PORT ELISABETH - Per Gessle was interviewed last Tuesday by Radio Algoa, located in South Africa. Here’s a transcript of the phone interview.



Interviewer (I): We were talking before we got started about the time differences, so I guess there’s not such a great time difference. You must be kinda looking forward to lunch I suppose?




  Per Gessle (PG): Yea well (Laughs) It’s noon in Europe, so yea, it’s one hour behind you guys.




I: How many interviews do you have scheduled?




  PG: Oh well, I’m doing about seven or eight. I’m dividing it into different countries. I started doing interviews last week. Doing a couple of hours every day. But it’s fine, it’s nice to talk to people. And the new record is coming out, you know.



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CAPE TOWN - With the release date South African edition of “The Pop Hits” just around the corner (according to the local EMI branch it will be released early next week), EMI granted a couple of local radio station the opportunity to speak to Per Gessle via phone. Cape Town’s biggest radio station, KFM, aired their interview last Tuesday on the breakfast show.


  The interviewer starts the interview asking Per if they are still touring, “Not really. We tend to travel a lot for every release apart from the current one,” Per says, “it’s not like the olden days; we haven’t worked American for a while – North America, that is. The touring the last time concentrated in Europe. We did a big tour there, but it was basically just in Europe.” Per explains that this is a “a natural development” since they both have their families now. Marie has got two children at school, so it’s difficult for her to be away for a long period. “It was different when we were younger.”


  But there’s still time for big parties, “we still have big parties though,” Per says with a big laugh, “I think it’s got to do with changing your priorities in life and especially when you’ve got kids.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE - Since TDR published this item yesterday, we’ve learned that Per Gessle is “very surprised” that the Finnish paper published this. Apparently, Iltalehti’s reporter misunderstood what he said, as Per states he “never said it will be four years to the next Roxette album.” All he ever says, according to his manager, Marie Dimberg, is that “we will have to wait until Marie feels up to working again.” /LEO

HELSINKI - According to the Finnish tabloid newspaper Iltalehti, which Per gave an interview to a little while ago in the EMI office in Stockholm, Roxette might spend some time in the studio this summer. But a new album will be released only in four years’ time. There are also some plans to go on tour with Gyllene Tider because of the 25th anniversary, but as Per stated, “everything has to be perfect.”

  On a side note, the “thing” about the article is actually the Iraqi war which Per opposes strongly. But Per is not going to write peace songs. “We’re not living in the 80s, so peace songs don’t have any effect. Musicians and lyrics used to have power, but now it doesn’t matter anymore,” he said.

• Iltalehti article (registration req’d)
• Iltalehti’s Roxette competition (win a cocktail set, dvd and the new cd)

STOCKHOLM - Today, Monday, Marie Fredriksson and her lawyer Leif Silbersky served Expressen the lawsuit that was prepared last week. As previously reported by The Daily Roxette, Expressen’s chief editor Otto Sjöberg is being sued for libel and incorrect information.

 The legal definitions are libel or coarse libel, alternatively offence or coarse offence, Silbersky tells aftonbladet.se.

  At least one witness will be called, and that is Marie Dimberg, Marie’s manager. “We have received new information that they [Expressen] knew that their information was incorrect even before publishing it,” Leif states.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - “Opportunity Nox” falls from #11 to #23 today on the official Swedish singles charts, after only two weeks on the charts. Lack of promotion is most probably the key element here. The single is still #2 on the noted radio show “Tracks”.

• GLF at Aftonbladet

STOCKHOLM - Swedish tabloid Expressen reports that Per Gessle’s, Björn Ulvaeus’, Tomas Ledin’s, Peter Jöback’s and Meja’s IT company, Fame Studios, continues to have financial problems. Per and the others are partners in that company, which still has to pay taxes and is fighting with sinking income.

  Fame Studios is responsible for websites such as ABBA, Chess, Tomas Ledin, and Roxette. The companies subsidiary, Fame Development, has tax debts amounting to 15,000 SEK.

  Neither Ledin nor Jöback wanted to comment on the situation according to Expressen’s article.

STOCKHOLM - Not surprisingly, as it was the intention from the very beginning, EMI has now released Marie’s five remastered solo albums that were packaged together last year in the box set “Kärlekens Guld.”

  With stock on the previous back catalog diminished, these new CDs will replace the older versions of the same albums. The albums are to be sold as “mid-price” CDs.

• CD On (sales limited to Scandinavia/Netherlands)
• Skivhugget (International shipping available)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - Roxette’s latest single, “Opportunity Nox”, goes straight to the top positions on the Swedish radio show “Tracks” charts.

  “This is great,” says Per to Aftonbladet. “We’ve been around since 1986, which is amazingly long in this business and I’m happy every time something works out like this. It’s especially nice this time, because the song is an honest 3-chord track, a descendant of the songs I wrote when I was a teenager.” Roxette has had over 40 songs on that radio show and is the biggest act ever on “Tracks”.

  The single also enters the sales chart, at #11, which is ten spots below “The Centre of the Heart” which shot straight into #1.

  Currently, Per is writing songs in both English and Swedish. He also says it really looks like there is going to be yet another Gyllene Tider tour in summer 2004, when the band is celebrating their 25th anniversary. Gyllene Tider will have a meeting this fall to discuss further about a possible reunion.

(Daniel_Alv contributed to this article.)

• Aftonbladet article
• The Official Swedish Single Charts at Aftonbladet