Christoffer Lundquist is mixing Helena's second solo album (VI): waiting and waiting

On two sundays, Martinique came over! Then I bought strawberries and other good things to celebrate it!

He loves being around cats and he recorded some bells with the kitten on his lap, but he also played football with the rabbit in the garden.

Christoffer's daughter Ingrid borrowed my big shoes and Christoffer´s guitar-she looks like candy! But her favourite instrument is the drums, but it´s not as interesting as horses.

Christoffer´s children finished this semester and their mother Ylva celebrated it with strawberry cake! And she came and gave me a piece too…!!!! The first strawberry cake for the summer :o) Jessica Nettelbladt who makes a documentary about female musicians of which I am one, was here that day and together with her, the cake tasted even better!

Now one week has passed since the recording was finished… And Christoffer is mixing it right now, he will be finished any minute now! And I feel so strange, one week apart from the music feels like one year! I miss it, and I can´t wait til an envelope with the mixes fall down from the hole in the door! Then I will take my bike to the beach and lie there listening over and over again :o) I remember the latest Sandy Mouche record, we did that and it was such a fantastic feeling! When you have been writing and writing and singing and singing and waiting and waiting, and finally- there it is! Now I just hope that the release date won´t be too delayed. It was said to be released this fall- let´s see what the record company has to say after they´ve heard the recording.

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Helena is recording her second solo album (IX): playing with water

Two days of recording this week. Day 2 included water pistol war with Christoffer Lundquist´s family and I and his youngest daughter Agnes played while Christoffer worked with his tweezers. We made a house to the wooden mouse Muffi and a king´s crown and a cloak for him. And in his little cardboard house we made a cave with a bat in it and a tunnel, and some stairs and so on. Until she fell asleep in the sofa listening to the drum machine going round and round and round!

Martinique surprised me by borrowing a car after his job, and by 22.00 he came to us in the studio to pick me up, oh what a great surprise! He brought some liquorice, fruit and water that tasted great because he knows that the water in the studio has a strange taste that reminds me of something that comes out of your bottoms. He had his new perfume on too! Then he listened to the three finished songs. To my delight he was very happy with them but unfortunately we didn´t get anything to listen to at home. Then we went home to Malmö as I fell asleep in the car…!

Now I don´t have any time booked in the studio until June 2nd but then we will work for three weeks straight. The dead line is June 20th, when everything will be mixed and finished! In the mean time Martinique is making the artwork for the album!

I want to show you what the studio looks like! It is an old stable that Christoffer and his wife, architecht Ylva Lundquist, have turned into a studio. The house on the picture is where the family lives, and on the left side you see the barn (the studio).

With a symbol of good luck on the door!

Here you can also see the drum-room.

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

P, C & C are shopping with mother (III): Per only dipped his toes and Christoffer is busy as ever

It seems EMI thinks there's an audience for Per Gessle and his band in the States. Caroline Distribution, EMI’s U.S. independent distribution company (founded in 1983 as a unit of Virgin Records), has released today the digital version of Mazarin in the United States. The album was released in Sweden in June 2003.

Mazarin is not the only surprise. EMI Caroline has also released these days a few Gyllene Tider albums – "Gyllene Tider" (1980), "Moderna Tider" (1981), "Puls" (1982) and "GT25!" (2004) - and the compilation "Hjärtats trakt" (1997). All albums can be found on iTunes USA. And on November 13, "Finn5fel!" and "En händig man" will be released as well.

Although naturally we're talking about digital releases only, Per said to TDR: "Amazingly enough, if you ask me, but it's fun nevertheless".

According to The Daily Roxette, "Att vara Per Gessle" - the new authorized biography about Per Gessle (ISBN 9100112003), written by Swedish journalist (and friend of Per's) Sven Lindström, has been released today October 30. The book, which is roughly LP size (12") will also be released in not one, but two different limited editions. Both will contain a CD, but the one sold via Swedish Internet bookstore AdLibris will contain nine tracks, while the "normal" issue only contains seven. The regular CD will be in 22,000 copies while the AdLibris version 8,000.

