The old classic Roxette/Gyllene Tider spoof “Join the Flumeride” is coming back to haunt you on September 30. The Daily Roxette had a chat with Tobias Persson, the man behind most of the movie.

Tobias, it’s been a few years now since you recorded this little movie, what are your memories from the recordings? I recall you got hundreds of extras volunteering for it.

“Only good memories. People to the left and to the right were so nice and donated their time and talent. Making the songs was especially fun, looking for typical Roxette sounds, rhymes, expressions. It brings out the child in you spoofing people, but it also takes a heart, that you love your ‘victims’, else you can go very wrong…”

Per is even in the movie, so that goes to show you that he likes it. What about Marie, there’s a rumor saying she wasn’t too fond of it?

“Per loves the movie, yes. Especially the music – which one understands. What Marie thinks, I don’t know. The real Per is a colorful pop-boy singing about balloons on the moon and who wants to discuss songs by the Kinks. If you exaggerate that you only get someone even more happy-go-lucky, sunnier and without sorrow. In contrast to Per, Marie has always been more somber, reflective, adult and one who sings about faith and doubts. When you exaggerate that, she gets to be like in the movie… very thoughtful, ‘deep,’ almost pretentious. Maybe this can be viewed as mean by some. Sadly, parodies usually get very one-dimensional, but I hope she understands that we’ve been using very wide brushes when we painted this canvas.”

How did you get MP on this train?

MP together with Bengt (Petersson) run Halmstad Records together and I guess they wanted to blow the dust off of our little flick before it was totally forgotten – a cultural act worth noting! I’m also proud we got MP as an extra in “Kaka på kaka.” Jan-Owe Wikström (Hallandsposten) is also in it, almost invisible on the couch! An especially dear memory for me is when we played the final “Kaka på kaka” in studio T&A and MP laughed so hard – exactly where he was supposed to!”

MP is a good sport, no doubt. What do the other guys featured in the movie think?

“I know that Micke Syd, Göran (Fritzon) and MP like it. I’ve never met Anders (Herrlin), but I hope and believe that he would like it. After the world premiere Fritzon told me ‘One of those trampolines would’ve been handy!’ Wikström likes it too, he was a magnanimously good sport about himself.”

The movie is very well made, seen from a hard-core fan’s view, how did you manage that?

“Nerdy research! The thought was to have a bunch of small nerdy jokes for the hard-core fans, as well as bigger jokes – mostly the music – for the general public. For one, we knew people in the right circles and they gave us some inside information about Mammas Barn and other stuff. Secondly, we read up as well as we could. Details are important, we put a lot of effort in almost pointless details very few even noticed.”

Yes, the details are what makes the movie. I myself saw many of the “pointless details” and laughed hard. Any reactions from Germany regarding “ze fanclub”? One thing I almost cried when I saw.

“I haven’t heard from any Germans after 1999, but I hope they can laugh at themselves. And everything.”

Ha ha! Now, the old DVD had some production problems, maybe this new one is better?

“I sure hope so. There shouldn’t be any problems with it, that I know of. Otherwise we may have to release it on tape the next time.”

And the bonus material from the old DVD? “Rita Hayworth” and “Detta gäller samtliga” for instance.

“Yes, all the bonus material will be ported. ‘Rita’ and ‘Rom i regnet’ were recorded after the movie was done, we had a thought to release some sort of single before the DVD release in 2004, but it never happened. There’s also a brand new Pincette track called ‘Kids Wanna Riot’.”

The song will be available on Spotify and iTunes.

Mats ”MP” Persson’s Halmstad Records proudly presents the re-release of the DVD ”JOIN THE FLUMERIDE” by comedian Tobias Persson, idea and story. The funny parody of MP himself as laidback Lars ”LP” Pettersson together with friends Pierre Gaffel (Per Gessle), ”Mycket” Syd, (Micke ”Syd” Andersson), Pommes Fritteson, (Göran Fritzon) and Andreas Hermelin (Anders Herrlin) in pop group Gula Tidningen (Gyllene Tider). Also the start of famous pop duo Pincette (Roxette) with Pierre Gaffel and Marit Fredmansson (Marie Fredriksson) is in the movie. Portrait look-a-likes and songs (too?) close to the originals.

“Join the Flumeride” was made in 1998 and a limited number of DVDs were sold in 2004. Now a hot collector’s item both in Sweden and abroad.

This has now been changed by MP and his Halmstad Records! Tobias Persson’s Swedish comedy, inspired by the English Rutles-parody (about The Beatles), will finally be available to a broader audience. September 30 ”Join the Flumeride” will be available in stores in Sweden. Universal Music AB are selling and distributing the DVD.

But that’s not all, this new edition is jam-packed:

EXTRAS:
Besides ”Join the Flumeride,” the DVD includes bonus movies ”Kaka på kaka” (“Cookie on top of Cookie”) which is about Pierre Gaffel’s solo project ”Margarin” (Mazarin), and ”Filmen om filmen” (“The Movie about the Movie”) which takes you behind the curtains. All movies are subtitled in English.

EXTRA-EXTRAS:
The soundtrack. Included on the DVD are 13 songs in 192 kbps mp3-format with monster hits like ”The Crook” and “Flumeride.” You may copy them to your computer and then to your iPod/mp3-player. The tracks contain two older songs never published before.

EXTRA-EXTRA-EXTRAS:
Also a brand new written song for this DVD project. Pincette’s new hit ”Kids Wanna Riot,” recorded 2011. The song will also be released as a digital single. Listen to a snippet.

Swedish stand-up comedian Tobias Persson is to be seen on stages both in Sweden and abroad. Visit his homepage for more information.

Per Gessle himself plays a small role in this movie, as a movie usher.

The DVD can be purchased at all the normal dealers, like Bengans, CDON and Ginza. For those who wish to purchase it from countries that aren’t reached by “normal” dealers, The Daily Roxette is looking into if you may be able to get it directly from us.