I am not sure if there ever was a thread like this, but if not, I think its time to translate all Finnish interviews! All translations will be in THIS SAME post.
Instructions: If you have a video etc. that has an interview in some form, post it here, and it WILL be translated.
Kuuden kielen maistereita: Alexi Laiho (Made by skebaa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAIVHZBWb5o
Are there any music taste changes coming ?
"Not right now I think, but I've always played all kind of music because I've been at "Ogel" (some music school) and I've had to play really different stuff there for example Jazz and Bossanova. But it's not my thing right now, but I don't know what I'll do 10 years later, or if I'll do anything though but we'll see it then. But right now this is in my heart, the music, this is what I want to do. And if I get to do it for living, then it's just perfect."
Where does your nickname Wildchild come from?
"Well, it just comes from my life outside music..."
Do you have some totally different interests or hobbies that you like to do outside music?
"Not really. Everything I do concerns music somehow. I don't do anything else and I don't even want to because nothing else is interesting. You know I have 3 bands and if there is some situation where I have to choose between them, I always choose Bodom because that's the band that I'm the main composer in and so on."
What do you think you are more, a songwriter or a guitarist?
"A guitarist maybe, but a songwriter too, because that's what I also do all the time, writing all songs for Bodom. But of course I'd like people to think I'm a guitarist than a songwriter, because I don't think that I'm some sort of "big composer" if you know what i mean?"
From about last summer to this point, I have probably practiced more than ever. So I have noticed, like "Damn, I probably couldn't have played this a year ago". For example if I compare my playing to our first CD, it has got nothing to do with what I played there. And back then I couldn't have played the solos that I now play.
*this next bit came some seconds later*
"I try to develop my technique and keep everything as clean as I can. I know my limits and speedlimits and I never try to do something that I'm not capable of because it just doesn't make any sense. For example there are a lot of guitarists that have good ideas in their heads but the technique is pretty bad you know. For example when I had been playing guitar for like two or three years I was constantly trying to play everything as fast as possible and the endresult sounded crap due to it. So, I didn't understand then that if I played slower stuff I would sound better. But it was just one phase that I had to go through at some point."
What would happen if you had to stop playing?
"A suicide."
Ouch! Why is that?
"I just couldn't live without music or playing guitar and that's the truth. Like if my arms were cut off or even if I got a lot of money or whatever I still couldn't live. Music and playing is the thing that I wanna do and I don't wanna do anything else. And I know that I could never have anything that I like as much as music. So a suicide would be the only option"
How lonely is it to play this much?
"I wouldn't say that I'm a really solitary man or anything but if you have that certain will to play you just have to abandon some things. But then again. the more you play the more you get to know your guitar. It's true that you start to develop like a personal relationship with the guitar. And when i have the feeling that everything is shit and nothing works out, at least i know that the guitar wont hurt me. So i've slept with my guitar a few times stroking it under the blanket" [laughs]
What kind of things have you had to leave behind for playing?
"Some social things... Not necessarily because of guitar playing but mostly because of the band I've had to abandon some friends. Like i've had some days when I would've wanted to go drinking or something like that but I knew that there is some important recording coming so i couldn't go anywhere because i had to practise... Those are just small things but they can piss you off at times though. But after all the work is worth it."
What does it feel like to know that young kids consider you an influence?
"It feels really irrational because i can consider me a person who takes influences instead of giving them, so it feels really strange. But on the other hand those praising comments just prove it that all this work wasn't useless. I mean at least i've achieved something and it feels great of course. But like i said i cant comprehend these praising kids though"
What's your biggest dream as a player?
"If we are talking about dreams that will never come true it would be playing in Ozzy Osbourne's band"
Yle Live: Children Of Bodom in Nosturi, Helsinki, 2005 (Made by Jesse-) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4713358546816611966
*At the beginning of the video*
Alexi: Well of course there is always the certain excitement when playing in our hometown, like some kind of small pressure. Sure, this is a smaller club when compared to some clubs in Tokyo for example, but still there is always the certain thought like "Damn, I wonder if this gig goes well". I don't know, its just always here in Helsinki the same little pressure.
