Sandy Mouche's Junk singles (II): In the sand

In the sand ( 2005 · 10 · 18 )
Second new single for an upcoming album

“Available for download. Martinique came up with the photo idea (Photo: Hanna Blomgren)”


01. In the sand (Helena)

Anders Mildner from Junk Musik has interviewed Sandy Mouche today:

Q: Tell us about the recording of your new album, from which the new single, “In the Sand” is taken.

Martin: We recorded the album in ten days. We mostly worked weekends.Most of the recordings were done live, so we managed to finish it off in less than two weeks.Ola, Per, Helena and I played almost all instruments, but we got some help – with harp and strings for example – from some really good musicians that we know.

Q: Your two singles released here at Junk, “Une Historie” & “In the Sand” are really different from each other. What will the album be like?

Martin: All songs go their own way, in some sense, but the album still fits together.It feels like we have found a Sandy Mouche sound, which allows us to take each song as far as possible – in any direction. One thing that is different from our first album is that me and Helena haven’t written anything together this time.

Q: When will the album be released?

Martin: January 2. If everything works out…

Q: On some songs you sing in french…

Martin: I have a cousin in France. I spent all my summers there as a kid. I learned French and got a lot of impressions that surface now that I’m older.We tried French on some songs and liked it. Some songs f-e-e-l french and sometimes everything falls into place when you try this language in a song.

Q: Helena, you’re taking part the much talked-about Per Gessle-project “Son of a plumber”. Any news about that?

Helena: The first single is released soon. I hope there will be many fun gigs after that! That’s about all I dare to say at the moment…

Autumn 2005 Göteborg Gig
in Ullevi

* Ullevi, Göteborg 2005 · 10 · 12


Ullevi or Ullevi Stadium, formerly named Nya Ullevi, meaning New Ullevi, to distinguish it from Gamla Ullevi, is a stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, the biggest stadium in Scandinavia. It has an all-seated-capacity of 43,000 and a total capacity of 60,000 for concerts. The record for the stadium after being partially rebuilt was set by Swedish rock band Gyllene Tider on 7 August 2004, with an attendance of 58,977.

Here is the info to the 20 online questions that I did with Sandy Mouche on the www.itsatrap.com website which talks about Scandinavian music in general. Published: 23.10.2005

Sandy Mouche is a breath of fresh air from the Swedish music scene. They've put out a few demos, a number of singles, an ep and an album called "White lucky dragon" which was one of my favourite albums of 2004. They just released a new French single called "Une histoire" ("A story") which will only available online at www.cdon.com. The single is a pop dream delight, filled with sweet hooks and beautiful melodies. It's taken from their forthcoming album called "…and poems for the unborn" which I can't wait to hear. Sandy Mouche sing in both English and French, sometimes even in the same song. I asked them 20 questions that will hopefully explain what makes Sandy Mouche tick... we'll see if they consider themselves more "pop" than "rock", why they sing in French and what inspires them.

a little side note: vocalist Helena has also worked on Per Gessle's (Roxette) new project.
another side note: these questions were answered in December 2004, but it was published on October 23rd, 2005.

01. Where does Sandy Mouche come from? name? concept? meaning if any?

The name was born on a Greek island when Martinique, Helena and Per were there on vacation. They decided to start a band. Per played with the sand and came up with Sandy and Helena saw that all three of them had Mouches (brown Madonna dots in the face). The result was the band's name Sandy Mouche. We have realised that it's not just a name but a person as well. A person who lives in every member of Sandy Mouche and who helps them when time seems pointless and grey. We're all together on a journey to make the world a better place. (See website for fairytale version).

02. Do you prefer to be described as pop or a rock band and why?

Pop. Our music is a bit softer than standard rock and it's not all based on loud guitars.

03. What Swedish bands have most influenced you?

None. Only Fairytale music for films of the Swedeish writer Astrid Lingren.

04. What band (outside of Sweden) would you all agree is a big influence on the band?

The French singer Joe Dassin, France Gall, Cindy Lauper, The Twin Peaks music, Beatles, Michael Jackson, Type o Negative.

05. Besides music, what influenced the band to start making music? movies? books? media? sex???

Some movie music is just great. We have all grown up with fairytales and music to the fairytale movies and that is very powerful. Besides that it's the fact that we just love to create music and play together. We have always had a dream about music being our daily job.

06. What movie would best describe Sandy Mouche if you had to pick one?

Astrid Lindgren's "Bröderna Lejonhjärta"

07. Why did you choose to sing in French and English? Is it popular in Sweden to sing in your native tongue nowadays? why not sing in Swedish? Did you make a conscious decision to sing this way?

