COB Interviews
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Ok folks, here it is. Sorry, again, for all the grammar errors and weird word choices etc etc. I guess it's useless to hope that Alexi would at least once use words that are easy to translate from Finnish to English. Also, I still hate English prepositions. Anyway, hope you enjoy the interview 
The hardworking reapers of Bodom
The new album of Children of Bodom ‘Relentless Reckless Forever ‘ is released in 9th of March 2011 after which the band starts their tour called ‘The Ugly World Tour’. The Finns have also a chance to see the band live after a long time since the tour starts with 3 gigs in homeland. Despite the hurries with recording the album, the guys of COB have also had time during the autumn to do a long tour in the States so a couple of months rest is warmly welcomed. Soundi asked the latest news of Bodoms children from Alexi Laiho who was reached from L.A. and Roope Latvala who had returned to the frosts of Finland.
- Well it was pretty goddamn long and heavy end of the year, Alexi Laiho admits. – It all begun when in the beginning of last summer or actually last spring we started to write new material. Sometimes we were up 24 hours training and when we headed to the studio, things were a bit different than before. Now it wasn’t some big fucking party session but for doing the album we used half less time for playing.
COB decided to record most parts of their new album in Petrax-studio, Hollola and for the producer of the album was chosen Matt Hyde. The guy is known in particular of his work in the metal music and he has been involved for example with the albums of Slayer and Monster Magnet. At the moment Hyde is about to start the producing project for Winds of Plague.
- Hyde was actually surprisingly good guy, says Alexi. – It was very easy to do all kinds of stuff with him. He was on the run all the time and always ready to work. It wasn’t about drugs or anything like that but he had energy drinks all the time and didn’t seem to get tired at any point. When sometimes I get this feeling to withdraw a little bit at that moment he was just the right motivator. And he was just the kind of guy who we needed at this point.
- This was the second time in the bands history when we did some pre production-stuff meaning that we recorded some demos and send them to Matt and then he threw some ideas back.
Before the beginning of the recordings Matt Hyde came to Finland and hanged out with the band for a week. The band trained and Hyde was listening.
- Pretty soon we noticed that he was in the same level of humor and when he started something he didn’t want to stop, tells Roope Latvala. – So we ended up doing the album pretty effectively. It was very good that now we didn’t just lie around in one place. When everything had been trained well enough, in the studio we got the sounds right pretty soon also.
- When Hyde came to say hello to us before the recordings, the volcano in Iceland erupted and he couldn’t get back home for a couple of weeks. But Finland wasn’t all strange country for him, he did know some folks from here for example the guys of the 69 Eyes. And know he knows Helsinki pretty well. And Hollola. There he had to get to sauna everyday and he seemed to enjoy it very much.
- He is the kind of guy who has a strong need for commitment, Alexi describes. – He also had a great ambition that this must become the best album of COB. He told it straight out that he didn’t really want to intervene with the compositions because they were already done as ready as possible but he could always throw some ideas and be a motivator. And it was also very fun to hang out with him, he was always on a good mood.
- We recorded all the guitars and other stuffs in Hollola in three weeks. Between the studio sessions we went through the festivals in Europe. I don’t remember how many there were but near 10 anyway. The last festival was in Germany after which I went straight to studio in Hollola and from there to L.A. with Hyde to do the guitar solos and vocals.
- Would it have taken 10 days or almost 2 weeks. I did the guitar solos around in 5 days which was pretty good because I really had a big alerting feeling and they turned out to be good. But writing the lyrics was pretty interesting to work with.
- When I did the vocals that was again the hardest thing for me to do because writing the lyrics always stay for the last moment, Alexi admits. – I worked with some stuff with Hyde until 2 am and then I told that I had nothing left, no voice nor lyrics. He said that that’s alright, we do it tomorrow or 6 in the morning, you can call me anytime. So what comes to my schedules, everything worked fucking well. I went to the hotel, sat in some table, had vodka and energy drinks and wrote lyrics. And when I had 2 songs ready I called him about 5 am if he was ready to records. He was very excited and just said that it’s cool, let’s go.
The producer Matt Hyde promised in the beginning of the recordings that this was going to be the best COB-album ever. Did it succeed?
- You can never say it aloud, Alexi hems. – Of course the newest album is always the best but this time I sincerely really mean it. I really think it is!
- Per se, it’s not so different, it does sound like COB. Musically it has more riffing with guitar but it’s pretty difficult to analyze. But it turned out to be very good. I’m absolutely more satisfied than I was with Blooddrunk.
- There will be only 9 songs in the album but it’s a pretty good package. The content is what matters! Roope notifies.
- There is also some HC-throbbing occasionally, some real glow stuff. There isn’t really a slower song in the album, once again its honest playing. The sound may be a bit different because of the producer, it might sound a bit more American.
The first single of Relentless Reckless Forever-album is Was It Worth It for which the band shot a video during their autumn tour in the States.