The new CD is called "Doppade bara tårna - demos 1977-90" ("I Only Dipped My Toes - Demos 1977-90"):

1. Grape Rock: Saken slår mej som på huvudet!
recorded in the rehearsal studio, Vibäcksvägen, Harplinge 1 March 1977
lyrics: Per Gessle music: Mats MP Persson & Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: drums, guitar & bass
Per Gessle: guitar & vocals

2. Lägg din hand i min om du har lust
recorded at Hamiltons väg 8, Söndrum, Halmstad 12 June 1978
lyrics: Hjalmar Gullberg (1898-1961), a Swedish poet.
music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Per Gessle: vocals & guitar

3. Svarta glas (Neverending Love)
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal, Halmstad 13 October 1985
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics & music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: guitar, keyboards & programming
Per Gessle: programming & vocals

4. Dansar nerför ditt stup i rekordfart (Soul Deep)
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal, Halmstad 7 May 1986
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics & music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Per Gessle: all instruments & vocals

5. It Must Have Been Love
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal, Halmstad 14 April 1987
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics & music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: keyboards & programming
Per Gessle: programming & vocals

6. The Look
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal, Halmstad 30 March 1988
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics & music: Per Gessle
publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: guitar & programming
Per Gessle: keyboards, programming & vocals

7. Listen to Your Heart
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal, Halmstad 9 May 1988
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics: Per Gessle
music: Mats MP Persson & Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: keyboards, guitar & programming
Per Gessle: programming & vocals

8. Joyrider
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal 22 May 1990
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics and music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Per Gessle: acoustic guitar & vocals

9. Joyrider
recorded at Tits & Ass, Styrdal 23 May 1990
technician: Mats MP Persson
lyrics and music: Per Gessle
Publisher: Jimmy Fun Music
Mats MP Persson: guitar & programming
Per Gessle: keyboards, programming & vocals

On the "normal" limited edition CD, songs four and nine won't be included.

And where is Christoffer Lundquist? Brainpool is recording a new album (as they wrote in their space last October 10, 2007). But there are more plans for a busy producer.

Favorita's album has been releashed. Favorita was the band of Magnus Börjeson in the middle 90s. The only album by this band from Lund, Sweden, was released last year by Junk Musik. Magnus has worked with Christoffer Lundquist, Brainpool and Per Gessle. Metro Jets (Magnus' duo with David Birde from Brainpool) has released some singles in Sweden.

The Swedish nice singer and songwriter Karin Turesson has recorded her new album with Christoffer Lundquist. She wrote this message to LJdM:

I have been recording my first album with Christoffer Lundquist and I'm so glad for the result.It's only a few days ago that I finished the recording, and the release will be in a couple of months!

I'll let You know,
Kind Regards

Karin

LJdM

We've started to record a new Brainpool album.

Let's see what happens...

Brainpool - brainpool.nu

I went to record my new album at AGM Studios in January 2007. Not one to manifest small, I sent the rough mixes of the songs to renowned London-based string arranger Robert Kirby (Nick Drake, Elvis Costello, John Cale etc). To my delight and surprise, Kirby loved the songs and offered to write orchestrations for the album and accompany me to Sweden to conduct the necessary recording sessions with nine players from Malmö’s Opera Orchestra in October 2007.

I have managed to bring together two of my most beloved musical worlds: the pop sensibilities of my friends in Sweden, and the distinctive eloquence of Robert Kirby’s string arrangements. It is the collision of these two worlds which makes my upcoming album (“...And Then Some”) so compelling. Densely layered guitars and vocal harmonies fuse with sweeping string lines, none of which ever draw the ear too far from what lies at the heart of my music ... gorgeous, expressive, unpretentious songs born of the trials and tribulations of a life lived to the fullest.

Dear friends of Favorita, Apologies for the mass email, and for contacting you from the Popsicle page (I'm having trouble sending emails from the Favorita page). Tod sees the LONG-awaited release of Favorita's fantastic lost debut album. There are many fine establishments to buy the CD from, as follows: We encourage you to shop at our own Popsicle Webshop where you can browse through other great Swedish pop CDs, reading reviews and listening to clips. Everything ships out same-day or next-day, our prices are reasonable and our shipping is low. Not Lame is a great pop & powerpop webshop based in Colorado. They should have the CD listed sometime this week. CD Baby carries thousands of great CDs by independent artists. Kool Kat Musik is a nifty powerpop and alt. country mailorder company based out of New Jersey. Parasol always has a huge selection of Swedish bands, and if you're in Japan and want to get the CD a little closer to home, try Tokyo's excellent Apple Crumble Records. Last but not least, the apple itunes store should have the album listed any day now, but remember you don't get the beautiful digipack packaging, sleeve notes, pictures, lyrics and two bonus videos from them!. Thanks for your support,

Luke Jackson - Popsicle

P, C & C ... Who's the "Händig Man"? (I): a new project while Junk Musik is sleeping

As previously reported, Per Gessle, Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman (P, C & C) are "out" and have been recording a new Gessle's album since September 2006. The new album is "En händig man" - ("A Handyman") and if everything goes as planned, it will be released on June 12. And after a two-summer break, there will be a "En händig man på turné" tour this coming summer.

