CHILDREN OF BODOM Frontman: 'Unholy Alliance' Was 'Best Tour We've Ever Done In Our Lives'

Lizar Borowski of Imhotep recently conducted an interview with CHILDREN OF BODOM guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the "Chaos Ridden Years - Stockholm Knockout Live" CD/DVD:

"I'm pretty happy about it. We worked very hard on it, I think the gig was really good, the live footage is great. The documentary is also a special thing. I'm happy with the release of the CD, and especially the DVD. It's something we and our fans have been looking for years and years. Besides, we didn't need to include the 'Needled 24/7', and I'm glad that we didn't. It sucks. The director just did everything that we told him not to do. We told him not to put that fucking circus shit on the video, but he did anyway. He just fucked it up, so we decided to leave it out."

On the specific show in Stockholm where they recorded the new CD/DVD:

"It was a good night. Until Stockholm, we were at the end of the European tour, which was followed by the U.S. tour, so we had been on the road for like over three months. Actually five! The band was in pretty good shape. Playing-wise we were really tight, and the crowd was amazing in Stockholm. The live footage turned out very well. It was shot with eighteen cameras or something. Later we mixed it but we didn't touch the recordings or added things to it in studio. Unless somebody really fucks up everything, we are not going overdo anything. It's a live show, a real live show, there's no reason to change things. What you hear on the CD/DVD is what we played. Those who were there can confirm this."

On his view on suicide:

"I'm definitely not a suicidal anymore, but I understand that if someone is have a very bad time, this one may actually want to do it. I wouldn't support it or tell anyone to do it. On the other hand, I'm not one of these people who would say that anybody who kills himself is a coward. To commit suicide is the fucking worst thing you can do to yourself. If you do that, you must be doing pretty fucking bad. I never want to feel like that ever again. I'm not saying that I won't, but at least I'm trying not to."

On what he thinks makes CHILDREN OF BODOM live performances so special:

"I think that our shows really add things that are missing on the CD. Well, not really missing, but there's definitely something more when it comes to our live performances. If you really wanna experience what CHILDREN OF BODOM is all about, you should see a CHILDREN OF BODOM show, because I think that onstage we go totally crazy, headbanging, getting the crowd going. That's what we are really all about. I believe those who still haven't had the chance of seeing us live, may experience it on the DVD.'

On the Unholy Alliance Tour with SLAYER:

"That was great. I thought that was probably the best tour we've ever done in our lives. All the bands, managements, and crews, got along very well. I'm a fan of SLAYER obviously, and they're super-cool guys. LAMB OF GOD is a great fucking band too. I haven't heard much of MASTODON before the tour, but I really liked them on the tour. It was a lot of fun. The response from the crowd was surprisingly good. We didn't know what we would get, because we have heard that SLAYER's crowd is pretty difficult. But almost every night was great."

Read the entire interview at Imhotep.