Västerås

Uh, but I didn't have time this summer because, uh, I was away and, uh, I, I worked a lot with Örebro, so different city and yeah.

But they're in Västerås too, where, uh, where my hometown is.

Yeah, I, I think-

Bäcklund's, Bäcklund's a legend, right?

It was all, I had gone there, done the tests, they had signed me on something I was going to do.

And then out of nowhere, one day I see that in a city in Sweden called Västerås, there was a game development education at Mälardalen University.

So I see that and I feel like, wow, this is what I want to do because young me loved games.

Why wouldn't I want to be doing that all day?

So we were with the family, my girlfriend there.

I did four days in Lake Como in Italy with Ross's wedding, and most of the time in Västerås, Sweden, or up in Umeå in Sweden, so great summer.

Do you completely unplug from hockey? Do you have any other hobbies or activities that you do that make it fun for you just to get away from it in the summer?

I play way too much golf.

Uh, Björn notably is also your primary producer for the first two albums at least, and John Eriksson on drums and occasional vocals.

Peter and Björn meet as teenagers in Västerås in central Sweden.

Talking to the great podcast Life of the Record in 2025, Peter says they met at a music high school sort of thing, and they started out as two dudes with guitars and a drum machine.

They bond over g- guitar bands like The Stone Roses and slightly older, wordier, more punk and power pop-oriented stuff like the Buzzcocks and The Jam and Elvis Costello, plus lo-fi '90s American indie rock: Pavement and Yo La Tengo and Elliott Smith and Sebadoh.

I, I think it's a similar story, like most people have in my position.

I started out just a little kid with a dream of flying airliners, and I took my education actually in Västerås.

Uh, back then it was called Scandinavian Aviation Academy, which later turned out to become OSM Aviation Academy.

As I went the same route as our students are doing today.

Um, then you open up a new base and bring people there.

It went really hard in the beginning.

We sent a lot of people from Västerås to work there when we had the C5, for example, coming straight from a Västerås position to be present, to try to start.

And I know it was a lot of mantras in the beginning to sort of do it the Västerås way, to try to get them standardized in doing things the same way, make sure we get the same sort of, uh, procedures, same quality, same culture within the new base.

It might go well, it might not go well, but you'll definitely learn from it.

I remember, and you two definitely remember, before I went out on stage in Västerås, I was so nervous.

I remember Linda holding my hand, just asked me to breathe, and you placed your hand on my chest.

You went, "Just take a few breaths, Tony.

Uh, what, has anything happened to you? I'm just curious.

Like, y- you say, saying yes, uh, Anthony, and what was the, like, like, the hardest thing to do after you said yes, uh, in, uh, in either in our, our d- our journey together or something else?

Stepping on stage in Västerås in front of that audience, that was a very hard thing to do.

It was very challenging.

Today's dark realm is Engsö Castle.

It stands on the island of Engsö, east of Västerås, surrounded by the waters and inlets of Lake Mälaren.

In daylight, the building is striking rather than threatening.

A tall, pale, almost cubic manor rising above the trees, with the church close beside it and open countryside stretching away towards the lake.

A will- a win for Hull at home to Aston Villa is 16 to 5.

A draw in Sweden between Vasteras and Sirius is 13 to 5.

If you fancied the outsider double, 14.12 to 1.

So a nice-