COB Interviews

Not everything is about melodies and solos. And atmosphere is everywhere when it comes to music, it's just different. Plus, run of the mill doom/black metal bands tend overdo it on the atmospheric shit, it becomes boring
 
(__Joonas__) said:
Show me the best melody Pantera ever wrote.
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There is no point in arguing about best melodies when you've already said that Cemetery Gates sucks.... clearly you just love to hate Pantera. Still your lack of spins on the behalf of their music should clearly prove that you really are clueless about Pantera and thrash-metal in general.
 
What excuses exactly?
Hardcore and shit?? You don't know the music, maybe some hardcore vocals, mostly on the last album they made, but nothing else resembles hardcore. And as I said previous, I'm not so found of their last two albums.
 
I just can't call Pantera and Bodom similar. To me the rhythm guitar of Bodom is more interesting than Pantera's music. Then again don't get offended as I don't know their music that much... I just have the best of album and never discovered anything worthwhile about it. I grew up listening to heroic melodies and atmospheric music so naturally I evolved to liking Bodom for those reasons, not just because they play power chords. I love brutal riffing to death as long as it's good, but just playing hard doesn't guarantee that. Then there's of course that lame "everyone's got their taste" foolishness...
 
Bodom and Pantera are not that similar, but Bodom has managed to steal 4-5 of Panteras riffs throughout their career. So some similarity in structions of power chords are present. Pantera is a more riff based band that have lightningfast melodic solos where it fits, Bodom has a mot of melodic leads with some fitting riffs and some that are way too progressive (latest 4 albums). Blooddrunk are probably more similar to Pantera in terms of sound.

And everybody got their taste, it's just the way humans work.
 
http://performermag.com/exclusive-interview-with-alexi-laiho-from-children-of-bodom/


Exclusive interview with Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom
By Mark Cowles on March 26, 2014

What do you get when you have a band that combines sheer brutality, harmonic melodies, ferocious vocals, and musical talent so intricate it’s ungodly? You get Finland’s almighty Children of Bodom. Their latest album Halo of Blood, released on Nuclear Blast Records, is nothing short of brilliant. With an atmosphere so dark and cold, and a sound so stimulating and adrenaline-fueled you have yourself a flawless album that is sure to appeal to a broad audience.

Any metal junkie, horror fan, punk rocker, occultist, or guitar shredder will be addicted to the record upon first listen. Halo of Blood’s sound is a crossbreed of all things metal, including power metal, melodic death metal, atmospheric black metal and neo-classical metal. Children of Bodom’s front man Alexi “Wild Child” Laiho is an individual who will forever be iconic for his insane talent, satirically honest and thought-provoking lyrics as well as his powerfully charismatic stage presence.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Alexi the day before the band flew out to British Columbia to launch their Canadian tour.

So, how is the tour going?

It’s going great man. We just played Helsinki and we’re flying out to British Columbia tomorrow.

Would Helsinki be your favorite place to play in Finland?

Well, yes and no. The thing is when we play Helsinki we’re always in front of a great crowd, but it’s everyone’s hometown so it’s always super, super hectic. There’s like 300 people on the guest list and we’re supposed to socialize with everybody, so super hectic, you know? In a way I enjoy playing more away from home, only because of that.

True crime has always been a morbid interest of mine. When you came up with the band name, what inspired you to pick the story of the infamous Lake Bodom murders? How did you first hear about it?

We grew up in a town, which is a suburb of Helsinki, and it’s the town where Lake Bodom is, so all the kids knew about that story. It’s a horror story that’s also true, and is still unsolved! I mean, they did arrest the one survivor but he was not convicted. It keeps the mystery going.

If your guitar were a horror movie villain, who would it be?

Wow (laughs), good question. It would be the clown from the Stephen King movie IT, not sure if you remember that movie.

Of course! Pennywise the Clown! (both laugh)

Hell yeah, dude! Because he’s badass, he’s scary, but he’s funny as fuck too!

What are some of your fondest memories with Thy Serpent?

