Biography

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Chapter VIII

As most of you know by now, the 4 of us see the recordings of "Deliverance" and "Damnation" as the toughest test of our history. We wrapped everything up in the studio in the early fall of 2002. Andy Sneap and Backstage productions had been booked for mixing and mastering. Peter and myself went down there just days after we came back home. I remember being so tired that I virtually just came in there, gave Andy the hard drive that contained the album, said something like: "Mix it!" and then went to sleep on the couch. I was in a terrible state...all of us was tired, but I was the only one who'd been working basically 24/7. The other guys in the band had been able to take some time off, go home etc. Sneap started mixing and everything went fine. He's credited as a "saviour" in the sleeve as he surely saved much of the recording. "Deliverance" was so badly recorded, without any organisation whatsoever... some sounds we're dirty, and some instruments, like the hi-hat, didn't have a microphone of it's ow at all.

He had to get it out of the overhead microphones. Anyway, he probably did loads of tricks we don't even know about, basically I don't wanna know. Everything came out fine in the end, and we've now put it behind us.

Music for nations we're eager to start promoting the album, so they'd arranged for a few journalists to come down to listen to some rough mixes, and photo sessions had been arranged at location in Ripley just outside Nottingham. Since only Peter and myself we're there, the band pictures are, obviously, not complete. They told us the pictures we're for some guitar magazines only, but they we're used as promo pictures anyway. Regrettable since... well Opeth is not a duo! Anyway, when we came back from the photo session, the journalists we're there to listen to the tracks. In the middle of the session I got a phone call from my sister saying that my grandmother had been hit by a car and was most likely to die very soon.

I was obviously very shocked, didn't know what to say, but I guess I couldn't understand. I went outside for a "cigarette", but it was really to weep. I tried to get myself together and go back in to listen to the tracks with the journalists, but you know Opeth, at the time, wasn't really a priority in my train of thoughts.

Early next morning, my sister called again to say that my grandmother had passed away. She was very close to me, and is actually responsible for me starting playing the guitar in the first place, and that's why I dedicated both D1 and D2 to her memory.

When we came back home we had a one-off gig scheduled in the center of Stockholm. It felt like such an ordeal as all I wanted to do was to rest and not think about music for a while. We had another photo session scheduled during the day of the gig. I drove the band + Mick Hutson (who took the shots) up to my childhood's surroundings in Sorskogen where we took all the "real" promo shots... the ones you've seen where I have a brown cardigan (got loads of shit for that cardigan!!). The gig later that day went fine... people we're screaming for new songs but didn't get them.

A few weeks later I was scheduled on a plane back to the UK to finish of the vocals for the "Damnation" album. I think these sessions are responsible for me judging "Damnation" with different eyes compared "Deliverance". It was a great time hanging out with Steve Wilson + recording the vocals. I got a hotel in central London, so Steve had to pick me up every day to go to the studio which was located in his boy-room at his parents house.

The legendary No mans land studio is really a small wardrobe size room right next to the toilet. Anyway, it went great, and the album came out better than I'd dare to expect.

Peter came down during my last day of recording as we had some days of promotion to do. I remember the look on his face when he first listened to the album.... priceless! We spent the remaining 10 days in London as well as we travelled to Germany and France where we had a few interviews scheduled. Coming back home after this ordeal was amazing. For a while. I got terribly sick...my head was spinning, stomach problems, weak etc. Doctor took some test on me but couldn't find anything wrong, so I guess it was the result of all the hard work and all the bad things that had happened lately. I was ill for months, and we had a few gigs coming up. The first gigs in support of the new albums. Quite important, yes! I was very close to cancelling the first 2 gigs due to me feeling so bad, but was talked into going anyway.

We had two shows, one in London, UK and another in Athens, Greece. Let me tell you, I didn't regret going away. The shows we're absolutely marvellous, and almost seemed to work as a cure for my illness. Even though there's a certain amount of stress involved in the whole touring business, I truly think the actual gig has a fucking healing effect on you. Afterwards I felt like a million bucks!