- There is a pretty big skating community in the States which for some reason is very enthusiastic about our band, Alexi tells. These two things go together well, our music and what they do. At the moment there are quite many music videos with skaters in it but Chris Cole who is performing in our video really has been the fan of the band since Something Wild or something. That guy has been named twice on the trot as the best skater in the world and he also got Jamie Thomas and Tom Astan to be in the video, which also are the very best in the field.
- The shooting of the video was pretty fun, we did it in the middle of the woods somewhere near Philadelphia. There was this huge skate park and a cool hotel or inn. We did the whole thing there, they did their stuff and we did ours. We lost one day off of the round but it was a lot more fun to spend the day doing something like that than just lay in the hotel room.
You have also skateboarded a lot before. Do you still do it?
- Of course! Alexi says. – Although I quit regular skating when I was 16. I begun to skateboard when I was little, about as a 7 year old and it was my other ambition along playing the guitar. I quit it only because I didn’t want to break any bones. I still skateboard nowadays but don’t do anything so terribly idiotic. The amusing part is that I have realized that it would be much safer for me to skate than drink a bottle of Jameson and go out to ramp.
So Jameson is still the whiskey for you?
- I have been drinking Jameson until this round but I just switched to Crown Royal. It’s Canadian whiskey, a bit friendlier, at least for stomach. It’s difficult to find from Finland but it could be compared to Canadian Club, it’s almost the same thing.
A pentagram on the map
When Children of Bodom had finished recording Relentless Reckless Forever-album in the beginning of autumn it had ahead the Black Label Berzerkus Tour which took 2 months. The headliner was Black Label Society and with COB there were also Clutch and 2 Cents touring. All in all there were 44 concerts and the final gig was played in the legendary Warfield-theater in San Francisco.
The tour got attention already beforehand and so Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society and Alexi posed in the cover of Octobers Guitar World.
- It was a bit rough call after all that hassle in the studio, Alexi admits. – But that’s how it is sometimes. Can’t complain either. But after that it was quite nice to get some free time.
- Two months begun to feel like pretty long to spend in a bus, says also Roope. – Of course we had our days off but Nick from Black Label Society told pretty good joke that the tour was like someone had drawn a pentagram on the map of America which we then begun to drive with the busses. We had quite a lot travel days. It’s one hell of a trip, from Vancouver through the whole thing to the east and then going around the States. It was a crazy route but now it’s done.
- Usually in the place where we had the gig, we took a day hotel, took a shower and rested a little bit and then went on during the night. There were a couple of good places too. In Florida we had the time to spend the day in the beach. If you haven’t been partying too much during the previous night, sometimes you had the energy to go and see the city. I had a collapsible bike with me with which I got to see the near area. I got to see something. But the smaller American towns are maybe a bit boring, they all have the same things. But still you must always take a look if there are any sights but that of course depends also on the weather.
The headliner of the tour was of course Black Label Society which played for 1,5h. The other bands had 45min performing time.
- Before the gig we checked whether it was us or Clutch who had sold better in that town. According to this they changed our performing order, Roope tells. – At that point when that kind of long tour is being planned, the costs are shared between the bands and then a look is taken which support band could bring some extra people to the venue. The States is so wide country that it’s cost-effective to tour with several bands.
- There is by the way a clear difference depending on where in the States we are playing. Usually Canada is a strong area for us especially Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. New York is always good and also New Jersey. Atlanta has also been pretty good for us as well as big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. And then we have these places like Texas where no one is interested about us. There were some pretty good redneck-folks but it would have been expected that there was more hairy motorbike guys there.
How well do the Americans then know that COB comes specifically from Finland?
- Well I would believe that at least most of our fans know the youngsters nowadays do know a little bit more geography, Roope hems. – The older guys don’t necessarily know anything about a country called Finland. During that tour I went to the hospital to show my swollen ankle. They asked me where I was from. I told that I was from Finland and the doctor was like aha, like from Russia. No, Finland! And then he asked me if I spoke German. And when I finally got the prescription it said that I was from England.
- Other Finns are rarely seen in our gigs. Sometimes some come to tell us that they have Finnish roots but they don’t speak any Finnish anymore. Although, some NHL-guys sometimes come to the gigs and they’ve become friends for us.
The danger of the Internet
When the last studio album of Children of Bodom ‘Blooddrunk’ was released in 2008 it hit the Finnish charts as number one but it was also sold well in other parts of the world. In the USA the album was 22nd and in Japan 12th in the charts.
With Blooddrunk they also managed to screw up things. The album ended up being in the Internet almost 6 months before the official date of release and in addition the album was released in different days in different countries.
- As far as I have understood, this time the whole thing won’t get so fucked up as it did with the previous album, Laiho says. – I think that this time everything has been organized better and here in the States the business people have been more careful with YouTube and all.
- Of course there is always some risks with the Internet, admits also Roope. – Even I don’t have a single copy of that new album. We have tried to keep it well hidden.
Relentless Reckless Forever –album is being released through Universal Music and now they have promised to put real effort in marketing the album in Europe, the States as in Japan.
