STOCKHOLM - Swedish freelance journalist Jan Gradvall, one of Per’s favorite music critics, has published a lengthy, exclusive interview with Per on his own website.

  In the Swedish-language article, “In the head of Per Gessle,” Jan and Per discuss records, drawings, Per’s family and pop music in general.

  “Per Gessle has never revealed much of himself and his life on his previous albums,” Gradvall writes. “But he does it on ’Son of a Plumber.’ The album leads straight into his old boyhood room in Halmstad.”


EDITOR’S NOTE: With the kind permission of the author, The Daily Roxette is pleased to be able to reprint this interview below in full, translated into English by our own Thomas Evensson. It’s a little Christmas gift to our worldwide subscribers, courtesy of Mr. Gradvall. From all of us at TDR… warm wishes for a God Jul och Gott Nytt År!.  – LEO

• Interview with Per (In Swedish)

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STOCKHOLM - For the second week in a row “Son of a Plumber” falls a notch, this time to #3. Björn Skifs falls to #2 while newcomer Agnes - the winner of Idol 2005 - zooms into the #1 spot.

  The single “Jo-Anna Says” (“C’mon” seems forgotten) falls from #11 to #14 on the sales chart, but stays firmly at #2 on the new Billboard type Topp40 chart. Madonna stays at #1 for the sixth week in a row.

• Topp40
• Hitlistan

STOCKHOLM - Son of a Plumber has been nominated for a Grammis - Best Male Pop Artist. The Grammis gala will be held February 7.

  The album has been kicked off #1 by Björn Skifs’ new album, and resides at #2 this week.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle and his Son of a Plumber project were guests at TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon this morning. Son of a Plumber performed “Hey Mr DJ” live in an acoustic version and “I Have a Party in My Head” lipsynced. In the interview Per told the host nothing that TDR’s readers already don’t know. Although he did mention that there’s a big chance Roxette will record something next year. “I’m not sitting here promising anything, though,” Per said.

“Son of a Plumber” stays put at #1 on the official Swedish albums chart this week. “I’m so happy! I’m so proud!” Per exclaims on the Son of a Plumber newspage.

  Meanwhile, on the singles chart, “C’mon”/”Jo-Anna Says” drops out of the top 10 to #11 in its fourth week on the chart. On the official new Top 40 chart it climbs to #2, after Madonna.

• Topp40
• Hitlistan

STOCKHOLM - Per goes straight to #1 on the Swedish album chart with his Son of a Plumber project beating Madonna!

  Additionally he will be chatting on Aftonbladet at 15:00 CET.

• Aftonbladet, hitlistan

Don’t forget to vote for Per Gessle in Aftonbladet’s prestigious Rockbjörnen award for “Son of A Plumber.” Last year Gyllene Tider received awards for Best Swedish Album (“Finn 5 fel!”) and Best Swedish Group.

  All in all Per has received no less than 13 Rock Bears over the years.

• Vote here

STOCKHOLM - The new album, released today in Sweden, has already sold platinum (60,000 copies).

“Son of a Plumber” has gotten a wide variety of reviews in Sweden today. Aftonbladet thinks it’s weak and gives it 2/5, while Nunstedt in Expressen agrees with most of TDR’s review and gives it 4/5. Furthermore Hallandsposten gives it 2 and thinks it’s nostalgic but not really good. GP on the other hand likes it a lot. All in all about half of the newspapers like it and half really doesn’t like it, there’s nothing inbetween.

• Aftonbladet
• Hallandsposten
• SvD
• GP
• Hallands Nyheter
• Nerikes Allehanda
• Sydsvenskan
• Expressen
• DI

HELSINKI/LJUSDAL/UTRECHT - TDR reviews another album, this time it’s Per’s new album “Son of a Plumber,” an album made with the same musicians as Per’s Swedish hit album “Mazarin,” but now in English and as a double-CD. Enjoy!

Visa: This time in our review team we have three Gessle fans: Thomas Evensson, TDR news editor from Ljusdal, Sweden; Colin van der Bel, TDR forum moderator from Utrecht, the Netherlands; and myself, Visa Kopu, TDR editor-in-chief from Helsinki, Finland. Unfortunately Judith Seuma wasn’t able to join us this time, since she’s visiting the home country of the plumber and his son.

Thomas: Wow, so finally it’s here. And a double too. I take credit for the vinyl. Ha ha! At least Per sounded genuinely intrigued when I mentioned it to him. But who knows, he may have had the plan already.

Visa: Funny about this double-CD thing… Per says he wanted this album to feel like an old-time LP where you had to switch the side in the middle. With the CDs, it’s totally artificial since the whole album, all 24 songs and the bonus tracks, would’ve fit on one disc.

Colin: 2 CDs, well I guess it brings back the vinyl experience back a bit, though a double-sided disc would’ve been even more effective for that (though not that practical). Still, the vinyl version is a double set… should it have been four CDs then? Read more…

STOCKHOLM - Win a Fender Stratocaster signed by Per Gessle! Yes, it can be yours if you enter this auction to benefit a program called Adopt-A-Minefield. Per has signed and donated the bone-white guitar that is being auctioned on the Internet.

  Adopt-A-Minefield is a campaign of the United Nations Association of the USA, which engages individuals, community groups, and businesses in the United Nations effort to resolve the global landmine crisis. The Campaign helps save lives by raising funds for mine clearance and survivor assistance and by raising awareness about the landmine problem.

   The site describes the item like this:

“This Fender Stratocaster was signed by Per Hakan Gessle the songwriter and male lead singer of the Swedish bands Gyllene Tider and Roxette.

• Charity Folks (auction site)
• Adopt-A-Minefield
• Roj-En-Mina (Swedish Adopt-A-Minefield site)

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