STOCKHOLM - On Thursday Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet will have a special treat for their buyers - If you buy Aftonbladet between Thursday and Sunday you may buy a specially made CD by Per Gessle for 79 SEK (€9). The CD, named "Kung av sand - En liten samling 1983-2007," has been compiled by Per himself and will be available in 110,000 copies for only four days and only if you buy Aftonbladet. The Daily Roxette does not know if the CD will be available where Aftonbladet is sold abroad.

Besides a few new live tracks, taken from the "Mazarin" live DVD there will be a new demo on the album. "Ingen kan som du" demo from May 28 2003. This is not to be mistaken for the demo from the album "Demos."

1. Kung av sand (Live from the "Mazarin" DVD)
2. På promenad genom stan (From "Mazarin")
3. Inte tillsammans, inte isär (demo 28 juni 2003)
4. Hon vill sväva över ängarna (From "En händig E.P.")
5. Tända en sticka till (From "Per Gessle")
6. Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång (Live from the "Mazarin" DVD)
7. Ingen kan som du (demo 28 maj 2003) [new track]
8. Småstad (Live from the "Mazarin" DVD)
9. Segla på ett moln (With Marie F.!) (From "Demos")
10. Blå december (From "Scener")

The album "The Lonely Boys" will be re-released, remastered and with two bonus tracks August 29 in Sweden. The Lonely Boys is a ficticious band basically consisting of Per Gessle and Nisse Hellberg, with some help from Micke Syd, MP Persson and Thomas Holst (Wilmer X.) Per wrote himself in 1996:

Who are The Lonely Boys?
Good question.
The Lonely Boys was from the beginning the name of a novel written by the Swedish writer Mats Olsson.

The story was about a young rhythm'n pop band located in the south of Sweden circa 1965. Mats asked me and a mutual friend Nisse Hellberg if the two of us could provide a soundtrack for this book, writing and recording what could in fact be The Lonely Boys' debut album.
What a wonderful idea.
A soundtrack to a book.
It must be a first.

So,

Nisse and I formed The Lonely Boys together with some friends and recorded the album in 6 days and nights. Did we have a ball! All of the 14 songs are originals except Jagger/Richards' "So Much In Love". The Rolling Stones never recorded it but The Inmates did. And now The Lonely Boys.

To get the sound we wanted we used only equipment from the era; reverbs, echo chambers, amplifiers, guitars, microphones. Everything in our power was done to make the record "for real".

The debut album by a Swedish rhythm'n pop band 1965.

Nisse can usually be found in the rhythm'n blues combo Wilmer X.

And myself is paying the rent with money made from Roxette records.

We plan it to stay that way.
This is a one-off project for both of us that we enjoyed enormously.
Lots of laughs, lots of beer and a lot of love for the '60s.
Don't you wanna come?

Per Gessle, Roxette
Stockholm, March 1996.

The album was released as a limited edition together with the first issue of the book "De ensamma pojkarna" written by Swedish journalist Mats Olsson in 1995. The "real" edition came a few months later, in 1996. In 2007 the album has been remastered, has a new sleeve and of course the two bonus tracks; namely the demos of "Lonely Boys" and "Adam & Eve."

HALMSTAD - After 20 Swedish towns and 128,800 friends in the audience Per Håkan Gessle has finished his latest tour. The Daily Roxette got a word with him. Per, how do you feel now?
Life's empty, boring and quite sad to tell the truth. It always is when you’ve finished a tour. So the whole band is singing the blues at the moment!!! Everyone wanted to go on for at least another month. This has been the most enjoyable tour I’ve ever done. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s just the cycle of life I’m in at the moment, I’ve got so much more confidence in what I do these days. And of course it helps to have all these wonderful people in the band, both on and off stage. The crowds' reception have been tremendous. That helps, of course. And yes, I’ve got some great songs to play. I’m really proud to be able to offer this smorgasbord of music without even a glimpse at the Roxette door. By the way, I have to send some big hugs to all the incredible fans all over the world who came to our shows this summer. You’re so sweet!!! We loved to see y’all in the front row!

Yes, you certainly have a plethora of songs to chose from! Even so the Swedish tabloids have been going on and on about Your Big Flop. What's your comment on that?
Well, the tabloids tend to see everything in black or white. I’m 100% satisfied with this tour and the number of people that came by but apparently the blood seeking journalists' commercial expectations were even higher. And I think that whole discussion is a load a crap. I can’t understand why it’s so important if 6000 or 16000 come to a show. The most important thing must be if the concert’s any good! And I'm convinced that the audience thinks so as well.
The local press, on the other hand, has been very supporting and has given us loads of great press. Yea, the tabloids have really lost it. Check this out: They ran a story in Malmö’s Kvällsposten the other week just before our Malmö gig. The article mentioned that my tour was by far the biggest one in Sweden this year and that our Malmö-gig was the highlight on the season in that particular area. The headline? "The Fiasco continues"…

So typical… So, what's up next, after a weekend off? You mentioned in an evening paper that you have a new "secret project," what can you tell us about that?
Nothing. Sorry.

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