- At least now it looks like the marketing side is on a firm base but that’s what they are still working with until the releasing of the album, Roope says. – This is the time of waiting for the album and of course we are nervous. You can never take success as self-evidence but now we really feel like we did a pretty good album. But of course it’s thrilling how the album will be received. It is new and different even though it is the same familiar Bodom.
- The States is an important country for us but Europe and Japan are at least as important places also. Lately things haven’t gone so well in Germany and now along releasing the album we try to get that better. Oddly England has been quite favorable for us nowadays. The situation there has changed during a couple of years.
- The Nordic countries have been a bit difficult for Finnish bands but the last time in Stockholm was awesome. The venue was packed and the atmosphere in Oslo was also very good. For some reason or other we haven’t really toured in Denmark, I don’t know if there was some friction between the company arranging the gigs and the local promoter. But now there’s some new guy and that thing should also work now. And in the upcoming tour we have cool places like Athens, Istanbul, Sofia and Bucharest where we haven’t been playing before. It really is interesting to go to those places and take a look, all new is always cool!
The Ugly World Tour promoting the new album starts from Teatria, Oulu 19th of March after which they have gigs in Pakkahuone,Tampere and Icehall , Helsinki. Then the band is heading to Europe. The supporting bands of the tour are Ensiferum, which has gained success in the States and Swedish Machinae Supremacy.
- With this tour we have planned the tours a bit more sensibly than before, Alexi says. – We want to do the tour in Europe first and as far as I know we do the festivals after that. We were supposed to do Mayhem- metal festival tour in the States but it didn’t look so good in practice so we won’t go there after all. So the tour in the States will probably be in autumn.
- I guess in this scene we are one of the bands which tour the most but on the other hand it’s a good thing because firstly I really like a lot to tour and in the end touring is the daily bread for us. If someone doesn’t like to play live or tour then there’s no reason to be a musician!
Roope tells that along the years COB has managed to gather around a good team which makes the touring easier. There are no unnecessary surprises.
- Everything is working and everyone knows exactly what they are doing, Roope says. – That goes for the band and for our staff. The crew knows what the work distribution etc is. When we leave for a longer tour we have about 13 persons in our staff. There are two or three sound technicians, light technician, a drum tech, two guitar techs plus keyboard and bass techs. Then we have tour managers, merchant seller etc.
- The same guys have been working for us for a long time. One comes from Switzerland, one from Seattle, our drum tech is barefoot German, one German guitar tech just changed to a Finnish guy…It’s a bit scattered, you can hear German, English and Finnish all the time. They all then fly to the start point of the tour, where ever they are coming from. The heart of the group is usually the same, the reciprocal work distribution goes smoothly when everyone knows each other.
But what is it like to play guitar with Alexi?
- Well of course with time there has formed some routines, one knows exactly what the other is up to and knows when it’s ok to go to the other side of the stage etc. Or when one can grab to some solo and play a stemma or something like that, Roope says. – It’s easy with Alexi, we have known each other for a long time and we have a long history.
Adaptation in Hollywood
Alexi Laiho admits that he likes it better than well in Los Angeles and he says that he has been thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be impossible to live in the States permanently.
- But also Finland has a lot of good sides and now it has been going on like that I have spend half of the year in the States and the other half in Finland, Alexi says. During the actual tour it takes suddenly one year so I guess it doesn’t really matter where you are staying. I like it in L.A., it really is very cool in here. And of course lately the States has become an important market area for us. We have put some real effort here.
- My current habitant is in Hollywood but not in the tourists West Hollywood. This is more like a country side. It can be found also in Hollywood – but well, it’s not really country side but a lot calmer area nevertheless.
- I totally dig it here. The thing is that I have quite lot friends here in the States nowadays and also my girlfriend lives here. Somehow it’s a bit more relaxed atmosphere. Of course I will always like Finland but I just like to live here. Of course I miss the real winter but at least couple of years ago I felt that it was raining in Finland during the summers and winters. It would’ve been like moving to London or something, it’s grey and raining all the time.
- I haven’t settled so that I would have bought a car because that would require renting a garage. But of course I’m checking drooling what is on offer and in what price. Although, I have an obsession to get Charger -69 and they are really extremely rare (the most craved Dodge Charger-model which General Lee –version was in the TV series and movie The Dukes Of Hazzard).
- I go a lot to see gigs and that is also one reason to enjoy oneself in L.A. There is in a way always something, every evening there is like 500 bands playing in the clubs. Sometimes it’s very cool to go to see some bands which aren’t that known especially if I’ve heard beforehand that they are really good. I have seen 16- year old guys to play some really hard stuff.
But how well-known is Alexi in the bars of Hollywood?
- Well yeah, I’m recognized in some places, Alexi admits. – If you go to certain bars, there are always a couple of guys who come to chat but that’s ok. It’s pretty much the same in Helsinki or maybe there people come to talk more but there I’m a local so it’s a bit different thing there. Sometimes there are some people explaining weird stuff, suddenly some group of German tourists has gathered around me who think that I’m American and from Hollywood.
Now when you have about 4 months off, do you still constantly play guitar?
