P, C & C order room service (VI): RS is out and it's time for promo

These weeks, the new album of Roxette, Room Service, is being released nearly worldwide (excluding the USA). The album has 13 songs and was recorded last year at Atlantis Studio and at Polar Studios, both in Stockholm.

The production, recording and mixing were made by Per, Marie, Clarence Öfwerman (keyboards) and Ronny Lahti. Christoffer Lundquist, backing vocals, also played the bass, Per, MP Persson, Micke Syd Andersson and Jonas Isaacson the guitars, Christer Jansson the percussion and Mats Holmquist the string arrangements. The "newbies" in the team are the programmer Jimmy Monell (aka Shooting Star, from The April Tears) and the guitarist David Birde (from Brainpool). We can see the presence of two members of Brainpool (Lunquist and Birde) with Per and Clarence in a new challenge for this "team".



Per Gessle speaks about the album below. Since February, Roxette has performed in Promo Gigs around Europe:

• Sweden: Malmö (Feb.23), Stockholm (Mar.22 and 23, April 1)
• Germany: Cologne (Mar.26)
• Spain: Barcelona (Mar.27) - A marvelous live show in Sala Bikini.

This time, many of the gigs have been performed live and it seems the band is ready for the Room Service Tour (next automn).

LJdM

Well, when you start out as a young musician, everything is very romantic, y'Know, the whole industry, going into a studio, whatever., of course, things change after a while and there'S... nothing that... romantic left (laughs) in the music industry for us and so, of course, it turns out to be a professional thing in the end. But still it's important to maintain the love affair you have with music, I mean you have to be interested in music. You have to be interested in what you do. In that sense I don't want to be a professional, I still want to be a fan. and that approach is crucial, actually, to having success in the end. I mean you can always go to the 'How to Write a Hit Song' book and have a hit, but at the end of the day, it won't last. To have a career that goes on for a couple of decades, I mean, you have to be true to yourself. So... We just sat down and wanted to make something that was... classic Roxette, what we're really good at, doing pop. A pop record. It's disco but still fresh... The album has got 12 songs, all of them quite short... There are some really fab songs which I consider to be some of our best... Marie is in top shape and myself... I even managed to sing a ballad this time.

'It feel fucking great that both the single and the album have been received so well. Each time you release a record it's waiting on how it will be received. and I really think that this one is the best and greatest album we've done. Abroad we've received fantastic review, so the bad reviews in Sweden are a truly local phenomenon.

Per Gessle

All the bad records I’ve heard, or those which didn’t turn out that great, are the ones where someone had a real fix plan. “This is like it’s going to sound like”. This prevents creative things from happening. So for me my only idea about producing is just being open to whatever might happen. If something feels good, that’s it. Be it a synth or a drum kit or retro sounds, more modern. What feels right at that moment, that’s what you must do, go for. That’s the only way to make good music.

We had a bit more a restrained idea in “Have a nice day” and “Room Service”. For me, when I listen to those records now, they aren’t as good as they could have been. There are some really nice songs, but the records could have been better. “Beautiful Things” is one of the simplest songs on the album, without many things going on in it. I wasn’t much involved with “Room Service”, except for playing bass, some guitar and backing vocals with Marie. But I might guess the reason is it wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. I guess that’s what you hear. I think that’s more important than which instruments you are using. You should have fun when recording an album, then it’s surely going to be good.

Christoffer Lundquist

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (II): The Ark - Joy Surrender

The Ark, the Swedish glam rock band from Malmö, has unleashed a new single from their first album, "We are The Ark" (2000), "Joy Surrender".

Recorded by Marco Manieri at Gula Studion in Malmö, Helena Josefsson (Plastic Soul) and Sara Svensson feature as background singers in two songs of the single: Joy Surrender and Topsy Kaiser.

LJdM

P, C & C order room service (V): The centre of Roxette's heart

EMI releases today the first single of the new Roxette's album, Room Sevice. The first single is The centre of the heart (is a suburb to the brain) and includes some mixes.

According to Sven Lindström:

"TCOTH was considered as a single but ultimately left off the Have a Nice Day album (1999); it was revived during the Room Service sessions in the autumn of 2000. Completely re-recorded in a speeded-up tempo, adding the bizarre synth sounds of a new team member Jimmy Monell (aka Shooting Star) from Swedish band The April Tears. Marie's original vocal track was digitally pitched to fit the new tempo."

