(Updated) - Please enjoy the snippets of "Silly Really" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" at www.gessle.com!

We've just received notice that the album release has been pushed forward to November 26. Per has also remodeled his YouTube page. Worth a look perhaps. More things to show up there soon.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle's management has announced radio promo sessions for the new single, all on October 24:

08:10-08:55 RIX FM * Morronzoo (Also broadcast on TV6)
12:00–13:00 P3 Populär Fredagsgäst.
13:30-14:15 P4 Lantz i P4

The times are in CET. All shows are available online.

Also, according to TT, Per will perform at the Swedish soccer gala November 17. The gala is held at the Globe and will be televised on TV4.

LJUSDAL/LONDON - The Daily Roxette managed to get hold of Per Gessle in spite of his award show in London, so we took the opportunity to get updated regarding his new project.

Hej Per, another summer full of work is over. You never tire do you, huh?

Well sir, as a matter of fact my whole summer was free and easy. We stopped our studio work in May and didn’t continue until late August so I got my fair share of suntan, go-karts, bikinis and belinis.

I see, so another well deserved vacation? Where do you get your energy from? The vacations? It's not like you need the money or the fame anymore, what drives you onward and forward?

Ooops I did it again, didn’t I? You know, I don’t really write songs anymore unless there is a purpose. A couple of weeks after the “En händig man-tour” last summer I got into this idea of writing songs based on “grooves” and a steady beat instead of just fooling around on the guitar. I had a field day! Before X-mas I had about 10 new songs.

You could as well "lay on the beach earning 20 %" you know?

Nah, not me.

Read more…

LONDON - Per Gessle together with Del Bryant (left) - president of BMI and Bryan Ferry, singer in Roxy Music at the BMI awards in London October 7. Per was there together with Mats MP Persson to receive a "Million-Air" award for "Listen to Your Heart" which has been played on US radio over four million times.

STOCKHOLM (Updated) - Per Gessle's first single "Silly Really" off the forthcoming album "Party Crasher" will be released October 29. The single as well as the album is a step in a new direction for one of Sweden's most successful songwriters and artists.

After two solo albums in Swedish ("Mazarin" in 2003 and "En händig man" 2007), another studio album with Gyllene Tider ("Finn 5 fel!" 2004) and a double album under the name "Son of a Plumber" Per Gessle now shows us a different side of his pop talent.

"Normally I write the melodies first and then we build an arrangement in the studio. This time I've started with a groove and then written the melody from that, just like when I wrote that little ditty 'The Look' once upon a time," says Per with a crooked smile that's hard to read. "It’s really simple power pop, lots of choruses and such. I’m very pleased and Clarence feels it’s the best album I’ve ever made."

"The songs are written in the '70s '80s era type of dance music. The result is a fun album that is both immediate and in your face, but also brooding and beautiful." says Per. "My wife says the album sounds like The Bee-Gees meet Gyllene Tider. I don't really agree, but I can see her point. It has a sweet disco feeling all over it. But recognizing Per Gessle over the beats shouldn’t be a problem."

The album is made in English to be able to hit internationally. Per: "But it’s a long way to go, I don’t take anything for granted. It’s not like I’m going to England to sell out Wembley, unfortunately. But at the same time, Roxette's songs are bigger than in a long while, so we’ll see."

"Party Crasher" is Per Gessle's first international solo album in his own name since "The World According to Gessle" 1997. The album will be released  December 3.

Few talk about the "Swedish musical wonder" anymore, which was strongly connected to successful Swedish artists, but Swedish music is still popular outside of Sweden. Swedish songwriters still hold the fort.
"Sweden is a small country, but Swedish music is big abroad. The foreign proceeds are a receipt showing that Swedish songwriters are of high international class" says Margita Ljungberg, senior adviser at STIM.
"I'm happy that ABBA does so well! " Per Gessle comments to The Daily Roxette.

The most played songs by Swedish composers outside of Sweden 2007:

1. Listen To Your Heart
Per Gessle/Mats MP Persson
2. Dancing Queen
Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus (Buma/Stemra)/Stig Anderson
3. Since U Been Gone
Max Martin/Lukasz Gottwald (Ascap)
4. Hung Up
Madonna (Ascap)/Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus (Buma/Stemra), Stuart
Price (BMI)
5. Who Knew
Max Martin/Lukasz Gottwald (Ascap)
6. Behind These Hazel Eyes
Max Martin/Lukasz Gottwald (Ascap)/Kelly Clarkson (Ascap)
7. It Must Have Been Love
Per Gessle
8. Mamma Mia
Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus (Buma/Stemra)/Stig Anderson
9. Gimme Gimme Gimme
Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus (Buma/Stemra)
10. The One
Max Martin/Brian Littrell (Ascap)

Per Gessle's re-released and extended album "The World According to Gessle" enters the Swedish album chart at #14.

