Per Gessle inspired Brainpool to release greatest hits album
Written by roxeteer on May 18, 2005 to Exclusive.
“It was actually your beloved Per Gessle who initiated the compilation,” said Brainpool’s David Birde in an exclusive interview with The Daily Roxette regarding their forthcoming greatest hits album.
“Apparently he was at home, listening to our albums and was once again struck by how good we were,” David tells TDR. “He started to mail us, coming up with a running order for the album. Eventually he wore us down and we said: ’OK, you’ll get your compilation if…’
“’If what?’ was Per’s instant reply.
’If you write the sleeve notes.’”
Per agreed and so the album, titled “We Aimed To Please,” will have an introduction written by him.
The members of Brainpool, including the former lead singer Janne Kask who left the band in 1997, are very happy to be able to present such a huge bulk of material. For example, there will be all of Brainpool’s videos on a bonus DVD that also contains the demo tape recording that gave the group their deal with Jimmy Fun Music, Per’s record company. It will also contain “the horrible ’Bandstarter’ demo recorded in a hotel room in Stuttgart during the Roxette tour and much more,” muses David. Brainpool was Roxette’s supporting act during the Crash! Boom! Bang! tour in 1994.
“The actual CD contains all our singles, plus the songs that would have been singles if we had released more,” David continues. The compilation will be sold at the price of a regular CD. All songs are commented by David and Janne and the artwork by John the Fisherman is, according to David, “an orgy of Brainpool nostalgia!”
David also tells us that the two new songs, “A Different Life” and “Let Me Win,” were originally written for Belinda Carlisle in 1995 but never made it to her album. “They have been hidden away in Jimmy Fun’s vaults until now, so they are very exclusive.”
In 1997, when Janne left the band, Brainpool was near breaking up. The band looked for a new singer, but never hired one. “It didn’t take long for us to realize that it would be impossible to let another person join,” David explains. “It would have to be the three of us, or split up. At first we thought about changing our name, but that turned out to be difficult - Sony Music had already paid for the recording of ’You Are Here’ and they wanted us to keep the name. We had to choose between ditching the recordings and lose our record deal or go on calling ourselves Brainpool. We cowardly chose the latter.”
Even though Janne is now working with the band, they have no plans to reunite. “Well, if we wanted Brainpool to be just like in the old days we would definately need Janne, but I think that we are equally uninterested in reliving the past in that way. Those days were great fun, but we are older and there are other bands now that are much better at doing what we were so good at for a couple of years in the mid-nineties. There is a time for everything… Right now we are pleased to have completed the compilation,” says David.
When TDR has David on the hook we also ask how he feels about downloading music, since their publishing company Junk Musik releases singles only in digital format. “We embrace the new technology that makes it possible for each and everyone to spread their music all over the world. The major labels have themselves to blame when they shout about illegal downloading. Instead of holding back, they should have jumped on the train years ago.”
Next Brainpool will do some promotion for the new album. “We will do a couple of interviews in Stockholm all four of us and hopefully we’ll go out in the night, get really drunk and remember our heydays!” says David. “After that - it’s time for Janne to write some hits, and for us to go home to Skåne and dream up next bizarre concept album!”
Other articles with the same topic
- Roxette live in Kazan: the set list (February 28, 2011)
- Roxette's Charm School World Tour is underway... with extension planned! (February 28, 2011)
- Per makes another mixed tape (February 25, 2011)
- Plans for Roxette in Canada seem to be coming together (February 13, 2011)
- Per tells TDR that he and Marie are "thrilled" with what's to come in 2011 (January 3, 2011)
22 comments
Jud (moderator) said on May 18, 2005 20:39:
now this is a great compilation and a “thanks” to their fans. Thanks Per for pushing the guys :D
I remember the first time I heard them, I was @_@. A friend of mine sent me a tape with Soda, I wanted it for the concert in Barcelona, Dec. 1994, but it was not available in Spain (until some months later), so ok, I got the tape.. I learnt the lyrics in nothing, my sister also liked them, you should have seen us in the car, home.. Brainpool aaall the way - we had to be ready for the show :P -
And then in Barcelona, some fans were waiting in front of the hotel (oh those shameful days ;)), we had seen Roxette arrive.. but were just sitting there and suddenly those guys got out of the hotel... I was “hm.. are they BP??” my sister looked at me and I could only call “David!” - the guys turned to us looking like “uh?” My sis and I went to them and asked to sign a photocopy (!!) of the booklet, they looked at eachother and one of them said (not sure who) “do you KNOW our music?” :P
At the show it was great, my sis and I were the only ones singing along and jumping, and the guys treated us with love :) David offering us drink (beer?), Janne singing to us..