Roope: Yeah, its so easy to pull a gig in Tokyo or where ever, because you don't know the audience. For example if there is a rockpolice in the audience.. Its just that there are so many friends or familiar guys and rockpolices in the audience. [laughs]
Alexi: Thats about the only people we have in the audience.
Roope: So that creates pressure to it and keeps a little excitement in this thing.
*After Angels Don't Kill*
Roope: It was kind of brutal when I joined the band, our first gig was sold-out in Moscow, around 1000 people and I had to learn 17 songs. But I think I handled it... little pressure was in the air.
Alexi: Yeah it went well.
Roope: Maybe, maybe... The songs have started to grow to my head now. And every now and then I start to develop some small licks here and there...
Alexi: Yeah I have noticed that in some songs you have played little differently, or you have added your own little thing there that fits really well.
Roope: And then you lock on to some thing and after 20 gigs you have developed that to some point again. They live their own life while touring and playing.
*After Hate Crew Deathroll*
Alexi: Well, there are some things in songs where I just have to put my foot to the speaker and guitar to my foot like this. And then my hand to this fucking spider position so I can play them. For example Punch Me I Bleed, which is actually the first time we play it live, where the playing goes pretty damn high.
Roope: Probably one of the succesful things in this band is that there are a lot of sharp solos, and the playing flows really well and it is also technical. And it really fascinated me when I was a kid, and it still is interesting. Guitar magazines and guitars are still moving from stores to me.
Alexi: I did notice back then, the 80's were full of these amazing guitar gods. But then all of a sudden this Seattle thing came out of nowhere, all these Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and after that the guitar solos just started to disappear. The nu-metal thing basically had no solos at all. But now I have noticed that it has started to come back, like people have missed them. For example the bigger bands, like Slipknot, they have guitar solos in their latest album. The latest Disturbed album has solos, and I think the next Korn album should have solos. Especially when touring in the US, people have come to say to us like "Thanks for bringing back guitar solos back to the metal scene". But I don't think we can take the credit for it. But it just proves that people has missed the solos, because I think that it is part of metal.
*After Chokehold*
Alexi: I don't think that this our kind of extreme metal group has never been on the Top-lists before, but its a really good thing. It also opens other peoples minds, and other bands have a better chance to get to Top 1. Like its not as terrible as people think.
Roope: Yeah, and it also proves that little fact that Finland is a heavy country. All hail heavydudes! [laughs]
Yle Farmi: Jaska Raatikainen - Drum School (Made by Jesse-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmLOZ6lpVPs
So I start playing now, and then I explain what I do?
- Yeah
Okay. We're gonna start with a really simple doublebass beat.
I started playing when I was in sixth grade, basically after I came to a new school. Drums were in the classroom, and I just got excited about it and here I am now. It was about 13 years ago.
Probably Metallica's drummer was one influence back then. After that I began listening to more heavier music, like Sepultura, and things just started to roll after that and I started to search for different kind of drummers.
*Doublepedal demonstration*
So as you can see, the hit starts from the bottom of the pedal, and definetly not from the top. Because if you play it using the top of the pedal, the movement has to make a wider track for the hit to be produced.
I actually had double pedals before I had a drumset. I bought it with my confirmation school money. I just had to get the pedals, if I would go practice somewhere for example, so they were easy to carry with me. It has just stayed from those times, so I have never played with two bassdrums, always doubepedals.
You can find the ideas for playing drums by listening to a lot of different music styles and drummers. Even if it was pop, jazz, metal, rock, punk or whatever, you can always find something there that supports your own thing.
I try to practice every day for at least a couple of hours by myself. Depending if there is upcoming recordings I might practice 3 hours per day plus the band rehearsals.
I'd like to become a metal drummer. It still is the thing where I can mostly satisfy myself. But I do listen to quite a lot for example jazz and jazzdrummers, you can actually get a lot of things from there, to metal also, even though you might not believe that.
And always remember to wear ear plugs!