- I’m going to work with something related to music or playing guitar. But I don’t have those 4 months off before the beginning of the tour. During these 4 months I have to do a lot of promotion. That all begins already in December, we head to London where we have the parties for listening the album and a hell of a lot promoting. From there I leave for Finland and spend the Christmas with my family after which I return back to the States.
- But it’s not like I would not play at all during this time. Occasionally I end up being in some random things. I ended up playing in the Deftones charity concert. Two years ago their bass player Chi Cheng was in a car accident and is still in the hospital. I happen to know the singer of Deftones, Chino Moreno and I played a couple of songs that night. It was so fucking cool when I had the chance to be in a good company. We played Battery from Metallica and it was sung by Moreno, in the bass was Rob Trujillo from Metallica and Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies, Shavo Odadijan and Daron Malakian from System Of A Down were also on the stage. I really don’t know how it happens but somehow I end up being often in those kinds of stuffs.
- So it is, I get excited easily. While I have had a couple of weeks in peace after the tour I begin to get these withdrawals and then I really need to get to do something. That’s why things like Kylähullut exists. Although I don’t know if Kylähullut has been the best thing for my health but it has been fucking fun.
- It might be that we’ll do some new stuff with Kylähullut someday. But it really had some real village idiot – spirit. I think it is best for all of us that Vesku Jokinen from Klamydia has a kid and now he has calmed down a little. He still is a very good friend of mine and still the same man as before but not that wild anymore.
- Sometimes it felt like even if we had some 5 days session with Kylähullut it hurt more than a 6 month tour. But we had good laughs out of it if nothing else. And we did try to play live once but it was cancelled. There ended our touring.
Bodom is apparently playing your kind of music so you have never considered of making a solo album?
- I have been asked about that sometimes before but I just haven’t really ever been a solo album person, Alexi says. – At the moment I put all my time, energy and my whole life to Bodom. If I’m still around after 20 years or something then making a solo album could be possible but I don’t know if it still would be so good idea. It’s just not my thing. It would be much cooler if we think hypothetically that when Bodom has quitted I would want to join some other band straight away or start a new one.
Roope also admits that he can’t stay apart from music before the tour in March.
- For a couple of years now I have had this project with Anssi Tikanmäki where we have arranged different nation’s national anthems to metal versions, Roope tells. – Now when I have lots of time I thought I could start recording guitars at home for it. And I should try to get into better shape when we have 5 months of touring ahead.
- And a solo album has been in my thoughts for a long time but Bodom has been the main project. There is some material from the old days which is usable and also some new stuff has sprung up. It would end up being a guitar album and I don’t really know what to do with the vocals. Involuntarily it would be something Stone-like stuff, how could I change that. It would be a rugged heavy album, trashy stuff.
- I don’t think it’s possible to ever get rid of metal music! That in mind doing a solo album would interest me, right now I’m in a kind of prime time- point so bit by bit it would be the time to do album. The time would be just perfect! It is true that the fans of Bodom have also found the old albums of Stone.
The hardworking reapers of Bodom
The new album of Children of Bodom ‘Relentless Reckless Forever ‘ is released in 9th of March 2011 after which the band starts their tour called ‘The Ugly World Tour’. The Finns have also a chance to see the band live after a long time since the tour starts with 3 gigs in homeland. Despite the hurries with recording the album, the guys of COB have also had time during the autumn to do a long tour in the States so a couple of months rest is warmly welcomed. Soundi asked the latest news of Bodoms children from Alexi Laiho who was reached from L.A. and Roope Latvala who had returned to the frosts of Finland.
- Well it was pretty goddamn long and heavy end of the year, Alexi Laiho admits. – It all begun when in the beginning of last summer or actually last spring we started to write new material. Sometimes we were up 24 hours training and when we headed to the studio, things were a bit different than before. Now it wasn’t some big fucking party session but for doing the album we used half less time for playing.
COB decided to record most parts of their new album in Petrax-studio, Hollola and for the producer of the album was chosen Matt Hyde. The guy is known in particular of his work in the metal music and he has been involved for example with the albums of Slayer and Monster Magnet. At the moment Hyde is about to start the producing project for Winds of Plague.
- Hyde was actually surprisingly good guy, says Alexi. – It was very easy to do all kinds of stuff with him. He was on the run all the time and always ready to work. It wasn’t about drugs or anything like that but he had energy drinks all the time and didn’t seem to get tired at any point. When sometimes I get this feeling to withdraw a little bit at that moment he was just the right motivator. And he was just the kind of guy who we needed at this point.
- This was the second time in the bands history when we did some pre production-stuff meaning that we recorded some demos and send them to Matt and then he threw some ideas back.
Before the beginning of the recordings Matt Hyde came to Finland and hanged out with the band for a week. The band trained and Hyde was listening.
- Pretty soon we noticed that he was in the same level of humor and when he started something he didn’t want to stop, tells Roope Latvala. – So we ended up doing the album pretty effectively. It was very good that now we didn’t just lie around in one place. When everything had been trained well enough, in the studio we got the sounds right pretty soon also.