Well, little did I know then on exactly how many shows we'd be scheduled for during 2003.

The new material seemed to go down well with the crowd. We we're especially worried about "A fair judgement" not being a live song, but the fans proved us DEAD wrong on that one.

We've played it on almost every gig in support of "Deliverance". The shows were great overall as far as I remember. Well, much respect to our North American fans for wanting us to come back so often! Cheers!

After this tour I believe we had 2 days back home before we were due in Paris for the first gig on the European tour...2 days rest!!! Insane! I had a terrible cold on the day I went on the bus, and it was still there by the time I got off 6 weeks later. And during that time I'd managed to get everybody else on the bus sick as well! Our support band, Madder mortem we're handpicked by me as I really liked them. They we're introduced to me by Jim of Nevermore back in 2001 when we toured the US in their support. Great guys/girl and fantastic band! Unfortunately, I don't have many fond memories about this tour as the fucking bus was broken, no heating. I had to sleep with all my clothes on + I was sick already... coughing like a motherfucker!

Terrible tour! We didn't cancel any gigs, but I was ready to fall to pieces.

Head banging is not as cool when it will cover your face with snot as a result. I didn't lose my voice completely though...I was lucky! Some great gigs on this tour....I remember the Dutch gigs most vividly as they we're so fucking crowded. We did one festival at the great 013 club in Tilburg where we got to meet Paradise Lost once again. Cathedral were there too, along with Samael. After the gigs, there was a MASSIVE party in the dressing rooms. Everybody was completely wasted! Good people, the lot of them!

Great tour! We also got the Grammy award during this tour so we couldn't attend the ceremony. I'd sent over a brief "thank you" speech through a SMS message. Some weeks later we also got the P3 gold award. Nice, but who really cares?

After this tour we had been booked on a flight to Australia. I think we might have had a week home or so. This was in the middle of the whole SARS thing, and our flight was scheduled to mid-land in Singapore which obviously was one of the affected countries. We had a brief band meeting at Heathrow airport/London about going or not... we were scared! We confess... for the first time ever we actually contemplated cancelling gigs due to fear.

Anyway, we decided to go, and once we got to Singapore, we immediately went for the bar and got piss-drunk! I was actually harassing people with mouth covers... felt like they looked upon us (who obviously didn't wear them) like we're lepers or something... well, we're still alive! Risking our lives for you guys!! Ha ha! Oz was fantastic, and one of our favourite countries in the world. Great weather, nice people... everything was just fucking fantastic!! Despite us being totally worn out and tired once we got to the hotel, we instantly jumped in the pool.

There was also a tennis match, Peter & Lopez vs myself & Mendez...we won! I got badly sunburned and red like a fucking lobster. We had a signing session booked the next day and people we're laughing at me, saying things like "Done a little bit of sunbathing camper?" in the Oz accent. Gigs we're great... 5 gigs, 4 sold out... nice! But what's up with you guys in Perth? It started as a raving success with you guys bugging the hell out of the promoters to get us over (the tour was supposed to be 4 gigs and nothing in Perth)and once we came... people we're throwing shoes, ice cubes and bottles during the gig!!! Why? No deal! The gig was great anyway and we wouldn't hesitate to come back. Just get rid of those fukkers who throw things at the door... pleazze!

On the way back home we had one day off in London (for the 654th time) where we celebrated my birthday.

In fact, all of us "got older" on the road this year. Next day we had another festival gig scheduled, Inferno festival in Oslo/Norway. It was cool. I hung out with all the people from the Norway metal scene. Fenriz has a tattoo saying "Old AC/DC"... pretty fucking great!

Then we finally had a few weeks off again. Although, not for long. There was another leg of the North American tour to be done in support of "Deliverance". This we did together with Lacuna coil. Another batch of great people. That tour was overall really great, although we could all feel that the touring life was beginning to rub off on us. We were all starting to become really tired.

