Tour in progress.

Fredrik wrote this...

A very un-common sight. A cross walk. Most (99,5%) people don't walk anywhere. If you don't have a car it's nearly impossible to go anywhere, and dangerous to try to cross 10-lane streets.

Drive thru banking...only for the really lazy. You don't even have to get out of your car. Very common in the States.

An ATM (automatic teller machine or cash machine) inside a restaurant. A common sight also in stores. In porn films ATM means something else.

Oúr man in Kansas, Dave, came up to Plymouth and had a bbq served from his truck bed.

On tour you have to go to laundromats. Coin operated. This one in Winnipeg.
I was the only one going, the others (most of them) wear their underwear and socks three-four days before changing...bluurk!

Something that bothers me a bit: A drummer seems to be a non-person in a band, like a referee in sports (who looks at him or her?) or a door man... As a drummer you can be placed behind a pole like this and everyone thinks it OK. Or light people (the ones flashing the lights more or less out of time when a band plays, Celine excluded) often just don't bother to place lights on the drummer. This has always pissed me off since I think it takes some real talent and skills as well as physical stamina to play the damn things. This gig was a bit rudimentary in general though...look at the back drop with the band logo :-)

The backstage door. It was litterar 40 cm (1,3 feet).

Hanging backstage. Who said it's always glamorous?

Joacim was just goofing off. No one needs Anus-ol. We just thought the name was a bit funky.

In Canada they say: Walk when the man is white.

Hockey and curling is huge in Canada. This was shown in a shop window. Some game between Sweden and Canada. And not with the "normal" Swedish team.

Edmonton, Canada. A fire in progresss. I think this was when it just had started. Later big flames came out but that pic was out of focus.

A huge strawberry. My hands are pretty big as well as my...feet. It was like a small apple.

The States

Less than 80% peanuts. Hmm...so there is 79 % peanuts then... four out of five nuts is a peanut.

Second special dinner: Chicken balls.

They have some really awfull sodas here. Dr Pepper is one. Rootbeer and Cream soda are two other ones.

Wrigley Fields. Seen the movie "The Blues Brothers"?

Guitar player from Powerglove. Nintendo-metal...what on earth will they come up with next?!

A collector (Cristopher?). He now has his complete Rising Force set. It will go for about 15 000 dollars on the collectors market, but he will not sell. Note how everyone has signed with a different colored marker. I got pink:-)

A typical sight. A three quarter working toilet.
Oscar has a small ass so he didn't mind.

Now they made them bigger...Third pounders. I got one + a double cheese burger just now for breakfast.

Fish (Portugese backline tech) with "our" drum kit. It is actually In Flames' Tama-drums we have borrowed which they always use in The States. Fish says I hit three times harder than their drummer. But I guess I'm three times bigger and heavier. I'm a super heavy weight according to olympic boxing rules.

Tonight only. Live web broadcast from "The Rave club". It's the smallest gig place so far. A bit typical that we will broadcast from there.

Oscar wrote this...
It sum things up sometimes. :-)

Pro-Mark, the best drumsticks in the world.

http://www.promark.com/community/profile/4446/

The HammerFall-guitar player in the mood.

USA/Canada

On top of the Rocky stairs. It was easy to run up. Please check www.hammerfall.net for a movie of Oscar running up the stairs.

Potbelly café. You'll get a Potbelly for sure!

230V is hard to get on this continent. We have amps and the like running on 230V so our toothbrushes get to borrow some of the voltage from the transformers.

Typically. Dessert is religion. Who cares if you get fat?

I'm over 6.3 for sure...

Our litte monitoring packs. See how they socialize.

Our home for five weeks.

C-up, a 7-up rip off (my mother thinks it's called zup). C-up in Swedish means: Look up (as Oscar demonstrates).

Canadian beer with 10.1%. The more north, the worse the alcoholics.

Ketchup chips, a Canadian favourite.

A typical backstage sight.

Soundman Tom Kubic.

Healthy. Green tea and V8.

Fish, backline-tech from Portugal.

Jez, tourmanager.

USA

Little cars to take oversized people around the stores (shops) when they do their shopping.
If you are fat you should be walking instead one might think.

Flu-shot anyone?

Supersized margarita. Must have been 75 cl. Pontus and I hade one eache...cpouldn't even finish them. The were strong as well.

Reese's eggs...never seen them in Europe.
Huge as everything else here.

A shop's sallad-dressing section...oversized.

Oversized onions.

Undersized snow-vehicle.
About a quarter the size we use in Sweden. Then again, we are closer to the pole and have more snow accordingly.

You can get this snow-t-shirt in XXXL. Oversized.
They had some snow lately and this t-shirt was after this.

Good idea: A little coffee set to go.