STOCKHOLM - In a few weeks Per Gessle’s new album “Mazarin” is out. At the same time he debuts as a movie director. “I’ve made a DVD-movie called ’En mazarin blir till’ (The making of a mazarin). I’ve shot it myself and edited it in my computer,” Per Gessle tells Aftonbladet. The DVD is included with 5,000 copies of the album. “It’s rather than good, but you can see how much fun we had. The film radiates a hysterical feeling of happiness.”

  The new single “Här kommer alla känslorna” has started a movement in Sweden to get Gessle on tour. It has quickly become the most played song by the Swedish radio stations.

  The commotion surprises Gessle. “I didn’t expect anything like this. I didn’t even have a record deal when I started on “Mazarin”. This is an emotional insurrection toward the thinking of the business. I’ve just collected songs, recorded them myself and paid myself,” Per says in Aftonbladet.

  Per’s colleagues, like Mauro Scocco, Eva Dahlgren/Buddaboys and GES have had a hard year selling albums Aftonbladet claims. “Yeah the recording industry is in a deep crisis. But nothing like that is on my mind. I haven’t had to please anyone. I can bomb majorly and it’s OK. That way a whole new world opens up. You get more honest and spontaneous,” Per comments.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)
• Do you want to see Per on tour?

The idea about a solo album came a few years ago?

  “During the Room Service tour Marie and I decided that the next thing to do was our own albums. That was around Christmas 2001. I started writing like crazy in Swedish then. It was damn fun.”

  Aftonbladet wonders if this is a breaking point. “It’s easy to think that, with Marie getting ill. No one knows how Marie wants to work onwards, if she wants to tour. It’s up to her of course. But it feels new to me because I’ve dared being more personal with age. I dare singing more about real things, in Swedish. I didn’t want it to be silly and ingratiating.

Marie Fredriksson sings on one of the songs.

  “I asked Marie if the wanted to sing and I played demos for her. Then she wanted to do as much as she could. So we chose “På promenad genom stan” because it’s about Halmstad.

Summer tour?

  “I’m up for it. We’ll rehearse for the release party, then I’ll see how it feels.” He’ll decide within a week. He’s got a band, and three gigs are already set. Two of them on TV. “Allsång på Skansen” June 24 and Victoriadagen July 14.

  Gyllene Tider 25 years next year. “It would be fun to do something, maybe a tour. I’ve always fought that, but right now I have a different taste in my mouth. Great fun,” Per concludes in Aftonbladet