ROXETTE.RO - from fans, for fans

Second interview from Polish press - this time from Onet.pl (it's media partner of Gessle gig in Warsaw):

1. How long and how did you meet Per?

Since 2003. Christoffer his new producer was looking for a female voice. And he asked people in the area. They mentioned my name, since I have sung with a lot of other artists from the south of Sweden. And I got to the studio to record. Per wasn´t there but he liked it and I was in!

2. Do you know Marie as well?

I do not know her very well but we meet sometimes and as a big fan of her I always feel a bit shy when she is around. But I talk to her a little every time our paths cross.
Per had a 50 year anniversary party and there we met most recently. Her song "Sparvöga" is the most beautiful popsong in swedish that i have ever heard. I like to sing it to my child sometimes.

3. How did you start your musical career?

In school when I was 14-16 years old we could choose extra subjects and I chose playing or singing in a band. in the beginning I only got to play the keyboard, but when the older girls went on to other schools I got to get friends with the microphone. We made a soirée and I got a great kick out of it. With songs like "Satisfaction" , "Black Magic Woman" and "I will always love you" :o)

4. Your husband is a musician too?

Yes! We met in Italy where both our choirs were competing. He also works with commercials.

1. How did you get to play bass?
I was offered a bass for 125 SEK from an older guy in my neighbourhood. I was a drummer but my best friend had a larger drum kit so I thought... go for it!
Turned out I got the bass for 80 SEK. What a bargain! I was 10 years old.

2. How did you meet Per?
I met him through Christoffer. I helped out with computer stuff on Mazarin. I still don't know if my job is bass player or Mac-tech-support.

3. How is it to work with him?
Brilliant! He's a great guy.

4. Do you know Marie as well?
I've met her a couple of times. She's very nice.

5. When was the first time you heard a Roxette song? What did you think of it?
I heard "Never Ending Love" on the radio when it came out. I thought it sounded very "non-Swedish" and I liked that.

6. How is life in a tour?
It's all fun and games.

7. Tell us something funny about yourself.
I'm a bald guy with long hair.

8. How are the recording sessions?
It's mostly Christoffer and Clarence. Until they run into Mac-problems.

9. Do you add some personal touch on each song? Some personal style?
I'm the bass player live. I guess I'm adding something. What it is? I haven't the faintest...

10. In what way does Per’s music relate to your kind of music?
He has his roots in 60s and 70s pop music and so do I. We have a lot of common ground there.

11. Do you play only pop music, or do you prefer another type of music?
The last couple of years I've done a lot of music for film and TV. I really enjoy that. Making music that is not about you and yourself can be very liberating :-)

In yesterday's issue of the Swiss newspaper "Blick am Abend", there was a short interview with Per: Your current album is called "Party Crasher". Are you a Party Crasher? Of course. I love celebrating. The album is a mix of 70-ies pop and 80-ies grooves. Conclusion: My music is much cooler than myself. I can't help dancing to this music. So you'll still rock when you'll be 70 years? Hopefully. Since I have been 19, I'm on stage. That's more than 30 years. Something else is unimaginable. Now I'm living so awarely that my health will allow me to rock until a ripe old age. Now we want to know it: Marie and you, were you a couple during Roxette-times? No. Never. We were, are and will always be super friends. We grew up together - in Halmstad, a small Swedish hicksville. Will there be a comeback of Roxette? There's nothing planned at the moment. But never say never. Sometimes we're allowing in this idea and then we get euphoric. What's the difference between your new singer Helena and Marie? They're both fantastic singers. Every one in her own manner. Marie sung my texts as a leadsinger itself and with Helena I sing together. Will you also sing Roxette songs on April the 28th in Zurich? Of course! My favorite song is "The Look". A concert without this song is unimaginable. You've met a lot of stars. Which meetings were the most exciting ones? The ones with Mickey Rourke and Alice Cooper. In the 80-ies we celebrated wild parties. The guys took off and knew exactly what were cool parties!

From http://www.gessle.com/epk/ you can see this wonderful video about the ideas behind Party Crasher album! Now with an English subtitle!