In 2003 Per released his first solo album in Swedish in 18 years, "Mazarin", which was a great success with almost 400,000 sold albums. "Här kommer alla känslorna (på en och samma gång)" was the Song of the Year and the hastily organized summer tour became the Tour of the Year 2003. 2004 yielded yet another biggest record – the gigantic Gyllene Tider GT25 tour – which became the most successful tour in Sweden of all times. Almost half-a-million Swedes attented, saw and celebrated. Tickets will be released March 15 and are 370 SEK plus service charge.

The band Per Gessle will tour with:

• Clarence Öfwerman - keyboards
• Christoffer Lundquist - guitar
• Mats MP Persson - guitar
• Helena Josefsson - backing vocals
• Jens Jansson - drums
• Magnus Börjesson - bass
  

En Händig Man Turné - Tour dates:

• 11 July – Halmstad - Örjans Vall
• 13 July – Linköping - Stångebrofältet
• 14 July – Sandviken - Högbo Bruk
• 15 July – Leksand - Sammilsdal
• 17 July – Borgholm - Idrottsplatsen
• 19 July – Helsingborg - Sofiero Slott
• 20 July – Västervik - Gränsö Slott
• 21 July – Göteborg - Slottskogsvallen
• 22 July – Strömstad - Vallen
• 24 July – Visby - Östers Gravar
• 27 July – Skövde - Bolougnerskogen
• 28 July – Christinehof - Christinehof Slott
• 29 July – Varberg - Fästningsrundan
• 1 August – Jönköping - Elmiafältet
• 3 August – Karlstad - Mariebergsskogen
• 4 August – Växjö - Evedal
• 5 August – Malmö - Mölleplatsen
• 10 August – Västerås - Lögarängen
• 11 August – Örebro - Behrn Arena
• 12 August – Stockholm - Sjöhistoriska Muséet

Meanwhile, Anders Mildner gives up Junk Musik and the future of the online company of Christoffer Lundquist & friends is uncertain since they are working in many other projects.

LJdM

I suck at most things like that and people know this, that's why we chose that title, "a handyman". There's a song called that too.

As I did with 'Mazarin' and 'Son Of A Plumber', I have recorded the album at Christoffer Lundquist's in Skåne and, of course, Christoffer together with Clarence Öfwerman are my closest collaborators this time as well. Through the years we have found a feeling and a way of working which is very special and it felt natural continuing this creative trip together.

We've only recorded Swedish material… 21 songs. Some are even over three minutes! The fact is that we are mixing as we speak. I'm an old man, so it's the same inspiration, same influences as ever. But there are a few rocky Gyllene Tider-power pop numbers as well! We're still in the mix and we've also recorded material live in the studio, because it's so much fun to sing and play at the same time. But I'm really a bit nervous. What if the album isn't good? Some of the material we haven't heard since September… then it might not be done in time? But they wanted it in the press release so they could sell tickets.

It's great to tour in our beautiful summer-Sweden. It's been four years since the 'Mazarin' tour and it feels very inspiring to go on tour again. Musically it will be a fireworks display of everything possible, new songs, of course, but also many of my Gyllene Tider songs which I know people want to listen to. A tour. That's right, it's been four years, isn't it time again? Yes, my feeling exactly, it's so much fun to play, we have a damn hunger [for that] now, after four years… and MP is with us this time. He was on the album but we remixed him off of it! Although some Gyllene Tider songs can't be played without good old MP. And Christoffer can't play 'Det hjärta som brinner' so… This Gyllene Tider thing is hard, you can't play for example 'När vi två blir en' without a bouncing Göran Fritzon behind the Farfisa, can you? Well, "(Hon vill ha) Puls" sounds quite decent with Clarence behind the keys. We've been considering playing some Plumber live, because it would sound great. On the other hand, it's hard to mix languages because you may lose the focal point. Besides that we have tons of material to choose from. The Swedish media will probably call this tour a flop as we'll never get the numbers that Gyllene Tider got in 2004.

