your welcome! I had a very short day today at school so I typed the second part (and final) for you. Have fun! (Oh yeah, and sorry again if there are some typo's)
According to Alexi Laiho, getting flown around the world to play metal and drink, basically, is the only life hes accustomed to or wants. That might explain his gung-ho attitude today (he rustled himself from bed for the interview this afternoon and kicked the rest of his bandmates out of bed for the shoot when word came down from the label that they wouldnt be available.), or the fact that hes still alive. Read that again. Sure hes ready to say things like: This is hard sometimes but this is what we do, and of course Im still loving it. Its all based on this love for music, really. Of course I dont get to see my girlfriend that much but thats healthy for our relationship, shed get sick of me otherwise. But theres more to it.
Laiho explains that despite Children of Bodoms recent jaunt on Ozzfest, the magnetic allure of moving to the States still isnt strong enough or justifiable considering his experiences there. I dont even know how to but into words, he says, laughing. LA is basically lots of drinking and a lot of illegal substances, but its really down to me. A couple of years ago I had a fucking cast on my arm because I broke my wrist a couple of weeks before I was out there. We were just done touring for the Hate Crew Deathroll album, and we got back to Finland and we were out partying with some friends of ours but I thought it was a really good idea to climb on top of a car, slipped, and smacked my head on the concrete. I had a black eye and had to have a cast on for seven weeks. I just thought to myself, Ive fucked up. And he had. But for Alexi laiho the prospect of sitting around in a hotel room when he should have been writing the songs for what would eventually become 2005s Are You Dead Yet? was a crushing experience and saw a period of debauchery the likes of which hed scarcely experienced before. It was insane, he says: I was supposed to be on a magazine cover with Zakk Wylde. I couldnt say no so I just got up there with a cast on my arm and they made the black eye look good, and I spent the rest of the time just getting fucked up. Id go out to eat at the Rainbow and before I had a fork in my mouth Id have five Bloody Marys in me. I was there for two weeks and it was the craziest two weeks Id ever had in my life. If I moved to LA, Id be dead in six months. But I was feeling truly shitty about not being able to play. I put me in this really dark mood because even though I was doing OK I was kind of worried I was going to lose everything. Besides, Ive got the whole Nordic thing going. I need piles of snow and the trees and nature and all of that.
He isnt being dramatic. Laihos upbringing may have been a progressively-minded one, but his childhood was far from idyllic, and though hes vague on the particulars, one thing is certain: Alexi Laiho has seen far worse days than today, hangover and all. All it takes is asking whether he recognised as a celebrity back in Helsinki to elicit: Im a very different person from who I was when I was 18-years-old. Thats a good thing. Howe come? Well Im not a bitter person and people change always. Sure, people know who I am. Thats an odd response. What happened to make you bitter? I was just fucked in the head when I was younger, really bad. Im feeling OK nowadays, Im not depressed or feeling suicidal but thats how I used to be. Im on much better terms with my parents and my sister. At least now Ive done something that my parents can be proud of.
Therein lies the soul of Laihos ambition-not fame, or fortune, or
OK he wants those things too, but as he describes, its an overriding sense of guilt over his past difficulties that motivates him to try as hard as he does. As he confesses: I still feel like I need to pay them back because I was such a fucking asshole to them. Just causing a lot of grief and shit. That happens to a lot of people. So what, you were rebellious? Uh no, he says, looking slightly embarrassed at the suggestion. I had more than the usual negative outlook. I was cutting myself every night, he says with the kind of casualness with which most people would reveal they once had a mullet. Hes fumbling with his bracelets again, where scars-the kind cut so deep they protrude from your skin like dried wax- blanket his left arm and give the bracelets something to slide less smoothly on. Really it was a long time ago but the scars are still there. Its a shitty thing to do, because your Moms worrying about you and you just flip her off and say fuck everything and start cutting yourself. Its just a shitty thing to do. What happened? A lot of shit. It was just trouble, he says perhaps wanting to avoid specifics or the reopening of old wounds. One thing just leads to another, and shit just started happening and it was one of those situations where you either get better or you dont. I still get angry but Im not cutting anymore. I got put in a hospital a few times, and one time I just decided that I never wanted to feel that way again. It took awhile, but its the sort of thing where you just have to want to get better. You just dwell on some things and you just make it a lot worse, but you get inspiration from it too. Its the music that got me through.
And with that hes off to play another night at yet another Wacken festival. The band he formed in 1993 will go down a storm, but if he sweats a little harder and seems a little more determined to summon horns from the crowd, then its fair to say he has good reason to, because Alexi Laiho doesnt owe the fans but the music itself for the fact that hes still around today. The smile on his face as he strides off into the crowd for a pre-gig warm-up says that he doesnt mind working hard one bit.
. That was interesting to read that he said that.
