SOMBER

The End

2009-11-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

So now its over, for this time. South America, we had an AWESOME time and as a final token we want to share some of the moments from the tour with you.

Catch you on the flip side!

/Somber

Cordoba, Rosario and Buenos Aires

2009-11-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

We blazed off into the night, heading down to Cordoba for our next show. We arrived early the next day were less than joyfull when we learnd that we had to drag our luggage six blocks in the burning sun. Though apon arriving at the hotel we found that they supplied two free Street-Fighter arcade machines, and there was much rejoicing (Yayy). Needless to say, all our of time in Cordoba were spent around these two machines. Although we were forced to a quick recess as a sand storm hit the city for about an hour.

After an amazing show at four in the morning in Cordoba(Thanks for the meat!), we spent yet another day with the arcade machines and then contiuned on to Rosario.

When we arrvied in Rosario we were told to wait for the very nice promoter who was fast enough to only let us wait for 2 hours before only calling us and ask us to find cabs ourselfs. The promotor and his very hairy back met up with outside our hotel. Our hotel this time consisted of an awesome top-floor apartment and from there on out, everything changed for the better.

Later that night we had yet another amazing show at four and met up with some really peculiar people(Alla heter Glenn i Göteborg!). Bigs ups to Romina and her friends for showing us such a good time. After a few hours of sleep with took our final bus trip down to Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires was really impressive city and even though the promoter we worked with sucked, we got to stay at the best hostel of the entire tour. Huge thanks to the staff of Hostel Rayuela(Sitt, Luna, Sitt!). After having two Buenos Aires shows cancelled, one of them in La Plata, and whole of Uruguay we managed book a show of our own at a local metal festival.
Having booked the show at the last minute, no one knew we were playing so when we started our first song the room was empty(Except for Stickan and his crew!). Though when we struck the last chord of the show and were forced of the stage, the room had become packed. As this were our last show of the tour we were extremly greatful to have been able to end the tour like this.

Thats it for this year folks! Thanks to all our fans, all the awesome promtors(and a big fuck you to the bad ones!), Daniel aka Stickan, Berzerker, JCs family and the rest of Cali, Zavier, Demonica and family, The Arequipa-crew, the Swiss, the Germans, the Swedes, P & P in Buenos Aires and last but not least, everone we forgott.

Cheers!
/Somber

Carl rejoicing

Pontus and Computer

"Yes, we are all insane!"

Warming up!

Rosario

Rosario

Rosario

"Who? Me? You?"

John dreaming of beauty!

Lets go to HAMMERFEST!

The final adventures of Robin the Roadie!

Buenos Aires

Rockin the Roxy!

"Mmmmm!"

Oruro and the immigration police

2009-10-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

After La Paz my memory is blurry but we somehow made it to Oruro to play our second gig in Bolivia. Everything went well the first hours in the city and we were chilling in our hotel room when we heard a familiar knock.
Outside our door we had not one but four immigration cops. They told us there had been a mistake with our visas and after a few hours we got a call from our tour manager (from the police station where they held him) that we had to leave the country directly or else we were to be deported to Sweden.
"that sucks".
Then they tried tricking us into playing the show anyway by offering some corrupt solution to our problem, but it was so see-through it was ridiculous. They wanted us to pay them money, play the show, get arrested, pay more money and then finaly get deported anyway.

We had to cancel the show in Oruro.

After all this we managed to pull off a good show in Cochabamba (I hope the people that came for the Oruro show got a second chance to see us there). Thanks for a great show and cool "local".
From Cochabamba we went back to Oruro and caught a train going straight to Villazon.

Villazon seemed to be located in a desert, there was sand everywhere. We checked in to the hotel, got drunk and went to a local arcade where we schooled everyone in street fighter.. or maybe we just screamed louder. Either way we had a great time in Villazon until we saw the stage we were supposed to play.
I believe they had put a couple of tables together and then put random pieces of wood on top.. so it was basicly like playing a show on the backs of running cattle. The entire drumkit was moving (even though we had nailed it to the "stage") and if Pontus stepped on the wrong board my drumthrone would tilt and that made for some fun vertical drumming.
After the show we continued having a good time of course and crashed a high school prom (sorry about that one)

The next day: HANGOVER.
Our beloved tourmanager Daniel woke us up at 8am (after 1.3 hours of sleep) and dragged us to the border of Argentina which happened to be 5 blocks away. We stod in line for acouple of hours and got our bags checked throughly. When they were done sniffing our dirty laundry and asking what a drumstick is we made it to our bus just 1 hour late.
7 hours later we arrived in Salta just in time to see the last two bands play their shows before us. The promoters in Salta kicked ass, they were on time, in the right place, had food and everything ready for us. PROPS!
We played a great show in front of a sold-out venue! Great venue, great crowd! Everything was as good as it gets.

Thats all for this update because I have to go get some food.
Have a good time

/John

Step into Pontus Web!