Per Gessle

Two years, A LOT of singles and EP:s, two audio books, almost a thousand posts… In some ways, your recent past defines who you are. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to – in a way – be this web site.

When we started the Junk project back in 2004, no one knew anything. Itunes did not exist. Radio only played songs from the record stores.

And believe it or not – there were no blogs with three columns. We wouldn’t let that stop us, though. After one month we found a 19-year old guy in northern Sweden who knew something about Wordpress. He was, apparently, the only one. He helped us out & we sent him our first singles as payment. We got our three columns & slowly learned how to write the code.

Junk was the first Swedish music company to abandon the cd-single & go for download only. We released some great music that the world has not discovered yet. Then we suddenly forgot that we were supposed to produce music & headed for the book shelf. We didn’t think that much - we just wanted to do things that interested us. It wasn’t our plan, but Junk became the first Swedish company to release an audio book novel as a download as well.

Thinking back, I remember late nights sitting in front of my computer, emailing covers, audio files and screen shots back and forth, trying not to fall asleep during endless iChat-sessions.
We have all learned a great deal from all of this & I have made some new very nice friends. Junk will probably continue to exist, but for me, it is time to say goodbye.

I’m proud of what we have achieved and the fact that I know so much about the world of music / download / blogging/ web2.0/ DRM/ copyright/ file sharing thanks to Junk (I even know how to type that code nowadays!). Running a daily blog for over 1,5 years (after that I slowed things down a bit), also taught me about how much work it is to post. post, post, post, post.

But writing these words, I realise that I will miss it like crazy. Really. I will miss posting on this site. I will miss reading your comments.

At the moment Junk is a sleeping project. It may wake up this spring, this summer or this autumn with a Metro Jets record, a Mom & Dad-release or something completely different. That is the fun part with Junk – you never know. I am not a guy for sleeping projects, though, so for me it is time to move on.

Thanks Magnus Börjeson, David Birde, Christoffer Lundquist & Jens Jansson for letting me in. Thanks everyone out there for reading my words and making all my work worth while. I would be happy if I sometime see you at my personal blog.

Love to you all,

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

Thanks Anders! It’s been a lot of fun! Without you this blog will be very empty. Indeed. If it will continue at all… Let’s see what happens. Anyway, you’re doing the right thing. See you in another project soon I hope! And thanks again for posting and posting and posting and posting …

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik

Junk Musik was an early attempt to release music on internet only. That was the idea. It was a great idea but none of us are really business men and it fell apart. The problem was nobody bought anything, so we didn’t earn a penny! So Junk Music is completely K.O. The great thing about it was that there was nothing about music in the blog but about everything else. So that was the idea, attract people due to the blog and have them buy music, but that never happened. We had so many readers, but people didn’t even listen to the songs.

Starting your own record label IS the new way and it’s good. But the bad side is that artists that aren’t good with that stuff, they can go and die in a corner, because they can’t do it all by themselves and it’s a bit sad because you not only have to be a good musician, but you have to be so much else. As soon as there is some big record company involved…but that’s great about Per and Marie. They don’t care about that. They do what they like. They have always done things that feel right in their hearts and never compromised. Never released anything that was an attempt to please anyone. And that’s a huge thing and for me it’s an explanation why they both are so successful.

Christoffer Lundquist

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

P, C & C rockin' the plumber's crack (VI): Kurt, the fastest plumber

Per Gessle, the son of a plumber, remembers his father Kurt and his mother Elisabeth, his childhood and adolescence, in a personal interview by Jan Gradvall translated by Thomas Evensson for TDR's readers. Just read it. It is the most personal interview with Per we have ever read.

LJdM

I found the drawings made with watercolors and pencil at my mom’s house. I was looking in an old photo album and when I opened it a stack of old drawings fell out. I drew a lot when I was little. This, for instance, is a hockey game. Brynäs scoring against Teg. Kjell Rune Milton played with them. He went to MoDo later, but started in Teg. I was around 7 years. I collected hockey cards aswell. I made lists of everything. I even wrote down who scored in “TV-pucken”. Brynäs was my favorite team. I remember when they lost the Swedish Championship gold in a game against Leksand. I was devastated, I couldn’t go to school. I’ve always been a sore loser.