- When Hyde came to say hello to us before the recordings, the volcano in Iceland erupted and he couldn’t get back home for a couple of weeks. But Finland wasn’t all strange country for him, he did know some folks from here for example the guys of the 69 Eyes. And know he knows Helsinki pretty well. And Hollola. There he had to get to sauna everyday and he seemed to enjoy it very much.
- He is the kind of guy who has a strong need for commitment, Alexi describes. – He also had a great ambition that this must become the best album of COB. He told it straight out that he didn’t really want to intervene with the compositions because they were already done as ready as possible but he could always throw some ideas and be a motivator. And it was also very fun to hang out with him, he was always on a good mood.
- We recorded all the guitars and other stuffs in Hollola in three weeks. Between the studio sessions we went through the festivals in Europe. I don’t remember how many there were but near 10 anyway. The last festival was in Germany after which I went straight to studio in Hollola and from there to L.A. with Hyde to do the guitar solos and vocals.
- Would it have taken 10 days or almost 2 weeks. I did the guitar solos around in 5 days which was pretty good because I really had a big alerting feeling and they turned out to be good. But writing the lyrics was pretty interesting to work with.
- When I did the vocals that was again the hardest thing for me to do because writing the lyrics always stay for the last moment, Alexi admits. – I worked with some stuff with Hyde until 2 am and then I told that I had nothing left, no voice nor lyrics. He said that that’s alright, we do it tomorrow or 6 in the morning, you can call me anytime. So what comes to my schedules, everything worked fucking well. I went to the hotel, sat in some table, had vodka and energy drinks and wrote lyrics. And when I had 2 songs ready I called him about 5 am if he was ready to records. He was very excited and just said that it’s cool, let’s go.
The producer Matt Hyde promised in the beginning of the recordings that this was going to be the best COB-album ever. Did it succeed?
- You can never say it aloud, Alexi hems. – Of course the newest album is always the best but this time I sincerely really mean it. I really think it is!
- Per se, it’s not so different, it does sound like COB. Musically it has more riffing with guitar but it’s pretty difficult to analyze. But it turned out to be very good. I’m absolutely more satisfied than I was with Blooddrunk.
- There will be only 9 songs in the album but it’s a pretty good package. The content is what matters! Roope notifies.
- There is also some HC-throbbing occasionally, some real glow stuff. There isn’t really a slower song in the album, once again its honest playing. The sound may be a bit different because of the producer, it might sound a bit more American.
The first single of Relentless Reckless Forever-album is Was It Worth It for which the band shot a video during their autumn tour in the States.
- There is a pretty big skating community in the States which for some reason is very enthusiastic about our band, Alexi tells. These two things go together well, our music and what they do. At the moment there are quite many music videos with skaters in it but Chris Cole who is performing in our video really has been the fan of the band since Something Wild or something. That guy has been named twice on the trot as the best skater in the world and he also got Jamie Thomas and Tom Astan to be in the video, which also are the very best in the field.
- The shooting of the video was pretty fun, we did it in the middle of the woods somewhere near Philadelphia. There was this huge skate park and a cool hotel or inn. We did the whole thing there, they did their stuff and we did ours. We lost one day off of the round but it was a lot more fun to spend the day doing something like that than just lay in the hotel room.
You have also skateboarded a lot before. Do you still do it?
- Of course! Alexi says. – Although I quit regular skating when I was 16. I begun to skateboard when I was little, about as a 7 year old and it was my other ambition along playing the guitar. I quit it only because I didn’t want to break any bones. I still skateboard nowadays but don’t do anything so terribly idiotic. The amusing part is that I have realized that it would be much safer for me to skate than drink a bottle of Jameson and go out to ramp.
So Jameson is still the whiskey for you?
- I have been drinking Jameson until this round but I just switched to Crown Royal. It’s Canadian whiskey, a bit friendlier, at least for stomach. It’s difficult to find from Finland but it could be compared to Canadian Club, it’s almost the same thing.
A pentagram on the map
When Children of Bodom had finished recording Relentless Reckless Forever-album in the beginning of autumn it had ahead the Black Label Berzerkus Tour which took 2 months. The headliner was Black Label Society and with COB there were also Clutch and 2 Cents touring. All in all there were 44 concerts and the final gig was played in the legendary Warfield-theater in San Francisco.
The tour got attention already beforehand and so Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society and Alexi posed in the cover of Octobers Guitar World.
- It was a bit rough call after all that hassle in the studio, Alexi admits. – But that’s how it is sometimes. Can’t complain either. But after that it was quite nice to get some free time.
- Two months begun to feel like pretty long to spend in a bus, says also Roope. – Of course we had our days off but Nick from Black Label Society told pretty good joke that the tour was like someone had drawn a pentagram on the map of America which we then begun to drive with the busses. We had quite a lot travel days. It’s one hell of a trip, from Vancouver through the whole thing to the east and then going around the States. It was a crazy route but now it’s done.
