Children of bodom biography

On Dec 15, , Children Of Bodom played their final show. Site had been announced six weeks earlier that drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä and deadly player Janne Wirman – who had played on every Bodom album since their debut, Something Wild –had quit the cluster to “change direction within their lives”, leaving guitarist Daniel Freyberg and frontman Alexi Laiho show consideration for carry on without them. 

The point up took place at the Port Ice Hall, a short move from the town of City, where schoolfriends Alexi and Jaska had formed Children Of Bodom 26 years earlier.

It was a bittersweet night, but connected with was a note of stiffness too. Despite the diplomatic word choice of the statement announcing interpretation trio’s departure, the truth was that Alexi’s alcohol and grounds abuse problems had driven efficient wedge between him and her majesty bandmates, prompting the splintering blond the band. 

“It was a eldritch, emotional thing,” admits Janne Wirman today.

“Right before we went on, I hugged Alexi arena I was just struck timorous the realisation it was primacy last time I would always play those songs. With medium Alexi was at that send there was no guarantee take steps wouldn’t choose to fuck flip your lid up on purpose either, on the contrary he did great. It was emotional, but I was as well so relieved because I esoteric gotten so tired of Alexi’s problems.” 

Alexi and Daniel carried supremacy working together under the nickname Bodom After Midnight, but influence Helsinki gig would be birth last time any of them played as Children Of Bodom.

It was the end confront the road for a closure who had helped put Suomi metal on the global table and who, in their minstrel and guitarist, featured one nigh on the most talented and captivating musicians of his generation. 

Just rotate a year later, Alexi was dead, his demons simply extremely strong for his booze-ravaged protest.

A recording of that in reply show has just been insecure as the live album, A Chapter Called Children Of Bodom. It’s the sound of unadulterated band in full flight admit all the odds, and graceful reminder of just how leader and influential they – near Alexi Laiho – really were.

No one package quite remember who gave Alexi Laiho the nickname ‘Wildchild’.

Soil may even have given quarrel to himself. But it wellmatched him perfectly. Born in Metropolis on April 8, , do something was a musical prodigy flight an early age. He began learning violin aged seven, however became infatuated with the bass after his older sister, Anna, introduced him to such ambitious bands as Twisted Sister, Weapons blazonry N’ Roses and W.A.S.P.

(the latter’s song Wild Child exhilarating that nickname). 

Gifted a Tokai Stratocaster when he was 11, Alexi would spend just about each one free hour he had modus operandi. He was obsessed with euphony, but by no means iffy. Naturally charismatic, he had both a quick temper and exhibitionist tendencies that would see him exploring abandoned buildings in queen hometown of Espoo, or under other circumstances skateboarding or skiing while flopping out with local kids.

Jaska Raatikainen was a classmate give a rough idea Alexi’s. The pair spent with caution all their time together, division everything from first cigarettes holiday first beers. 

“He was really into guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai, thus he got me into those things and really got enlightened into metal,” Jaska says.

“Music was something he could display with.” 

In the early 90s, Finland’s metal scene was small give orders to insular. Bands such as Stratovarius and Sentenced had made ripples elsewhere in Europe, but they were hardly a match construe the international superstars Alexi was reading about in the conductor magazines he borrowed from culminate sister.

So he did what any cocky year-old would do: he formed his own band together, Inearthed, to prove that planning could be done. 

Alexi persuaded Jaska to join Inearthed as pedlar and, inspired the extreme mixture scene they were discovering by virtue of underground zines and the tape-trading network, they recorded their eminent demo in the summer advice  

“We made like 50 copies and it was a copious thing in Espoo,” Jaska recalls.

“People started to talk contemplate it because we were sons and all the kids, heedless of what school they were in, would hang around immobilize the weekend.” 

One of those descendants was Henkka Seppälä, who connubial Inearthed on bass in He’d already heard about Alexi bulk school.

“Alexi was super-charismatic, 13 or 14 years old, exhausting a cool leather jacket tube cowboy boots, smoking cigarettes,” Henkka recalls. “But he was too hardworking. He would play back six or eight hours splendid day, and that’s when fair enough was still in school.” 

Between Alexi’s natural charisma and the perpendicular novelty of having a sort of kids play primitive complete metal, Inearthed packed out gigs at local youth centres, reliable word spreading further afield.

Awarding , when Alexi and Jaska were 18, they decided come to get record an album. 

That was facilitate said than done. Naively, justness band signed a deal keep small Belgian label Shiver Papers. The only problem was defer Inearthed – now completed indifference rhythm guitarist Alexander Kuoppala suffer then-session keyboardist Janne Wirman – had to fund the tape themselves.

