HALMSTAD - Per posted this entry to his “diary” on the Roxette site today, and as it is rather noteworthy, we reprint it here [with Editor’s Notes appearing in brackets]:

Dear all of you:

  So now the “Room Service Tour 2001” finally has come to an end. It was with mixed feelings that we left the stage after “Church of your Heart” at Scandinavium in Gothenburg last weekend. The tour has been soooo cool, soooo good that even Mr. Alsing considers it to be his best on-ze-road-experience since he parted with The Idols (Swedish inside joke!!). Anyway, thanks for making this such a beautiful trip.

  It was, as expected, great to finish the tour in Sweden. Both the Karlstad show and the Globe Show in Stockholm were great but the real killer came in Gothenburg this time. I don’t know what it is, but it’s always really special to play on the West coast. All three shows were sold out early on so we felt very honored by our fans in our home country.

  Rumor [a probable reference to a story in The Daily Roxette that was based on statements made during the Helsinki press conference] has it that there is a summer tour in the can. I can only say that we’re thinking about it. We’re even talking about it. We’ll have some meetings very soon to make up our minds. There are other extremely interesting plans as well for next year (which I won’t go into here and now) [see the same TDR article] but an extension of the tour is definitely worth discussing.

  So, there you are! I’ll finish off with a quick thank you to all the hardcore fans out there, our management in The Old Town, our record companies all over Europe, the tour agents here and there, the hardest working band on the bus and, last but not least, our unbelievable crew. Without them, nothing would work at all. Hope to see you very soon again. Have a great Christmas y’all.

P. November 22, 2001

• Per’s Diary on Roxette.se

JOHANNESBURG - EMI South Africa is releasing a special two-CD edition of “Room Service.” The first CD is the
normal “Room Service” album and the second one has this tracklisting:

1. The centre of the heart [Stonebridge club mix]

2. The centre of the heart [Yoga mix]

3. Real sugar [Shooting star treatment]

4. Milk & toast & honey [Active dance remix]

5. It will take a long long time [Modern rock version]

6. Entering your heart

7. The centre of the heart [Video clip]

  Meanwhile, the Roxette DVD will be released here on December 3, 2001.

André Humphris contributed to this article.

The company behind the music site Mr. Edmundo has filed for bankruptcy according to a report in the Halmstad-based newspaper Hallandsposten. Mr. Edmundo provided exclusive streaming content, often featuring Roxette: a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of TCOTH video and two songs from Roxette’s Stockholm showcase.

  Per was one of the primary shareholders in the company, called People’s Front of Streaming Video AB. Along with Per, Henrik Schyffert, Thomas Di Leva and Jonas Åkerlund invested a total of 1.5 million SEK (140,300 USD) in the company less than a year ago. Per himself invested 500,000 SEK (46,700 USD). The company hoped that celebrities would help them to sell their content to web portals and TV companies, but even that didn’t seem to help.

  Mr. Edmundo’s website is still online, but their streaming video doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

• Hallandsposten article
• Mr Edmundo

LONDON - EMI Group reported a wider loss in the six-month period ending September 30th compared to the same period a year ago. The company says that conditions in the worldwide music industry went from bad to worse. According to news agency AP, EMI had a net loss of 74.5 million USD compared to 39.3 million USD a year earlier. Revenues fell to 1.53 billion USD from 1.63 billion USD. EMI has 70 labels and 1,500 artists, including Roxette.

STOCKHOLM - Fans from all around the world came to three towns in Sweden in order to watch the shows and meet each other. Many hoped to find some rare or new Roxette stuff in record stores. Unfortunately, in Stockholm, there were only “standard” albums, compilations of old songs, or CD-singles available.

  You could not get, for example, the maxi version of the M&T&H single, and it was nearly impossible to find the maxi version of other singles. Each store gave answers like “already sold out” or “sold out yesterday.” It seems that due to the high number of fans in the capital of Sweden, only the first few were able to get something special.

In an exclusive interview by roxettenews.com, published by the Official Roxette Fanclub, Per reveals that Roxette is going to re-record “Stupid” for a forthcoming movie, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The song was previously released on Per’s solo album “The World According To Gessle”.

  The director of the movie, Jonas Åkerlund, has directed several Roxette videos. He has also worked as an art director for both the “Room Service” tour and the album.

  In an interview by Hallandsposten, Halmstad’s local newspaper, Per says he would love work with his old band Gyllene Tider again. “It’s been a long time since I recorded anything in Swedish so I have had time to gather some Swedish songs. A lot of them, actually. I don’t know if they’re most suitable for a solo project or Gyllene Tider as they’re rather mature pop, a little like “Kung av sand”,” says Per.

• roxettenews.com
• Hallandsposten article

On Friday Much Music Canada, the largest music video channel in Canada played Roxette’s latest video “Milk And Toast And Honey” for the first time. This was a surprise, since EMI Canada has not promoted the “Room Service” album or any of its singles at all.