We like both the English language and the French language so we do a combination of the two. French is beautiful. Martinique has relatives in France and he went there every summer when he was a little boy. So he has great memories and inspiration from that time. We want our music to fly over the borders of Sweden and reach the whole world so therefore we don't sing in Swedish. But if you want to break in Sweden, Swedish is probably the best way.

08. How has technology influenced the band?

We can do simple demos at home very easily thanks to computers, so that is great.

09. Do you prefer analog or digital? for recording, gear and aesthetics?

"White lucky dragon" was recorded in an analog studio. We liked it. But it's not a must for us. I think you can create magic digitally as well. When were playing live it's a mix of vintage and digital stuff.

10. How does Sandy Mouche fit into the Swedish music scene? Are you considered underground or outsiders?

Hmmm... We think we fit in perfectly but we need more money (for promotion) to break through the fog of all mainstream radio hits that torture the Swedes every day. At the moment we are somewere between underground and overground we think.

11. What are the other cool bands in Sweden these days?

Logh.

12. Describe an average Sandy Mouche fan. What kind of person would dig Sandy Mouche?

Maybe a person who needs a little more love in life? Maybe a really macho guy with bad self-confidence. Or maybe the average person with a 9-5 workday that enjoys life. Hmmm, I think all kinds of people actually =)

14. How does art affect your daily lives if at all?

As in paintings it doesn't affect but maybe plays at the theatre or ballets. Everything that makes us react.

15. If you would describe the band in only 3 words (no more no less) what three words would they be?

White lucky dragon (It has nothing to do with rasism I assure u =)

16. In your opinion, who is the most famous swedish person? (alive or dead, musical or non musical)

Abba or Alfred Nobel maybe?

17. What is the coolest places in Sweden that most Swedes don't know about?

An island called Valö with orange cliffs and a big bird.

18. What does the future hold for Sandy Mouche? (keep in mind these questions where answered in December 2004...)

We have just finished the video for the song "Papillon" and it will be out in Sweden in the beginning of January. In February we return to the studio to do our second album. We will try to get a deal with a major company here in Sweden so that they can help us reach other countries.

19. Since I'm from Canada... what do you think of when you think of Canada?

We think of a calm beautiful place where you can speak french and where there is snow. Calm in the sense of more calm then USA where it seems that everyone must own a gun to feel safe and so on. Maybe a place more down to earth. Icehockey! We like Canada =)

20. Since I'm French I have one last little question: What would be your favorite French word or phrase? (each member please list at least one)

Helena: Tarte au pomme

Martinique: Planche a voile

Per: Révolution

Ola: Amour

Marc Xavier Leblanc, from Canada - DJ Bones

Lund Poker Tour is a friends poker club of Lund, including Martinique Josefsson (Sandy Mouche).

Video by

Björn Folbert, from Löddköpinge, SE
- folbertdotcom

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (XVI): Mr. Johnson, your room is on fire

Andreas Johnson (born 22 March 1970, in Bjärred, near Lund in Sweden) is a Swedish pop musician and songwriter. He started his musical career as the singer in Planet Waves, a band which released only one album, Brutal Awakenings before splitting up due to internal conflicts. He then turned to a solo career, releasing the debut album, Cottonfish Tales.

In 1999, he had an international hit with the single "Glorious", which later featured on the album Liebling, and has been used in a number of advertisements from companies including Volvo, Nutella and Vauxhall. Deadly Happy, his third solo album, was released in 2002.

After three years traveling (Amsterdam, southern France, New York, ...) Andreas reconnected the producer Peter Kvint and recorded this new album, "Mr. Johnson, your room is on fire", out today.

Andreas and Peter started writing together last year. The resulting songs were simpler, more fragile ... Among the new material they started out working on was the lead single and radio friendly Show Me Love, the rootsy joyful Sunshine Of Mine and the heartfelt Nobody Told Me.

Andreas (vocals and guitar) and Peter Kvint (guitars, keyboards) joint a trio of exceptional players: Andreas Dahlbck (drums), Jerker Odelholm (bass) and Johan Lindstrm (the producer of Andreas first album). Helena Josefsson (Sandy Mouche) is also a guest star as background singer.

