STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Roxette was once again nominated for a Rockbjörnen award in Aftonbladet's annual ceremony, in the Swedish Group of the Year category. Unfortunately, Bodies Without Organs (BWO) took the award this year. During the previous years, Roxette has already received six Rock Bears.

According to Dutch NVPI, EMI Music stops using copy protection technology on the CDs the company releases. Copy protection, or Digital Rights Management (DRM) as these technologies are also called, have caused a lot of anger among the people who have bought their records legally but are unable to listen to them in the player of their choice. To prevent illegal copying of music, the protected CDs have limitations on the types of players they can be played in. As a side effect, many protected CDs don't work in car stereos.

Now it seems that EMI has realized that the price of adding DRM to the products is too high comparing to its benefits to the company. Recently one of the biggest developers of DRM solutions, MacroVision, stopped the sales of its TotalPlay system. TotalPlay, previously called CDS or Cactus, was used on Roxette's "Ballad Hits."

Boing Boing has an English translation of the article. DRM technologies were not included in the latest European Roxette releases "The Hits," "The RoxBox" and the "One Wish" single, as well as Marie's "Min bäste vän" album.

HALMSTAD - Radio Halland broadcast a second part of Per's interview on January 3. In the second interview Per reveals that he's writing for not one but two new projects; one in Swedish and a continuation of the Son of a Plumber project in English. He can't say which one will be released first. "It depends on several things, I can't answer that right now."

He's going to the US next week, to plug Roxette's new album, but also to get Plumber released over there. "I don't know why I end up in the US all the time, it's a big and impossible country… But then again, it was the last time as well so…"

Pelle, the reporter, also asks about the tour rumors, and Per says he's heard them as well. But the last solo tour he did, he put together no more than two months before the tour start, so no one knows at this point.

Regarding the 700th anniversary of Per's hometown Halmstad on May 31, Per says that he has gotten loads of questions to join in, but he doesn't like the date. "Doesn't it go on the whole year though? I'm sure we can get something together."

The interview is available on the Internet (it starts after approx. 14 minutes).

HALMSTAD (Updated) - Radio Halland's Pelle Hörmander has met Per Gessle for their traditional Christmas talk. The show was aired Dec. 27, 11:30-12:00. (Follow the link, click Dec 27 and select 11:30-12:00, the interview starts after approximately seven minutes.)

Update: Radio Halland broadcast a second part of the interview on January 3.

Welcome to the program. Do they still turn their heads when you walk down the street here in Halmstad?
Ha ha, thanks. No, not really anymore.

Busy fall?
Some I would say. Some TV and radio promotion, but not so bad no. It used to be worse.

Is it still fun to travel around?
Truthful? Not as fun as it used to be. Sometimes it's good, when the full band is with us. When in a hotel bar in Berlin for instance. Press and TV isn't fun. I wish it was.

Same kind of questions?
Yes, oh yes. Lately lots about Marie's sickness. It's very tedious. Nothing about music at all, just about Roxette's past success.

Why not?
I just don't know. When I make solo albums or Plumber, they all talk about music and influences, but when it comes to Roxette all we talk about is US #1s but never music.

So let's talk music Per Gessle! Tell us about the new songs…
It's been a giant step for Marie. It was sensational, at least to me, that Roxette recorded again. So I stepped up to the plate and I wrote a few songs. We thought "Reveal" would be the Big Hit, but in the studio "One Wish" flourished. Not a song we will be remembered by of course, but still as good as we could do under these circumstances.

Once again you will release an album in the US. Do you think they remember Roxette over there?
Yes, the album will be released in January, believe it or not. I'm going over there in January to do some promotion. Our music is played a lot, more than ever actually, especially "Listen to Your Heart" and "It Must Have Been Love," but do they remember Roxette? I doubt it.

How will the future be?
Nothing really right now. The slate's clean. It's a possibility but Marie can't decide now what to do next fall for instance, she takes one step at the time.

Where does that leave you?
I'm old and gray too now, but I don't need that much heads up. We do need at least six months in the studio to make a Rox album, maybe six months to prepare.

Year 2006 is nearing its end and it's time for the annual The Daily Roxette "Year in review" article.

This year was obviously a very important one for Roxette, since it was the band's 20th anniversary. On July 8, 1986 a mysterious duo called Roxette released their debut single "Neverending Love." The members of the duo, Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, didn't even put their faces on the single sleeve. The song became an instant summer hit in Sweden. It still took some time before the band broke through in other countries, but that's a completely different story — a story you've heard so many times before.

The first half of 2006 was mostly about Per's solo project Son of a Plumber, although the fans were already anxiously waiting for news about how Roxette will celebrate their big year. Son of a Plumber — or SOAP, as we call it — released its second single in Sweden, "Hey Mr DJ (Won't You Play Another Love Song)." Per also convinced some of the European EMI branches of the SOAP project and "Hey Mr DJ" was announced to be the first SOAP single outside Sweden. To promote the song, a music video was shot and a remix EP was released in digital format only.

