ever change. With cell phones, and getting a new model every year. I have my personal little cell phone fight. Mine is five years old and I am fighting hard not to buy a new one. It’s our whole civilization, I think, that is going into that direction. And I believe that money is the root of it all, that money has become too important, too influental, too much a deciding factor. It doesn’t mean I am a communist, but maybe we should try to listen to our emotions a bit more. And less towards economial-wise.
Picture by Shakina Nayfack - AGM St. - January 2010
AEROSOL GREY MACHINE STUDIO
Becoming producer was a gradual thing which evolved out of itself, and, of course, a lot of luck. For me writing, playing and recording is sort of the same thing to me, the record is the music in my world, so I was really interested in all this stuff, when I listened to music when I was really small I paid a lot of attention to sound, arrangements, all this, so I was always the guy who recorded in Brainpool, and I just slowly started to get requests from small local bands to help them record a demo, and then it just evolved. I have worked with lot of bands. Producing, arranging and recording. I’ve done more than a hundred albums by now, that’s what I do all the time.
I bought the house in 1997, thinking I was going to have a summer house in the country side and a demo studio, but then it GREW. I didn’t have a plan to have a professional studio and be a producer, it just happened. AGM Studio is quite unique, it’s a bit old style in the way that it’s set. Modern music making is people sitting in a small room in front of the computer and doing music on the computer screen. It used to be a lot of people together in a big room, with lots of instruments, inspiration, great acoustics, and that’s what I like and been trying to create, an old style studio with a modern approach. I’ve also got a lot of different instruments, that’s also what makes it special and is rare. Nowadays everything comes out of the computer, and everybody uses the same samples, same drum sounds, leading to a more streamlined, boring, less personality music. I’ve got lots of bookings and I work very hard, since I started. A bit too hard I think. I am trying to have somebody else use the studio without me being there, so I can have a bit of time off. A lot of French artists have been in my studio, a couple of American, Canadian, Norway. But mainly Swedish. I have never thought about working with an artist. When I start working with someone I sort of get into it and realize what it’s about. I haven’t really dreamt about it. I think it would be scary to work with your own idols or something like that. I would probably be afraid.
Photo by Kirsten Ohlwein - Roxetteblog.com - 12.2009
FUTURE PLANS
I finished my first solo album before I went on this tour, I don’t know how I am going to release it, but I will try. I released an EP that I am sort of semi happy with it, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I enjoy making music so much, but when the music is finished the rest is not so much fun. I am not into working with record companies and all that, so I will force myself to get it released, I really want people to listen to it. I’ve also got a singer singing backing vocals this time, just because I get bored of hearing my voice the whole time.
Picture by Shakina Nayfack - AGM St. - January 2010
Brainpool started with “some kind of punk” and ended up with rock operas! Haha! That’s a huge change, I agree. It was mainly, the three of us who are still in the band. The three of us are like brothers. We continue, it’s still fun, even though it’s more a hobby band now. We try sometimes to meet and play, let’s make a new album, but we need time and money and we are busy with many other things, to support ourselves. But we will again, one day, I’m sure. The Junk rock opera is very much alive. Shakina Nayfack, the American director who did the show in LA with it, two years ago, is coming to my place in January, we’ll write some new songs for it and develop it. They’ve done like 30-40 shows and now he knows what he feels is missing in the plot, so he’s going to tell us “we need to change this here,” or “this character is not clear enough”, so we are going to record some new music in January. I am really looking forward to it. After that we’ll start working on new Roxette music.
Picture by Shakina Nayfack - AGM St. - January 2010
Brainpool in January and then I hope to release my own stuff in the Spring. As soon as possible. I am not sure if I am trying to find a record company. Record companies are no much use anymore. They just want money and don’t release the records. I should try and do it myself, maybe. Yes, you can upload in iTunes yourself. And you can put it on Spotify and everything. But I am an old-style person. I like the records, I want to look at the record and the lyrics and watch pictures and so on. I really want to do that. I always read the booklet, too. And I sort of remember it like “Oh, that guy wrote this one but not that one”. That’s fun. I think you should always write that on records. As much detail as possible. The designers of the covers – they don’t want that. They want it to be clean and beautiful and I always fight them.
