KRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN - Multi-talented musician and producer Christoffer Lundquist has found himself yet another project. This time he is producing an album for Loserville, a band from Hässleholm, a town in southern Sweden. Lundquist became well-known as a member of the band Brainpool and has since worked with Roxette and co-produced Per’s “Mazarin” album.

  The Loserville album Lundquist has been working on is the band’s second and will be released in December. “I can’t remember exactly how we got into contact with each other,” Lundquist told Kristianstadsbladet. “I suppose someone knew someone… that’s how it usually works. Anyway, there was an email and a demo. So, I read and listened. And liked it. They sound real and strong. They are not stereotyped and they have joy in their performance.”

  Lundquist doesn’t like the way the music business works these days. “I’ve been in this business for 10-11 years now and I must say that we’re in an all time low right now. The record companies don’t sign new bands. Instead, they are signing concepts and think about advertising campaigns that may suit in some sort of quartal capitalism. It’s sick.”

  Lundquist is still working with the guys from Brainpool. They have been composing a “rock opera” for years and it’s finally nearing completion. “There hasn’t been a real rock opera since The Who made ’Tommy’. We though it’s about time,” says Lundquist. “It’ll be a stage show and an album. The director will be Anna Novovich, a Swedish woman who has mostly worked in Copenhagen. It still takes some time to get the stage show ready, but because the songs have already been recorded, I believe the album will be in the shops next spring.”

• Kristianstadsbladet article (in Swedish)
• Loserville (currently under construction)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Per Gessle is one of the artists to perform on the “Världens Barn” Gala (World’s Children), which will be broadcast by SVT on November 7 between 18:15-19:00 and 20:00-21:00 CET.


  This event is organized by Radiohjälpen’s Världens Barn and SVT and will be hosted by Kattis Ahlström and Hans Rosenfeldt. Many personalities are to perform during the gala, like artists Pernilla Wahlgren, Charlotte Nilsson, Robert Wells, Per Gessle and Tomas Ledin. The goal for 2003 is to raise 130 million kronor ($16 million) for the children of the world.


  In addition, Per will also perform, alone this time - the last time was with Roxette, on TV4’s “Faddergalan” (Sponsor a Child Gala) that will be broadcast on November 28.

• SVT’s Världens Barn site (In Swedish)
• Faddergalan (In Swedish)
• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

LONDON - UK based file sharing network Wippit.com has signed a deal with EMI to legally offer its entire music back catalogue on-line. Subscription to the London based Wippit.com is available for annual fee of £30 per year or £3.99 per month. For this amount they can potentially, legally download about 100,000 songs from EMI’s vast back catalogue, which also includes Pink Floyd, Radiohead and of course Roxette.

  Wippit said it was “delighted” with the deal, which will take effect from the middle of November. They added “We are determined to become the number one in the UK and Europe.”

  Wippit already offers its 5,000 subscribers 60,000 tracks from 200 independent labels, including Richard Branson’s V2, Telstar, Domino and Grand Central.

  Wippit now faces stiff competition from Apple’s iTunes which last week launched a Windows version of their rapidly growing Apple based download service. Wippit’s service is only available to users of Windows operating system.

• BBC News article
• Wippit

STOCKHOLM - Swedish artists Miio will release their first album, “På vårt sätt” (In our way), soon. The tracklisting reveals that they have made two more covers of Gyllene Tider songs. The CD will include their first single, the Gold Awarded cover of “När vi två blir en” (Aka “Beating Heart”). The other Gyllene Tider covers are “När alla vännerna gått hem” and “Det hjärta som brinner”.

  In addition to Gyllene they have also recorded Tomas Ledin, Orup and Lasse Lindbom Band material, among others.

• CDon

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish broadcasting company SVT has published a list of entrants in the national selection to the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The list has 28 songs, but four more will be named later. These four will come from specially invited song writers and among them is Per Gessle.

 Per has contributed to the contest before. In 1980, he wrote the song “För dina bruna ögons skull” (“Because of your brown eyes”) together with Mats MP Persson. The song was performed by Lasse Lindbom Band. It finished last. Per also wrote the lyrics to Lena Philipsson’s song “Kärleken är evig” in 1986, and in 2000 he wrote the song “Högt i det blå” for Sven-Ingvars, but the fact that Per had written the song was leaked to the public so the song was cut. This time, however, Per may be a stronger candidate, but that’s only if he decides to take part.

 The Swedish contest, also called Melodifestivalen, will take place in February. The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, in May.

Daniel Alvedahl contributed to this article.

• Expressen article (in Swedish)
• List of selected songs

STOCKHOLM - There will most likely be a Gyllene Tider reunion tour in Sweden next summer, according to newspaper reports published today and The Daily Roxette’s own sources.

  The Swedish news agency TT Spektra writes today that plans for such a tour are becoming much more concrete.

  Band members have begun discussing detailed plans of a possible new album release – and a tour – with EMI/Capitol, their record company. Members of Gyllene Tider have for a long time now talked about a tour next summer to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

  “Of course I feel this would be great. I remember ’Återtåget’ and few 43 year-olds get to tour and both give and receive happiness,” says Micke “Syd” Andersson, drummer of Gyllene Tider. Micke gives the tour a 50/50 chance of happening.

Daniel Alvedahl and Thomas Evensson contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - This week “Här kommer alla känslorna” is still at #1 on Svensktoppen, a very long-running and popular show where listeners vote.

  This means that – with 18 weeks in a row now at the top – Per has entered Svensktoppen’s record list. He is now #5 together with Arvingarna on the list of longest-lasting #1s.

  As the song this week has nearly 200 points more than the one at #2, chances are Per Gessle will advance to #4 on the record list next week.

• Sveriges Radio (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish collection series Absolute will include both “Opportunity Nox” and “Här kommer alla känslorna (På en och samma gång)” on their upcoming collection “Absolute Hits 2003.” The release is scheduled for November 12. On the DVD version, only “Opportunity Nox” is included (as it had a video).

  Both the CD and the DVD will include Miio’s version of the Gyllene Tider song “När vi två blir en.”

• CDON
• Absolute (In Swedish)

Although there’s almost one year since their releases, the Roxette compilations are still selling very well in Brazil. Since two weeks ago, two big virtual shops have done discounts in various titles, and the Roxette ones became some of the most sold.

  On the virtual shop “Submarino”, which is one of the biggest virtual shops in Latin America, “The Ballad Hits” is the #1 on the Pop Internacional’s category. “The Pop Hits”, “Roxette’s Greatest Hits 2000” and even “Tourism” are best selling right now too.

• RoxOn (In Brazilian)
• Submarino (In Brazilian)

World famous director Jonas Åkerlund, who has directed videos for Roxette, Madonna, Metallica, U2 among many others, will direct a new thriller based on Mo Hayder’s novel “Birdman”. The movie will be shot in L.A. next year, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

  No actors are cast yet.