STOCKHOLM - “Mazarin” climbs to #3 again this week and has been awarded a fifth platinum award! That’s over 300,000 albums sold. Also on the Swedish record industry’s own chart: “Tycker om när du tar på mej” falls to #19 from #17.

STOCKHOLM - Last night, at Bern’s in Stockholm, Per Gessle collected four Grammis awards (the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy) out of seven nominations. He got the heaviest award; “Artist of the Year”, and also “Song of the Year” with “Här kommer alla känslorna” (the only category that wasn’t voted by a jury - Per got 65% of the votes), “Male Pop of the Year” and finally “Composer of the Year”. “I’m gonna party now, Åsa and I have even gotten a baby sitter!” Per says in Aftonbladet. “I’m so happy,” he continues, “I’m going to keep the awards at home for a while, just to look at them!”

  Pop group Kent holds the record by getting seven Grammis awards at the same time.

  The Swedish Grammis Award is, according to the record industry, the grandest prize an artist can get. According to the artists themselves it has a rather low status, since the nominations and winners usually are “politically” appointed. One record company can’t get too many awards.

  The other three categories Per was nominated in were won by these acts: “Lyricist of the Year” rapper Timbuktu, “Producer of the Year” Jocke Berg and Simon Nordberg, “Album of the Year” The Cardigans.

  The show was broadcast on TV4.

• Aftonbladet’s TT article (In Swedish)
• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - According to a report in today’s edition of Expressen, Gyllene Tider will perform 10-15 gigs this summer. To maximize attendance, the venues being selected are of the “bigger” model. The tour will start at Örjans Vall in Halmstad with two concerts, and will end about a month later. The tour will include Eyravallen in Örebro, Norrköping’s Sports Park, and Sundsvall’s Park Arena. Sundsvall is once again the northern limit of the tour (even though Per had spoken of wanting to re-conquer the north of Sweden).

  Other venues include Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg and the Olympic Stadium or Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm. Per Gessle wants to crush pianist Robert Wells’ attendance record of 43,000 at Ullevi, according to the Swedish tabloid.

• Expressen’s article (In Swedish)

HALMSTAD - As reported earlier this week, Per Gessle has been nominated as “Hallander of All Time” (Tidernas Hallänning). This contest-of-sorts is being promoted by both of the newspapers serving the Halland region. It is designed to create interest in a new exhibition on the cultural history of the region that will open at the Museum of Halland on February 29th. This is the same museum the will house a Gyllene Tider exhibit this summer.

  The six nominees are:

• Bockstensmannen (1300’s, first half) A man who lived in Halland in the 14th century. His well-preserved corpse was found by a farmer in Varberg in 1936.

• Olof Von Dalin (1708-1763) Journalist, historian, poet and illustrator.

• August Bondeson (1854-1906) Doctor and writer who portrayed the lives of common people.

• Beda Hellberg (1869-1945) Created the May Day flower campaign to benefit tuberculosis treatment and research.

• Ernst Wigforss (1881-1977) Politician, professor and writer.

• Per Gessle (b. 1959) Artist and songwriter.

  Among the finalists nominated, Gessle is the only one still living, while the nominee who dates back the furthest is “Bockstensmannen,” a man who lived in the early 14th century and whose well-preserved remains were discovered in a local bog in 1936 by a father and son out on a hike.

  Ballots have appeared in the newspapers, with readers encouraged to mail in their selection to the museum. The winner will be revealed at the opening reception.

  When Mårten Samuelson, Hallands Nyheter’s reporter contacted Per just over a week ago, he was involved with the recording of Gyllene Tider’s new record and in a very good mood.

  “He he he, what a gang!” says Per when informed as to who the other nominees were. “It is of course flattering to be named along with the Bockstensman. The others I’ve heard about, but who is Beda Hellberg?”

  Ted Holgersson and Judith Seuma contributed to this article.

