"We have a long road ahead of us," writes Amon Amarth vocalist Johan Hegg in his guest blog, echoing the words of countless pundits who have weighed in on the world's economic crisis.
But wait, Hegg's not talking abound failing banks or floundering democracies, he's discussing the thorny path his band is taking to conquering Middle Earth and beyond. The Thunder God roars, now, listen up. Click "more" to read what Hegg says about tearing apart towns and villages and living the dream.
We’ve just come off our first tour supporting our new album “Twilight of the Thunder God” in North America, and now we’re back on the road only a week later supporting Slayer on the European leg of the Unholy Alliance. But this is just the start of our touring season.
When you look at the schedule ahead of us it’s almost daunting, and you can’t help to feel a bit overwhelmed.
It’s hard to imagine that only a few years ago we were still holding down full time jobs and having to use our vacations to do tours. How we managed to do that and not get fired is anybody’s guess, but we must have been very fortunate to have understanding bosses. It was tough, though, and we sometimes would up coming straight off tour and going back to work the next day, hardly sober from the end-of-tour-party. Needless to say it was also tough on our families.
Those days are behind us now, though. We’re able to make a living off the music, and we don’t need to drive trucks, work as house painters or carpenters, but I think it’s important to remember where we come from. We’ve worked hard to get to where we are, but we are also very fortunate to have made it this far. We’re living the life a lot of people can only dream about, and I think it’s important to remember that -- especially when you feel tired on the road or when fans approach you wanting to take a picture or get an autograph. After all, it’s these people, people we meet down that long road that we have ahead of us, that make it possible for us to live our dream. They deserve a minute or two of our time.
Check out our podcast interview with Hegg.
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