- Usually in the place where we had the gig, we took a day hotel, took a shower and rested a little bit and then went on during the night. There were a couple of good places too. In Florida we had the time to spend the day in the beach. If you haven’t been partying too much during the previous night, sometimes you had the energy to go and see the city. I had a collapsible bike with me with which I got to see the near area. I got to see something. But the smaller American towns are maybe a bit boring, they all have the same things. But still you must always take a look if there are any sights but that of course depends also on the weather.
The headliner of the tour was of course Black Label Society which played for 1,5h. The other bands had 45min performing time.
- Before the gig we checked whether it was us or Clutch who had sold better in that town. According to this they changed our performing order, Roope tells. – At that point when that kind of long tour is being planned, the costs are shared between the bands and then a look is taken which support band could bring some extra people to the venue. The States is so wide country that it’s cost-effective to tour with several bands.
- There is by the way a clear difference depending on where in the States we are playing. Usually Canada is a strong area for us especially Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. New York is always good and also New Jersey. Atlanta has also been pretty good for us as well as big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. And then we have these places like Texas where no one is interested about us. There were some pretty good redneck-folks but it would have been expected that there was more hairy motorbike guys there.
How well do the Americans then know that COB comes specifically from Finland?
- Well I would believe that at least most of our fans know the youngsters nowadays do know a little bit more geography, Roope hems. – The older guys don’t necessarily know anything about a country called Finland. During that tour I went to the hospital to show my swollen ankle. They asked me where I was from. I told that I was from Finland and the doctor was like aha, like from Russia. No, Finland! And then he asked me if I spoke German. And when I finally got the prescription it said that I was from England.
- Other Finns are rarely seen in our gigs. Sometimes some come to tell us that they have Finnish roots but they don’t speak any Finnish anymore. Although, some NHL-guys sometimes come to the gigs and they’ve become friends for us.
The danger of the Internet
When the last studio album of Children of Bodom ‘Blooddrunk’ was released in 2008 it hit the Finnish charts as number one but it was also sold well in other parts of the world. In the USA the album was 22nd and in Japan 12th in the charts.
With Blooddrunk they also managed to screw up things. The album ended up being in the Internet almost 6 months before the official date of release and in addition the album was released in different days in different countries.
- As far as I have understood, this time the whole thing won’t get so fucked up as it did with the previous album, Laiho says. – I think that this time everything has been organized better and here in the States the business people have been more careful with YouTube and all.
- Of course there is always some risks with the Internet, admits also Roope. – Even I don’t have a single copy of that new album. We have tried to keep it well hidden.
Relentless Reckless Forever –album is being released through Universal Music and now they have promised to put real effort in marketing the album in Europe, the States as in Japan.
- At least now it looks like the marketing side is on a firm base but that’s what they are still working with until the releasing of the album, Roope says. – This is the time of waiting for the album and of course we are nervous. You can never take success as self-evidence but now we really feel like we did a pretty good album. But of course it’s thrilling how the album will be received. It is new and different even though it is the same familiar Bodom.
- The States is an important country for us but Europe and Japan are at least as important places also. Lately things haven’t gone so well in Germany and now along releasing the album we try to get that better. Oddly England has been quite favorable for us nowadays. The situation there has changed during a couple of years.
- The Nordic countries have been a bit difficult for Finnish bands but the last time in Stockholm was awesome. The venue was packed and the atmosphere in Oslo was also very good. For some reason or other we haven’t really toured in Denmark, I don’t know if there was some friction between the company arranging the gigs and the local promoter. But now there’s some new guy and that thing should also work now. And in the upcoming tour we have cool places like Athens, Istanbul, Sofia and Bucharest where we haven’t been playing before. It really is interesting to go to those places and take a look, all new is always cool!
The Ugly World Tour promoting the new album starts from Teatria, Oulu 19th of March after which they have gigs in Pakkahuone,Tampere and Icehall , Helsinki. Then the band is heading to Europe. The supporting bands of the tour are Ensiferum, which has gained success in the States and Swedish Machinae Supremacy.
- With this tour we have planned the tours a bit more sensibly than before, Alexi says. – We want to do the tour in Europe first and as far as I know we do the festivals after that. We were supposed to do Mayhem- metal festival tour in the States but it didn’t look so good in practice so we won’t go there after all. So the tour in the States will probably be in autumn.
- I guess in this scene we are one of the bands which tour the most but on the other hand it’s a good thing because firstly I really like a lot to tour and in the end touring is the daily bread for us. If someone doesn’t like to play live or tour then there’s no reason to be a musician!
Roope tells that along the years COB has managed to gather around a good team which makes the touring easier. There are no unnecessary surprises.
- Everything is working and everyone knows exactly what they are doing, Roope says. – That goes for the band and for our staff. The crew knows what the work distribution etc is. When we leave for a longer tour we have about 13 persons in our staff. There are two or three sound technicians, light technician, a drum tech, two guitar techs plus keyboard and bass techs. Then we have tour managers, merchant seller etc.
- The same guys have been working for us for a long time. One comes from Switzerland, one from Seattle, our drum tech is barefoot German, one German guitar tech just changed to a Finnish guy…It’s a bit scattered, you can hear German, English and Finnish all the time. They all then fly to the start point of the tour, where ever they are coming from. The heart of the group is usually the same, the reciprocal work distribution goes smoothly when everyone knows each other.