Bad Hair Day was another digital tryout by Per. To the delight of fans around the world, he released "Mazarin" and "Son of a Plumber" demos for free on the Internet using the pseudonym Bad Hair Day.

While Roxette is in the headlines again, fanclub calls it a day

A surprise or not, in March the Netherlands-based Official Roxette Fanclub announced that it will cease all operations immediately, with disgruntled fans and obvious management problems. The problems still keep going on to this day as their debts are still not settled. Marie Dimberg of d&d management, manager of Roxette, released a press statement saying that there will be no more official fanclub in the future. The fanclub, in this format, opened its doors during the mid-nineties after the UK-based fanclub closed for much of the same reasons.

An interesting coincidence was that at the same time as the fanclub quit, Roxette was in the headlines again, the press touting their comeback.

In March TDR met Per in Vienna where we discussed Son of a Plumber and of course the upcoming Roxette 20th anniversary, which showed an excited Per. Per was traveling around promoting SOAP. However, the few countries that picked up the album, didn't manage to sell it to the extent it was worth. So what else happened in March? Well, TDR met Per in Stockholm too, where he re-hashed his mumbo jumbo about "Roxette" whatever that is… No, seriously, it was yet another successful interview. We are very thankful for our conversations with Per, and from the looks of it, so are you!

We also finally got the confirmation from EMI that Roxette was back in the studio! No one knew what was coming out of it, a new album maybe? Well, we got quite a few releases in the end. Most importantly, the Skåne recordings ended up in two new tracks: "Reveal" and "One Wish."

Read more…

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - As per usual Swedish TV4 will have a Gessle-related program at the end of the year. This time they will broadcast the brand new documentary "Roxette - 20 år" (Roxette - 20 years), about the 20th anniversary, on December 29 19:30 CET. The half-hour show will be re-run December 31.

Using previously not shown and unique footage from, among others the Gessle family's private camcorder, Roxette's progress from a small band touring the Swedish countryside via the breakthrough with "The Look" in the US, to the big venues in both South Africa and Argentina is shown.

In the documentary Marie and Per tell about the historical gig in China where Roxette as the second western band ever (Wham! was the first) was allowed to perform in Beijing. They also talk about the reunion after Marie's sickness.

The drummer most often seen in Roxette's band, Pelle Alsing, has been playing with a new group called Moosters. They just released an album called "Executioner" in Sweden.

Pelle is very excited about this project but says that his love and devotion for Roxette will not be compromised by this. He calls their style rockin' blues. If you would like to hear what Pelle has been working on during the last two years visit their MySpace page.

In another news, the guitarist of Gyllene Tider, co-owner of the Roxette demo studio Tits & Ass, Mats "MP" Persson, is touring in March with The Cadillac Band. Three concerts have already been confirmed, one of them being in a church in Stockholm.

STOCKHOLM/HALMSTAD - Per and Marie have been kind enough to share a Christmas greeting with us once again:

Awright!
2006 turned out to be a good year! Not only for the roses but also for this little band from the outskirts of Europe.
We managed to deliver a good-looking RoxBox as well as 2 new songs (btw, you have to check out the new remixes of Reveal…. very cool if you ask us…) and a few TV-shows to go with that.
2007? Well, who knows. Marie is talking about more art exhibitions and more exciting solo stuff, Per isn’t talking at all at the moment (he wants to go xmas shopping, the taxi’s waiting…) but knowing him some raunchy urban x-rated hip-hop music isn’t far away!

Luv,
Marie & Per

Marie also sent a very special surprise to all the fans around the world - which you see to the left; click to enlarge.

Judith contributed to this article.

STOCKHOLM - January 23 Roxette's next single "Reveal" will be released "here and there," as expected. The single will most probably contain at least two remixes of the song, including one which is called "The Attic Remake." The Attic being a new band signed by EMI. "Reveal" is already out as a radio single, slightly remixed and with a different middle-eight.

Fans in Argentina are collaborating together to host an event in one of the city's newest hotspots on December 13. Run to Roxette (R2R) together with ¡Roxette Latino! – with the cooperation of EMI Argentina – are preparing a big Roxette party to celebrate the first 20 years.

The party will take place the evening of December 13th at The Roxy, an "in" restaurant and bar often used to host CD launch parties because of the outstanding sound system and large video screens. During the party there will be music, videos, contests and more surprises! The Buenos Aires-based Roxette tribute band Hot Joy (featured in a previous TDR article), will be guests of the party and perform several songs.

Courtesy of The Roxy, the two sponsoring websites are conducting a contest to award five free pre-party dinners-for-two (each for 2 persons) for that night. The winners will be revealed on Tuesday (December 12) through the websites and communicated by e-mail. The Roxy is located on Gorriti 5568, Palermo Hollywood, Buenos Aires.

Get in the contest!