OPETH Mainman: Everybody On This Tour Is, Like, 'Super-Cool'

OPETH frontman Mikael kerfeldt has issued the following update from the Progressive Nation 2008 Tour, which also features DREAM THEATER, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and 3:

"The final countdown! Hey, good people! We're in Columbus, Ohio right now. Nice weather, shitty food, smelly bus but everything's alright. We're having a blast, actually. It's a very nice tour. Our first with Fredrik [kesson, guitar] and we're hanging out all of us every night! Not partying, but sipping wine and eating them scary wheat thins...basically we're slaves to them now. I tell you...we are happy!

"DREAM THEATER are taking good care of us and the shows have been great... most, if not all of them. Done a few headlining shows as well and what can I say?!... I have missed it! A lot! We played Pittsburgh last night in a sweaty club and it was fucking ROCK! Loved it!

"We were approached by iTunes to record a few songs live as a mixed band consisting of OPETH and DREAM THEATER members but it all fell through. Would have been cool, but whatever...

"[DREAM THEATER drummer Mike] Portnoy is so cool to us. He hangs with us and we talk pretty much every day. Extremely cool guy! All of them seem great, but I haven't really talked that much to the other guys. Well, James [LaBrie, vocals] and I talk a little and he's super-nice as well! Either way, this tour is cool! The guys in 3 and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME are also super-cool down-to-earth guys and good bands!

"I miss home but Skype allows me to talk to my wife and my daughters every day, and to be able to hear their voices and even see them makes this so much easier for me.

"And 'Watershed' [the new OPETH album] is coming soon!! I'm excited to see what you guys will think of it, even though I guess some have already heard it. Do allow a lot of time to let it sink in. There's a lot of stuff going on there.

"I forgot to mention that I recorded a version of the song 'Porcelain Heart' done with mellotrons and moogs, so I re-dubbed it 'Mellotron Heart'. Roadrunner printed up a few thousand copies but it will be very limited. I think you can only get it if you buy the album through a certain website but I can't remember which one it was. It's a pretty cool and very dark spooky version actually. I will get back to you on that, OK?

"OK, I'm back to doin' nothing now, so please excuse me, will ya?"

OPETH will be IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson's guests on Friday, May 30 during Bruce's weekly BBC 6 Music radio show, aptly named "The Bruce Dickinson Friday Rock Show". Listen to the program live via the Internet between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. U.K. time at BBC.co.uk.

OPETH's new album, "Watershed", is scheduled for release on June 3 via Roadrunner Records (one day earlier internationally). The CD, recorded in the band's native Sweden and produced by frontman/guitarist Mikael kerfeldt and Jens Bogren, is a masterwork that follows the time-honored OPETH tradition; its modern yet timeless, progressive yet paying homage to the sounds of classic rock.