Chapter VIII

Support came from Extol who were great people and a great band! The shows overall we're cool, but Sweden is not the best country for metal to be honest. We produce loads of bands, but the crowd is sometimes really lazy. I know, I'm a fan myself. When I got to gigs I'm in the back saying nothing. Maybe it's the Swedish mentality? Finland, Denmark and especially Norway was great!! All shows in the neighbour countries were fantastic. In Oslo we played the great Rockefeller venue, and almost sold it out!

We had a day off there, so myself and Per decided to walk round town looking for record stores. We had a few beers at the infamous Elm street club, and after a while, I'd say we're pretty pissed. We met up with a few friends and headed out to drink some more somewhere else. All of a sudden I get a phone call from Peter saying there's a shootout around our bus. Apparently, some guys been robbing the post transport and was hiding behind our bus, shooting at the police. The Martins + a few crew guys we're on the bus caught in the gunfire. Mendez told me he'd never been that excited before in his life. We all got out of it, well, I was drinking so I was well beyond reach of any bullets. We got in the papers the next day: "Rock stars in gun fight"!

Then we had a few days off before the next gigs. Mexico and Chile was scheduled.

We all looked forward very much to it, but once we landed in Mexico city and met the "organisation", our excitement kinda paled a little bit. We had a signing session and met the cool people of Mexico, and the gig was absolutely fantastic! We played for 2 hours and 20 minutes I believe. Right before we went on stage we got a message that the flight for Chile was leaving that same night. The promoter basically had a different idea on what a contract meant and had fixed an impossible flight routing. In the end, the promoter had fooled us, our crew and the Chilean fans. We had to cancel the gig. We we're all devastated and very disappointed. We've never cancelled a gig before Chile. I know the fans felt cheated by us and everybody else, but reality is, we felt just as cheated as the fans.

Opeth has a rare credibility that we intent to keep intact, and cancelling gigs will not only cost us a lot of money, but also tarnish that credibility. That's what happened with Chile. Many of the fans there got so upset that they're no longer fans of Opeth. Now, I didn't start to play music do become some kind of cunt who loathe the fans. All of us have the utmost respect for our fans. Wherever we're playing, we're giving our people what they want and rightfully deserve. But when you get involved with people like the ones who worked with us in Mexico and Chile, it's hard to prevent mistakes from happen.

We're just a band at the end of the day, and we can't stop the greed or stupidity of the promoters, and believe me, there's plenty of that around in this business.

I had a brief time back home as I'd agreed to participate in the new Ayreon album. So I brought my wife down to Holland a few days after my return from Mexico. Hung out with Arjen and his lovely wife for a few days, did the vocals in 4 hours and then basically back home again. Check that album out...it's gonna be good!

Dark times ahead. Jordan was scheduled, and with it we're gonna be the first real metal band to play there. Although we're not going to play the heavier stuff! Still a breakthrough for metal music in the Middle East! Terrorist attacks we're apparently "imminent" due to some bombings I Turkey, so basically all our crew dropped off, only days before we're due to go. The promoter had sold 6000 tickets so we felt we should do the show regardless of the crew situation. OK, we'd be far from professional without crew, but what the hell... I was just about to jump into a cab to go to the airport when Lopez calls me. I can tell he's desperate, basically a wreck on the other line, telling me he can't go. He'd suffered some kind of anxiety attack and there was nothing I could do than to pull the gig.

Nothing like this ever happened before so I felt bound to take it seriously. I knew this could and would happen eventually since we'd been working so much the whole year.

A few hours later my dad calls me saying my grandfather just died. It's weird, everything bad seem to happen at the same time.

So, the last few weeks have been spent relaxing and contemplating. 2003 was a great year for Opeth, but also a dark year in many ways. Especially these last 2 months. Anyway, everything is getting better.

We still have a few tours to go before we've done everything in our power to promote "Deliverance" and "Damnation". Man, those titles have a new meaning after this year! 2004 is gonna be a fairly quiet year for Opeth. Close to no festival appearances and no more tours after March. I'm gonna be writing new material throughout the Summer and hopefully we can record a new album within a year from now. Anyway, if you're reading this you're probably a supporter of Opeth's music, so...

THANK YOU + don't leave us!! * * *