What sweats? The ass sweats!

Pontus and some kid we found

Pan flutes are way bad ass!

The railroad, aint it grand?

Carl making new friends.

The picture says it all...

"Somber, its not just a band. It's a mental institution."

La Paz

2009-10-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

First impression of Bolivia was breath taking, with gigantic wide open scenery from a red van and then shuffled in to the biggest city yet on this tour, La Paz. With skyscrapes, more than one and a half milion people and being located 3600 meter above sea level this city was really something.

Even though all of us nearly fainted just climbing the stairs to the hotel, the show was one of the better ones. We even managed to complete the whole show with only two of us puking on stage. Simply by changing the thin air for thick pumping adrenaline.

Seriously dude....

Carl Hetfield

Pontus Fridèn

Helvete?

"Oooh!"

"Aaah!"

Black and white van ride

Arequipa

2009-10-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

So being pissed of after Huancayo, we arrived in Arequipa. The contrast was massive between the cities to say the least. The most pleasant change would be that Arequipas streets do not smell like human feces. We got a warm welcome from the promoter and Richie and his homies. Also met a couple of Swiss girls and a lumberjack. When we arrived at the venue we got a little disappointed at the stage and equipment, we made it work thou and the show was kick in the hella fucking balls awesome. The crowd was insane, a little to insane it turned out. Our friend and roadie Robin got hit in the head by some blunt object and needed medical attention.
After the show we had to visit a couple of hospitals only to find he made it back to the hotel on his own. A drunk swede is a bad swede in Arequipa, but thanks to the alcohol we met a Finish dude who really (like we) knew how to drink, so we managed to get thrown out of every bar we went to. We also picked a fight with a 50 year old American who was looking for Peruvian prostîtutes. In the end he realized his American Awesomeness could not be matched to the Swedish one times 5 so he ran away. In the end our stay in Arequipa has been one of the better and we would like to return.

The male version of Madonna

Grown men doing stuff together 1

Grown men doing stuff together 2

Grown men doing stuff together 3

Everyday gore in Peru

"Just stich me up! What am I trying to do? I´m trying to survive, motherfucker!"

Pontus getting friendly with the crowd

John, Boom Boom Boom

Proof of life

Poncho party

Lima and Huancayo(Peru)

2009-10-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

So the insanity took us over the border and into Peru. Climbing up the mountains the air started to become even thinner and increasingly harder to breath.
We touched base in the capital of Peru, Lima only to find that the very friendly promoter had checked us in to the largest "whore hotel" in the entire city. So both our nights in Peru we had to fall asleep to the sound of a large number of happy couples doing the vertical limbo.

But even though the weather was cold, the hotel was a whore house and we could not breath, the actual shows was amazing. Thousands of people in down town Peru gave us a royal welcome and the whole experience was just kick ass all around. After the show we were escorted by our highly professional coked-up bodyguards to the hotel and after a few hours of sleep we got on the bus to Huancayo.

Huancayo was/is total bullshit. The promoter was this little fuck-wad who tried to rip us off and he put us up in a really shitty hotel. On the day of the show we all got really sick and I´m sure it was quite a sight watching us all hurl our asses off backstage. There is really nothing else to say about that show. We played, flipped the promoter off and left town. Next stop Arequipa.....

"And would make a cute couple."

Lima Hellfest 09, watch it go

Random photo session with unknown girl

The Beatles 2009, but not really

Daniel, right before he broke his bed

Drinking with the crowd

Alive

2009-10-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

To all people following the Black Machine South American blog.
We have been lifting every stone in Bolovia to find the internet.

A big update will be published soon.

Greetings friends and foes!

2009-09-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Repeating apologies for the lack of updates. Life in the fast lane has a nack for making "computer" a bit of a short stop. So we left Pereira in triumph and headed down to Cali and stayed with the ever so generous guys from Berzerker(Huge props goes out to Juan Carlos family for feeding and housing us all.). Cali was a most excellent place and we even got to defend our nations soccer-"pride" in a intense soccer game, which we naturally won with 8 to 2. After our blazing victory we continued to enjoy a couple of days off and then it was of to Ibarra, Ecuador.

Ibarra offered an extremely fast pasted schedule; arrive, eat, shower, play, leave. The show was incredible! None of us were headsmart enough to count all the crazy headbanger but we were told that there was around 5000 people there to see us. So despite a few technical problems, the show was simply amazing.
After the show we took a gloomy farewell of Berzerker as their part of the tour ended in Ibarra. We proceeded to march on to Cuenca for yet another amazing show, more really cool people and even more alco-drenched mischiefs. Unfortunately we learned that all four of us has become sick as dogs and we are all currently on medication. Big thanks to Cecibel and all you guys in Cuenca.

So a Somber amped on antibiotics arrived in Loha for rushed show and a asshole promoter that tried to rip us off but all he got was a middle finger and, when he eventually paid, an awesome show. The crowd was awesome, so awesome that the cops had to show up break up a number of fights. So right now we just crossed the border into Peru and are loading of for Lima Hellfest.
Fever, infections, flem, nothing stops the Black Machine.