STOCKHOLM - As previousy reported here on TDR, Per chatted with fans this Friday on Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s website. A lot of people were there, asking interesting questions.

  Among the funny ones, someone asked if Per had already bought any Christmas presents, and he said that he had bought “Absolute Music” compliations for his relatives! He also revealed that sushi and Italian food were his favourites, and that he doesn’t like when there are journalists in front of his house.

  He also told us that Gabriel always leaves the arena after they’ve played “Real Sugar” and that he has no plans to write a book about his life.

  Per, at the end, said he was going to the soundcheck, and thanked the participants for the “intelligent questions”.

Click “More” to read the entire chat (translation is just about complete now — check back one more time): Read more…

Paris performed on a TV-show called Sone2 in Norway on Monday afternoon. She gave a brief interview, in which she reveals being a huge Roxette fan. You can listen to the interview yourself, or read the English translation of it.

  On the same show, she performed “I Do Believe” in an acoustic version. You can listen to it yourself and read a brief history of “I Do Believe” on the Norwegian charts at the Chuch of Our Hearts website.

• Church of Our Hearts

KARLSTAD - According to Hallandsposten, three Argentinean Roxette fans were caught by the police after walking on a motorway in the middle of the night, outside Karlstad, Sweden. With a small map in their hands, they were heading for the icehall in Karlstad where Roxette were going to have their concert - almost 24 hours later.

  “We wanted to be the first,” Maximiliano Alfaso said to the local newspaper Värmlands Folkblad.

  He and two other fans from Argentina had paid 900 USD to travel to Europe and see Roxette live. “We’re crazy,” said one of the fans, Lionel Zaragocin, with a big smile.

• Hallandsposten article

2 out of 5 in Aftonbladet, 1 out of 5 in Expressen… “Roxette is over,” say the Swedish tabloids. Both Aftonbladet and Expressen have almost identical reviews of yesterday’s Karlstad concert, their first “Room Service” tour gig in Sweden.

  Aftonbladet’s review is written by Per Bjurman, who’s been long known for his negative attitude towards Roxette (see TDR’s old articles 1, 2). Both Aftonbladet and Expressen say that Roxette is boring and lame and they’re playing the same old songs again and again. According to Bjurman, Roxette still hasn’t gotten over the 80s. (Even though most of their hits have been in the 90s… - Ed.)

  It seems that it’s still the same old problem of not gaining critics’ respect in their home country. To gain some perspective, Finnish papers had only positive reviews of their Helsinki concert and the Swedish public still seems to love one of their biggest exports; all their three concerts in Sweden are sold out.

  Hallandsposten was the only Swedish paper with a positive review. Hallandsposten is published in Halmstad area where Roxette is from and the review was written by Jan-Owe Wikström, the co-author of “Roxette The Book”.

• Aftonbladet article
• Expressen article
• Hallandsposten article

Per will be doing an online chat with fans tomorrow (November 16th) afternoon. The chat will be hosted by Aftonbladet and it will start at 2.30pm CET.

• Aftonbladet

HELSINKI - TDR had its own reporter and photographer on location when Roxette visited Finland’s capital Helsinki on Monday. In their press conference, Per and Marie shared the unfortunate news of not releasing a live DVD and the fortunate news of new recording session and additional concerts. They were also presented a double platinum record for “Joyride” (100,000 copies sold) and a gold record for “Room Service” (15,000 copies sold) by EMI Finland just before the concert began in front of a multitude of photographers from the Finnish newspapers.

  These exclusive photos were taken by TDR News Editor Lars-Erik Olson. Read on for more pictures! Click the pictures to see them full size in a new window. Read more…

HELSINKI - Roxette said in their press conference yesterday immediately prior to the concert here that after finishing their current tour, they are planning to write as much new music as possible. In March of next year, they will go into a studio to record this new material. At the moment, they don’t have any clear plans for new releases. “We’ll see what happens,” said Per to The Daily Roxette.

  Per and Marie have both enjoyed the “Room Service” tour. “We’ve had huge crowds… It’s been fantastic,” they said.

  For Per and Marie, this tour has been too short. “We will maybe have some more shows in the summer,” said Per. “This tour is over too soon.” When asked about the possibility of a summer concert in Halmstad, their hometown in Southern Sweden, both Per and Marie looked happily surprised with the question. “We’re really hoping to have a concert there,” they said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Roxette’s Angie Perrault, who is currently in college and studying for a career in the music industry, spoke recently with Stefan Gullberg, the director of EMI Svenka AB, about the strengths and weaknesses of his company, the state of the Swedish music industry, and - of course - Roxette.

What follows is a transcript of that telephone interview:


The Daily Roxette: We came across an article from back in 1994 that stated that 80% of EMI Svenska’s repertoire was recorded in Swedish, do you know what that percentage is today? Is it still pretty high?

