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| .: Per vs Gessle . (by Tobias Henning - taken by kind permission)
Per: What's up?
Gessle: A lot. I've just finished the record. Been mixing and mastering and
retouching the album pictures. It's been a lot of work.
Per: Retouching your pictures?
Gessle: Yeah....no...I mean, the songwriting, recording and mixing took
some time too.
Per: But you're not the cable kind of guy are you?
Gessle: No, I'm a lost case when it comes to technology. I've done some of
the mixing together with the invaluable Michael Ilbert and Clarence Öfwerman, who
helped me produce the thing. As P.J. O'Rourke says; to them goes the credit - I'll
take the money. We've been recording in Benny Andersson's superb studio in Stockholm.
Per: The Benny Andersson? Of Abba fame?
Gessle: Yep. But the mastering was done by Michael Ilbert and George Marino
Per: Why a solo album now?
Gessle: I needed the money.
Per: Surely you must be joking.
Gessle: I'm deadly serious and don't call me Shirley. Or was it to make a
detour from the Roxette path? Yeah, that's it. After the "Crash!" album and tour I
started writing new material in this direction. You know, "Sleeping In My Car",
that was the last song recorded for "Crash!" and it became the first single. It
was written in desperation more or less. I felt that we had perfected ourselves a
bit too much, that the energy level was dropping with every month we spent in the
studio polishing details in the sound picture. I'm a pop addict and I wasn't
getting enough.
Per: So that's when you started thinking about making a pop album?
Gessle: Yeah, candy-coated, loud and un-bluesy.
Per: But it's not the first time, is it?
Gessle: Well, I've done two Swedish solo albums before, in 1983 and 1985,
and Marie has done five. So I figured it was about time to catch up.
Per: So how did you approach the whole thing?
Gessle: I wrote some songs and then got in the best pop band in Sweden -
Brainpool - to help me kick some butt. Mine, that is. But I also used my former
band Gyllene Tider. We were teenage heroes in Scandinavia shortly after the
heydays of punk, but re-formed for Scandinavia's biggest tour ever in the summer
of 1996. And I figured it was a good idea to tap that well of energy and creativity
right after the tour finished in August. So I've been lucky to record with two of
my favourite bands.
Per: What did Marie say when you told her you were going solo?
Gessle: I guess she knew it was coming after the "Crash!" tour. We'd been
working together almost non-stop since 1988 and had tremendous success. Sooner of
later you have to do something else to get new inspiration, to avoid getting stuck
in the rut. Marie never gave up her Swedish solo career, but I've always focused
everything on Roxette. So I figured it was time to take some time off and just see
what I could do on my own.
Per: Why do it in English?
Gessle: Stupid question coming from you. I wanna go world-wide of course.
Wouldn't you?
Per: If Roxette had released an album 1997, would it have sounded like "The
World According To Gessle"?
Gessle: "The World According To Roxette"? I don't know. This is how I want
a pop record to sound today, anyway. Marie may have another vision. It takes more
than one to tango, you know.
Per: Does it - we're tangoing alone right now.
Gessle: Everything's possible in pop interviewing. But Marie likes the
record. She sings on one of the songs too.
Per: Why?
Gessle: Because she's the best.
Per: Speaking about pop. Do you listen to new stuff as much as you used to?
Gessle: As you might remember I started collecting pop records early. I had
100 LP's when I was 10. A manic collector and chart-follower from day one, which
must be when "I Feel Fine" was released. And so it went on until Roxette broke
through. But five-six years ago, during the "Joyride"-days, so much time was spent
on writing, touring, recording and promoting that I hardly had the time to listen
to anything new at all. At the end of 1995 I started buying new records and today
I'm reasonably hip again. But time passes, one get's older and gets new hobbies.
I've built a beach house, got me a canary bird, discovered vintage port and bought
a Ferrari. Spoiled brat, you know.
Per: How does success change a person? Do you change friends? Is there a
club for millionaries? How can you keep up when you don't have to?