We were three siblings but we were seven years apart. When I was born my sister (Gunilla) was 14 years old. She disappeared from home rather early of course. It was mostly me and my brother (Bengt). But I remember that my sister had her room at the top of the stairs and that she always played “Lipstick On My Collar” by Connie Francis. A fantastic era. Many of those songs sound exactly the same, but you can’t help liking them. And Joe Mick, the guy who did “Telstar” with The Tornadoes. All his productions are amazing. Almost everything on this collection is great. Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages, “I Ain’t Mad At You.” Unparalleled. Damned great. My brother had this single. My brother is born 1951. I started out borrowing records from him before I built my own collection. My first favorites were the Hep Stars. My parents drove me to see the Hep Stars on stage. They said the exact same things between the songs as on the live album “On Stage.” I asked my mom about this recently, but she couldn’t remember anything about it. She’s 81. I liked the Hep Stars so much I forced my friends to pretend we were a band. We stood there with couronne cues as guitars and lip synced “Sunny Girl” and “It’s My Life” by The Animals. But my friends were totally uninterested in music. They thought I was weird.


We lived by the Folkpark in Halmstad, but moved 20 km up country. We lived there maybe five years, when I was about 9 to 13. Then we moved again, to Vilshärad, where we built a house. That was when my dad got sick. He got prostate cancer. He couldn’t work and laid at home for a year.

I played soccer too, but it wasn’t my thing. I was pretty technical, I could kick the ball in the air 100 times. But I was kind of fat back then and a bad runner. The thing that settled it was when I turned 15. I got to choose between a used moped and a used stereo. I picked the stereo. I’ve always been a loner and became even more so when I decided against the moped. Maybe it’s my personality, but it’s also due to us moving so frequently. You never rooted, didn’t get any close friends. I stayed at home instead, with my headphones. I listened to records, listened a lot to the radio and wrote down statistics.

At the same age, when I was 14-15, I started writing my own songs. We had a piano at home that I never used. I took a few lessons, but I could never connect the thing about musical notes. I never understood how the notes became music. So when I wrote songs it was just lyrics. I had the melodies in my head. I had hundreds of songs in my head. Not the way Mozart did (laughs), they weren’t symphonies where I could hear every single instrument. But I had pop songs all finished in my head; beat, verse, bridge and chorus. It was there, inside my head, where I lived my life. We moved and moved. Junior high school was a damned painful time for me. I felt totally out of place. I was kind of bullied and felt worthless. Plus I was rather fat. To get away from school I decided to take a sabbatical and start working at Bingo-Livs, an ICA [grocery] store. I’m born in January 1959. When I took the school maturity test at the age of six I got to choose if I wanted to start school a year early. We chose that alternative and I started school as early as six. I was therefore always the youngest in the class during my youth. Taking a sabbatical was a way to start over in a new class, with persons of my own age. Mom and all were unanimous that a sabbatical was a good idea. I worked at Bingo-Livs unpacking milk and things like that. I got to drive a moped after all, one with a platform even, picking up groceries. When I stood there packing milk one day one of my teachers at the disgusting school came by and said “Oh, so this is where you would end up after all.” Goddam what an ass. But to me it was a chance to start over. During the sabbatical I managed to lose some weight. I lived on chicken and crisp bread for a year. Everything was at the end of the line. I was determined to start over from scratch. New house, new school, new friends. I was looking for a year zero.

Parallel with this punk rock arrives. I bought Patti Smith’s “Horses” and the Ramomes first. I got a kind of abstract self confidence from this. Punk rock said it was OK to not be especially great. In the spirit of the times that had been before, marked by “Brain Salad Surgery” and “Dark Side of the Moon,” everybody were so damned good. When I came back to school, where I finally ended up in a new class, I found a friend. A great friend named Peter, Peter Nilsson. It was 1977 and he played the bass in a band called Audiovisuellt Angrepp. The band rehearsed in Harplinge, 15 km away. We went there as soon as we could and stayed all day long there. Among the other members of Audiovisuellt Angrepp were MP (Mats Persson, Gyllene Tider) who played the drums. That’s how I got to know him. In the band was also Martin Sternhufvud who later started MaMas Barn together with Marie (Fredriksson). After a while MP and I started a band on the side, but in the beginning I sat there, with my back to the wall, and listened to them play. The room they used to rehearse was small, a lot smaller than this room. And it was so damned loud. I sat there thinking, wow, this is exactly what I want to do with my life.