LJdM

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (XV): Stockfinster - All becomes music

stockfinster is from Malmö, Sweden and consists mainly of Sebastian Borg (a.k.a. Batti) who writes, plays, arranges and mixes everything and sometimes with a little help from his musical friends. stockfinster was some time ago a real band, with Jonas Hult (vocals and bass), Jens Jungmark (guitar) and Ola Strandh (drummer), but they decided disolve the project and Sebastian used the name for his bizarre own compositions. Batti himself is a sound-engineer/producer and co-owner of the recording studio Gula Studion in Malmö, where he has worked with Righteous Boy, Sans Plomb and Tom Levin. Batti is a good friend of the Swedish band the Mopeds and Helena Josefsson, singer in Sandy Mouche.

All Becomes Music, was released in October 2005 by Sutemos, an On-line label from Lithuania. Even though stockfinster has been around for quite some time, and has been rather productive, nothing has ever been released or even submitted to any labels. The album includes ten songs recorded during the last couple of years:

[01] All Becomes Music .. 6:39 ; [02] Ergo .. 5:48 ;

[03] Dismantled .. 4:34 ; [04] Duel .. 5:09 ;

[05] Clark Kent .. 5:05 ; [06] A Crack In Time .. 5:26

[07] Last Report .. 8:47 ; [08] Bystander .. 6:04 ;

[09] Verge .. 5:20 ; [10] In Transit .. 5:53

This is what Sebastian Borg himself tells about his first album:

"For many years my music was my own personal business - something which I shared only with my closest friends. I liked it this way, because it was a safe and easy way of making sure that my music was heard only by people that I knew shared my taste. Although people who heard it seemed to like it a lot, I didn't listen to them.

Now the time has come to release a full album (or whatever you'd like to call it) on Sutemos. Ten stockfinster-tracks that cover the last couple of years. I feel a bit strange about it all, because I am not used to having my music accessible to the general public. Each track is very much a labour of love, with many hours of nitpicking behind them. I hope whoever downloads them listens to them carefully at least once - preferably on headphones.

Lastly, I have to send out some love to Helena Josefsson (for all the wonderful voices), Ola Strandh (for all the help with mastering), Jonas Hult (for all the basses and vocals), Markus (for the piano on Dismantled )and last but not least, the fold (for writing the melody for duel).

01. 'All Becomes Music' was originally intended as an ambient track with no drums at all. It was because of the wonderful vocal melody supplied by good friend Helena Josefsson that the song took off in another direction. Wonderful feelings above the heart. I did not expect her to come up with the part that she did. She is extraordinary in many ways.

02. 'Ergo' (from Red wood, 2004).

03. 'Dismantled' (from Red wood, 2004).

04. 'Duel' is the only track that I have ever co-written. The main theme comes from a track that dear friend Magnus Hedberg (the fold) wrote many years ago.

05. 'Clark Kent' (from Sunset, 2005).

06. 'A crack in time' has a long history. The chords and lyrics were written back when stockfinster was still a band. We tried it a couple of times but it sounded quite bad, actually. After the band dissolved I discovered that the chords sounded better on the keyboard than the guitar. The rhodes in the intro is actually played by me (fair enough… programmed by me!) When the track kicks in, the rhodes is played by Andreas Kullberg, who is really good - unlike me. The arpeggio in the outro is played by Jens Jungmark . The vocals are by Jonas Hult. The garbled vocals in the outro was Jonas’ idea. It is not just a reversed vocal track – it is Jonas making sounds without any FX’s. Jonas Hult also put down the bass track. Marco Manieri helped me with the lead vocal sound. I asked him to copy the vocal sound on Radiohead’s track ”Knives Out” and although I don’t think he quite nailed it, I am still happy with the result. A lot of people have found it meaningful and profound but I think it's just a lot of nonsense I edited together.

07. 'Last Report' (from Red wood, 2004).

08. 'Bystander' is another really old track. The drum loop was made in Fruity Loops. Jonas Hult put down the vocals in the same session as ”A Crack in Time”. The track was mixed by Ola Strandh who also masters all of my stuff. The outro features Andreas Kullberg on keyboard. He also played on ”A Crack in Time”. The weird drum loop in the outro is actually a snippet of a guy called Henrik Andersson playing the drums (without a click track). He was not aware that I was recording him. Oddly enough, Henrik and Andreas used to be in the same band (Hank).

09. "Verge" (from Sunset, 2005).

