An Interview with Petter Winnberg of Amason
Amason is a Swedish supergroup of musician friends, who first came together in 2012. The group consists of Pontus Winnberg and his brother Petter Winnberg, Amanda Bergman, Nils Törnqvist and Gustav Ejstes. The individual band members have been part of various other successful bands, including Miike Snow, Little Majorette, Dungeon and Hajen, amongst others.
The supergroup named itself Amason after a popular ‘60s Scandinavian car, which in turn was named after the female warriors of Greek mythology. The spirit of a female warrior can definitely be felt in the music of this five-piece band. As recently quoted by a fan, “they have a really cool organic yet synthy destroyer vibe mixed with ‘80s Fleetwood Mac.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
In anticipation of their upcoming U.S. tour, BLANK Newspaper got on the phone with Petter Winnberg to learn a little bit more about the amazing Amason.
BLANK: You’ve been called a supergroup: a group of very talented and successful musicians that came together to form a new band. Your musical collaboration started very impromptu, all thrown together in a studio. Was it easy or difficult to get everyone on the same page at first?
PW: It was very easy to get everyone on the same page, but hard to get everyone in the same room because we’re a bit spread out. But musically it’s never been an issue; it’s been a pleasure to be honest. All the time. And since everyone has their projects on the side, everyone was very open-minded about Amason.
BLANK: Did egos ever clash?
PW: (laughs) Probably, but I did not notice it. I honestly don’t think there has ever been a problem of that kind with Amason. And I think it’s because everyone has other things on the side and their egos can blow out there.
BLANK: You all have very different musical backgrounds – from jazz and folk to synth-pop and psychedelic rock. Did you know that you all would mesh with each other so well?
PW: Well, in some way we all have similar references as well, even if it has come out in different ways in stuff we have done before. I mean you can never know how things will end up before they end up in the way they do. I guess it’s on a personal level to start with: me and my brother have known each other since I was born, and Nils – the drummer – and me went to the same school since I was 16 and we played a lot before. I think on a personal level everything worked out really well right away. So then I strongly believe that if you like to hang out and there aren’t any issues on the personal side, then the music will work.
BLANK: How would you describe your music? Did you have specific musical influences in mind when you formed Amason?
PW: Some sort of pop music, I guess. It’s always hard to describe it. We did not have specific influences. We never had any references in between us when we recorded or played. It was more based on that we could all get together in the same room at the same time. And then that happened to be a studio and we recorded it. So most of the stuff on the record is just first takes of when we wrote it all. And then we built everything on that. So it’s very intuitive, I would say.
BLANK: Your sound has been compared to Fleetwood Mac by Rolling Stone, the Chicago Tribune and the Guardian. Do you agree? Is this something you were going for?
PW: I can understand those references. It wasn’t anything that we talked about before, but we all like Fleetwood Mac for sure. But it was very unplanned, the whole recording and writing sessions we had. Between us, there weren’t much of any references when we did it. But I guess you always call on the stuff you’ve listened to before.
BLANK: You formed around the creative collective, INGRID, in Stockholm, which is a group of like-minded musicians. What is INGRID all about?
PW: It’s my brother Pontus, Lykke Li and Peter, Bjorn and John and some other musicians that started it as a way to get their music released without anyone else having opinions about it. And then it grew into other stuff from that. Now the studio, where we recorded everything, is also owned by my brother and that group of people. Everything is in the same house: the office and the studio. So it’s very nice and local. Everything from artwork to videos is made in-house by friends in Stockholm, basically. So it’s easy to communicate with everyone.
BLANK: Do you think that Amason will remain your main focus in the future? Or will you all go back to doing your own thing?
PW: I think it will be a combination – so yes and no. We all recorded new songs, or are starting to record new songs, so we will definitely keep on doing that. And we will definitely record new stuff with Amason.
BLANK: This October you will be on tour with Of Monsters And Men, but you added appearances at Austin City Limits and one headlining show in Los Angeles. Do you anticipate a full U.S. headlining tour in the near future?
PW: Not as of now. We’re doing a tour in Scandinavia in November and December, and that’s it for this year anyway. But we will hopefully come back to the U.S. and play. It may not be next year, but if we get the chance, we will definitely do it.
Amason’s debut album, Sky City, was released earlier this year. You can catch them live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on October 7, opening for Of Monsters And Men. For their full tour schedule, click here. For a preview of their music, stream their album on Spotify, or watch the video below. I dare you not to fall in love with this band within the first 30 seconds of hearing their music.