Gessle: I'm surprised to hear such an intellligent question from you. Of
course you change. Everything changes. The way you see things, the way other
people see you. But pop music isn't my job; it's my life. You probably have to be
that obsessed to survive in this business. Success and money is a kick, but the
greatest reward is the boost your confidence gets. Success makes it easier to know
what you want and to get things done the way you want it.
Per: Now, that's what I call a good answer. But your music isn't always
pure pop. Looking back it seems you've been all over the place. And there are
tendencies to that on your solo album as well, even if it's a more...coherent
noise. Why's that?
Gessle: I listen to a lot. I like a lot. And so I do a lot. That may blur
the overall identity, but fuck that. I'd rather have fun and skip the format-thinking.
The unifying thing is probably that I generally write potential singles with
distinct verses and choruses. I've never liked "album tracks". Leave them to Pink
Floyd.
Per: Yes, please. Did you hear that Monty Python will reform next year?
Gessle: Great. And in Las Vegas too. Brilliant. Must go there. But it
probably collides with some Formula 1-race.
Per (yawning:) Tell us more about the songs on the album.
Gessle: Well, it kicks off with "Stupid", which is the kind of song I write
after a bucketful of red wine on a Friday night. I really love Friday nights. I
also love red wine. And I do love those three chords. We went for a "home studio
atmosphere" on this one and then Christoffer and Jens from Brainpool came on and
helped me nail it. Isn't it a gorgeous opener?
Per: Well, it's good but I don't know if gorgeous is the right wo...
Gessle:... and then there's the first single, "Do You Wanna Be My Baby?".
I like the drum sound. Stolen from Jeff Lynne, probably. I like that. And I like
the intro with only drums and vocals. And I really like the "double choruses".
Right after the chorus something else hits you. Learned that from Desmond Child
when we wrote "You Don't Understand Me". An American trick. You always reach a
point in your life where nothing but an American trick can help you out.
Per: Somebody at your record company said you were playing a lot of guitars
on this album. But this can't possibly be you, can it?
Gessle: What do you mean? Of course it can. But it's Mats Persson getting
low-down and funky.
Per: Funky?
Gessle: Sort of. "Saturday" is written around a drum loop I found in our
demo studio in Halmstad. And it's my guitars you hear gently weeping all over the
track.
Per: Touching. Have you ever bent a note?
Gessle: I don't believe in note-bending. I don't believe in bending
whatsoever. I do believe in "Bend It", though.
Per: That's Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.
Gessle: What a great memory you've got. Almost too good. If you can
remember the 60's you weren't there.
Per: Let's move on. "Kix" is...
Gessle: ...bringing some groove to the record. Every pop album needs a
touch of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Per: Would you describe the song as dance-oriented?
Gessle: I don't know, I gave up dancing in 1982. I'd be happy if people
tap their fingers on the steering wheel.
Per: Someone said your mother liked "I Want You To Know".
Gessle: Yeah, I said that. She does. We allowed ourselves to drift into a
non-chemical haze with flutes and distored drums. The band, that is - not my
mother and I. "Tomorrow Never Knows" meets "Itchycoo Park", if you know what I
mean.
Per: Au naturellement. You've got to have one red hot motherfucker of a
record collection.
Gessle: It's not everyone's cup of tea, though. You're more likely to find
Doris Day than Luther Vandross there.
Per: Are you crazy? You don't like soul? You don't like the political
commentary in rap? You don't like tormented singers wailing their blues away? You
like Doris Day? I bet you don't buy magazines with the Gallagher brothers on the
cover either.
Gessle: You've been reading my mail. I like Oasis though. Not every band
gets sued by The Rutles, you know.
Per: Wait 'til you hear what the Gallagher brothers have to say about your
solo album.
Gessle: If they have any idea of what Doris Day was all about, they'll love
it.
Per: How come Roxette never got acceptance from the more correct side of
the British music press?