But what is it like to play guitar with Alexi?
- Well of course with time there has formed some routines, one knows exactly what the other is up to and knows when it’s ok to go to the other side of the stage etc. Or when one can grab to some solo and play a stemma or something like that, Roope says. – It’s easy with Alexi, we have known each other for a long time and we have a long history.
Adaptation in Hollywood
Alexi Laiho admits that he likes it better than well in Los Angeles and he says that he has been thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be impossible to live in the States permanently.
- But also Finland has a lot of good sides and now it has been going on like that I have spend half of the year in the States and the other half in Finland, Alexi says. During the actual tour it takes suddenly one year so I guess it doesn’t really matter where you are staying. I like it in L.A., it really is very cool in here. And of course lately the States has become an important market area for us. We have put some real effort here.
- My current habitant is in Hollywood but not in the tourists West Hollywood. This is more like a country side. It can be found also in Hollywood – but well, it’s not really country side but a lot calmer area nevertheless.
- I totally dig it here. The thing is that I have quite lot friends here in the States nowadays and also my girlfriend lives here. Somehow it’s a bit more relaxed atmosphere. Of course I will always like Finland but I just like to live here. Of course I miss the real winter but at least couple of years ago I felt that it was raining in Finland during the summers and winters. It would’ve been like moving to London or something, it’s grey and raining all the time.
- I haven’t settled so that I would have bought a car because that would require renting a garage. But of course I’m checking drooling what is on offer and in what price. Although, I have an obsession to get Charger -69 and they are really extremely rare (the most craved Dodge Charger-model which General Lee –version was in the TV series and movie The Dukes Of Hazzard).
- I go a lot to see gigs and that is also one reason to enjoy oneself in L.A. There is in a way always something, every evening there is like 500 bands playing in the clubs. Sometimes it’s very cool to go to see some bands which aren’t that known especially if I’ve heard beforehand that they are really good. I have seen 16- year old guys to play some really hard stuff.
But how well-known is Alexi in the bars of Hollywood?
- Well yeah, I’m recognized in some places, Alexi admits. – If you go to certain bars, there are always a couple of guys who come to chat but that’s ok. It’s pretty much the same in Helsinki or maybe there people come to talk more but there I’m a local so it’s a bit different thing there. Sometimes there are some people explaining weird stuff, suddenly some group of German tourists has gathered around me who think that I’m American and from Hollywood.
Now when you have about 4 months off, do you still constantly play guitar?
- I’m going to work with something related to music or playing guitar. But I don’t have those 4 months off before the beginning of the tour. During these 4 months I have to do a lot of promotion. That all begins already in December, we head to London where we have the parties for listening the album and a hell of a lot promoting. From there I leave for Finland and spend the Christmas with my family after which I return back to the States.
- But it’s not like I would not play at all during this time. Occasionally I end up being in some random things. I ended up playing in the Deftones charity concert. Two years ago their bass player Chi Cheng was in a car accident and is still in the hospital. I happen to know the singer of Deftones, Chino Moreno and I played a couple of songs that night. It was so fucking cool when I had the chance to be in a good company. We played Battery from Metallica and it was sung by Moreno, in the bass was Rob Trujillo from Metallica and Dave Lombardo from Slayer, Mike Muir from Suicidal Tendencies, Shavo Odadijan and Daron Malakian from System Of A Down were also on the stage. I really don’t know how it happens but somehow I end up being often in those kinds of stuffs.
- So it is, I get excited easily. While I have had a couple of weeks in peace after the tour I begin to get these withdrawals and then I really need to get to do something. That’s why things like Kylähullut exists. Although I don’t know if Kylähullut has been the best thing for my health but it has been fucking fun.
- It might be that we’ll do some new stuff with Kylähullut someday. But it really had some real village idiot – spirit. I think it is best for all of us that Vesku Jokinen from Klamydia has a kid and now he has calmed down a little. He still is a very good friend of mine and still the same man as before but not that wild anymore.
- Sometimes it felt like even if we had some 5 days session with Kylähullut it hurt more than a 6 month tour. But we had good laughs out of it if nothing else. And we did try to play live once but it was cancelled. There ended our touring.
Bodom is apparently playing your kind of music so you have never considered of making a solo album?
- I have been asked about that sometimes before but I just haven’t really ever been a solo album person, Alexi says. – At the moment I put all my time, energy and my whole life to Bodom. If I’m still around after 20 years or something then making a solo album could be possible but I don’t know if it still would be so good idea. It’s just not my thing. It would be much cooler if we think hypothetically that when Bodom has quitted I would want to join some other band straight away or start a new one.
Roope also admits that he can’t stay apart from music before the tour in March.
- For a couple of years now I have had this project with Anssi Tikanmäki where we have arranged different nation’s national anthems to metal versions, Roope tells. – Now when I have lots of time I thought I could start recording guitars at home for it. And I should try to get into better shape when we have 5 months of touring ahead.