Picture by Shakina Nayfack - AGM St. - January 2010
We love the AGM studio. In the beginning we used to stay there for like 11 days, now it’s usually three days, we go down on Monday morning and leave on Thursday. So we work three long days, till three in the morning. It’s very intense. It’s impossible to work like that in Stockholm, since you then go home in the evening, or people come in the studio, from the record company, or for interviews. Nobody goes to Christoffer Lundquist’s, it’s too far away from everything. So we usually go down 10-12 times, about 3-4 days each, and then mix the stuff somewhere else, Stockholm most of the times. I used to have my own studio, but I don’t anymore. Now I only have my keyboards and computer to write the movie music I do, then I take it somewhere else to record it, with the orchestra. I write with “fake” orchestras in the computer.
Releasing my own music someday would actually be nice. You know, all these tracks I did for movies and TV. Maybe I could make an album with it, but I have to check if it’s enough, because it’s normally short pieces, and then some of them go together with the pictures, video. But I thought about it, maybe an EP for download. So here’s the exclusive, my movie music will be released in … the near future. And I’ll post on Facebook, and force everyone to follow the link and buy it. Joking aside, I think Facebook is a great tool to communicate. I now got my computer, and every night, I sit and chat with different people. People waking up in Chile or Argentina, they all say hi and ask when we will tour over there. I think the first one on Facebook was Jonas, then I came along. Christoffer joined I think 6 months after me, and Per just joined now. I guess since they heard us talk about it, they found it interesting. But Per always talks about Twitter, I have no clue how that works. I anyway think it’s great to have contact with people. I confirm everyone, in the beginning I was kind of scared, but I realized everyone is kind of normal. Or do you know anybody I should be careful with? I heard about what happened on the chat side on Dailyroxette.
I heard some of Beatles remastered albums, but I still have mixed feelings. I don’t think it’s better when you start to hear things which weren’t there. Christoffer Lundquist played them in the dressing room, and we both reacted on the same things like “that piano shouldn’t be that loud”, we both found the same spots which didn’t sound right to us. I will stick to the remasters from this Japanese guy, he remastered the songs directly from the vinyl, which is as close to the originals as it can get. And those are fantastic. I haven’t listened to the mono box yet. People say that those are better. But I listen to a lot of mp3s currently, the quality isn’t that good as on vinyl, but as long as the music is good, it’s fine. I like to have all songs in one place, which I can take with me. Suddenly you were out of batteries very soon. And if you want to move to a song you have to press the fast forward, and wait. But we actually recorded a lot on tape for “Son of a plumber”, basically drums, which tends to sound better when you record on tape and then you transfer to the computer, it gets a little bit of warmth from the tape, a bit of tape distortion. But we record vocals and other instruments directly to the computer, that’s easier. You can also save a lot of recordings and then pick up what you think is best, and mix it.
The tech guy? Definetely not me. Christoffer Lundquist is mostly taking care of it, he just sits and finds out how things work. I only do it home, I sit with the instructions and see what happens. You always find a solution, but I hate it, especially when you want to work and you sit there, not able to work due to a technical issue. I don’t have a big collection of keyboards, since I don’t have the studio anymore, the keyboards are in the garage. I have two of these red ones, they are Swedish. These are the ones I take on tour, too.
What do I do besides music? I like football. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is great but he doesn’t want to play in the Swedish team anymore. But maybe that’s better, because he’s such a big star and everybody’s looking what he is doing all the time. Not good for the team. He is too big for a team.