I was asked to join the band at the same time we got our first record contract for Children of Bodom, and everything I did was involved with Children of Bodom, to get that thing rolling, and the guys didn’t feel as though I was putting much effort into Thy Serpent so I was kicked out. That’s my fondest memory with Thy Serpent (laughs). But it all worked out because I got in touch with the guy at Spinefarm Records because of it and he got us the record contract, so I’m still grateful for that.

What is your history with Peter from Hypocrisy?

I’ve known Peter since I was 18 because that’s when we did our first European tour, opening for Hypocrisy. We’ve toured many times with Hypocrisy and we recorded Follow the Reaper with him in Sweden, so we’ve worked many times together and became friends. Then I just asked him to record and produce my vocals for the Blooddrunk album and it worked out great! In my book when it comes to extreme metal vocals and death metal vocals, he is the best vocalist E-VER! Plus, he knows his way around the mixing board and he’s been recording bands since the beginning, so he was the perfect guy to be involved with Blooddrunk and I wanted to bring him back for Halo of Blood; it turned out to be a really good decision. Working with him has always been easy and natural. He’s a good man for sure.

What was the first album you remember hearing that influenced you to pick up a guitar and start a band?

So many bands come to mind, but as far as guitar playing goes I remember the first time I heard Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare. Well, I mean I was already obsessed with the guitar at that time, but when I heard that damn thing, I was like, “I’m going to have to learn to play the guitar!” I’m still working on it (laughs).

You aren’t just a guitar player; you’re a guitar God!

(Laughs) Thanks man.

Can I just say that I love every cover song you guys have done! They’re always loads of fun. Which would you say was the most fun in the studio?

The Ramones one, “Somebody Put Something in My Drink.” The Brittany Spears one was a lot of fun for sure. We always have so much fun recording covers and doing the arrangements. Basically when we’re recording covers it’s like a whole day party for us, even before I do my vocals and we do the group-shouts we’ve all drank a lot of booze and done many shots and there’s people passed out in the studio. We record all the instrumental parts sober of course, and we have such a great time adding shit and making it more ridiculous. It’s just a blast.

What are some of the most influential black metal and death metal bands for Children of Bodom?

A lot of Nordic bands from Finland, Norway and Sweden, and a lot of the stuff from the early days. Like early Sentenced, Impaled Nazarene, Dark Tranquility, Emperor, Enslaved, tons of great black metal bands! It wasn’t intentional, but there was one point where I was listening to Nordic Black Metal almost exclusively. And I liked a lot of American death metal like Obituary, Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse. All great bands.

Which bands do you have the fondest memories touring with?

Lamb of God for sure. I think it was like four full tours we did with those guys and we always got along great with them. It was always a blast. It’s kind of the same thing with In Flames. We’ve toured so many times that we’re good friends and we always have a lot of fun.

What are some of your favorite festivals you’ve played in the last 5 years?

Wacken is always good, you can’t deny that. Most of the European festivals are off the hook so it’s hard to pick just one.

I noticed that there’s a bit of a punk rock attitude combined with your metal sound. Which punk bands have influenced you the most?

As far as punk goes, Sex Pistols, Misfits, The Ramones, The Exploited, stuff like that. I like the old school stuff, late 70s and early 80s. I’m not really into any of the new stuff.

How old were you when you read The Satanic Bible? Were you more into the philosophical, atheistic and Darwinistic approach to Satanism, or were you more drawn in by the sacrilegious and blasphemous aspect of it?

I was 15 when I read The Satanic Bible. I liked both sides, the practical and the sacrilegious. But the thing with me is, it was more about being rebellious than getting into the whole philosophy. I did agree with a lot of what Anton Szandor Lavey said in his book, and I did agree with the whole philosophy in general but it’s like you’re 15, you’re into black metal and you want to be rebellious and that book was kind of part of that whole thing.

Are there any bands that you haven’t toured with yet that you would like to?

We’ve toured with so many great bands, we’ve toured with Slayer, we’ve toured with Slipknot… Metallica would be awesome! Metallica’s one of those bands that if you were able to open for them it would be a dream come true, so hopefully that will happen one day.

You’re one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with. What inspires you to be as amazing of a musician as you are, both in the studio and onstage?

(Laughs) It’s hard to explain, dude. It’s in my head really and it’s something I need to get out. Sometimes when I’m supposed to write music and I got nothing I’ll just sit down with a guitar and noodle around for hours and hours and nothing really comes out, nothing good anyway. I come up with riffs all the time but everything sucks to me, you know?

But after like five hours I’ll come up with one short thing that’s really cool, and that’s the best feeling ever. Just to get that one short part that I think is really cool. I mean I can come up with inspiration from driving a fucking car or picking up the guitar, it’s in my head.

But what inspires me really the most would probably have to be negative feelings in general; it’s something that every human being goes through every single day, feelings of anger and depression. And not even necessarily depression, just feeling bummed out about something, anything negative at all I try to turn into music. When I feel pissed off I feel the strongest, and that’s the time I should be writing a riff or writing some lyrics. I mean, happy music is something that needs to be there for sure, but negative music is more honest, it comes from a much deeper and darker place and it’s harder to come by.

How has Children of Bodom evolved as a band from the first album Something Wild to the new album Halo of Blood?

We have definitely progressed and naturally improved as musicians and songwriters. And obviously non-stop touring has taught us a pretty fucking lot. It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s made us improve a lot at what we do now, more than what we were doing back in the “Wild Days.” I feel very proud that we never compromised our sound or wanted to go into a “lighter” direction, we still have the same objective we had when we were kids, we wanted to just be as heavy, dark and extreme as possible and we still have that teenage rage kind of thing going on. And that’s something I’m really proud of.

How does your sound translate from the studio to a live performance?

It’s more raw and aggressive when you experience a live show and that’s really what Children of Bodom is all about: playing live. Because that’s when you get to see the band and hear the band all at the same time. So the albums, from that point of view, are there to make the live show better.
 
^It's been long since we've had an interview this interesting. Not just googling out what others asked, but actually being creative and in-depth.
 
I feel very proud that we never compromised our sound or wanted to go into a “lighter” direction, we still have the same objective we had when we were kids, we wanted to just be as heavy, dark and extreme as possible and we still have that teenage rage kind of thing going on. And that’s something I’m really proud of.
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this.
 
Ha ha, that's a lie, or maybe that's how Alexi feels, but the truth is he got influenced by a lot of American bands and the sound got a lot trashier, progressive and lighter. Maybe not intentional, but regardless it counts just as much. And remember they did star up as a neoclassical blackmetal band, which they kind of try to redeem with HOB, but there is still some way to go on that account.
 
Rune said:
Ha ha, that's a lie, or maybe that's how Alexi feels, but the truth is he got influenced by a lot of American bands and the sound got a lot trashier, progressive and lighter. Maybe not intentional, but regardless it counts just as much. And remember they did star up as a neoclassical blackmetal band, which they kind of try to redeem with HOB, but there is still some way to go on that account.
Click to expand...

I think their new material is much heavier then the first few albums, neoclassical isn't something I would call heavy, but thrash fuck yeah it is.
 
Interview with Jaska

http://thesonicsensory.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/children-of-bodom-haloed-in-blood-down-under/

Now that ‘Halo of Blood’ has been released for some time how does the album sit with you, in the scheme of your back catalogue?

I think it is just normal and natural continuation for the band and sits just perfect to our back catalog. If thinking only music track by track there is maybe a little bigger variety between the songs on the new one. Meaning that we have perhaps the fastest and also the slowest ever song on the new release. And also a one very “rockish” song.

The album has a real clean, yet powerful sound, did the recording/production process for Halo of Blood differ from previous releases?

This time we did the album again with Mikko Karmila. His sound is very natural and clean. This time we had also drums a little louder in the mix and didn´t hide them behind the guitar wall.

The album hit me as being really accessible and easy to get in to straight away and the song structure and running order flows extremely well. Is this something that was conscious within the writing process and production or just organically came about?

