HALMSTAD/STOCKHOLM - Hallands Nyheter, the local newspaper for the Halmstad area, interviewed Per last week after he was nominated as the “Halland Resident of All Times.” Per was surprised, but he doesn’t want to be compared with historical persons. “It’s like trying to compare Picasso to the painters a long time before him. You can’t really do that,” he said to Hallands Nyheter’s Mårten Samuelson.

  Per also told the reporter that on his birthday, he and his family visited Mauritius. “I isolated myself for a couple of days and wrote four songs there. But on my birthday we went out on a catamaran ride. It was a huge difference compared to the cold weather here!”

  Currently, Per is working in the studio with Gyllene Tider. “We have been here for two days,” Per says. “We are still trying to find the sweet and airy sound. We just played a song, but it sounded too good. It can’t sound like that with Gyllene Tider!”

  “I have written a lot of songs and we’ll see what happens. Our goal is to accomplish a single or – if we’re extra lucky – an EP. An album is still a dream, although we do have enough material. If we are to record a full album it needs to follow a red line at least.”

  Per doesn’t know the exact dates for the Gyllene Tider summer tour yet. “It’s EMA that sets up the tour plan, but of course we’ll be performing here in Halmstad and along the west coast. The premiere will be in the middle of July and then we’ll keep going until the middle of August.”

  In a related story, Dagens Nyheter recently interviewed Kjell Andersson, a man who had a huge impact on Per and Gyllene Tider’s success and is considered “an institution” in the Swedish music industry. He worked at EMI Sweden for 30 years and signed Gyllene Tider to the record company in 1979. Andersson has also had a hand in designing many Roxette (and related) record covers.

  His collaboration with Per has continued over the years and he says that he’s currently working on Gyllene Tider re-releases that are slated to come out before this summer’s tour.

  Starrox contributed to this article.

• Hallands Nyheter article (in Swedish)