The Swedish magazine "Filter" has interviewed "The Party Crasher" Per Gessle for its latest issue. In a very open-hearted interview Per Gessle is also talking about his friend Marie Fredriksson and Roxette. How far away is Roxette? How is Marie doing? Marie is fine. She has days on which she is exactly like she's ever been and other days on which she is very tired. We don't meet each other very often, maybe once a month. But we have recorded some songs for the Roxette Greatest Hits album and she did a song on my album "Mazarin". Do you miss working with her? This is difficult to say. Sometimes I miss the old Roxette times and the teamwork we had. At the same time Marie wasn't too interested in Roxette the years before she got sick. When I think about the recording sessions in the studio I don't want that part of Marie back. We love each other like brother and sister and we have a really huge child together - Roxette. At the same time I know that she lives a different life now. She works a lot with her art and music business is really tough. I don't know if she is anxious enough to expose herself to this whole promotion and TV-stress again. Have you never talked about it? That may sound ridiculous, but no. Not since she got sick. We have talked about the songs we recorded. That was ok, not fantastic. We shouldn't have done them down in Skåne with Christoffer and Clarence where I marked my territory since the Mazarin album. I believe that she felt a bit excluded there. These parts of the interview are used with kind permission of author Ika Johannesson and the "Filter" magazine. Source: marie-fredriksson.com and "Filter" magazine

Per Gessle read these pages. A concrete proof of this is when signed journalist was contacted by Per Gessle when he read an interview with the anniversary of Charlie Karlsson -Urberg 20-year-old -which was published here. He has Down syndrome and loves music. In the photo he happily posed with a guitar. Per Gessle wanted Charlie’s address to send a gift on his birthday. Charlie Karlsson-Urberg got a big package full of music CDs and he was so pleased that he wept. "I liked Charlie anyway. I hope he feels good! “ Per Gessle grew up in Halmstad as the youngest sibling in a crowd of three children. His mother was a housewife and the fact that both his father and grandfather were Plumbers is reflected in the choice of a name for an album: Son of a Plumber. At the school they thought he was very naughty. "I never fit in. I was rescued by The Monkee‘s “I'm a believer “and John Lennon's pile to the Rubber Soul-cover. Soldier? I couldn’t believe it: I do not dress in green”. Instead, it was the breakthrough with the group Gyllene Tider and their “Girls on TV2”. A really blond Gessle singing in Monday's stock market and the girls yelled and they surely kept on doing so. Now, the girls are still screaming together with their children. Or, clatter maybe a little bit with jewelry costumes. Per Gessle is still a hit machine with his eternally new work beet partners. ”I'm more of a director than a regular musician when I work. I have my head full of ideas but I need partners who can things better than me. Play and sing, for example. I am pretty good at motivating and engaging, I have noticed. I have often been told that I am revealing new pages out of people. Then I am very happy, "says the man who describes his own voice as “little cool” and its composing as “okay, but I can get better. "

He has luck, timing and talent Per Gessle was the pop nerd who sat at home and kept dreaming from his boy’s room in Halmstad. And then he got beyond his dreams and did a great job all over the world. Faced with his 50th anniversary he talks through e-mail about his talent, success and happiness to be a dad. Tell us a little about how your life looks like now! "It is quite calm after some intensive weeks with the Party Crasher promotion. In the spring we will try to do some work in Europe and the United States and penetrate record labels and the media. I think the plate deserves all my attention well into the 2009 as well. " You sometimes described as the little boy who has achieved all his dreams. How well you match the description? "Well, that is pretty good. On the other hand, I dreamed hardly all that wonderful things that has happened in my career. I am a small town guy, so my dreams were quite modest and realistic. I have had the three T-s : Luck(tur-in Swedish), Timing, Talent. " How important is it to myself to listen to great music in order to become a good songwriter? "That’s an interesting question. You learn a lot from what you like. This is, of course valid in life. A good songwriter gets inspired just like Zlatan or Picasso, a good journalist or a creative director. So it is not so stupid to have a heavy collection of discs if you want to solve the mystery of pop music. On the other hand, I think that it is easy to be inhibited by listening too much. In the same way as talent can put a spanner in the music composing. The simpler it is, always it’s the hardest.” If you would divide your life into periods, which one would be the most important one and why?

I found this two videos on BMI official site and one i uploaded on Youtube, the second one I couldn't but you can find it on their site BMI Awards Enjoy!