“We are always working on new music” – interview with Ted Lundström of Amon Amarth

What an impressive accomplishment it is to be the headliner of an enormous festival like Wacken Open Air. And Chaoszine had the luck of catching Ted, bass player for Amon Amarth, a few hours before their spectacular performance on the Holy Ground. We talked about music, future projects and Marvel too. If you’re curious about the band and want to know more about them, check out what we talked about!

Hello! How are you doing at the moment? 

Ted Lundström: Great, I’m doing great. We’re just at the biggest and most badass festival in the world, so yeah. It feels great. 

Absolutely. You’re about to play a headliner show here in Wacken Open Air. What do you hope that the audience takes away from your performance tonight?

Ted Lundström: Well, I hope they walk home and just being blown away from a big show like this. You know, music and in general, it’s just an amazing event. Hopefully they enjoyed the other nights too, but I feel like we get to be the last night’s headliners. It’s gonna be great. 

It’s gonna be amazing. So what is the atmosphere in backstage in Wacken?

Ted Lundström: It’s pretty relaxed actually, you know. Maybe people think it’s chaos backstage. But you know, it’s very well organized here and all the bands hang out. It’s a great time. Later tonight there’s gonna be some beers, some booze maybe. And just having a great time. I love this festival just because of the great organization. Not only for the fans but also for us in the bands. You know, it’s well taken care of. 

I absolutely agree. So how do you unwind after such a big performance?

Ted Lundström: Afterwards you’re really exhausted of course because you’re on stage for almost two hours, but you grab a beer maybe just sit down and kind of unwind a little bit. We have another show in a few days. So it’s kind of like it just goes on; you don’t really have time to really decompress. We will have to wait with that until we get back to Sweden. 

What does Wacken mean to you personally and as a band? 

Ted Lundström: I mean, I’ve never been here as audience, I’ve only been here as a band. Since this is kind of Mecca for extreme metal it’s like coming home when we get here. We know exactly what we get, you know, the best crowd. It’s always exciting when you get to play here. I mean, all the way back to ‘99, I think, when we played there the first time. It’s always been a great experience. 

Headlining Wacken Open Air, how does it impact the future of the band?

Ted Lundström: When you reach the level where you can headline you know that you’re a big band not only here in Germany. Wacken is well known all over the world. People come from everywhere here. So I mean, it’s a great way to show yourself to the world, not only to these people here. This is broadcasted everywhere and people read about it. It’s really one of the bigger things you can do as a band. 

Could you share with us if you’re working on new music with Amon Amarth or with any other projects?

Ted Lundström: Not with any other projects. We’re always working on new music, even when we’re on tour, ideas are coming. So, hopefully we have some new material sooner rather than later. We will see what happens. But we’re working on it.

Did you see the bands that are playing in the festival? Are there any that maybe have inspired you or the band? 

Ted Lundström: Testament for example, who’s playing right before us is a band I’ve listened to since I was very young, even before we started our band. So that’s one of the bands and earlier today was Tankard, the German beer metal band was a big influence when we were younger. So all these bands that playing they’re all great bands, so we’re excited to play together on the same stage. 

If I’m not mistaken, you’re a Marvel fan. So, I wanted to make a little game with you. I’ll list you some characters, and you are going to tell me your opinion on which kind of music they would listen to. What do you think Spider Man listens to? 

Ted Lundström: He probably listens to some, some like, Opeth-ish kind of music. He’s all over the place. 

How about Iron Man?

Ted Lundström: Iron Man definitely listens to Iron Maiden. He’s more powerful, he’s got all these weapons, he’s like more of a war machine. 

How about Captain America?

Ted Lundström: He must be a Lamb of God fan. 

How about The Black Widow?

Ted Lundström: Katatonia maybe? That just came up. As I said, I never thought about music and characters in that way.

How about Groot?

Ted Lundström: Some kind of doom metal, maybe.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Is there anything else you want to add to us? 

Ted Lundström: Well, thanks for listening to us and I hope to see you soon on the road or somewhere. 

You can enjoy Amon Amarth‘s latest EP right here: