COB Interviews

I don't know if that video was post before
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxkUL-X093c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxkUL-X093c[/ame]
 
transcript of Alexi's interview on Full Metal Jackie

http://loudwire.com/children-of-bodom-alexi-laiho-halo-of-blood-tour-marty-friedman-more/

Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Laiho spoke about the band’s ‘Halo of Blood Over North America’ tour, his recent work with Marty Friedman and Megadeth‘s influence on his band and more. If you missed Jackie’s show, here’s her full interview with Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho.

It’s Full Metal Jackie bringing you two full hours of metal weekly. On the show with us, all the way from Finland this evening, we’ve got the one and only Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom. How are you doing Alexi?

I’m doing. I just got a iPhone like an hour ago, so I’m actually feeling very frustrated.

You got what an hour ago?

An iPhone

Oh, no. (Laughs) Well, that’s exciting.

Yeah, it’s giving me so much grief.

It will be frustrating for a while, but then you’ll grow to love it.

I don’t know. I almost threw the thing out the freaking window, but I figured I’d let you call me first.

Aww, thank you. I appreciate that. Children of Bodom is going to be touring the U.S. again starting in February for the ‘Halo of Blood Over North America’ tour, this time with Death Angel and Tyr. Pretty broad cross-section of metal bands. Alexi, how important is it to you to expose fans to the diversity of metal?

Well, I think it’s always important. It’s good to have something for everybody. And it’s supposed to be a package, because it’s a long evening of metal. And all the bands are important. All the bands should actually be good. So I think, to me, it sounds like a good package.

Right. Like if you were not in the band and you were just a metal fan, you would think that this was a cool package and you would want to see it.

Absolutely, yes. I would have to see it. I’m going to go buy my ticket right now!

(Laughing) You’re going to go buy your ticket right now. And Alexi, you’re going to be still supporting ‘Halo of Blood’ on this upcoming tour. Now that you’ve been touring the album for a while and playing some of the songs live, do you hear the album differently?

Not really, I actually haven’t heard the damn thing in a while but the one thing I have noticed is that, since being out since June, I guess, that people definitely recognize the new songs. Like, it was different when we started doing festivals in June, the crowd was like mellower. I don’t know, they were not that into it. But now, they’re actually going crazy for the new songs which is really cool.

Would you say that you feed off the crowd during your performance? Because it’s a pretty high energy performance that you give.

Yeah, absolutely! I mean it’s a two-way street.

Alexi, you’re one of the guest musicians on Marty Freidman’s new album, ‘Inferno.’ How would your style in metal, as a whole, be different without Marty’s influence?

It would be different for sure because he’s there in Megadeth, which was very influential for me. The core playing and songwriting and stuff. You know, it’s just, like ‘Rust in Peace,’ and stuff like that. ‘Rust in Peace’ is one of my favorite albums ever so he definitely has been a big influence for me. So, it was really cool when he asked me to do a song for his album.

And did you have a good time doing it?

I did, yeah. It’s just that the schedule was pretty f—ed up because I basically only had a couple days to record it and I only had a week to write it because I had to leave on the tour. So, it was pretty hectic but it was cool though. I actually had fun. It was just refreshing to do something else from Children of Bodom.

Between Children of Bodom and all your other projects and guest appearances, it’s obvious you love making music with different musicians. Who’s the No. 1 musician you someday hope to work with?

Oh man, that was a tough question. It would be awesome to do a song with Jack Wilder or it would be awesome, I mean I always wanted to write a song for Sebastian Bach. I’ve been bugging him about it. Every time I see him, I’m like, ‘Dude when are you going to let me write a new song for you?’ So we’ll see one day.

That would be an amazing collaboration by the way. I’m just saying.

Oh yeah, it would be pretty cool.

Again the ‘Halo of Blood Over North America Tour’ with Children of Bodom, Death Angel, and Tyr starts in February. Really looking forward to this tour. And Alexi, thanks for taking the time out from Finland to talk to us on the phone. I would imagine, it’s really f—ing cold right now?

It’s getting there, yeah.

(Laughs) Well what is it that you do on your off time in Finland? I’ve never been so I have no idea what goes on in Finland.

Well, the first thing I did was I went off with my friends and got drunk and then I slept for two days in a row. And after that, I was just kind of like what the hell’s going on now? I’m still trying to figure it out.

Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show, and looking forward to this tour. So once again, thanks so much Alexi.
 
Roope being very considerate when talking about switching record labels... How about... Spinefarm: "WIWI - Greatest song by Bodom ever". I fucking hated them for trying to pull that off. Not very clever. They acted as if COB was some lame garage school boy band desperately looking for attention with what was their most commercialized track. With the same move they put a lid over all the legendary songs in past discography, as if they were nothing. Very short-sighted marketing attempt. Together with that, they wanted that standard American hammering metal sound, which made Bodom sound like nothing special. Nuclear Blast understands better what's artistically attractive about COB.
 
Interview with Janne

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2014/03/janne_warman_of_children_of_bo.php

For nearly twenty years, the Finnish heavy metal band Children of Bodom has done the symphonic, melodic death metal thing with passion and power to spare. Long considered one of Scandinavia's best metal outfits, Children of Bodom have never resisted change. Proof of such is the band's recently issued album Halo of Blood. Easily the band's most direct effort to date, Halo strips away some of the more neoclassical elements that had become somewhat of the band's trademark.

From a tour stop in Canada and in anticipation of the band playing the House of Blues on Monday, keyboardist Janne Warmen talked to DC9 about the great, new album and how he yearns for the warm(er) Texas temperatures and chowing down at, of all places, Taco Bell.

How is Canada?

It's too cold.

But aren't you used to that?

Yes, I know, but it's colder here in Canada than it is in Finland right now. I am looking forward to the warmer temperatures in Texas. We've liked coming to Texas.

The Texas metal scene can be hit and miss. What is the Finnish metal scene like?

Finland is supposed to be pretty big. I mean, we have a lot of bands. It is a strong scene. Sweden is big. They have a lot of bands. I don't know why Scandinavians always seem to like metal. There are a lot of bands in Norway, too.

Are you comfortable being described as melodic death metal?

Yes, that's pretty close. It's pretty hard to label, so we just call it heavy metal. If someone asks, we just say heavy metal, but melodic death metal is pretty accurate.

How many languages do you speak?

I speak Finnish and a little bit of Swedish and I am talking English with you. In Finland, it is mandatory that you study English. That is great. All the kids study English in school and that is good.

You are the keyboardist and keyboards play an important part in the sound of the band. Yet, not too many people equate keyboards with metal.

Yes, it can be odd. It is a key element in our band, but the majority of metal bands don't use keyboards. It's cool with us because we are confident in what we are doing.

You joined Children of Bodom in 1997. How did you come to be in the band?

It was funny. I was in the same school with the drummer. They just needed a keyboardist. At first, we just jammed for fun. Then, we recorded an album and I noticed that I was stuck in the band. I think I was just going to do the first album and then they were going to find somebody else. But then I got stuck with them.

It's a good position to be stuck in.

Yes, you're right.

Many critics are saying the most recent release, Halo of Blood, is the most accessible album the band has done. Do you agree?

Yes, I think it is straightforward. The musical style has changed. Some of the weird shit we used to have on there has been cut out. Some classical stuff has been cut back. It is definitely more straightforward and accessible.

One reviewer even dared say that you guys sounded like you were having fun.

I think that is a good thing to notice.

What is your favorite American food?

I love In and Out Burger. It is great. I also happen to love Taco Bell, which is weird. But I think Taco Bell is fucking awesome.

No Taco Bell in Finland?

No, no, there is not a Taco Bell in all of Europe. That is a real bummer.

What kind of fast food do you have in Finland?

We have McDonalds and Burger King, but that's it. There is a Finnish chain called Hesburger. We have all the basic American stuff like Pizza Hut.

Is there a difference between audiences in your home country and here in the U.S.?

I don't see a big difference at all. I see the same metal heads all over the world. I think the Finnish crowds are drunker, but that might be it.



Are your crowds predominately male like they are for a lot of American metal acts?

I wish there were more women. You're right about there being more men. But when I think about it, there are a lot of chicks that come to the shows too. That is a good thing. It keeps it interesting.

Are you still working with your side project Warmen?

Yes, I am. We recorded an album last summer, but we had some trouble releasing it. But now, I am working on getting it finally released. I would love to play some shows and stuff like that, but it is just a project. It is more like a hobby.

Is it hard to believe that, in some form, Children of Bodom have played music for almost two decades?

Yes, it is crazy. We definitely didn't think anything like this would happen when we recorded the first album. It is totally crazy that we have been doing this thing for sixteen or seventeen years.



What has been some of the strangest moments on tour?

We have played some very strange countries, places where we would have never dreamt of going to, places like India, Israel and Indonesia. Those were just the weirdest countries starting with the letter I. We've traveled all over the world and that is awesome. I think it's great that we get to see different places. We've played in over fifty countries and that is something you couldn't have dreamed of when we started the band or when we were growing up.

How was crowd in India?

It was crazy. We played this festival and it was raining. The crowd was great. They were waiting for us all day. It was chaotic and exotic. In Indonesia, it was exotic, too. The show was weird.
 
http://www.ocartblog.com/2014/03/love-from-the-hate-crew-children-of-bodom-at-the-observatory/

Interview with Henkka

"Prior to the evening’s epic show, I was privileged to sit down with bassist Henkka Seppälä (Blacksmith) to talk about the band’s past as well as their new album “Halo of Blood”, current tour and Seppälä’s masters in history.

You’ve been a member of Children of Bodom since you were young, yet you have studied various pursuits at university. Was there ever a time you considered another career besides music?

Not really because I was so young when I joined the band. It was hobby for many many years and then I started studying. Then the hobby, little by little, became work. So, no, I really never thought about anything else.

How many years did it start for your to start getting paid doing music?

Well, we put the company up in 2002, so that’s when there was enough money coming in that it made sense to have a company.

So from about ’96 to 2002?

Yeah.

You were self funding before that?

Yeah, just like any other hobby.

A lot of your early albums have classical influence. Do you personally have any classical influence in your playing?

No, I was never into classical music myself. I have learned everything from death metal and thrash metal.

Who was it in your band that had the classical influence?

Alexi (Laiho) is the only one because he did violin when he was a kid, so I think that’s where it comes from. Janne (Warman) is more into jazz. He went to jazz school.

In regards to the production of your albums, how much influence does a producer have on the process?

We basically produce ourselves and we need a sound engineer to tell us to play better. Only twice we had producers who had something to say with the structures. All the other albums we’ve produced ourselves

What song from the new album has proven to be the most fun to play live?

I like the title track (Halo of Blood). It’s always challenging because it’s so fast. It’s always a little scary to see if we can keep it together.

In terms of technicality what has been the most technical song for you regarding the bass in the discography of Children of Bodom?

There’s usually one or two really, really difficult ones on each album. Probably on the latest one it would be “Bodom Blue Moon”. There were some tricky things.

I remember back in the day, songs like “War heart”… there was a really nice bass line through that song.

Yeah, especially back in the day it was more technical, it was more like a guitar playing.

You have toured all over the world and in the last few years have gone to countries like India where you’ve never been before. Have you been surprised by any of the crowds?IMG_7013 copy

Usually there have been pleasant surprises. We’ve been together for 15-20 years, so usually when we go to a new place, we kind of expect there must be some fans who have been waiting for us for 15 years. Like in India. There have been a lot of good surprises. Especially on this tour, we have been really surprised by how many people are showing up to the shows. We did 8 shows in Canada and it was really good.

Have you experienced meeting any of your personal heroes?

Yeah many… Dave Mustaine and Kerry King, for example.

If you’d like to choose one person to play with that’s dead in history, who would it be?

I’d like to play with Pantera.

How do you balance your life at home and touring? It is hard?

No, it’s not hard. They are totally different worlds. Here you live in an everyday schedule. You don’t have to think anything yourself. You just wake up and you see the daily schedule and you just live by that. When you go home, it takes a couple of days to realize there’s nobody telling you what to do today. You get used to it pretty fast.

How is Children of Bodom navigating the age of digital downloads?

In my opinion, metal music has always been not so badly effected by digital downloading. Metal fans are in a way conservative because they like to have their copy of the album, which is good for us. But, we have noticed also it is effecting metal music. I think it’s just a thing we have to live with. We are going through a transition phase in the music industry. We have to keep on supporting the legal (downloading and streaming sites), like iTunes and Spotify. It’s still a little unbalanced between the old physical forms and the streaming forms; the money is not in balance. But we’ll be there.

Do you find that makes you tour more?

Yeah, may be, yeah. We get the most money from touring, so yeah.

Is there anything you miss about how you experienced music as a kid in today’s music industry?

I remember when I started playing it was like one day I started to listen to music totally differently. Then I started to realize what is actually happening in this song. That changed my life completely. In a way it would be kind of cool to go back to the days before that and to see and to feel how it actually felt to listen to music without knowing what’s actually going on… without thinking about the notes or the melody. I don’t even remember how that sounds.

What makes you nerd out?

I am a history geek. Modern history- the past 300 years. I was educated in Finland, so I know Finnish and Scandinavian and European history better. But I am always eager to learn wherever I go about local history. I just finished my masters thesis one and half years ago. It was about Finnish development projects and how they changed from 1995 to 2008."
 
Henkka is a sincere, modest and bright guy, but I fail to understand why he likes stuff like Pantera, when he also likes stuff like Swallow the Sun. Thrash is just poor to me.
 
(__Joonas__) said:
Henkka is a sincere, modest and bright guy, but I fail to understand why he likes stuff like Pantera
Click to expand...

Because his taste in music determines him as anything less than a "modest" or "bright" guy? It's his personal taste.

when he also likes stuff like Swallow the Sun.
Click to expand...

God forbid someone like two completely different things right?

Thrash is just poor to me
Click to expand...

Okay, so what I'm gathering from all of this is that you question his character because of his taste in music? :lol:

Joonas, I'm not going to even bother to insult you right now because you get enough flakk from this place but you manage to put to text some of the most dumb things I've ever read. I understand you have a right to an opinion, but after all of these years of reading the things you post here I'm also convinced that you're a little slow or autistic or something. This isn't an insult, if you are it's okay, but I'm about %1000 sure there is something going on in your head that is not normal. Perhaps misfiring on a few neurons up there, but whatever it is, I feel like you should get yourself to a doctor and get on some sort of medication for sake the sake of your own mental health. I mean this in the nicest way possible.
 
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