Touring is weird... you wake up, have a smoke, drink coffee, eat a slice of wonder bread with turkey and ham and weak mustard, wait around for a couple of hours, do the sound check, wait around for more hours, maybe have a walk round the city (wherever you're at), dinner, sleep a little, prepare, showtime, beer and a smoke, meet fans, more beer, drinking and listening to music with the guys and crew, sleep. It's like this everyday, you do around 2 hours of real work each day. The rest is basically slacking! But it wears you down so much it's unbelievable, and it's so addictive that it's uncanny. When you're out, you long to get back home, and when you do, you can't wait to get out again. We spent more than 2/3 of this year on a tour bus! It's now officially become "what we do"!

During this North American tour we'd slowly started to rehearse the "Damnation" material for the upcoming tours in support of that album but also due to a TV appearance when we got back home. TV4 is one of the biggest channels in Sweden, and we'd been invited to play 2 tracks in the morning TV special, Basically I had a cab pick me up outside my house at 4 in the morning. I had a cold so I wasn't singing so well, but we played alright I think. It was our first and maybe, only TV appearance. Well, you never know.

During the Summer we did numerous festival gigs. We got to play with Metallica in Belgium and Dio in Turkey. Old heroes!! I knew a guy in Dios crew and had asked him to introduce me to RJD.

The festival was a small bill of us, Kreator, Rotting Christ and Dio. The dressing rooms we're all located in the same house, and Dio's dressing room was the backstage bar basically. After our gig, I was told I just should go over there to the bar and say hi or whatever. I got a new beer and walked up. As I opened the door to the bar I got everybody's attention, including Ronnies.

Once I stepped into the room, the fucking door smashed back at me hitting the beer out of my hand. So I spilled beer all over the floor and was instantly thrown out by Dios tour manager. Later got a signed poster at least saying "Michael magic", but I lost it on the tour bus.

We also did a festival in Poland and the Czech republic together with numerous bands. Biff Byford of Saxon introduced Samael as "Samuel" I remember. Nice! And we shared a small van with Anathema who we're singing Beatles songs ALL THE TIME!.

5 in the morning in a freezing van through Poland, the 5 of them singing "She came in though the bathroom window". I love those guys, but at the time they had a death wish!

Since we'd decided to record 2 albums that meant double the touring than what you do for a single album. The first thing we did was another North American tour. We had to cancel 2 festival appearances in Finland so we'd be able to rehearse. And we got flamed for that.

We'd no idea we had fans in Finland at all, let alone that people would be upset by our cancellation. However, a lot of people got upset, but we literally had to do this. The "Damnation" tour meant a set list of 14 songs we'd never played live before, with few exceptions. Per Wiberg had also accepted to help us out playing the keyboards on this tour, so we obviously had to play with him and learn the tracks together. The tour, together with Porcupine tree went great too. We played some great places like the Fillmore in San Francisco, the Metro in Chicago and the House of Blues in L.A. There we got a visit from Linda Perhacs, who is basically my idol. She did one album in 1970, which is absolutely stunning!! She came to see the show! At the last gig in Seattle I did a song with Porcupine tree.

I went up and sang on of my favourite PT tracks, "A smart kid" off the "Stupid dream" album. It went well, but I was nervous like a little kid!

Once we got back home I had approximately 10 days before I was supposed to get married. Everything went great, the marriage itself was more or less a great dinner and party with all our friends and families. The ceremony took maybe 15 minutes. At was pouring down with rain, but it was a cool day I must say. The band was there, Per even played the wedding march! Steven Wilson also played a song in our honour!

Then it was off again for a short European tour. It started with 3 gigs that were all double sets, one mellow and one heavy. The third show was recorded and released on DVD recently under the name of "Lamentations Live at Shepard's bush empire". Then we did another 10 additional gigs with local support acts. Best show was the 013 in Tilburg. Nice!!! Few weeks off, then we had our first Scandinavian tour.

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...

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