Former CHILDREN OF BODOM Members 'Have No Passion To Try To Put Together' A Tribute Show For ALEXI LAIHO

On March 9, former CHILDREN OF BODOM members Jaska Raatikainen (drums),Henri "Henkka T. Blacksmith" Seppälä (bass) and Janne Wirman (keyboards) were interviewed by Chaoszine about the band's second beer collaboration with Fat Lizard brewery titled Murder Point. During the chat, they were asked if they would consider playing a tribute concert for their former bandmate, late CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho, who died in December 2020 at the age of 41.

"Well, it's a tricky question, and then even the three of us, we have not really discussed about it," Janne said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

"The way I personally feel about this is Alexi would not like a tribute show. Alexi would like just CHILDREN OF BODOM playing a show. And even though he would be replaced, which is a really hard thing for us, and it's a really hard thing in the whole world of heavy metal vocals and guitar playing… I know from experience with Alexi and going to tribute shows and stuff like that that he wouldn't [want there to be a tribute show for him].

"So, we have no passion to try to put together a tribute show for Alexi," Janne explained. "We might play a show someday. Never say never… But for us, it would not feel natural to try to put a [tribute] show together right now."

Henkka concurred, saying: "It would be weird to play a tribute show for Alexi. And like [Janne] said, I'm pretty sure that he would want somebody else to be there to play a tribute show for him. It would feel awkward to play a tribute show. I'm not against if some other people play CHILDREN OF BODOM music for his memory… And every time I see somebody [covering our songs], we always share them because that's the best thing to do. Alexi's music will live forever."

Alexi passed away on December 29, 2020 in his home in Helsinki, Finland. He died of alcohol-induced degeneration of the liver and pancreas connective tissue. Furthermore, Laiho had a cocktail of painkillers, opioids and insomnia medication in his system. He had suffered from long-term health issues leading up to his death.

Alexi's ashes were buried in December 2021 — nearly a year after his tragic passing. He was laid to rest at the Malmi Cemetery, a large cemetery located in the Malmi district in Helsinki, Finland.

Alexi and Jaska founded CHILDREN OF BODOM in 1993, and the band was one of the most internationally acclaimed metal acts in Finland up until their very last farewell concert in December of 2019. In 2020, Alexi put together BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, which recorded three songs and shot one music video, all of which were released posthumously.

Besides CHILDREN OF BODOM, Laiho had played in such acts as WARMEN, SINERGY, KYLÄHULLUT and THE LOCAL BAND. Awarded with a Metal Hammer Golden God and several other international prizes, the guitarist was also the main star, leading a group of one hundred guitar players at the Helsinki Festival in 2015 in "100 Guitars From Hel" — a massive concert piece he composed.

Raatikainen, Seppälä and Wirman announced their departures from CHILDREN OF BODOM in October 2019. Two months later, they confirmed that they were the rightful owners of the CHILDREN OF BODOM brand.

CHILDREN OF BODOM played its final show on December 15, 2019 at the Black Box in Helsinki Ice Hall. A short time later, Finnish music magazine Soundi reported that the rights to the CHILDREN OF BODOM name are held by AA & Sewira Consulting Oy, the company owned by Raatikainen, Seppälä and Wirman. In June 2019, the trio filed an application with the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland, and their application was subsequently granted for a five-year period starting on October 1, 2019. As a result, Laiho, who was CHILDREN OF BODOM's singer, guitarist and main songwriter, wasn't authorized to use the band's name without permission from Wirman, Raatikainen and Seppälä.