- And a solo album has been in my thoughts for a long time but Bodom has been the main project. There is some material from the old days which is usable and also some new stuff has sprung up. It would end up being a guitar album and I don’t really know what to do with the vocals. Involuntarily it would be something Stone-like stuff, how could I change that. It would be a rugged heavy album, trashy stuff.
- I don’t think it’s possible to ever get rid of metal music! That in mind doing a solo album would interest me, right now I’m in a kind of prime time- point so bit by bit it would be the time to do album. The time would be just perfect! It is true that the fans of Bodom have also found the old albums of Stone.
sleeper666
MetalMutha
Wolf-Marionette
I Don't Want Your Weed
Celeb, you are the Electric Jesus - thanks so much!
Too bad I don't have time to read the full thing - but it sounds to be a good one from the first two paragraphs.
Too bad I don't have time to read the full thing - but it sounds to be a good one from the first two paragraphs.
Andry_Wildchild
Member
ChockeHoldTerror
Survived Lake Bodom
- Aug 27, 2009
- 525
- 1
- 16
kilon
I told you!
Thanks for going to do it and thanks for actually doing it.
I don't see you doing it.
Huge thanks, Celeb!
I don't see you doing it.
Huge thanks, Celeb!
Well, I'm sorry you are annoyed about this. As far as I know, you had the magazine before me but still you didn't bother to translate it. And now you complain about what, someone thanking me for doing it?
I would like you to try at least once to translate a 3 page interview and then tell me if its cool or not receive some thanks for doing it. More needs to be done than just put the text through Google Translate you know.
And before anyone gets too excited, no, I'm not doing this whole translation-stuff just that I could get some praise or gain status here. I just think it's fair to give all the fans here the chance to read these interviews and articles that are published in Finnish.
sleeper666
MetalMutha
Of course you're not, but that doesn't mean you're not deserving of being thanked for doing it. I'm certainly very grateful for your efforts and I don't mind how many times I, or anyone else, shows their appreciation. Keep up the good work, Celeb - and thanks again!
Shut up, Joonas.
Celeb, you're the hero of my day. That translation is well and truly epic. Thanks so much for giving of your time and attention to do that for the fans who can't read Suomi. THANK YOU!!
And you're correct about Google Translate - it spits it out in nonsense and tells you nothing.
Celeb, you're the hero of my day. That translation is well and truly epic. Thanks so much for giving of your time and attention to do that for the fans who can't read Suomi. THANK YOU!!
And you're correct about Google Translate - it spits it out in nonsense and tells you nothing.
mocobhc
Member
Wow, reading it took its time already, don't wanna know how much time you had to spend translating it 
Thank you very much, Celeb! Very interesting interview.
Sounds as if recordings and production went really well and satisfying for them, and when I read things like "Im absolutely more satisfied than I was with Blooddrunk" I can't help but expect a whole lot from RRF
"Lately things havent gone so well in Germany and now along releasing the album we try to get that better." anyone has an idea what exactly he could mean with that? Their latest shows around here seemed quite alright to me...?
Thank you very much, Celeb! Very interesting interview. Sounds as if recordings and production went really well and satisfying for them, and when I read things like "Im absolutely more satisfied than I was with Blooddrunk" I can't help but expect a whole lot from RRF
"Lately things havent gone so well in Germany and now along releasing the album we try to get that better." anyone has an idea what exactly he could mean with that? Their latest shows around here seemed quite alright to me...?
Wow, reading it took its time already, don't wanna know how much time you had to spend translating it
Sounds as if recordings and production went really well and satisfying for them, and when I read things like "I’m absolutely more satisfied than I was with Blooddrunk" I can't help but expect a whole lot from RRF
"Lately things haven’t gone so well in Germany and now along releasing the album we try to get that better." anyone has an idea what exactly he could mean with that? Their latest shows around here seemed quite alright to me...?
Sorry, the translation seems to be a bit unclear. By that he means (or I think he means) that the album selling etc hasn't been as good as it could be or something like that. So probably they are going to put some more effort to promotion etc.
Well it took some time but I guess the Image-interview took even more. Also I think translating the interview of Reaktori 3 years ago wasn't a blast either.
Also, no prob folks
Probably gonna keep posting my shitty translations in the future Edit: For those interested, I scanned the interview and posted the links to Interviews-thread in the Finnish section.
Chill out, just joking. You people are just cute thanking each other.
Wow; you're a dick?
predator2353
Member
- Mar 1, 2010
- 899
- 14
- 28
What's your fucking problem? Yeah I didn't translate the whole interview because I have no free time, still I did read it thru and posted the interesting bits about the album - can't remember any thanks for that. It was a sincere statement, not being a dick. It's not like I'm being paid for this or have promo albums sent to my house.. more like an unconditional passion, even makes me wonder why I'm still writing in this place.
Celeb, you're lovely for doing this to fans, I appreciate it.
Wolf-Marionette
I Don't Want Your Weed
Finally got to read to whole interview. Nice to hear something about Kylähullut again, and seeing a solo album from any of these guys one day would be super awesome.
