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Interview with Peo & Mats from Abramis Brama
Hey and welcome to Jack's interview!
To coincide with the release of the new Abramis Brama Albums "Tusen år" we are back with a new interview! We had the chance to do a little interview with Peo & Mats and had a lot of laughs! The guys told us a lot about their band, their music and much more... But read it yourself!
At this point thanks to Yassi from Head Of Pr and the guys Peo & Mats from Abramis Brama! You rock... thanks a lot!
JACK: On April 20th you will release your new album "Tusen år" publish. It is the seventh in Abramis Bramas History. After all these years, what keeps you going to create such good music?
PEO: Why not? I have only a few days ago to Mats said that there is nothing else for me, even after more than 35 years of playing guitar, than playing guitar and making music. I also think that we are getting better with every year.
JACK: In various interviews you were often asked: "Why do you sing in Swedish, why not English? Don't worry, I won't bother you with this question... 😉 But please tell us, what are the main reasons for you to sing in Swedish? And what do you like the most when you sing in your native language?
PEO: When we started, we, or should I say our Band founder Dennis Berg and Drummer Frederik Jansson, strongly influenced by the Swedish 70s acts like November, Pugh Rogefeldt and Mikael Ramel influenced. At that time nobody sang rock/hard rock in Swedish so we thought we would give it a try.
Writing and singing Swedish lyrics is for me, really scary, but it has its advantages. It's easier to express yourself and you have, something, the same references as the audience, which is Sweden. On the other hand, it makes you feel, symbolically, naked. If not British or American you can always write the usual "car, bar, star" or "maybe, baby, yeah!" and just get away with it. But these lyrics are quickly forgotten, are simple-minded, and won't have much impact on people.
One thing I really like about Dennis admired when he wrote for us was that he really wore his heart on his sleeve, wrote very private and personal texts. In a few lyrics that I wrote, I tended to write from the position of a spectator, not so personal, more general. Fortunately we have two excellent songwriters namely in singer Ulf Torkelsson and our "founder" singer Christian Andersen found, which help us from time to time. Ulf's Texts in "Slutet av tunneln" are for me the best on this album. Very, very moving.
JACK: Your new album is filled with eight incredible tracks; can you tell our Immortals (readers) if there is a particular track that is very special to you and if so, what is the story behind it
MATS: I agree with the opinion of Peo about the song "Slutet av tunneln" which is a very emotional track about growing up with parents who have alcohol or drug problems. We were playing the instrumental version at rehearsals a few months ago when suddenly Ulf and just sang the whole thing, then he told us about the meaning of the lyrics. It was very emotional and I felt right away that this is a very special song for us. Before the release we already played half of the songs on concerts, but I can eventually see us playing every song live - if it matches with the rest of the setlist - which I think is a good feeling. We only put up the songs for our album where we thought they were good enough, so I hope we were right with our choice.
JACK: Abramis Brama has existed for several years. What has been the best and what has been the worst experience you have had together as a band?
PEO: The best thing, I think, was the feeling when we got our first record deal. A really big thing for us. Another thing, I know every musician knows this, is the feeling when you happen to hear your music on the radio and you say to yourself.... "I wrote that fucker!"
Bad things? Nothing bad has happened to us so far, we are gods among puny people. Joking aside, I will leave these stories with my memories.
JACK: Our magazine noted that your band is influenced by various bands, which all play different music: Black Sabbath, Johnny Winter, Mountain and Cream, Led Zeppelin and many more. If you had the chance to perform with one of your favorite bands... Who would it be and what song would you like to play with them?
PEO: Oh, since this is a Rock Magazine, probably with Black Sabbath "Fairies wear boots"... but secretly it would be "The night they drove Old Dixie down" is back with The Band.
MATS: I would Peos choice also like to play. My own choice could also be "Theme from an imaginary western" is back with Mountain or "Pictures of home" is back with Deep Purple be
JACK: I heard that you have played in Germany before and I hope you will perform here again soon! When you think back, is there any moment or experience that you connect with Germany?
PEO: Ah, Germany! Sweden for adults. The beer and food is excellent so well known that we would love to tour there anytime. I remember we were stuck in a traffic jam on the autobahn and had to cancel our gig for Rockpalast in Bonn almost missed. We arrived there only a few minutes before they wanted to pulpit our gig and gave everything to "Crippled Black Phoenix". But we did it and played a good show!
Although, I remember when we were playing in Berlin, I started talking to a teenage guy, maybe 20, who played guitar in the opening band. I was very nice and tried to make friends with him. I told him that I Michael Schenker from UFO, MSG love - he really is one of my gods when it comes to playing guitar. To my surprise, he did not know about when I spoke. He never heard of him. Then I heard his previous collaboration with Scorpions mentioned and there much the penny... sparse. A Stoner/Metaller in Germany, which is not from Michael Schenker has heard! Very, very funny.... Raise your offspring Germany, haha!
MATS: The last show we played, in Plattenburg at the AquaMaria Festivalwhich is located in a beautiful old castle, I heard a high-pitched screeching noise all the time. We were about to go on stage when suddenly I saw a, probably very angry, peacock sitting on one of the walls surrounding the courtyard and shouting at the bands on stage - maybe he was guarding his property from the long-haired freaks. There was also a band playing in James Last Style did covers and played between each performance, which I liked a lot.
JACK: If you were to describe your band history in one track, what would it be?
MATS: I can't imagine if there is any kind of metal song about the band. From my point of view, as an old fan of the band, which now since 2012 with Abramis Brama I think the song that captures most of the aspects of the band is the one that I like best. "Mjölk & honung" (Milk & Honey) is from "Rubicon". It has all the music elements, from hard slow riffing to fast and wild parts, strange but ingenious tempo changes, a soaring, jazzy, magic carpet fly part and good lyrics. This is one of the most challenging to play well, especially at the end of a long gig.
JACK: Is there a special feature that makes your band to a Abramis Brama does? And finally, do you want to share something with your fans?
MATS: I discovered this band in 1999 when I heard their song "Mamma talar" on Swedish radio, that's how I got to know them, and possibly with my old band Backdraft (whose guitarist Robert Johansson a band member of Abramis Brama from 2005-11), which did some shows with Abramis Brama have played. Backdraft was pretty cocky at the time, but at the only shows where we feared being last on the bill was after Abramis Brama played. We went back and forth on which one should go first. Funny enough that recently Ulf told me that Abramis Brama went through the same time as we did. And to answer your question, Abramis Brama has always been a very powerful and amazing live experience. I had to see them 40 times before I joined and I really hope we can come to Germany more often to share this more with all of you.
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