The day after the show – everybody’s dead tired (you’ll see why in a bit) and yet pretty much upbeat…go figureJ.
But let’s start from the beginning: on July 14th I took a morning train to Stockholm to rehearse with the guys for a couple of days. Per picked me up at Stockholm’s main station and after a quick stop on the way (in order to buy some “liquid ammunition”) we arrived at the rehearsal studio (this time House of Shakira´s). We didn’t felt like bringing my monster keyboard rig for rehearsals (a break we had since our last show wasn’t long enough for me to forget how it works:-), so we settled for Per’s digital piano only (you should have heard my Jerry Lee Lewis version of Never Give Up – a show stopper for sure J… literally, as Magnus was laughing so hard that he stopped playing in the middle of it… very unprofessional if you ask meJ
Well, the band was tight and well prepared - as usual - but definitively not prepared to see Mats Levén showing up with no lyric sheets. “Not a good sign” – I thought only to find out that the guy knew the stuff better than any of us… every word, every note! But the real fun started as he got into “Levenizing” these songs, impressing us all quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong; knowing Mats for a few years I’m very well aware of his abilities and yet… A very, very pleasant surprise.
Anyway – after a few hours of running through the set (a short 8 tunes version) and a bunch of drinks later we called it a day and Per dropped me off at my “new Swedish home”  (another great friend of ours -  Pontus Norgren – lent me the keys to his house as he - finally! – took a break from his “producer/sound engineer/guitarist in Hammerfall” routine and took his family on a well deserved vacation… leaving a little present for me on the table – a bottle of Jack with a note saying: “Welcome… and cheers!”. Thanks mate! 
Next day – same routine: getting into rehearsal room, playing the set a few times while ironing out some tiny little details here and there, having a couple of beers, chatting… while being well aware of the fact that our next day will be a long, long, long one… well, 32 hours long to be exact.
Here it goes: get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, grab a cab to Arlanda airport, meet the rest of the guys on the way, catch a flight to Copenhagen at 06.55, arrive at 08.15 and meet with our tour bus at 08.45, pick up rental drums at 09.15, pick up rental bass rig at 10.00, drive to my place (picking up the rest of the crew on the way) to load keyboard (here comes the monster!) and guitar rigs in, drive for almost 6 hours to Sønderborg (arriving quite a bit late – by 5 o’clock instead of 4), so the rest is at “double speed”: load the gear in, set up and soundcheck already at 05.45, rush to the catering for a quick bite and to say hello to a bunch of friends  in Alice´s band/crew, run backstage to change (while watching Maria constructing a belt out of gaffer tape in order to keep her in-ear system in place and Marcus warming up by imitating Chuck Berry and trying not to laugh too hard:-), have a shot of Jack and a cigarette and hit the stage – as announced - AT EXACTLY 20.30, play the set, bow AT EXACTLY 21.15… Phew, take a deep breath :-)
Pack up the gear and merch, load it into the bus, find the promoter and get paid – very importantJ!!!, meet the fans (sign stuff, take pictures with a few, chat for a while), do some interviews, hang out for a few songs of Alice´s set, say goodbye to everyone and start driving (23.15 at the latest!).
Bus drive back for another 5 hours or so (while listening to Peter Brander´s - our sound engineer - endless rant about why these new digital mixing desks sucks :-), drop some people off here and there on the way, unload keyboard (bye bye monster :-) and guitar rigs at my place at around 5 o’clock, “unload” poor Swedes as well so they could sleep for at least a couple of hours (they’re suppose to take a cab at 07.00 in order to catch the flight home at 08.45), drive to the rental company and drop the drum kit off, let the rest of the crew go home, drive back home and feed very hungry and – for some reason – very unfriendly cats and – FINALLY – go to bed at around 06.30… only to realize that your home has just been invaded by a bunch of galloping elephants (oh, it’s just our lovely Swedes waking up, getting up and packing :-).
Alright, I wished them a safe flight (mentally, as there’s no way in hell I’m getting up – it’s my turn to have a couple of hours sleep :-), get up at 9, drive to another rental shop and drop the bass rig off… Done!
So here I am – sharing another one of our “tour moments” with you with a huge cup of coffee in front of me (on a scale from 0 to 10 it’s about 12 points strong:-)).

Well, as you can see the original plan (a real tour diary with regular updates) didn’t work out… plenty or reasons for that: I managed to trash my laptop (on the way from rehearsals in Sweden), periodical problems with finding a reliable internet connection (while on tour), lack of time and – honestly – lack of motivation in most cases (yes, we’re a lazy bunch :)).

Being on tour is quite a different experience… Personally, I’m going into some kind of a “zombie state”: waking up (at about 12), finding catering (Jagermeister + coffee + cigarettes), trying to make it to the shower (if there’s one), check out the venue, make sure the gear is up and running, do the soundcheck, have dinner (and/or a few drinks… time to finally wake up - Jack to the rescue!), do some interviews/photosessions, play the show, hang out with the band/crew/fans for a while and go to bed (at about 4). Next morning – repeat the abovementioned :-)
On an occasional day off (we didn’t have much of these this time) one can go out to the city for a quick sightseeing, buy a newspaper and read it at some nice café (while consuming cappuccinos accompanied by some kind of “fire water”) and – in general – not do much.

Definite highlights so far (for me): day off in Athens (saw Acropolis for the first time), show in Budapest (never played on a boat before), bus drive from London to Copenhagen (16 hours of sleep!), show in St.Petersburg (great place), an improvised afterparty in Moscow (did we really consumed 6 litres of Jack?!!!), soundcheck in Tokyo (the best equipped club I’ve ever seen… everything sounded “like a record”) and – obviously – Sweden Rock (playing so early was kind of weird, but hanging out with “the family”/other bands/fans for the rest of the day was great).

The gigs themselves were all good – sure, some better than others, but in general – all good. Seems like the fans are “digging” our new album (I can almost hear our manager screaming from a distance: “Than make a new one quick!”), we couldn’t really feel any “dead spots” during the set/show (a very good sign), most of the merch´s been sold and the general reaction from fans and the press has been good… so far, as we still have a bunch of shows to do (keep checking those tour dates). And now to a few “Kodak moments”:

Rehearsals – what`s not to like? A bunch of things, actually: try standing only a few steps away from a drum kit and a “turned up to 11” Marshall stack while Per´s bass speakers make your entire body shake with every note he plays… for a few hours and – all of the sudden – you start remembering why the word “rehearsal” made you feel a bit uncomfortable in the first place :-)
Seriously, though, we´ve been doing rather well: most of the set is – rapidly – taking a “pleasant shape”… sure, a few bumps here and there (mostly courtesly of our beloved banjo swinger) which are in need of some extra attention;

what about me, you might ask? As a matter of fact I´m playing every song perfectly – every single note - while waiting patiently for the rest of the guys to get their act together… yes, and I can walk on water too :-)

For the first time we´re rehearsing in Stockholm, at the Studio 32 (great place, by the way, highly recommended) while I´m living in a beautiful little house on the country side (approx. 20 km from the city). The weather is improving, so soon we´ll have a barbeque at “my place” (surprise!), just waiting for Mark to arrive (today!).