10. 'In transit' was something I came up with when I had just got the music software Reason. It literally took five minutes. I played the melodic part while reading a magazine because I wanted the notes to fall randomly and subconsciously. "

You can download and listen to stockfinster songs here . Helena Josefsson's voice features in tracks 01, 03, 05 and 09, but Le Journal des Mouches especially recommends the track "All becomes music". There is also a video of this song

LJdM

Swan Lee is a trio based in Copenhagen (Denmark). The members are Pernille Rosendahl on vocals, guitarist Jonas Struck and Emil Jørgensen on drums. They have released two albums: Enter (2001) and Swan Lee (2004). Last 23th September they tell the press they are breaking up. No more Swan Lee ... Bad news! Remember that their second album was recorded at Tambourine Studios in Malmö, with Helena Josefsson as backing singer.

LJdM

P, C & C lay down some harmony (V): Florian Horwath's Tour and New David sings Kraftwerk

Junk Musik grows and grows. Christoffer Lundquist & friends' record company is promoting two of their artists: Florian Horwath and New David.

Florian Horwath - When The Light Came Around

Florian Horwath - Golden Teeth

Florian Horwath with Jens Jansson and David Birde

Florian Horwath @ Chelsea, Vienna AT 29th September 2005

Video by Annika & Jens Jansson

LJdM

As you may know, Brainpoolians David Birde & Jens Jansson are on a German tour with our friend Florian Horwath. Now, Florian sends us this pic with this text:

"jens & david in full effect.. or this is what happens when you meet a sofa late at night in lustenau, a funny town, very far on the eastern outskirts of austria and very close to switzerland. we were guided to a bizarre övergiven former goa hideout, with a huge “anything goes” playground yard, circus tents, an enormous wood carved phallus & a massive soundsystem. our tour-soundmaestro jeff playing hardcore old skool techno house tunes from his hometown chicago. by the way. we were the only people there. feature dance craze movie to come"

We wonder: do we need to worry? Anything goes? Fire? Sofa? Dance craze movie? Bizarre övergiven former goa hideout? Any guesses?

Florian Horwath Tour

• 20.09.05 AUT – Vienna, Chelsea
• 21.09.05 AUT – Graz, PPC
• 22.09.05 AUT – Klagenfurt, Kamot
• 23.09.05 AUT – Lustenau, Carini Saal
• 24.09.05 AUT – Weyer, Bertold Saal
• 27.09.05 GER – Karlsruhe, Die Stadtmitte
• 28.09.05 GER – München, Zerwirk
• 29.09.05 GER – Konstanz, Kulturladen
• 30.09.05 GER – Würzburg, Pleierhof
• 01.10.05 SWZ – Zürich, tba.
• 02.10.05 GER – Neu-Ulm, Salon Hansen
• 03.10.05 GER – Köln, Blue Shell
• 04.10.05 GER – Darmstadt, Oettinger Villa
• 06.10.05 GER – Jena, Kassablanca
• 07.10.05 GER – Berlin, 103
• 08.10.05 GER – Halle, Objekt 5
• 09.10.05 GER – Hamburg, Schilleroper

PS: Ok, it’s time to get really worried. THIS VIDEO CLIP came from Florian, Jens & David: lost somewhere in Germany, only communicating by sending us strange messages. What IS this? What’s happening? What drugs are they on? WHERE ARE THEY? WHAT ARE THEY DOING??

Anders Mildner - Junk Musik

It’s Sunday night; I’m in Hamburg for the grand finale of Florian Horwaths autumn tour. Schilleroper, the club for the evening, is situated a few blocks north of Reeperbahn and it’s crowded with people hanging out in a large number of old sofas. We are all expecting something extraordinary, and after 28gigs in 28 days.
Florian, Jens Jansson and David Birde are up for it. The stage is bathing in red light when the trio, enters, clapping a rhythm with their hands. Suddenly the band explodes in the loudest noise just to, the next second, play so silent that you could hear the bartender whisper. At some point David even unplugs his electric guitar to play it like an acoustic.

The crowd is focused; no one moves no one breathe. Florian is singing like an angel. Jens is making strange sounds with his cymbals and it’s all just beautiful. After the gig Sunday is Monday and the cabdriver who is driving me back to the hotel looks confused when I sing “When the light came around” loud in his car.

Vielen dank for a great evening in Hamburg, I’m stoked for life!

Daniel Bexell - bexell.se

Finally, it’s here! New David’s much talked about EP, “NEW DAVID SINGS KRAFTWERK”, is now released. Go HERE to listen & buy. We are proud to present New David, alone with a piano, Ida Sandlund & a whistling Titiyo! This is SIX CLASSIC KRAFTWERK SONGS given a whole new rendering that will make you play this EP over and over again. NEW DAVID SINGS KRAFTWERK contains the songs Autobahn, Computer Love, Expo 2000, Neon Lights, Radioland & The Model. It will let you hear these songs the way Kraftwerk n-e-v-e-r intended.

