In a recent chat with Pollstar, Amon Amarth's Johann Hegg spoke about the group's inspiration for their stupendous live show. The Swedish heavy metal champions were in Los Angeles last month wrapping up their US tour at the Kia Forum on December 17, and should you have happened to catch the band on this recent stretch through the Lower 48, you know the energy and interaction between the band and fans is a crucial element to the essence of Amon Amarth. But who inspired that integral piece of the pie? The one and only Iron Maiden, according to Hegg, but there were a few other heavy-hitters he mentions as well.
"For me, [Iron Maiden's] one of the biggest, best live acts of all time," Hegg told Pollstar. "But there are several others. I remember seeing AC/DC in Sweden in '91 on [The Razor's Edge] tour, which was amazing. But if you look at bands doing some cool stuff now, I mean, obviously you have also classic bands like Mercyful Fate and King Diamond. The production that they put into their shows is insanely cool. Modern bands today, I think they draw more to LED screens for production value, and it's not really our thing. I think it's cool if you do it the right way."
Hegg continued by saying, "Something we've done well is to invite the audience to create the show together. We might be the people on stage, but the interaction is really important. And if the audience interacts with us and we interact with them, the energy becomes so different in the room rather than if you don't have that connection. You can tell immediately. It's something we work on really consciously, to create that connection."
You can read the entire interview with Hegg and Pollstar here.