At the end of my father’s illness period we couldn’t afford keeping the house so we moved again. It was in that house I wrote “När alla vännerna gått hem”. It was at Hamilton’s Väg 1978. I remember it vividly. My dad died in 1978. He only heard us once. It was when Grape Rock was on the radio show “Bandet går” (“The Tape’s Running”). We were supposed to be a punk band, but the song, “En av dom där,” was over six minutes long. It was built on an eternal riff that probably had more in common with Led Zeppelin. But my dad didn’t like it at all. Above all he thought my singing was terrible.

Per Gessle

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at AGM Studios (XI): The Swedish Dream of Doug Wyatt (IV)

Doug Wyatt has finished the recordings of his new album at AGM Studios, with the producer Christoffer Lundquist, Justin Winokur, Jens Jansson and Helena Josefsson. You can read his day-by-day notes here.

LJdM

Day 15

Midsummer's Eve. Spent the day at C’s in-laws, about an hour away. Cookies and sparkling wine. Dancing around a maypole (though oddly located outside a church, and with the maypole formed into a cross). Singing cute Swedish songs. Juice, coffee, cookies. Sunny, warm (maybe 75-80 F) and humid. Dinner: several kinds of herring, potatoes, a drinking song, Danish schnapps, northern Swedish beer, more herring, more drinking songs, more schnapps, two kinds of salmon, salad, yet more drinking songs and schnapps. Food, drink and company all great. Swedish history lesson with the help of an historical atlas. Walk down to the sea, view of the bridge connecting Malmö to Copenhagen, Copenhagen barely visible in the distance. More coffee, more cookies. It was a good break. Back to the guest house a bit after 11.

Day 16

Back at the studio, the Artiste patiently laid on the couch while the world seemed to rotate around him more viscerally than usual, and made occasional comments while Christoffer continued to outline a mix. Brought in Helena’s vocal track in places.

Day 17

So we nearly finished 3 tracks today (including one that had consumed most of yesterday). Justin had been sounding a little concerned that we weren’t going to finish in time, but Christoffer and I both expressed confidence when we talked about it.

Day 18

We got a lot done Monday, but not as much as I’d hoped. Pizza for dinner in Sjöbo. Tired. Stopped at 1:30, plan to start early in the morning. Must leave for Malmö by 9:30 am Wednesday.

Day 19

Christoffer and I both were very tired, which didn’t help, but after maybe half an hour of groaning we got everything lined up correctly. I’m going to record a bunch of tracks at home and send them to Christoffer to pick from. We did two passes of Taurus bass pedals, excited that we were almost done. Well, there are a few loose ends to clear up before Christoffer starts mixing on his own next month, but now enough of the album was in the can that we “declared victory and went home.” We had a drink, chatted, and began to pack up and clean up.

Day 20 (29 June)

Woke up at 7:45 am in rural southern Sweden. Showered, packed clothes etc., got to the studio around 8:45. Managed to get a last dose of Scandinavian salmon into my stomach, and all my stuff and a few things Justin is sending back with me into his duffel bag and my cases by 9:15. Got to the main Malmö train station around 10:45. At the Copenhagen airport around 11:30, the transition I’d been dreading—getting the luggage from the train to the SAS checkin counter, alone—went OK though my back was not happy. No interest in duty-free Danish schnapps or cookies or even cigarettes (while in Sweden I’d cut down so much that I didn’t finish the carton I’d bought in the US 3 weeks earlier). Slept much of the way to Reykjavik. Afraid that because of the delay, the connection would be terribly short and I’d have to rush, and that gear wouldn’t make the connection. Better sleep before my body realizes it is 8 am in Sweden, time to be awake.

Back in the USA (5 July)

I’ve been asked a few times how it feels to be back in the U.S. after spending three weeks in Sweden (and, briefly, Denmark). I offer this handful of random observations from the last 5 days.

In the U.S., hillbillies do not drive Volvos. In Sweden, I did not see more than a handful of SUVs. I am sure that none of them had bumper stickers reading “what’s our oil doing under their soil?”In the U.S. you can go to a massive fireworks display and barely hear a single explosion over the loud patriotic music that makes one feel one has inadvertently stumbled into a George W. Bush rally. “God bless America! Let freedom ring! Born in the USA!” Damn it, the 4th of July is about blowing things up (do you think it’s an accident that NASA chose this day to crash a spacecraft into a comet?), and BOOMs are important.