Instructions: If you have a video etc. that has an interview in some form, post it here, and it WILL be translated.
Kuuden kielen maistereita: Alexi Laiho (Made by skebaa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAIVHZBWb5o
Are there any music taste changes coming ?
"Not right now I think, but I've always played all kind of music because I've been at "Ogel" (some music school) and I've had to play really different stuff there for example Jazz and Bossanova. But it's not my thing right now, but I don't know what I'll do 10 years later, or if I'll do anything though but we'll see it then. But right now this is in my heart, the music, this is what I want to do. And if I get to do it for living, then it's just perfect."
Where does your nickname Wildchild come from?
"Well, it just comes from my life outside music..."
Do you have some totally different interests or hobbies that you like to do outside music?
"Not really. Everything I do concerns music somehow. I don't do anything else and I don't even want to because nothing else is interesting. You know I have 3 bands and if there is some situation where I have to choose between them, I always choose Bodom because that's the band that I'm the main composer in and so on."
What do you think you are more, a songwriter or a guitarist?
"A guitarist maybe, but a songwriter too, because that's what I also do all the time, writing all songs for Bodom. But of course I'd like people to think I'm a guitarist than a songwriter, because I don't think that I'm some sort of "big composer" if you know what i mean?"
From about last summer to this point, I have probably practiced more than ever. So I have noticed, like "Damn, I probably couldn't have played this a year ago". For example if I compare my playing to our first CD, it has got nothing to do with what I played there. And back then I couldn't have played the solos that I now play.
*this next bit came some seconds later*
"I try to develop my technique and keep everything as clean as I can. I know my limits and speedlimits and I never try to do something that I'm not capable of because it just doesn't make any sense. For example there are a lot of guitarists that have good ideas in their heads but the technique is pretty bad you know. For example when I had been playing guitar for like two or three years I was constantly trying to play everything as fast as possible and the endresult sounded crap due to it. So, I didn't understand then that if I played slower stuff I would sound better. But it was just one phase that I had to go through at some point."
What would happen if you had to stop playing?
"A suicide."
Ouch! Why is that?
"I just couldn't live without music or playing guitar and that's the truth. Like if my arms were cut off or even if I got a lot of money or whatever I still couldn't live. Music and playing is the thing that I wanna do and I don't wanna do anything else. And I know that I could never have anything that I like as much as music. So a suicide would be the only option"
How lonely is it to play this much?
"I wouldn't say that I'm a really solitary man or anything but if you have that certain will to play you just have to abandon some things. But then again. the more you play the more you get to know your guitar. It's true that you start to develop like a personal relationship with the guitar. And when i have the feeling that everything is shit and nothing works out, at least i know that the guitar wont hurt me. So i've slept with my guitar a few times stroking it under the blanket" [laughs]
What kind of things have you had to leave behind for playing?
"Some social things... Not necessarily because of guitar playing but mostly because of the band I've had to abandon some friends. Like i've had some days when I would've wanted to go drinking or something like that but I knew that there is some important recording coming so i couldn't go anywhere because i had to practise... Those are just small things but they can piss you off at times though. But after all the work is worth it."
What does it feel like to know that young kids consider you an influence?
"It feels really irrational because i can consider me a person who takes influences instead of giving them, so it feels really strange. But on the other hand those praising comments just prove it that all this work wasn't useless. I mean at least i've achieved something and it feels great of course. But like i said i cant comprehend these praising kids though"
What's your biggest dream as a player?
"If we are talking about dreams that will never come true it would be playing in Ozzy Osbourne's band"
Yle Live: Children Of Bodom in Nosturi, Helsinki, 2005 (Made by Jesse-) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4713358546816611966
*At the beginning of the video*
Alexi: Well of course there is always the certain excitement when playing in our hometown, like some kind of small pressure. Sure, this is a smaller club when compared to some clubs in Tokyo for example, but still there is always the certain thought like "Damn, I wonder if this gig goes well". I don't know, its just always here in Helsinki the same little pressure.
