MADRID - The Spanish national weekly university newspaper, "Gaceta Universitaria", published an interview this week with Per Gessle. The interview took place earlier this month when Per was visiting Spain to promote "The Ballad Hits". They managed to avoid the usual questions and therefore it's a very interesting interview:


 Roxette have just released "The Ballad Hits". However, Per Gessle doesn't consider himself a romantic person. "If you asked my wife, she would say 'No'."


 When asked if he has changed his way of living, going now to the gym, he answers, with a laugh, "I try to go twice a week. No main target, I just do what I like. Not to show off muscle on the beach: just do it to relax myself. I never go to the hotel gyms."


 Per thinks that Hotel Ritz in Paris has the best room service (as "Room Service" was Roxette's previous album) he has ever seen, "I was there two years ago visiting a friend for his birthday." But he also agrees that there are very good hotels in Asia, like Japan or Bangkok. Even if he likes this good service, he says he doesn't ask for strange things, "but during promotion you do need swift and fast service."

• Gaceta Universitaria's article (in Spanish)

  Neither Per nor Marie Fredriksson have any superstitions before performing at a concert, like entering with the left foot or something, but Per reveals they have their own rituals, in the sense of getting all the band together before performing, and "Marie and I always go on stage last."


  Per explains his life has totally changed since his son, Gabriel, was born, and one of the things he doesn't have much time for is reading. "I've been trying to finish Nick Hornby's 'About A Boy' for two months," he adds. He also stopped riding bikes, "I've got five cars: three Mercedes, two Ferraris and also three bikes. One of then is an Indian from 1946. It is in my office." Although his wife and himself liked bikes a lot, they decided to quit riding when their child was born.


  But there will always be time for music and for buying new albums, "I like Eminem very much. I buy lots of Swedish artists and I'm willing to buy the George Harrison post-mortem album. Also, I bought the The Hives."


  And of course, for an afternoon in the cinema with the family "I always go to the cinema with my son. Next stop: 'Harry Potter 2'. I like the popcorn business," he adds jokingly.