"Quorthon and Boss came to Los Angeles and we arranged several photo sessions. One of them has become particularly famous. It shows Quorthon breathing fire, and photos from that session have been published in a number of magazines, including Kerrang! It may have given Bathory more publicity than any other act."
- Ann Boleyn, founder of New Renaissance Records - Sweden Rock magazine #1 (2015).
During a photo session in Los Angeles, Quorthon and co. almost got picked up by the police when a neighbour saw flames rising up in the sky at the top of the building they were at. Fortunately, Quorthon and the others made a getaway.
"When we were going to conduct that session, we realized that it would be risky to do it in our warehouse at New Renaissance. It was just over seven feet [6 m] high and we were afraid it would be set on fire, so we went to our corporate manager Janie Hill's apartment in north Hollywood. We stepped out on the roof of the office building together with the photographer to arrange the photo session. Quorthon breathed fire and the amount of fire he produced was so colossal that the neighbors thought the whole building was on fire. After a while, we saw ten to twelve fire trucks driving to the building, together with the police. Then we realized that they got there because of Quorthon and his fire. We literally rushed out of the building as fast as we could out of fear of being chased by the fire brigade and the police."
- Ann Boleyn - Sweden Rock Magazine #1 (2015).
A picture from this session can be seen on the back of the "Blood Fire Death" picture disc.
"I wasn't actually put in jail. It was our camera man who wanted me to blow fire on top of this building. When we got up there I started breathing fire and someone of the 16th floor called the police department and the fire department. Luckily enough for us we managed to get away before they showed up. I did have some problems with the police afterwards but I wasn't put in jail."
- Quorthon - Morbid magazine vol.3 #4 (1988).
"After New York we went to Los Angeles. Ace did a photo shoot where he stood on a roof and breathed fire. All of a sudden we saw sirens from both police cars and fire trucks so we had to quickly run down the spiral stairs and escape."
- Börje Forsberg - Sweden Rock magazine #1 (2015).
This incident isn't the only one where Quorthon nearly got into trouble with the police. Problems arose immediately after his arrival to JFK airport in New York back in 1987; at the airport, a large ox bone that Quorthon had brought along for photo sessions was spotted poking out from his hand luggage. This item, added to his standard studs and leather outfit and signature chicken bone necklace, did not amuse United States customs agents.
"It took me half an hour to talk our way out of that one. They must've finally accepted our story, because we were allowed in, with bones and everything."
- Börje Forsberg - Blood Fire Death book by Ika Johanesson.
"Ace had a good sense of humor. He could be very sarcastic, so we had a hell of a lot of fun together. I remember when we were going to the USA from Finland in 1987 for promotion and landed at JFK airport in New York. When we passed through the market hall in Helsinki prior to that, Ace saw some real beef bones in the meat counter and he decided on purchasing some immediately. He had the idea to use them in one of his photo sessions. They were so big that they could not fit in any of our bags without them sticking out, but we still managed to get them on the plane. However, we were stopped immediately when we landed. For half an hour, I tried to explain the situation and showed press clippings to get us through. They ended up taking us by the hand and one of the customs said he had to at least listen to one of Ace's records."
- Börje Forsberg - Sweden Rock magazine #1 (2015).
The ox bone also got them on the verge of trouble shortly before their departure from the airport. Already running late, they were in quite a hurry when the girl carrying one of Quorthon's bags tripped and fell, and the ox bone went flying out of the bag with a bunch of other belongings. According to Quorthon, one of the security dogs started chewing on the bone and the chains and leather in his bag scared a few people away.
"The night before we were to fly home, we partied at the home of some of the girls who worked for the record company 'New Renaissance Records', which distributed Bathory at the time. There was quite a lot of drinking, talking and laughing during the night before we suddenly realized that we had to hurry to get to the airport. One of the girls drove us and she was kind enough to carry Ace's bag, but she stumbled when one of her high heels broke and fell down, so the ox bone flew out hurriedly across the terminal floor. What looks we got! People took a few steps back."
- Börje Forsberg - Sweden Rock magazine #1 (2015).
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