Roope: Yeah, its so easy to pull a gig in Tokyo or where ever, because you don't know the audience. For example if there is a rockpolice in the audience.. Its just that there are so many friends or familiar guys and rockpolices in the audience. [laughs]
Alexi: Thats about the only people we have in the audience.
Roope: So that creates pressure to it and keeps a little excitement in this thing.
*After Angels Don't Kill*
Roope: It was kind of brutal when I joined the band, our first gig was sold-out in Moscow, around 1000 people and I had to learn 17 songs. But I think I handled it... little pressure was in the air.
Alexi: Yeah it went well.
Roope: Maybe, maybe... The songs have started to grow to my head now. And every now and then I start to develop some small licks here and there...
Alexi: Yeah I have noticed that in some songs you have played little differently, or you have added your own little thing there that fits really well.
Roope: And then you lock on to some thing and after 20 gigs you have developed that to some point again. They live their own life while touring and playing.
*After Hate Crew Deathroll*
Alexi: Well, there are some things in songs where I just have to put my foot to the speaker and guitar to my foot like this. And then my hand to this fucking spider position so I can play them. For example Punch Me I Bleed, which is actually the first time we play it live, where the playing goes pretty damn high.
Roope: Probably one of the succesful things in this band is that there are a lot of sharp solos, and the playing flows really well and it is also technical. And it really fascinated me when I was a kid, and it still is interesting. Guitar magazines and guitars are still moving from stores to me.
Alexi: I did notice back then, the 80's were full of these amazing guitar gods. But then all of a sudden this Seattle thing came out of nowhere, all these Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and after that the guitar solos just started to disappear. The nu-metal thing basically had no solos at all. But now I have noticed that it has started to come back, like people have missed them. For example the bigger bands, like Slipknot, they have guitar solos in their latest album. The latest Disturbed album has solos, and I think the next Korn album should have solos. Especially when touring in the US, people have come to say to us like "Thanks for bringing back guitar solos back to the metal scene". But I don't think we can take the credit for it. But it just proves that people has missed the solos, because I think that it is part of metal.
*After Chokehold*
Alexi: I don't think that this our kind of extreme metal group has never been on the Top-lists before, but its a really good thing. It also opens other peoples minds, and other bands have a better chance to get to Top 1. Like its not as terrible as people think.
Roope: Yeah, and it also proves that little fact that Finland is a heavy country. All hail heavydudes! [laughs]
Yle Farmi: Jaska Raatikainen - Drum School (Made by Jesse-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmLOZ6lpVPs
So I start playing now, and then I explain what I do?
- Yeah
Okay. We're gonna start with a really simple doublebass beat.
I started playing when I was in sixth grade, basically after I came to a new school. Drums were in the classroom, and I just got excited about it and here I am now. It was about 13 years ago.
Probably Metallica's drummer was one influence back then. After that I began listening to more heavier music, like Sepultura, and things just started to roll after that and I started to search for different kind of drummers.
*Doublepedal demonstration*
So as you can see, the hit starts from the bottom of the pedal, and definetly not from the top. Because if you play it using the top of the pedal, the movement has to make a wider track for the hit to be produced.
I actually had double pedals before I had a drumset. I bought it with my confirmation school money. I just had to get the pedals, if I would go practice somewhere for example, so they were easy to carry with me. It has just stayed from those times, so I have never played with two bassdrums, always doubepedals.
You can find the ideas for playing drums by listening to a lot of different music styles and drummers. Even if it was pop, jazz, metal, rock, punk or whatever, you can always find something there that supports your own thing.
I try to practice every day for at least a couple of hours by myself. Depending if there is upcoming recordings I might practice 3 hours per day plus the band rehearsals.
I'd like to become a metal drummer. It still is the thing where I can mostly satisfy myself. But I do listen to quite a lot for example jazz and jazzdrummers, you can actually get a lot of things from there, to metal also, even though you might not believe that.
And always remember to wear ear plugs!
![-[chop]-](/data/avatars/l/58/58705.jpg?1354360086){kind=avatar}
)