Gessle: I don't know. Being Swedish didn't help in the beginning. When we
broke through there hadn't been anything coming out of Sweden since ABBA, really.
Today it's almost the reverse situation. And besides, our music was always
regarded as being too commercial to be credible. I never understood that. Benny
in ABBA once said that he was happy that the whole world had the same musical
taste as he had. It's like that. You do your thing and hope for the best. And if
you have a commercial element in your music, I see no sense in hiding it. Au
contraire, as the French say. But we all love England here. Their football, their
draught ale, their Dickens, their driving on the wrong side of the road, their
MP's with their kinky sex, their music and their art. I think we love all, come to
think of it.
Per: As in "love all, serve all".
Gessle: Something like that.
Per: Back to the record. Did you write the song "Reporter" in order to get
a psychological advantage with the media?
Gessle:..."she's such a good reporter, working for a magazine"...yeah,
maybe. Did you notice the line coming after her getting access to British
Royalty..."she wants the management to tell her where she can interview Marie and
Per"?
Per: Yeah, I heard that. Why didn't you put that backwards? It's more fun
that way. Hidden messages, you know.
Gessle: I did first, but then I realised you can't play CD's backwards.
Per: "B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B". It's got waves, it's got the "Good Vibrations"-organ
sound, it's presented as a homage to Brian Wilson. Why?
Gessle: It was a fluffy pop song that I had on acoustic demo. I asked
Brainpool to arrange it and Christoffer had a field day with all the toys he could
possibly find. A zither and a mini-moog, for example.
Per: Let's go on. "Wish You The Best" puts an end to the record's inital
hammering of guitars and distorted vocals. I think I like this one the best.
Gessle: I'm so glad you do. I do too. It could easily have been a fat
power-ballad, but Brainpool have never listened to that kind of music, so it
turned out to be more naked and passionate instead. I'm very proud of this one.
Per: OK. The next song is an old number by Wizzard...
Gessle: No, it's close but...
Per: "No Cigar"? Haven't heard that one. Whose song is it then?
Gessle: Mine, of course. I've changed all the facts to avoid any similarity
with anything. I bought a book about Elvis after the song was written and it was
actually a very gloomy day when Elvis came to Germany. It rained and stormed and
there was no orchestra. My version is the way it should have been, though. I first
liked the lyrics better than the music, but then the saxes came along and got the
balance right.
Per: Astonishing. Is it true that Marie likes "T-T-T-Take It" and that
Roxette almost recorded it for the "Don't Bore Us - Get To The Chorus"-collection,
but that you choose "June Afternoon" instead?
Gessle: It's true.
Per: So that's about it, then?
Gessle: No, there's three more songs.
Per: I thought we were talking about a pop record, not a double album.
Gessle: I don't believe in killing ones darlings. I'm a pacifist.
Per: Pacifiction won't get you anywhere, boy. Anyway, Marie is making a
guest appearance on "I'll Be Alright". Why?
Gessle: I've already told you that she's the best. And who in his right
mind would leave "There Is My Baby" to rot in the drawer? And could you possibly
ask for a sweeter goodbye than "Lay Down Your Arms"? Or should I kill a song with
a title like that?
Per: Easy now...don't get excited...it just seemed a bit long, that's all.
Gessle: It's less than an hour. 52 minutes if you count it. I've spent my
whole life listening to pop music. You mean you can't spend 52 minutes listening
to it? You're that busy? You sleep with a mobile phone under the pillow? I've
suffered for my art - now it's your turn. Too long, my ass!
Per: Don't get me wrong, I love the record. It's clearly a step forward for
you as a writer and performer. It reveals your personal roots as well as being
firmly rooted in today's music scene. And it's got a lot of balls and...electric
guitars.
Gessle: You really mean that?
Per: I honestly do. But what about Roxette?
Gessle: In October we'll go into the studio to start work on a new album.
Per: Well, see you then.
Gessle: Don't count on it. Too long, huh? ...grönsakshandlare.
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