Life in the fast lane, Surely make you lose your mind

Cheers, for now
/Carl - Somber

Water violence in Cali

Sir Eric von Berzerker

Boarder jumping in Ecuador

Crowd rage in Ibarra, Ecuador

Carl! Pose!

The new amazing adventours of Robin the Roadie

Bear getting his bass pimped out

The mighty amp that the basterd promoter of Loha provided.

The 14th of september.

2009-09-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!
We know we havent updated the blogg in a while and for that we are sorry. Also found a local Swede here in pereira, nice to meet a friendly face. Anyhow, the last 4 days have been full with beer, whiskey, sweat, shows and parties. The worst part is the 7-18 hour bussrides in between the gigs and the best parts is every cold-related product (AC,Pools etc). The audience wants to mosh and we deliver a 100% mosh friendly show. The arrangers of the shows treats us nice as we them, and soon its time for a week to recover, do some laudry and... drink.. more.. i guess.

We all are well and really thrive with the people and sharing their culture with ours.

Hope you all are fine, your sincerely
Bjorn "the Bear" Rehnqvist

Juan Carlos (Berzeker) baptized

Bucaramanga mayhem!

Carl in Pereira

National TV interview after the show. (Video killed the radio star)

John in the spotlight

Cesar(Berzeker) mounts the Bear

The amazing adventures of Robin the Roadie

"In case of groupie, use this hotel"

Arriving in Colombia

2009-09-10T11:29:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Colombia yesterday after 6 hours on the really, really tiny roads they have here in the mountains. We waited for ten minutes at the terminal and went straight to a radio station and got interviewed on the show "Spiritual hammer".
Then finaly after 22 hours without food we had some really good local cuisine. We were planning to go to bed right after eating but ended up drinking all night with the guys from the radio show. Good times!
Today we have been told that some sighteseeing will take place and something about drinking hot chocolate. I have no idea what that is all about, I guess we will find out.

So far the tour is going great but we still havnt got used to it because of the gaps between gigs. But soon we´ll be playing several nights in a row, im looking forward to it. It will be brutal.
We also found out that some dates had been changed on our tour schedule and our next show is this saturday in Bucaramanga.

Pictures from the trip will be posted here later today or tomorrow. Some technical issues with the computers as usual.

Yes, the blog is now in English due to requests and acouple sexual threats (true story, kinda creepy ;).

/John

Fueling up colombian stylee

Vroom vroom!

Inhaling fumes..

Pontus, King of the Jungle

Spiritual Hammer Radio.

Spiritual Hammer Radio.

Señor Borroza, señor Red Label & señor Pontus..

2009-09-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

Vi och våra turnéledare i Venezuela. Zavier och Domenica.

2009-09-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

Venesuela behandlar oss väl

Nu bär det av till Colombia, på återseende!

2009-09-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Barquisimeto!

2009-09-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

God morgon!
Igår så åkte vi från Caracas till Barquisimeto där vi ska köra första spelningen på turnén (söndag).

När vi kom fram klockan 05.xx så möttes vi av en mycket udda syn, utanför polisstationen där vi gick ur taxin stod det ca 10 tjejer och dansade till skithög musik som pumpades ur deras bil. Tyckte detta var konstigt tills vi märkte att barnen fortfarande var ute och lekte på lekplatserna och grillarna var fortfarande igång utanför husen. Fest över hela stället.
"It is friday", säger vår guide.
Sen blev vi erbjudna att gå och äta kyckling.

Allt flyter på som planerat förutom diverse solskyddskrämer som inte fungerar. Något som kommer synas på bilderna!
Bilderna kommer när vi har hittat en vettig dator.

Har lärt oss att man inte ska lägga i en snus framför militären/polisen (frågade var skillnaden var för befolkningen och vår guide skakade bara på huvudet) för att de lätt misstar det för någon tyngre drog och då kan bestämma sig att de vill ha dina pengar. På flygplatsen så undrade jag varför mynningen på Ak47:an, som jag stod och beundrade, lätt började peka åt mitt håll när jag tog fram dosan. Pjuh!

Nu ska jag försöka banka liv i Pontus som ligger och sover så sött här brevid. Sen blir det frukost, öl och lite sightseeing.
Ha det gött tills nästa gång.

/John

2009-09-04T04:55:00.001-07:00

Nu har vi anlänt i Venuzuela, det är så varmt att vi lir tvunga att spendera första dagen på stranden med parasoldrinkar, vi lider verkligen :)

Nu jävlar!

2009-09-02T12:07:00.001-07:00

Nu jävlar! Det är dags för avfärd till syrligtskräckinjagande och helt livsfarligt exotiska, Sydamerika. Start på Sombers Sydamerika turné, The Black Machine.

Inte en sekund försent.