Peter Morén

A brief history of a full life: Peter Morén was born and raised in a little village named Vika in a region of Sweden called Dalarna. At the time, Dalarna was a landscape full of horses, mopeds, ski slopes and ice hockey, but not much music. What little music there was consisted of heavy metal or traditional fiddle-based folk music, both of which had strong followings. Guided by his grandfather's tastes, Peter took to the latter - until he picked up his mother's out-of-tune guitar at the age of 10 to learn a few basic chords with the express aim of writing pop songs in English. Although his English was fairly rudimentary, he quickly progressed, taking cues from influences such as The Beatles, Byrds, Beach Boys, Kinks, and, for the sake of modernity, The Housemartins and A-Ha (this was 1986 after all). Soon after, he became a Dylanhead, bought a harmonica, and started performing covers at pizzerias and parties to the bewilderment of the local populace, who often wondered why such a young boy was interested in playing such old songs.

At 15, Peter moved south to attend high school in Västerås. Influenced by Ride, Teenage Fanclub, Stone Roses and other groups of that era, he formed a band with another new arrival in town, Björn Yttling. Later, they moved to Stockholm, where they met a drummer named John Eriksson. The rest, as they say, is history. After a long struggle in the musical trenches, three albums, loads of gigs, and numerous stints at the university and various day jobs, Peter Bjorn And John finally met well-deserved success with Writer's Block.