I think the song structures are more simple and make more sense nowadays compared to early days. That is something that comes out with the experience yet at the same time we don´t think it too much. Running order you only know when the songs are all mixed and you are ready for mastering the album. Then you can listen to the songs like an outsider and can put the songs in the best possible order.

The cover song “Sleeping in My Car” by Roxette sounds great at the end of the album, how did this song come about for COB to record?

I was driving in my car to record the drums and listening to radio and this song came out. We didn´t really know at the time what covers we should do. So, we were kind of waiting for the right moment, inspiration so to say, to realise what to do. This was an instant hit.

How did the concept of the Halo of Blood cover, depicting the reaper in the snow come about, and how do you see this image as a representation of the album?

The time when we were working on the new songs was dark and cold and suited perfect to the atmosphere of the album cover. We wanted to have a white, cold and mean album cover this time.

What inspires you as a drummer to write music and extend yourself as a musician?

Well, while the whole band participates in the arrangements, sometimes Alexi comes to the rehearsals with an idea about what the song should sound like, with rather specific things I should do with drums.Other times, I propose something get some feedback from the rest of the band, and work with it. It’s a cooperative thing. I also play the piano and the French horn and course if you have that kind of technique, like classical training, it’ll help you. Of course, the way you’re thinking about things, it might make you a little more… unique.

Jaska, you have established yourself as a talented and well respected metal drummer, but who do you look up to as a drummer within metal?

Well I always loved Judas Priest, Scott Travis on Painkiller is incredible. I always loved Motorhead and Mikkey Dee! As a drummer, he’s badass, his playing and timing was something that I really got into. There is no specific album, nothing like that… just the drumming itself, I liked it. But l I was also a huge Death fan, so I would have loved to have worked with them.

To the current tour, in support of Halo Blood, how has your set list and stage show differed from previous tours?

We wanted to have more older songs that we haven´t played in many years in the set-list. Also, the new tracks were fitting perfectly by giving different drama to the show.

You have toured Australia a number of times, what is your impression of Australian audiences?

The crowd is always very good in Australia. I am really looking forward to be there and see that crazy but honest audience in our shows.

What message would you like to send to your Australian audience on the eve of the tour?

See you in the front row!!
 
I don't know where should it be posted, so... :

Alexi's Facebook post:

"Hello there ladies and gentlemen.yes im back and i deeply apologize for being MIA for so long, i have no excuse.(well actually i do but we'll get to that later) So much has happened since i last wrote u guys..many countries played, thousands and thousands of miles traveled and so many hours spent at various airports that you need a fuckin calendar to add up all the time i've spent sitting on the floors at the check in counters in fuck knows where..but that being said, i am NOT bitching or whining. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact cos i've had an amazing time, a fuckin blast touring the planet and having the pleasure to play for you awesome COB fans all over the world so i wanna thank you for every goddamn second we've spent together tearing it up like the true Hate Crew we are!! Love u all!!(yes i see the irony here;) There's still much more to come but first..Santiago,Chile..put your helmets on cos tonite we're gonna fuckin RAGE!!! See you in a bit..oh and btw, for real i will try my best to be more active with this fb thing! Horns up my friends! -Alexi"
 
sleeper666 said:
Interview with Alexi at Tuska

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hc_7FcMWck&feature=youtu.be&a
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lol i love how he actually (finally) admits that his early albums were the most liked and the best and he basicly says that the AYDY, blooddrunk and RRF albums are crap :rofl:

I didnt get his "mourning/morning palace" joke, is it a song from inearthed? since i have some inearthed songs but they are really muffled and the volume is very low

if anyone has good recordings of inearthed share pls
 
Arystar said:
lol i love how he actually (finally) admits that his early albums were the most liked and the best and he basicly says that the AYDY, blooddrunk and RRF albums are crap :rofl:

I didnt get his "mourning/morning palace" joke, is it a song from inearthed? since i have some inearthed songs but they are really muffled and the volume is very low

if anyone has good recordings of inearthed share pls
Click to expand...

Mourning Palace is the song Dimmu Borgir plays like constantly every set since end of 90s/early 2000s (Kind of at least).
 
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