And one Umeå resident’s hobby may just be the most creative of them all.
Meet Dynamite Erik, who as his name suggests, likes to blow things up for his own enjoyment. Before uploading videos of the explosions to YouTube for the entertainment of others.
One video of the explosives expert detonating a home computer already has 700,000 views after only two weeks of being online. “Who doesn’t want to blow up a computer?” he remarked when talking to The Local.
Another video shows him blowing a row of hay bales apart as a birthday tribute to his friend, something Erik described in simple terms as “taking worthless hay, worthless dynamite, and having really good fun”.
The passion stems from Erik’s childhood, and he’s certainly no amateur. In fact, Dynamite Erik has a family history of working with explosives.
“I’ve worked professionally with dynamite since I was 15,” he explained. “I always liked to blow things up. My uncle worked with explosives, and for me it started with using fireworks to blow up toy cars when I was six.”
The farmer said that a big part of the thrill is the unpredictability. Which is exactly why safety is so important.
“The thing about blowing things up is you think it will go one way, but you never know until you push the button. It’s really important that you take care of the risks because if you hurt someone, it’s over,” he warned. “The best customer is one that survives.”
Dynamite Erik has already planned his next big spectacle, and it’s one that will likely strike a chord with festival-goers everywhere.
“This week we’re gonna blow up a portable toilet,” he laughs. “I have friends who work with them, it’s broken, so what do you do with it? You blow it up.”
His ambitions don’t stop there however. In the future he plans on blowing up a transport method that is almost sacred during the cold winters in the far north of Sweden.
“I blew up a car once,” he noted. “But this summer we’re going to blow up a snowmobile!”
You can watch Dynamite Erik blowing more things up at his official Youtube channel.
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