Anyone remembers the Brainpool Fanclub? :D
hotblooder said on May 19, 2005 04:11:
Ahh..c’mon!!!! Is the album released in my near country or Is it only released in their own native country (sweden only)?? I only got 1 album of them Stay Free at 1996’s Janne Kask is still the vocalist.
AURYTE said on May 19, 2005 04:36:
And what about that: “OK, you’ll get your compilation if...”. LOL
RobS said on May 19, 2005 07:48:
Hmmm after reading the article and the comments i might just try and get myself a copy of this album.
Santi said on May 19, 2005 11:40:
How surprising that Per has an idea of releasing a compilation.............
Rich-UK said on May 19, 2005 13:19:
LOL... Hej, I can’t wait for this release. Nice one Mr G :-) All the best, Rich
bandquitter said on May 19, 2005 18:11:
It was a cover version of “Bandstarter” by German GIL that I heard first, having NO idea what Brainpool’s music is about. And I had a strong suspicion that this track was written by Gessle!
I even asked Per whether “Bandstarter” was secretly produced or even written (and I’m still think SO) by him and he answered that it was made by Brainpool.
BTW, I’ve been desperately searching for “Boys’ night out” by BP. Could you help me with mp3? (e-mail: [email protected])
And of course BANDQUITTER comes from BANDSTARTER!
CRIZ said on May 19, 2005 18:24:
@ gyllene_tjej: you are so damned right darrrling.
Brainpool...oh oh..I have some really funny memories from Hamburg 1997...oj oj oj...
I think I need this compilation...though I already own most of the songs..
on_a_mission said on May 20, 2005 11:52:
@steven, until Rox/marie/per do something, then yes, it gladly is!
Jud (moderator) said on May 20, 2005 17:59:
oam: yes :D
the site is about Roxette and related artists anyway :)
colinvdbel (moderator) said on May 22, 2005 21:41:
And since when isn’t Christoffer Lindquist not directly Roxette Related ;)
flowersonthemoon said on May 30, 2005 20:09:
Here you can read Per’s comment about the album. The album’s booklet includes some nice comments about every single/song and some newspaper cuttings (also about roxette). The album also includes a DVD with videos, demos, discography and photos. You should get it (!!)
“I’VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT BRAINPOOL WAS THE BEST SWEDISH POP GROUP OF THE 90’s.
Their records seemed to capture the mood of the day, while recapturing a lost innocence -which made them sound both timeless and contemporary. “Soda” was an irresistible debut, a pop album that sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1994.
A year later the confident follow-up “Painkiller” rightfully took them to the upper region of the charts. “Invisible to her” is still out of this world (who’ll be the first to cover it?). and who can forget “Bandstarter”? such a great song.
They were equally convincing on stage. I saw them live at the tiny Tre Backar in the beginning of time, and they gave us a brillant cocktail of The Who meets The Jam - all served with nice splashes of bubblegum, power pop and just the right measures of surf. We all love that!
Every band/artist stand or fall with their songs. Janne and David were - and still are - exceptionally good songwriters. But that’s just half the story. Brainpool was also a band of inspired musicians, all playing with the combination of energy and creativity that makes you want to press the “repeat” button.
Now that I’ve had the opportunity to work with Christoffer and Jens, both with Roxette and on my solo album “Mazarin”, I realise what a complete unit they were. Brainpool truly was a band without any weak link - even Christoffer’s peculiar glasses seemed to make sense.
Brainpool was the first band that arrived in the safe harbour of my music publishing company, Jimmy Fun . I was over the moon after hearing their cheeky demos, and one sunny day Ben Mariene, who was in charge at the time, signed them up. I then managed to make two humble achievements apart from shouting encouraging “yeah yeah yeahs”:
1. Tip them about producer Michael Ilbert.
2. Decide the running order on the “Soda” album, since the band had four different suggestions and couldn’t agree...
It’s been eleven years since the opening track on “Soda”, “That’s my charm”, rocked my little world for a while. This terrific compilation picks out the highlights from a pop group that’s gone from loved and influential to slightly overlooked and definitely underrated.
So just listen and marvel: they actually were this good. Gold dust!”
PER GESSLE, pop nerd
Stockholm, May 2005
Have a nice day!
Álex
rox-kuryliw said on May 18, 2005 19:59:
ID KILL TO HEAR THEM BELINDA VERSON OF THEM SONGS.