Gessle talks in Room Service about this song and about the new album, that will be released next month. Then we could listen to the last work of Per and Marie with Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and the full team.

Today we want to remember old times. It's 2001 and 20 years ago, in 1981, the Swedish symphonic rock group Overture released its first - and last - album: Ansikten. Overture was founded by pianist Clarence Öfwerman in late 70's and included Mats Ström (vocals), Mats Reiniusson (bass and guitar), Bengt Lundberg (guitar and vocals) and Hans Alsing (drums).

Btw, what happens when six drummers invade a small apartment while the owners are out walking the dog? Four amazing jazz cuts with found objects. Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Magnus Börjeson have recorded a short film (10 minutes) about it. It will be shown in many festivals and we could show it in our blog in September.

Music for One Apartment
and Six Drummers
(2001; 9 min 31 s)

• Produced by: Kostr Film, SVT and Film i Skäne
• Directors: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
• Music: Ola Simonsson
• Music productor: Magnus Börjeson (Beagle / Favorita)
  

LJdM

TCOTH was written five years ago. The first version was recorded in Spain for the album Have a Nice Day. It was a totally different version, much slower. We made a disco song out of it. A little bit like Frankie goes to Hollywood meets G. Moroder. It's fun.

The forthcoming album will be a classic pop record, shorter than the previous one. That one was almost an hour. Not even I myself was able to listen to it until the end. This album is much like Joyride sunshine, twelve songs and 42 minutes playing time. If the album sells well, it would also be nice to go on tour.

Per Gessle

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (XV): Plastic Soul becomes Sing ... and Helena is not invited

Plastic Soul, the band from Lund with Helena Josefsson - singer -, Johan Duncanson - guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - leadgitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums-, has stood down.

The band began in 1996 (firstly as Jive with Clive and as Plastic Soul since 1997), when they were eighteen years old, and after two E.P.s (First harvest, 1997; Uneasy, 1999) and one unreleased album, some members are now involved in known projects.

According to Sydsvenskan.se, (2001-Feb-05), Helena Josefsson decided to leave the band in the summer of 1999, before a gig in Kalas-tour in Malmö. The gig was so successful that the band got an invitation to be a local band in Malmö's Popstad Festival in February 2000; they had even a contract with the label Stockhouse to release their first album. They know that Popstad Festival was their last gig together.

Since February 2000, the four members of "Plastic Soul" thought about looking for a new singer. Johan Duncansson and Fredrick Whitling have also been guests in a famous band of Lund, The June Platoon, centered around singer/songwriter Johan Järvung and producer Henrik Orrling.

The June Platoon

Finally, Johan Duncanson - vocals, songwriter and guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - backing vocals, songwriter, leadguitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums- decided to sing themselves, continue together and recorded a new EP with four new songs, with the help of Danyal Taylan, vocalist of The Blimp, in the studio. They decided to change their name to "Sing" and debuted live at Cafe Element yesterday February 10th 2001. They insisted: without Helena, Sing is a new pop band, with more synths, but with the same "easy-listenings" melodies.

The guys from Sing were interviewed before his debut gig. According to John Duncansson: "Helena is extremely charismatic on stage. Not us. On the other hand, we are not looking for show, either. I like "shoegazerbands", musicians who stares at the floor while they play. The new songs are not so commercial but they are closer to the music I listen to". Fredrick Whistling says: "In Plastic Soul's final gig, I never felt any panic. On the contrary, I was excited, laughing at everything and began to see the new opportunities. We got the chance to do what we really wanted and found again the "old playfulness" we had when we started playing together".

LJdM

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

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (XIV): The Good Mornings' album

According to Sven Eriksen, from the Tarkus Magazine, Helena Josefsson has been working this year in a new project of the composer from Malmö Dan Bornemark (photo). The band, THE GOOD MORNINGS, includes Helena Josefsson (lead vocals), Dan Bornemark (keyboards, vocals, music), Jens Ståhlstierna (guitar, backing vocals) and Paul Hoffax (guitar), amongst others.

Finally, they have released their first album also called The Good Mornings with more than an hour of good music, influenced by Gentle Giant, Beatles, Massive Attack, Suzanne Vega, Kevin Gilbert or Björk. Eriksen thinks their style moves between kunstpop, røtter & symforock, jazz and ambient. Their better songs would be When She Gets Away, Frozen Wings, I Am The Devil, Email Princess and Let Truth Reveal The Beast.

You can listen to some mp3 snippets here: Hippie Parade and Seven Seas

LJdM