Stefan Gullberg: Yeah, well, if you mean the music that we are repertoire only
for…obviously we are distributing and marketing American and English
repertoire as well, repertoire from all over the world. But I would guess
probably 75% is recorded in Swedish from the local repertoire.

TDR: Do you think that’s a strength or a weakness?

SG: I think it’s a strength. It’s also about the culture I think. The
culture within the company has been… it’s the oldest company in Sweden. It’s
100 years next year and we have a huge catalog with local Swedish artists.
So even though we have actually the last couple of years been much more in
English in order to try to exploit it. If you have success like we had with
Roxette, for example, you try… Read more…

HELSINKI - Per and Marie told The Daily Roxette yesterday that they have no plans of releasing a live DVD - an item that many fans would like to be released - of any of the “Room Service” tour concerts. They are going to shoot the Stockholm concert for a live webcast, but its quality will not be high enough for a DVD or home video.

  “Recording a concert for a DVD would mean cameramen running around on the stage. It would destroy the night,” said Per. “We would also need much more light in some parts of the concert and they wouldn’t be as intimate anymore,” added Marie.

The Official Roxette Fanclub is organizing parties for Roxette fans before and after the band’s concerts in Sweden.

  In Karlstad (November 14th) there will be an after-party in the night club Arena. In Stockholm (November 16th) there will be a gathering before the concert at Olivlunden, Gullmarsplan, at 4pm, and an after-party at Kickis Bar & Café. For the after party you have to be over 18 and you’ll need an ID to get in. The entrance fee is 40 SEK if you have a concert ticket with you or 60 SEK without one.

  The fanclub is still working on a party in Gothenburg on November 17th.

• Roxettenews.com

NEW YORK - Sweden-based entertainment website Musicbrigade.com is currently featuring two video-on-demand channels that have been pre-programmed with Roxette videos. One channel features ballads such as “It Must Have Been Love” while the other channel features more up-tempo hits like “Joyride.”

  Recently in the Big Apple for the Broadway premiere of “Mamma Mia!”, MusicBrigade’s Jeffery de Hart told The Daily Roxette that “we recently entered into a partnership with EMI that gave us access to the Roxette video collection. These new channels have proven to be quite popular with visitors to our site. We plan to have additional Roxette features as time goes on.”

  Along with his duties for MusicBrigade, de Hart is the Swedish correspondent for Billboard magazine, and has recently written an article on the state of the Swedish music industry. Also in New York and seen at the cast party after the show, were Billboard Radio’s Chuck Taylor and columnist and chart expert Fred Bronson. Taylor was present at the reception for Roxette at the Swedish Consul General’s residence after the showcase performance in Times Square a little over a year ago.

EDITOR’S NOTE: TDR readers who are interested in other Swedish pop music acts may be interested to know that Taylor and Bronson have both heard sneak previews of new Ace of Base material and endorse it as “the best stuff they have ever done.” That’s strong praise from two knowledgable sources! The release of the new Ace of Base album, however, is still quite a ways away.

• MusicBrigade

Per has written a song, titled “I Do Believe,” for 21-year-old Norwegian singer Paris. The song is on her first single, released by Columbia/Sony. On her (Norwegian) promotional website, she says that the song is a catchy pop tune and that she became instantly enthusiastic about the song when she first heard it.

• Paris @ Sony Music Norway

STOCKHOLM - Telenordia, a Scandinavian Internet service provider, is going to webcast Roxette’s Stockholm live on the Net. They are going to have cameras not only shooting the stage of the sold out Globen, but also the VIP room, backstage and the audience. The streaming video broadcast starts at 8.30pm CET on November 16th and the video will also be available on Telenordia’s site for later viewing. The webcast is a co-operation between Telenordia, EMI Svenska, Roxette’s record company, and EMA Telstar, their tour promoter.

• Telenordia

HELSINKI - Our what-should-have-been-a-snap switch of servers turned out to be several days offline. Sorry folks! Everything should be working again. Thanks for your patience. If you sent me email and got an error message as a reply, please re-send your message! For a couple of days last week, I wasn’t able to receive any mail.

  Today, Lars-Erik and I are going to Roxette’s press conference here and after that… Roxette live! For me, it’s the first time since 1994. God, how time flies…

STOCKHOLM - You can now view one-minute snippets of almost every Roxette video at Aftonbladet’s website. They also have two-minute clips from the two documentaries that will appear on Roxette’s first DVD release. The DVD also includes 5 videos from Roxette’s early days that are not featured at Aftonbladet’s site, for example the first version of “The Look” video.

  Real Player is required to view the video clips.

• Videos @ Aftonbladet.se

STOCKHOLM - In a spike attributed to the three upcoming concert performances, “Room Service” has re-entered the Swedish album chart
this week at #48.

  Patrik Isaksson, who last summer collaborated with Marie Fredriksson, tops the chart with his new album, “Tillbaks på Ruta 1” (Back to Square 1).

TDR reporter Anders Järnberg contributed to this article. Thanks to Thomas Evensson for correcting the translation.