CHILDREN OF BODOM Frontman On Touring, Songwriting And Covering Other Bands' Material

Terrorizer assistant editor Louise Brown recently conducted an interview with CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On covering other people's songs:

"We just did a SUICIDAL TENDENCIES cover. We are massive fans of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. We were told we had to do four covers so we ended up doing that. It's not an obvious choice — it's not like doing SLAYER, MAIDEN or PRIEST.

"In the studio I would start drinking beer and end up being really drunk and listening to ROXETTE or whatever. It's the kind of shit that we do — you know, just ending up recorded retarded covers, versions of anything stupid like SAMANTHA FOX. We were this close to recording SAMANTHA FOX's 'Touch Me', but I think it will happen one day.

"I don't know if we will play those new cover songs live — we have not talked about it — but it would be fun to cover at least one of them for example you know we have done BRITNEY SPEARS — that for us would be impossible to do that live because we would need to get another singer — a girl singer 'cos otherwise it would sound crap. I guess we could the POISON one live."

On the new album, "Blooddrunk":

"The writing process for this album started in about February — I was supposed to start in January but I kind of broke my shoulder — I am accident prone, I'm so fucking stupid but I mean the shoulder thing was pure fucking bad luck. I have broken two of my ribs, three bones on my wrists, my toe, my shoulder — my face got pretty banged up a couple of times, I've had to have stitches. Sometimes I just get a little crazy."

On touring:

"That's our thing — we love playing live. There are a lot of bands that complain about it, they say they can't stand staying on the tour bus or being away from their fucking girlfriends — what the fuck!?

"It's weird, sometimes after being on tour for, what, two years you get that feeling you want to go home, I've been like a walking corpse a couple of times — the last three days of tour I just so want to go home. But when I get home I get fucking depressed, I just miss all these people.

"We always have a blast on tour anyway — I love playing live. We don't fight either, I mean we bitch at each other, you know like in a funny way, but we don't fight. I guess we are just lucky that way that we all get along, it's like if somebody has to say something to another member they will just flat out say anything, and then it is dealt with. We are lucky because I've seen other bands, I'm not mentioning any names, but I have seen people just not getting along and what that does to the band eventually — if they cannot stand each other. That's why members quit and I think that is the most important thing when it comes to playing in a band that you get along with the guys.

"When the album comes out in April we'll start from the U.S. and do six or seven weeks there and then Australia before we do a European tour. Oh yeah we are going to go to Japan and New Zealand, which is cool because I have never been to New Zealand before."

On being the "boss":

"When I start writing I like to be alone, then whenever I come up with a riff I like to show it to the guys, and then I come up with another one and that's why actually everything is pretty much finished when we enter the studio, and then we can fuck around with the songs or whatever.

"It's our band definitely, I just happen to write the music, but you know the other guys contribute to that as well. I'm not like a fucking Hitler, it's just not like that, we are a group, you know and everybody's opinion counts. I think there needs to be one person who in the end calls the shots and that will be me but like I said...

"You are supposed to have fun in life generally, no stupid rules like no drinking, but everyone knows you don't have to say it out loud, as long as you are able to play it doesn't really matter, it's a lot calmer when we are in the studio, but yeah, we still party at the studio, but obviously it's a lot crazier on the road and everybody knows the same unwritten rules for touring as well, like you know, you can do what the fuck you want as long as you can still do your job. You know, if you are drunk before a show, you are going to get your fucking arse kicked, and nobody does, everyone takes their shit pretty seriously."

On being considered a "guitar god":

"I still practice no matter what, I just love playing — it's just something I do, it's got nothing to do with my job or whatever I just do it. It's like when you are on tour just before a show you can't drink or anything like that, all I can do is just pick up a guitar and just play and warm up for the show and keep myself entertained. It depends, you know. I usually jam with Roope, the other guitar player. The drummer Jaska takes himself very seriously that sometimes it's a little bit over the top.

"There are like a couple of times when I'm writing solos where I really feel that I have pulled something off, I know this sounds corny but that makes me feel so good. But I remember the first time I heard even the first couple of new songs with the vocals on. I know that I can play but I'm sometimes a little bit — whatever, with my vocals. I'm not like a fucking professional singer either and it feels that I have my bad moments and I have my good moments and this time I think the vocals turned out really good. That for me was really important."

On taking criticism on the chin:

"Those are the exact things you are not meant to think about. You are meant to ignore all that fucking crap. Not that it doesn't cross my mind every once in a while, I could get worried about people not liking this album, if you start thinking about things too much you are going to start fucking things up for yourself. That's not an option. You just have to get over it, whatever it is that you are worrying about and just fucking do it. I guess it's more of a relief when you have been worried that the album is actually all mixed and mastered. When you think about it all those sleepless nights and going over and over the songs, that's like for me when we are writing the music — I mean, I don't fucking sleep. I suck at sleeping anyway, and that just makes it worse. I get the fucking songs in my head going over and over and then, of course, the recording and the mixing etc. And then when you get the master in your hand it feels, I don't know this is a cliché, but it's like giving birth."

On the Finnish metal scene:

"A lot of rock bands put Finland on the map — well, I mean, we have been touring all over the world for almost ten years and there are all these Finnish bands that started popping up, they started selling albums all over Europe and the States and it was weird because I think that ten years ago no one had heard of a fucking country called Finland. Everybody was talking about Sweden but now it's Finland. I've never had an answer for that, people always ask me what is the secret, what is the Finnish thing that gets you guys out there. There is no Finnish sound.

"There is a band called DIABLO, they should really get out there. All over Europe. Those guys are fucking metal to the core, its just pure metal. I'd recommend them to anyone. But there is a lot of crap too..."

On stealing riffs from other bands:

"I'm sure that happens all the time, it's not that you are like thinking about it. I might be checking out LAMB OF GOD or SLAYER and think that's a good fucking riff, I might steal that. When you end up hearing and seeing these bands about 35 times in a row, I mean I don't know you tend to get influenced by it and so I'm sure we toured with LAMB OF GOD so much we got some influence from them and you know vice versa, but I think its a good thing, you know, playing with different bands and playing with different people. So you don't just get stuck with your own thing."

On making videos:

"The title track, 'Blooddrunk' and the song 'Hell Hounds On My Trail', we're going to shoot videos for them. The first one is set in some ghost town, an abandoned hellhole town, a really creepy looking environment, all these abandoned buildings, no one has lived there for years.

"The other is set in an opera house. I know that sounds super gay but it looks pretty cool, we're done with that whole industrial warehouse thing, with the wet floor, that's all done now. We have a budget to do things now."

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