Our man in India with snus

The organizer-helper-translater guy. He wanted to try snus (super strong Swedish tobacco put under the lip). We told him: "-Don't have it in too long or you will puke, man!" Well, everyone probably can figure out what happened...
He was only 20 years old but really smart and had a lot of knowledge.
Regarding the spice-level of Indian food, they usually want it three times spicier than we can handle (Indian food). There is a place where even Indians think the food is too hot. A village known for it. The word is after you eat you loose your hearing for two minutes after the first bite.

Trip to India with HammerFall

The trip started with a flight on the brand new Airbus A 380-800. The worlds largest passenger plane. It's clear the Americans will loose the "plane war" to Europe. This plane smokes everything else out there by far. Silent, fast and luxurious.

Apes at the hotel. Something I've never seen before.

Another ape. The coffee was bad tasting, but strong (worked).

Oscar feeding one.

A common sight in Asia. Two male friends hugging, holding hands or snuggling up.

But if a girl and boy do this it's concidered discusting.

A beach house.

Me at the beach.

The band with the Bay of Bengal in the background.
Oscar was grabbing my hand and Fredriks ass inspired by all the other men in India.

A salesman. Plenty of them. Here with cotton candy in different colors.
There were people litteraly everywhere.

Balle! Balle!

My five drumtechs. The kit was crude and under-dimensioned but that's when it gets more intersting to play. Snarehead broke at once. First the top, and then the bottom... No more snaredrums or heads where available. Next time: I'll bring my own.

Kingfisher time! Indias best beer. They even have (or had) their own airline.

Fredrik had quite a few Kingfishers.
Smoking?!

Maharaja mac.

Our driver used his horn at all times. Really, at all times...always! He had incorporated it into his drivingstyle. He could blast it with his elbow (as you can see) while driving.

What is he selling? Who knows?
He had a bell under the wagon (made of bicycles) to let people know his presence.

They have charging up-stations for mobile phones here and there. People don't steal as much as in the rest of the world (Japan excluded).

A family motorcycle. No helmets. They drive like maniacs.
The wife always with both legs to one side.

We saw a bike with three men where the middleman was sleeping. The hindmost man was holding him in place.

A bus with no windows. Not needed. It's really warm.

A fish market. Maybe it's hard to see but there as 10 000 flies on each fish. The cow was shitting next to the market and people took the poo with their hands and made burger sized ...well, dung-burgers and put them on the walls to dry. To be sold as fire "wood" later.

Deers in a scrap heep. Not scared and begging Pontus and Oscar for someting to eat.

The drivers snuggeling up.

Back from Karate

Today the instructor (Robert) said: "-I ate some candy today and we are going to work it of. You guys will pay bad for my extra calories." It was a really hard session for sure. It was alsmost like back in the militry service...but we all loved it!

After karate I went directly to "In a mellotone". It was really nice. One hour went by like 10 minutes.

In a mellotone

Live today with yours truly at Trelleborg's jazzradio 92.8 Mhz. 20:00 - 21:00

The force of time

It's interesting how you think things are and how much you understand when you are 25 years old. I think you can see it in young musicians eyes. They are going to conquer the world with their music and there is nothing to stop them. I was the same way as you can see here. I am doing a stupid metal face thinking it was really cool. It was for a feature of me in the magazine "Modern Drummer". I was really proud of this. Picture by Michael Johansson using a wide angle lens in a rehearsal place called S.I.R. (Studio instrument rentals) in New York City.

Swedish grammy awards

As usually Hammerfall didn't win. We have been nominated five times (once in Germany as well) and never won. I think it's kind of annoying now, good thing I didn't go there like the rest of the guys. Last time I went there they treated every nominee like cattle and the food was crap as well. I and one of the other members (guess who) in the band clogged all toilets since we are such sore loosers :-)

Karate

Just came back from the third karate-training this week. On Saturdays we have more physical based training with self defence and not so much pure karate. I think it pretty physical on the other days also. It's a good way to start the weekend. A grueling hard training session. You wake up for sure.

Swedish navy

This is me in the Swedish navy. The pic is from 1982 and it was the second day when they took it.

Hammerfall going to India

This is my visa-picture for India. I tried to look as beautiful as possible.
We are playing in Chennai at some sort of cultural festival. Probably really fun and exiting! Always fun to go new places.

Ecco--shoes deteriorating sole.

Got an answer again from Ecco today. It turns out the shoes are 11 years old. I guess when Pauls wife Anette bought them for Paul four years ago she was buing seven year old shoes.
Ecco also said this was a known problem with their shoes they nowadays have corrected.
They also said if I would have come in earler like five years ago I could maybe have gotten new ones. But from the store where I bought them. The normal deal. If Iwere them I would just have sent me a new pair. Then again, everyone these days are always cheating so they probably thought I was trying to cheat them as well. If the Ecco-stores didn't sell seven year old shoes their extended guarantee might be worth something. Everyone is cheating.

Anders Johansson's webpage

I redid my webpage a bit.
If you have any questions, normal or purely drum oriented, please write me a comment and I put them into the FAQ or FAQ/drum questions.

www.andersjohansson.org

New years hot air balloon

This is a new thing here in Sweden. They have had them in Asia for centuries. A paper "hot air-balloon". They slowly rise to the skies and follow the winds. It is obvious there are different air current-directions at different heights. I wonder if they set things on fire when they land or if they malfunction. In the pic: Maste(u)r/baker/dancer/bater-Paul.

Yearly cristmass tree pic

If you look closely you might see some chipmunks.

Ecco

Got these Ecco-shoes from a friend. He got them a few years back. He used them three times and they were too big so he gave them to me. I also used them three times. Then the sole came off in big chunks. I will e-mail Ecco to see what they say. And hopefully I get a pair of new shoes. And I will let you, my faithful readers, follow the development.