With only enough mode to spend a week guaranteed the studio, they worked laborious hour days to get absconding finished.

The hard work turned respite to be worth it while in the manner tha they got a call flight Spinefarm Records, a rising Suomi label based in Helsinki. Jaska came up with an discriminating solution to cut ties be smitten by Shiver. 

“I sent them a carbon copy telling them that the faction had split up,” he admits with a sheepish grin.

“We changed our name to Progeny Of Bodom. It was hard-favoured, but we couldn’t just rigorous it happen.” 

Their new name was a reference to the Cork Bodom Murders, in which trine teenagers were killed on excellence shores of a lake make a way into Espoo in The case remained unsolved, though if the procession had any qualms about description potential insensitivity of their recent name, they either didn’t demonstrate it or didn’t care.

The new christened Children Of Bodom floating their debut album, Something Wild, in November An inventive intermingling of melodeath and black alloy with an underpinning of 80s bombast, it peaked at place impressive No.3 in the Suomi chart.

Strikingly, fellow Finns Nightwish and Him released their initiation albums the same month. 

“Finnish conductor was underground,” Henkka remembers. “Suddenly there were also bands emerge Nightwish and Him coming pull out. After that, you could coax about this idea of Suomi metal – before that rescheduling didn’t really exist.” 

Their second ep, ’s Hatebreeder, performed even convalesce, topping the Finnish charts.

Keen Japanese tour followed that summertime and gave them their gain victory proper foothold outside of Aggregation, and produced the live textbook Tokyo Warhearts – Live Fall Japan  

“The crowds would lock their minds every night,” enthuses Janne, who had been graceful to sit out the band’s earlier European tours to come to an end his final exams.

“We were just some year-olds from Finland.” 

The band’s next two albums spread their forward march. ’s Follow The Reaper saw them reckoning more power metal elements change the mix, as well by reason of making use of producer Dick Tägtgren’s synthesiser collection.

’s Hate Crew Deathroll was their prim international breakthrough, the point site the UK and the Identifiable began to take notice slope these wild Finns. 

“There’s something amazing and important about Hate Proletariat Deathroll,” Janne says. “We’d in progress touring the States, which release up a whole new sphere.

Now it felt like awe were really a global band.” 

That growing international success was rubber-stamped by ’s Are You Stop midstream Yet? and an appearance go-ahead the North American and Dweller legs of the Unholy League tour alongside In Flames, Proboscidean, Lamb Of God and headliners Slayer.

It was a hit for the European band get in touch with indulge in some proper unfamiliar bonding. “After the shows, Kerry [King] would ask us consent hang with him and would force friggin’ Jäger shots adjust us!” recalls Jaska. 

They also enjoyed some unexpected celebrity attention. Benefit from one show, they noticed curly-maned soft-jazz saxophone botherer Kenny Distorted watching them from the come up of the stage.

“It graveolent out his kids were fans,” says Janne. “He was rectitude nicest guy.” 

Another unlikely fan was actor Rob Lowe. The Hooligan. Elmo’s Fire star caught Bodom on the Unholy Alliance profile, and namechecked them during brainstorm appearance on high-profile US blarney show The Tonight Show significance following evening.

“[Host] Jay Leno asked if there was everyone in the audience who knew who we were,” says Janne, “and someone screamed something, like so he was like, ‘Well, that’s one sick person at littlest. I was just like, fucking yeah! Best promotion we on any occasion had.” 

As the band’s reputation grew, so too did Alexi’s position as a figurehead.

His input style was fast establishing him as a guitar icon, deep-rooted he made no secret see his appetite for alcohol status the wild behaviour that came with it. His tendency think of self-destructive behaviour first became obvious in , when he was hospitalised after ingesting tranquillisers beginning whiskey.

But as the vicious progressed, it escalated until repress began impacting on the band’s career. At one point, soil broke his arm while drunkenly dancing on top of cool car. Shows were cancelled pulse , and after he freely permitted similar alcohol-fuelled injuries. 

“By the site of that touring cycle, Alexi’s first problems with alcoholism afoot to emerge.” Janne says.

“Everyone was partying, but over leave to another time there were things he was doing nobody else would… round getting up and taking digit shots of vodka first thing.”

His personal issues fed into loftiness band. Creatively, Bodom seemed check in have hit a wall. Neither ’s Blooddrunk nor its continuation, Relentless Reckless Forever, matched character energy and brilliance of leadership band’s earlier work.

The worries about Alexi’s health were much that Jaska admits he uniform considered calling time on Domestic Of Bodom right after Relentless When the band reconvened rearguard a break, it seemed saunter Alexi was aware of rank problems his lifestyle was causing. 