• Museum of Halmstad (Limited content in English)

Read more…

MORA - Micke “Syd” Andersson, the drummer of Gyllene Tider, is taking a break from their current studio work to tour with his band S.O.S.

  The band, originally named Stars of Snäck, was formed to be the house band at Hotel Snäck on Gotland island during the summer months. Now that they are performing also in the other places, they decided to use the acronym S.O.S. They play only cover songs – including, apparently, some of the old Gyllene Tider hits.

  “This is the band’s winter edition,” says Micke Syd. S.O.S. is performing today in Sälen and tomorrow in Falun.

  Micke has been working with the other members of Gyllene Tider to record songs for the new record. “We’ll see what we get out of it. The single is a summer song – Gyllene Tider is always Gyllene Tider – but if we get more songs done, maybe it will sound a little different,” he says. Asked why he’s in Sälen instead of Halmstad, he comments “We haven’t played together for eight years, but it took us two minutes to get back to work. The studio work is very relaxed.”

• Mora Tidning article (in Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - This summer’s upcoming 25th Anniversary Gyllene Tider concert tour is expected to be so popular, that the fees the band rakes in will probably reach record levels. Per alone, according to a report in today’s edition of the Swedish newspaper Expressen, might earn almost one million Swedish Kronor (SEK) [US $138,000] – per night.

  The two hottest acts in Sweden this summer, according to this report, will be Gyllene Tider and the gigantic Diggiloo tour package (many well-known Swedish singers appearing one-after-the-other on the same stage; a touring version of a popular SVT television program).

  Previously, the artists demanded a certain amount for every gig. But this summer, there will most likely be huge crowds attending. In other words, guaranteed blockbusters. As Expressen’s reporter put it: “We’re talking 10,000 people per concert. At least.”

  Nowadays, the production companies themselves rent the big venues. They estimate an audience where each pay an entrance fee of about 300 SEK. That adds up to 4.5 million SEK if there’s a minimum of about 15,000 in the audience. The production company takes 80 percent (3.6 million) of the total amount.

  “Yea, there’s a great deal of money involved and I don’t deny that the artists gets quite a bit of it. But there’s a bunch of other people splitting it as well,” says Patrik Krall of 2entertain, producers of the Diggiloo tour.

  At EMA-Telstar, no one wants to comment on the money issue. But according to numerous sources, the thought process there is the same as at 2entertain.

  With Gyllene Tider however, there are considerably fewer sharing the cake. This means that Per could earn up to a million SEK for one single gig.

  “Yes, that’s the way it is,” says an [unnamed] arranger who is involved in Gyllene Tider’s fee negotiations.

• Expressen’s Article (In Swedish - with photo of Per)

HALMSTAD - The Gyllene Tider 25th anniversary exhibition at the Museum of Halmstad that we first reported last summer, will open on June 6th.

  “We are planning a great exhibition with lots of things, documents and music never before shown to the public,” says the museum’s website. “It will be a real “eldorado” for Gyllene Tider’s many faithful fans.”

  The exhibit is being curated in close cooperation with members of the band.

• Museum of Halmstad

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)

OSLO (UPDATED) - According to a report in today’s edition of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Roxette might be one of the headline acts performing live during a festival in Oslo in June 2005.

  Norway is marking the 100th anniversary of their independence from Sweden on June 7, 2005, and the celebration will culminate in an 11-day long culture festival.

  The organizers of “Norge 2005” (Norway 2005) are making plans to have both Roxette and the Norwegian band a-ha appear that day on the outdoor stage that will be constructed in front of Rådhuset, a major governmental building in the center of Oslo.

• Aftenposten article (in Norwegian)

STOCKHOLM - Per got one out of four nominated awards at Radio NRJ Awards in Stockholm tonight. He won “Best Swedish Male Artist” but lost “Best Swedish Song” to Lisa Miskovsky and her “Lady Stardust”, co-written by Jocke Berg of Kent. Both of his “Nordic” nominations went to The Rasmus. Per also performed a lip-sync version of “Här kommer alla känslorna”.