And raising kids! Haha! I have three of them, the youngest is three years old. The others are 10 and 12, three girls. They’ve been here sometimes and seen some shows. They go to a music school, where they have lots of singing. It’s a normal school but they have extra hours dedicated to singing. Swedish people aren’t that musical. There are no clubs like the ones we played at in Spring, so it’s very difficult for small bands to go and tour. When I grew up we used to play in schools, during the school hours. We also used to play in youth centers, so you could book a whole tour through schools, and maybe a rock club on Saturdays, but you can’t do that anymore, nobody plays in schools or youth centers anymore. Germany has a big tradition for rock clubs, people can tour in Germany for ever in front of 500-1000 people. I don’t know many German bands, I produced an album with a German band, Throw that beat. They are from Nurnberg. They didn’t sell many records, didn’t hit the charts. Some indy underground stuff. I heard about Tokio Hotel, I never listened to them, only heard about them. I hate Idol artists. I can’t watch them. My kids used to like it. It was the final yesterday – in Sweden. But I haven’t followed it this year but my kids tend to lose interest in it now. I think it’s very strange when they try to make them sound like people who already exist, imitate people and also force them so sing different styles, because nobody can. Like that – Per would never have made it to “Idol”, because he can’t sing in a Michael Jackson-style. I think it’s on for seven or eight years in Sweden. And nothing happens to the people who win. The next year they are forgotten. I remember Modern Talking, I hated it. I think they were in the charts at the same time as Roxette, in the same year. Per writes kind of the same songs all the time, too.. in different arrangements, but the chords are basically the same. Sometimes there are new chords, but he has his own style. And I like that style, so that’s cool. When he presents a new song, it’s like, usually I know the next chord before he takes it. You mostly stick to your harmonies. But Per doesn’t copy other stuff, he copies himself sometimes. Sometimes I have to say to him “You already wrote that one” and he says “No” and I say “Well, yes, you did”. Sometimes he rewrites if I can convince him. That’s a good feature with him, that he doesn’t notice he copies. He just writes and writes and writes. When he presents the songs to us he usually has everything, so I don’t know. We don’t change the text. No, Christoffer and I don’t do anything with the lyrics, that’s up to him, maybe only when it sounds wrong, like the wrong English or something. But he’s better in English than we are. But the meanings of the lyrics stay his.
We are aiming to begin – slowly but undoubtedly recordings of new material now in the spring. It will be bloody amazing. We are working with Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist in Scania as usual and everyone is eager to start the work. We're in the studio until midsummer for starters. Then possibly rehearsals if we're to do concerts. 2010 there will be nothing but Roxette. I put everything else I am musically busy with on the ice for now and the nearest future. There is no direct timetable. We just record and see what happens. There is no hurry. We're thinking '80s, that immediate in-your-face production. We're looking at 'Look Sharp!' production wise. The songs are short and effective. Clarence calls it "fool proof production" meaning not so many instruments and they all are very clear to hear. I'm trying to think that way when I write [for this album]. It's hard to explain. Maybe in December 2010, the album's out. Half of the songs are written for me, half for Marie. Marie hasn't written anything for the album. I guess we will, as always, base on Marie’s voice and my songs. I'd like Marie to sing it all, but I guess that's not possible so I have to fill in here and there. The most important thing is that we sound like Roxette. We have our own sound and that is the basis for everything else. It feels as if the material is very strong so far but I’m slightly biased… We all think it is great to work with Marie again. She is still terribly good. It is enough for me.
"Night of the Proms" was absolutely huge. Marie got standing ovations every night and we will especially never forget the German gigs. We did 42 concerts and played for over 600,000 people so it was a pretty big deal. We sang our four US number ones each after another and it felt a bit cocky, actually… It would be fun of course to do more concerts but it is up to what Marie wants and copes with. I do see Roxette performing again, that's what we want. Why not in Sweden? If not, we'll have to make room for Sweden. This is not written in stone though, but if you had asked me 6 months ago I would have said no. I might take more space on stage, since I've been touring a lot solo lately I now feel more comfortable to be on stage. US will never happen again. We're too old and vintage. But there may well be a cover of a Rox song that will climb the charts. The songs still have power, not sure that Per & Marie have it anymore… It’s actually quite amazing that it works, as you know it is completely macabre industry that eats people on the right and on the left. And it’s so natural in pop and rock business that people get forgotten. So I pinch myself in the arm every now and then…
Music? I like pretty much everything. I’ve heard Eels, Regina Spektor, Josh Ritter and The Killers today while I was driving as well as The Who’s “Tommy” which I like to listen to from time to time. My birthday party is not so big… I have a small dinner with my loved ones. There will certainly be 70s disco in the early hours.
'Le Journal des Mouches' is an unofficial compilation of news made by fans for fans.
.........................................
Editor and Publisher: Alberto Fuente, aka Lantartida (from Madrid, Spain - now living in London, UK).
The blog includes articles and opinions of musicians (Helena Josefsson, Martinique, Gessle ...) and interesting words by some fans (thank you all) written in other websites and forums.
.........................................
Editor's note: I didn't use others words to win anything. I just wanted to compilate information about my favourite artists. If you find any information or photos that shouldn't be here, don't hesitate to tell me.
............................................
If you wanna be the new LJdM's editor, join or write an article here with your signature, just knock on the door: lantartida (at) yahoo(dot)es. Without help, this blog will be empty.
Picture by Sandy Mouche, September 2010
