CHILDREN OF BODOM Frontman On Touring: 'To Me, It's The Perfect Lifestyle'

February 10, 2012

Tom Murphy of Denver Westword recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Denver Westword: When you were starting out, what was it like being in a band in Finland?

Alexi: It was more like an underground scene. Black metal and death metal and stuff like that. The scene that we were a part of...it wasn't easy to get a gig, and you had to really be out there and beg every fucking venue to have you play or open up for somebody. So yeah, it was pretty harsh. I mean, it was pretty rough, but it didn't stop us. We just wanted to go forward, and we would do anything to get a record contract and after years of playing shows in dingy dive bars and whatnot, we ended up getting signed. It was a lot of hard work but it was worth it.

Denver Westword: Your band seems to be touring constantly. What is the most challenging aspect of that, and what do you find the most fulfilling?

Alexi: Obviously, the playing part. To me, it's the perfect lifestyle. We move around all the time, and it's a different city every night and different people and different lives, so I like that. I have a hard time staying still anyway, so it suits me pretty well. It can be a lot of fun and there's a lot of partying going on, but when you've done that for a year and a half in a row without a decent break, it does get to you. You start to see the wear and tear, especially when you have to fly everywhere or like when you're in South Africa or Asia and they don't have tour buses, really, so you lose so much sleep. Just things like that. It can definitely wear you down and it's definitely not for everybody.

Denver Westword: On your web site, you list a few of your favorite albums of all time. Why did you include the OZZY OSBOURNE album "Tribute"?

Alexi: It's my favorite Ozzy album, and it was the first one I ever heard. I was supposed to learn "Crazy Train" for this music school thing that I was going to. I had never heard Ozzy before. I'd heard Yngwie Malmsteen and stuff like that, and I didn't know who Randy Rhoads was. When I heard that album, it was pretty amazing. You know, the guitar playing and good songs and the whole vibe on that album, just the whole live thing. It's pretty intense.

Read the entire interview from Denver Westword.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).