I half-awoke from a jetlag-induced nap with my album playing in my head. Didn’t want to wake up fully. When I finally did, I had some new words to describe the music. Have continued to imagine segments of two songs sharing a key center morphing into each other. For fun (or perhaps for an extra track on the record) I am making a list and will try rendering them when the mixes are done.

Doug Wyatt -

Mazarinerna is the band (IV): The Rolling Stones in Stockholm ... and Mazarin rehearsing

According to Aftonbladet, Per Gessle (with his wife Asa) and Marie Fredriksson (with her husband Mikael Bolyos) were yesterday at The Rolling Stones Concert in Stockholm.

Gessle recorded a cover of "So Much In Love" with The Lonely Boys in 1995, released in their rare album in 1996. BTW, the Rolling Stones never recorded that but The Inmates did.

After Roxette’s groundbreaking performance in China in 1994, Mick Jagger contacted Marie Fredriksson and had dinner with her in order to find out how Roxette got permission to play from the strict Chinese government.

After the show, Per exclaimed:

I will go home now and cry with joy. Give it 15 plus! 15 plus!

Marie is a bit better and is working in a new solo album at home.

There’s a “Mazarin” hysteria in Sweden right now, the album is closing in on 170,000 copies sold - tripple platinum soon. His album “Mazarin” is still #1 in Sweden, and the single “Här kommer alla känslorna” is #1 since three weeks now.

“People are touched in a way I never could have imagined. It feels like everyone likes this, like everyone wants to see it. It’s not like I’m going uphill, really."

This last week he and the band “Mazarinerna” have rehearsed in a large studio in northern Stockholm, every day. The tour is on Gessle's mind constantly.

"We want room to skip a song, play a song twice or start over if it doesn’t sound good the first time. The family couldn’t take it, they moved down to Halmstad saying I was totally asocial. I’m all into this now. There’s so much to learn by heart, the lyrics, the flow of the show. But it feels damn great.”

LJdM

Mazarinerna is the band (I): Mazarin release party

According to Evensson, from The Daily Roxette, Per Gessle threw a release party for friends, select media and competition winners Tuesday night to promote his new album “Mazarin”. About 600 people attended the club gig at Leif’s Lounge, the night club located in the lower level of Hotel Tylösand in Halmstad. Per and his band performed ten songs at the mini concert. Joining Per onstage were Jonas Isacsson (celebrating his 23rd birthday, according to Per), Anders Herrlin (of Gyllene Tider), Christoffer Lundquist and Jens Jansson (of Brainpool), and Helena Josefsson (of Sandy Mouche and soon to be married).

The concert opened with Gyllene Tider’s “Kung av sand”, continued with the new song “Vilket håll du än går”, the album opener. After that “Om du bara vill”, “Gungar”, “Tycker om när du tar på mej”, “Födelsedag” (dedicated to Jonas), and “Här kommer alla känslorna”… all from the new album. After leaving the stage, the band returned almost immediately and played “På promenad genom stan” (alas without Marie), John Holm’s “Den öde stranden” (that Per claims he always has to play whenever he does something in Swedish), and finally the old Gyllene Tider rocker “Vill ha ett svar!” from “Swing & Sweet” (“Covers are fun,” says Per). “Billy” was, according to TDR information, mysteriously cut from the playlist.

Per Gessle and the band are thinking about a Tour. The big problems are that Per’s key players, as he calls them, are partly booked with other artists. Jens will do a Japanese tour for instance. This is what they are trying to solve at the moment.

All in all, a nice evening with lots of happy fans. Prominent guests spotted by TDR included MP Persson, Micke Syd, Göran Fritzson, Peter Jöback, Frida Lyngstad and Björn Ulvaeus to mention a few.

Read the experience of a Dutch fan and Per Gessle's words to TDR below.

LJdM

This was the day of the concert! In the afternoon we tried to find the old "Tits and Ass"-studio. We could not find it, because the road next to it had changed. We thought the studio was on the righthand-side of the road, afterwards we found out it had to be on the left side. At around 18.00 we could pick up our vouchers from the fanclub (Eugene). Marie-Claire, Marc and Jaap got a voucher; Harrie was as guest of Marie-Claire also allowed to enter. A little bit later we could pick up our entrance-tickets. After some waiting, the doors were opened at 20.30 and after showing the entrance tickets, we could enter "Leif's Lounge".