Funny enough, New David was signed to Junk after playing his “Lazybird” on an acoustic guitar just moments before he went on stage to play with Magnus Börjeson, Jens Jansson & David Birde. This EP was the result of New David playing Kraftwerk songs on a piano AFTER a gig. It sounded so great that we said: Let’s make an EP – NOW. Here it is. We think you will enjoy this one as much as we do.

New David has recorded SIX CLASSIC KRAFTWERK SONGS, with only a piano, a girl playing glockenspiel, and a famous singer standing next to him, whistling. In this podcast, New David explains all about the idea & the new EP. You will also hear excerpts from the songs Autobahn, Computer Love, Expo 2000, Neon Lights, Radioland & The Model. Listen to the podcast HERE

Love, Junk staff

Anders Mildner - Junk Musik

New Davids Kraftwerk interpretations must conquer the world sooner or later. I can’t wait to hear his new stuff.

Christoffer Lundquist - Junk Musik

P, C & C lay down some harmony (IV): Son of a Plumber, a debut album?

According to a press release, in just two months, there is a new album coming! The album indeed will be in English as predicted and take "Per Gessle's full musical heritage", and is a “debut”… This time "Per Gessle" is not the name in the cover of the album. The new project is called "Son of A Plumber".

Who are "Son of a Plumber"? It's Per Gessle plus most of Mazarinerna's musicians: Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist, Helena Josefsson and Jens Jansson.

According to TDR, yesterday evening EMI Svenska held a presentation for their partners. They showed a video greeting in which Per spoke briefly about releasing a new album and told it will be out in November. He also showed a piece of paper saying “Son of a Plumber” to the camera, but didn’t tell more about its meaning. TDR got more words about it that you can read below. Originally, “Son Of A Plumber” (or Son.Of.A.Plumber) is Per's home-studio in Stockholm where some of the demos for Roxette's “Have A Nice Day” album were recorded.

According to Thomas Evensson from TDR, Per also mentions that they had somewhat strange recording techniques making this album. They would tell Helena to sing something and if she asked how or what, they would say “improvise.” This has given some strange, but great results, with lots of “la la la la la” but also other interesting effects.

Gessle will be in Saint Tropez these days to finalize the mixing of the new album. The album title will indeed be “Son Of A Plumber” and will initially be released in Sweden only. If the record is well received, it may be delivered “worldwide” in January, with a European/Swedish club tour to follow. Regarding the sleeve, Anton Corbijn took the pictures this time around, just like he did with Per’s previous solo album, “Mazarin.” Most of the pictures are taken in Christoffer’s garden and some in London, while the sleeve pic itself is taken in London.

Meanwhile, David Birde and Magnus Börjeson (Metro Jets), two of the owners of Junk Musik, will be DJ's for a day tomorrow night.

LJdM

Without Clarence and Christoffer none of this would’ve existed. I could never have done this on my own. Wow, I don’t know what has happened! Somehow it’s taken me 46 years to dare to make this album. And to be ABLE to make this album. Son Of A Plumber has become some sort of a musical purification bath for me. The album contains all of my musical heritage. I don’t know why that happened, maybe it’s because I bought my first mp3-player this winter. I’ve spent half this year transfering my old records to the computer and rediscovered so much great music I love but had forgotten. It’s been a journey back to Furet and Simlångsdalen where I grew up, into the 70s, stuff we listened to in Gyllene’s first rehearsal studio.

I discovered that if I work under a different name, I don’t have to ’follow up’ Roxette, ’Mazarin’ or Gyllene Tider. Incredibly nice! Here’s something new; Son Of A Plumber! My dad was a plumber. I have become a debutant. I’ve gotten great self confidence and a lovely boost from the last years’ huge response from the audience. I suddenly dare to trust myself and my capacity in a totally different way than before. Therefore it feels like a ’debut’!

My father was a plumber, his name was Kurt. He has a song on the album, because he was the fastest plumber in the west. I think you have be older to be able to make this album, have to have this history and background behind you. I couldn't have done it like ten years ago, you have to have this experience. I didn't make any demos, I always make these complicated nice arrangements for my demos, here I played songs to Clarence and Christoffer, if they liked it, we worked with it.