STOCKHOLM - "The World According to Gessle" was released May 2, 1997, it's now back, bigger and better. At least that's what EMI and Per want us to think. Are they right? The Daily Roxette got ourselves a little chat with Per himself regarding the re-release of this, among fans, widely liked album.

So, Per, back in the lime light yet another time, this time with an old album, tell us, what's the point in releasing "The World" again?

"Well, the thing is that it wasn't available at all anymore!," says Per, quite upset. "I happened to notice this by chance at the EMI office in Stockholm and nobody could explain why it had been deleted. So I decided to put it back on the shelves, but of course with added material I know some people are interested in. Like you for instance." Per smiles and points at this reporter.

Yes, and I am very thankful for that! You've added tons and tons of demos on the second CD, and I have to say, nice ones. What made you do that? I doubt it's that common these days.

"Well, first of all I wanted to make the re-release special. So basically I just asked myself what I as a fan, would want from an album like 'The World.' And the most obvious thing to me is 'behind the scenes' -material, like the original demos for instance." explains Per and continues "If you're really into an album it's always interesting to get to know how the working process got started and so on."

Read more…

NEW YORK -

Director Tomas Alfredson receives a cash prize of $25,000 and extra marketing power for his coming-of-age film "Let the Right One In" by winning the Founder's Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival that concluded here in New York City this past weekend.

The film, which features a song recorded by Per Gessle, will not be released in Sweden until October. "The distributors in Sweden felt that this was not a 'summer film'… that the mood matched a colder time of year," he told The Daily Roxette.

During a question-and-answer session, we asked Alfredson about the Gessle song "Kvar i min bil," which – as Per had told TDR – is given a prominent place in the film. In one scene, the lead actor is shown putting the the 45rpm single on a record player so as to listen to it.

"Do you know Roxette?," he asked us (obviously not knowing what newspaper we represented). He then proceeded to explain that the male half of that group (Per) had had a popular group (Gyllene Tider) back in the '80s, the time period in which this movie is set. Looking for a song that fit that era, but not wanting to use an instantly recognizable song, he asked Per (who he said he was an acquaintance of), if he could write a new song in the same style as those earlier GT hits.

Novelist John Ajvide Lindquist adapted his best-seller for the screen to tell the beautifully touching tale of the first romance of 12-year-old Oskar and the girl next door, Eli (who also happens to be a vampire). The Tribeca jury commented that the film was exceptional "for its mesmerizing exploration of loneliness and alienation through a masterful reexamination of the vampire myth."

The film already has North American distribution in place.

Variety also writes that a US version is in the works. Horror film company Hammer Films and indie company Spitfire Pictures have bought the rights.

SANTIAGO (Updated) - Vanilla Ninja, the Estonian power pop trio formed by Lenna Kuurmaa (vocals), Piret Järvis (guitar) and Katrin Siska (keyboards), a rocking girl band that is a well known act in the Central European scene, and now in Latin America, after participating successfully in the biggest summer Festival in Latin America, the Festival of Viña del Mar, this past February.

Before the girls will go on tour next June in the Baltic states, and their second visit to several countries in Latin America in July - August, they want to release a single to warm up the audience. After discussing this issue with Hector Faune, their manager/promoter for Latin America, Hector proposed to get in touch with Per Gessle from Roxette to have a possible song co-operation, as he feels Vanilla Ninja's music has lots of similarities to Roxette's uptempo and power ballad style.

When Per was approached for a co-operation he sent over two demos; "T-t-t-take it!" and "Every Day Outside My Window" but the girls felt these particular songs didn't suit them; "Per kindly sent us two songs, and we picked one to use for the next release" says Lenna, vocalist in Vanilla Ninja. The song, "Crashing Through The Doors," is composed by Per Gessle, with original lyrics from Piret Järvis and Lenna Kuurmaa. Readers of The Daily Roxette will be pleased to know this is an English version of Per Gessle's "Spegelboll" from the highly successful "Mazarin" album released in 2003.

"The girls are in the studio working hard to get a cool version out of it," Hector Faune says to The Daily Roxette.

On the question if this will be the start of a bigger co-operation with Per, Lenna replies: "Probably. I hope so. He himself was also very interested in it, but unfortunately a person who's as famous as him, his calendar is planned for a year or two."

The song will be released on May 9 to radio stations, firstly in Estonia, and a little later in the Central European Countries, as well in Latin America.

Download a sample.