The stage was already filled with the equipment of the band, so we only had to wait for the band to show up. Then finally at around 21:25 the band came up and started playing. It really was a great concert! The next pictures have been taken during the concert.

Pictures by Harrie Jansma, from Netherlands.

We’ve only rehearsed together for three days, and just forty minutes yesterday. So, the funniest thing with this album is the aura surrounding it. Everyone's so enormously positive. The thing that is so special with the band Mazarinerna is the mix of all voices. Helena and Christoffer are enormously active and give the songs a new dimension. That is weird. This is my first record in eternities without pushes and plans for a specific number of single-outtakes. I only follow my own heart and do that what comes at the hour. And just that song, that I myself did not believe in as a single, is becoming the quickest hit that I have ever written! Of course, it's quite easy to take this here on tour. It's wonderful band, and we have a splendid time together. I'm indeed attracted to tour, but all depends on if I can get free som key people for such a tour. We have logistic problems but we will see. The problem is to find employees that are not already fully booked, to solve everything purely logistic and practical. Because we're out so late, many of those that I wanted to have with me are already booked by other artists. We will talk it through but a few key people are already booked. We have a meeting tomorrow and then we will see if all pieces fall together. Otherwise we will put it aside. We will make a decision this week.

Per Gessle

P, C & C order room service (IV): Roxette forthcoming album in 2001

The accompanying publicity photo was released yesterday showing Per Gessle, Marie Fedriksson, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and Ronny Lahti at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm where they are busy finishing the recording and post-production of the new Roxette studio album, that could be released next Spring (by EMI ... and by Edeal America in the United States).

According to The Daily Roxette:

Per and Marie, seemingly full of enthusiasm, took time out from their schedule to record a holiday video greeting. With the recording studio in the background, they wish everyone a “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” The short message concludes with Per saying “See you out there in 2001!”

Per Gessle speaks about the recordings. The P,C&C Team (Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist) is involved again in this forthcoming album.

LJdM

We released the last album in the spring of ’99. “Have a nice day” was the title. We were doing promotion on that one and we decided not to tour with it and got back into the studio and started to work on this album in January 2000. Prior to this we worked on the HAND album (1998). It takes about a year to do an album.

The new album is a bit a reflection of what we tried to achieve with HAND. This one was the first album in four years and we didn’t know what it was supposed to be like. We just worked in the studio and did different several things. It’s a very complex album in a way because it follows so many different directions. The new album is the opposite because we have tried to go back into the classical Roxette. On the HAND album for instance all my vocals are distorted and on this one it’s played much better. We wanted to make it simple, obvious, easy-going and funny. I think this is the most commercial album we have ever done since “Joyride”. We just sat down and wanted to do something that was very much classic Roxette ’cause that’s what we are really good at, doing a POP record.

We wanted to make an album that could be uptempo and had lots of energy. For many people a classic Roxette record is a big ballad but the ballads on the new album are smaller. We do get tired of ourselves sometimes.

The way you do a record these days is very different from how you used to do it in the 80s when we started out. You work now in computers and “proto” systems and stuff like that. So the whole way of thinking is totally different. The negative side of it is that is very easy to overproduce or overdo things these days.

Not that long ago in the old days you sat 5 people in the studio you played the song and that was the take. You don’t do that anymore. We don’t do that either. You make drums sound or bass sounds through the computers. So of course that is different and that changes the way of writing and the whole attitude.

We got more things done in Stockholm because of the weather here is terrible. We spent more time in the studio. Working at Polar was cool, it’s a great studio, where ABBA, Led Zapplin, Genesis,Legacy had also worked in. It still is a very good studio. But it got some terrible restaurants down the road. It still have taxis and stuff like that…

When we began the new album as usual we tried to bring new people into the environment. We have changed enginners for the sound of this album. And also we have started to work with this guy called Shooting Star, a Swedish programmer, who is 200 years younger than us (laughs). He’s got his hear into the streets in the a different way, which is an interesting things to do. If I make a demo, for instance, and i give it to him he starts to do it freshens it up in the programmer and in the end it turns out to be a completely different song.

Well I mean we buy lots of records as always to listen to what’s going on but as I said before we want to make a classic Roxette album. Try to get a litle bit of this a litle bit of that but still very obvious Roxette. Some songs still have the 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, some power chords, classic stuff.

Per Gessle