We’ve recorded no less than 26 songs, including three, four 50-second instrumentals that we want to include. Sort of like soundtracks to movies. We have pan flutes as well! My thoughts regarding this project was to sort of start a one man band, like Badly Drawn Boy. And also, we recorded no demos for this project. I played the songs for Christoffer and Clarence, and they were like the evil jury in [American] Idol. They then said if they liked the songs or not. If they didn’t - we didn’t record it.

Lots of work… but I love my work, I love to do this, I'm really pleased as long as I can do this. I've released an album yearly… 2003, 2004, 2005… to record an album like this is a pleasure, it's like a drug thing. You work for 14, 15 hours, four to five days in a row, go home for a couple of days, then back…

Per Gessle

Don’t sit at home. Don’t be gloomy. Metro Jets (David Birde and Magnus Börjeson) will be playing records tomorrow night at VOLYM, Malmö. Join us there! By the way, Son of a plumber, the new project from Per Gessle, features Junk celebs Christoffer Lundquist(Brainpool) Jens Jansson (Brainpool) & Helena Josefsson from Sandy Mouche.

The guy with the guitar is Richard Hawley. I’m obsessed with his new album, “Coles Corner”. I can’ t stop listening to it. You really should get it. The Scott Walker-references are obvious, but personally I hear Nick Lowe all over the record. You really should get it. I will say it again: You really should get it. Q puts it another way: “If he remains overlooked after a record this heartfelt then, well, perhaps there really isn’t a God after all.” Me, I just say: You really should get it, and hope that I will get the message across anyway.

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

Hooray! It’s gonna be great tomorrow night. I feel slightly electric.

David Birde - Junk Musik

We’ll come equipped with two minds and two iPods. At last… a dream come true!

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik

P, C & C lay down some harmony (III): Mazarinerna twice

Mazarinerna is back! And twice. Better than once.

On Saturday September 3, Per Gessle and his band performed an exclusive concert for the staff at Hydro in the Grieg Hall in Norwegian town Bergen. It was a special invitation gig only, with an audience of about 1,500 people.

Mazarinerna consisted this time of Christoffer Lundquist, guitar; Clarence Öfwerman, keyboards; Jens Jansson, drums; Helena Josefsson, backup vocals; Magnus Börjesson, bass guitar and MP Persson, guitar.

According to The Daily Roxette, this was the setlist in Bergen. It includes hits from Mazarin and Gyllene Tider:

1. En sten vid en sjö i en skog
2. Juni, juli, augusti
3. Gungar
4. Det hjärta som brinner
5. (Hon vill ha) Puls
b a n d p r e s e n t a t i o n
6. Här kommer alla känslorna…
7. Segla på ett moln
8. Kung av sand
9. Födelsedag
10. Ljudet av ett annat hjärta
11. Gå & fiska!
Extras
12. Tycker om när du tar på mej
13. Det är över nu
14. Sommartider

Per Gessle was appointed “Artist of the Decade” at Metro’s “Concert of the Decade” in Globen last night. Eva Dahlgren opened the show with her new single “När jag längtar” and the well-known “Ängeln i rummet” and was followed by Per and his band, who performed “Gå & fiska!” and “Juni, juli, augusti,” and joined the stage again at the end of the show with “Här kommer alla känslorna” and “Det hjärta som brinner.”

Gessle has been working in a new album. Per Gessle speaks about it to the press.

LJdM

Bergen was a gas! Very heavy! This band composition is the most fun I’ve ever played with… ’Sommartider’ was a huge hit in Norway as well, one could tell…

Artist of the Decade? It is a fantastic distinction, but I have had a great successful decade with Roxette, “Mazarin” and Gyllene Tider, so it’s actually right. I bump into Håkan [Hellström], The Cardigans and The Ark professionally, like this concert, Grammisgalan or Rockbjörnen. Since we do the same thing, I consider us sort of colleagues. I only know Eva [Dahlgren] privately. I have never met Darin, for instance… Maybe you meet them in the hallway and shout ’great album woohoo’ or something.

I am not sure what my new project will be. It might be a “three-chord pop” album, in English, Swedish or even French, or a soundtrack. It’s one of my dreams to do a full soundtrack to a film, it could maybe be in Swedish, I don’t know. I am 46 and don’t feel so much like repeating what we did in 1989-91 with Roxette, when we flew 260 days a year. I’m not ready to give that much up for a new international career. I'm not planning to tour in 2006, but when you look at U2 at Ullevi, it’s all coming back to me. When one has been there, one wants to go back.

Per Gessle