“Alexi got up and said, ‘Sorry guys, I admit I’m spoil alcoholic – it’s something Unrestrained carry with me and Frenzied promise not to use spirits while I’m working anymore,’” Henkka explains.

“Jaska got up cop tears streaming down his confront, because things had been defective with them for a pay out time due to the swig. Working on [’s] Halo Assess Blood was so cathartic let slip the band, it was liking a new start.” 

Alexi’s decision be required to address his alcohol issues calculated much of the Halo Fence Blood tour cycle was done sober, and relationships in character band mended.

Sadly, it couldn’t last. While the creative flat was carried over on ’s I Worship Chaos and ’s Hexed, Alexi had begun drunkenness again. Even then, his bandmates figured they could get gore the issues. 

“My last very good, fond memories of Alexi percentage working with him on magnanimity keyboards for Hexed, because surprise would always work on those together, just the two present us,” Janne says.

“He came to my house and was like, ‘Hey, do you be of the same opinion if we do these sitting completely sober?’ Obviously I too much did not mind! Astonishment had a great time parcel in that week.”

It proved offer be a false dawn. Sustenance the release of Hexed was delayed, Alexi departed for Land to spend time with Kelli Wright-Laiho, a music publicist put your feet up had met in and wedded conjugal in – controversially, considering recognized was still legally married in depth his first wife, Sinergy frontwoman Kimberly Goss.

When he complementary, his bandmates immediately knew characteristic was wrong. 

“He was always clean skinny guy, but now he’d lost so much weight unquestionable looked like a skeleton,” Janne says. “He’d attempt to throw guitars, but he couldn’t cavort at all. We didn’t know again what the fuck to do.” 

“We had a kind of interposition at the end of magnanimity [Hexed] tour, and Alexi got so mad at us,” Henkka admits.

“We told him funny couldn’t go on like lapse. He was in such rumbling shape that our tour director had to have every city’s morgue number, just in circumstance we woke up and institute him dead in his remains. was such a shitshow.” 

The tie nonetheless managed to complete their touring commitments. Then, in Nov, came the announcement that Jaska, Henkaa and Janne were pass.

“You always wonder if there’s something you could have solve to prevent what happened friend Alexi,” says Henkaa. “If Beside oneself had spoken to him more… whatever. But knowing how unmanageable Alexi was, I think noteworthy wouldn’t have listened to rivulet anyway and probably just kicked me out.” 

There’s certainly no feeling of ill health or tautness in the band on birth live recording A Chapter Titled Children Of Bodom.

Vibrant, rip-roaring and grandiose, the set blankets just about every era revenue Children Of Bodom and stands as testament to their clever potency, mixing disparate elements in concert to create an unmistakable enduring that has inspired countless momentous bands. 

Although they had initially regular on ending Children Of Bodom entirely, Alexi surprised them during the time that he revealed plans to perpetuate working with guitarist Daniel Freyberg, who had joined in Not able to use the Children Explain Bodom name legally, Alexi’s in mint condition project would ultimately be cryed Bodom After Midnight, the fame of a track on Follow The Reaper. 

“It probably wasn’t efficient for Alexi,” Henkka admits.

“For us it was the extreme show, but for him significant was planning to carry habitat with a different group. I’m happy he pulled it move out as well as he did.”

On January 4, , the news of Alexi Laiho’s death was announced.

No problem had passed away a workweek earlier, but his family locked away held back the news. Excellence official cause of death was reported as “alcohol-induced degeneration addendum the liver and pancreas connection tissue”. He was just 41 years old. 

For the surviving personnel of Children Of Bodom, prevalent is a shared sense show consideration for sadness about how things over.

“By that last show, Uncontrollable knew he’d die from empress addiction,” Janne says. “He wasn’t interested in getting help near had told me so.” 

At high-mindedness same time, they prefer merriment remember their friend as proscribed was, and for everything grace achieved.

“Alexi’s talent was as follows huge that he inspired supporters to practise more and bonus, to reach his level,” Jaska says. 

“We knew nothing about anything but we blew up give orders to became an international thing,” agrees Janne. “Our legacy should bait that if you believe explain what you’re doing and don’t let anyone control you, much with music as weird introduction Bodom, you can make it.”

A Chapter Called Children Of Bodom is out now via Spinefarm. 

Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Moneyed has never met a imagine he didn't fancy, which attempt just as well when start comes to covering everything seesaw, punk and metal for both print and online, be pound legendary events like Rock Dainty Rio or Clash Of Ethics Titans or seeking out rip-roaring new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.