Interviews

Hei! Mitä kuuluu?

Henkka: Kivaa, kivaa, kiitos!

How were the days off and how did you spend them?

Henkka: The days off between the last tour? I was with my friends and my family, Christmas of course with my family. Yeah, I was just hanging out with friends and my family, getting drunk and go along in Helsinki... just had a good time. It was great.

About touring: You are starting the European part of the tour now. Will there be any differences between the shows in Europe compared to your previous gigs?

Henkka: We haven't been playing shows in Europe for almost three years, I mean club shows, so we don't actually know how it is here. Because we were playing only the American markets the past three years. So actually it is very exciting to be back here now and to see how it's gonna be, how the fans are here and...

Incredible. (laughs) I don't know, did you take a look outside?

Henkka: Well, I didn't, no.

You should have because it's really crazy outside. They are all the way long singing and...

Henkka: Yes? That sounds good.

Yeah, I think it will be great.

Henkka: Yeah, that's why I'm really excited about coming here because in the beginning of our career we did a lot of tours in Europe and it was kind of a normal thing for us. We got somehow used to it. But now, after being outside Europe for three years, it's great to be back here again. It's a bit exciting.

The schedule of your current tour is very tight and you have been on the road now since October with short breaks only. Isn't that exhausting and what is your way to cope that stress and exertions?

Henkka: Well, there is no stress actually when you're on tour. You kind of turn your brains off and then just play the music. It's more the physical part that is the heaviest thing to cope. This is the first time we are having this tight schedule, and after this European tour we're gonna see if this was too tight actually or not. But so far after the Japan and Australian the American tour has been good. Now we had only ten day in between which was a little too less. But every day, no matter how stick or exhausted or fed up you are, and you go on stage and you see the thousand fans that are very happy to see you, that gives you so much power so it's easy to go on.

When you are on tour and travelling there are surely times when you actually have nothing to do. What do you do not to get bored?

Henkka: Well, you get bored. At some point anyway. I read books, play playstation, play chess, watch movies.

So you recently have been touring with Amon Amarth and Trivium. What were your best and what were your worst memories about that?

Henkka: About the tour? (thinks) All the shows were pretty good, it was almost sold out, the whole tour, so that was great. We had a day off in Florida, it was nice, 30 degrees, sunshine, the beach, that was great. On the other hand we had really cold days in Minneapolis, in the north. So that's about the climate. (laughs)
But the tour was very easy, there were no big bad things going on. One bad thing was that Janne was really sick for one week. He got really high fever, then he took some medicine and obviously he was allergic to the medicine and his mouth was infected so that he couldn't eat for one week. So he lost like five kilos and he was really weak. That was the worst memory of the tour.

How did you get along with these two bands you toured with?

Henkka: Very well. Two of the Trivium guys are so young so they are actually not even allowed to drink alcohol in the States because they are under 21, so that we didn't hang out much with them. But of course we saw them during the day and they were nice guys. The guitarist and the drummer were older, so they were hanging out with us and they were drinking in our bus and sometimes they fell asleep there and travelled with us.
Amon Amarth were travelling with a van so they had to drive by themselves. So usually after the show they had to leave quite early to go to the hotel and stuff, so we didn't have that much time to spend with those guys, either. But they seemed to be really good guys, too, and whenever we had the time we hung out with them. It was a great package, great bands to tour with. We were really satisfied.

You have also been to Australia for the first time. Tell us something about your experiences down under!

Henkka: Down under... it was great! I'm glad that I realised to book the flights four days before the first show. So we had almost one week in Sydney and that was great. I fell in love with the city. And of course we were aware that we had there four shows and they were all sold out in advance, that was great, too. Always when you go somewhere where you have never played before it's very exciting to see how the people react. Children Of Bodom have been around for eight years now and to go there for the first time after eight years... you could see it from some of the fans, they were really excited. So it was really good to play there, in every sense. It's a great country. And as I said, Sydney is one of the best cities I've ever been to.

About the country, have you seen anything there?

Henkka: No, I just saw Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide but that was enough. Actually I could move there. Even though I know that the nature is incredible like all over there, so I'm sure that's one of the best places of the world.

As you have been touring already all over the world, are there any differences concerning the people that come to your concerts?

Henkka: Yes, there are little differences. For example North European people are a little upside, they have to get drunk to have fun and go crazy. The Japanese don't drink at all in the concerts, I don't think that they even sell any beer in the concerts. And the concerts start like 6 o'clock in the evening, so they go crazy but they are totally sober and most people come straight from the work, they have their suits on and their brief cases, so it's totally different. South America is so crazy, all the lunatics in Brazil and Chile. Of course it's fun to play in front of those guys because there it is just so crazy, but sometimes it's a little scary. The same goes with the South Europeans. So, yeah, there are differences but everybody is cool in his one way, I would say.

You have also played for the last “Böhse Onkelz” show. I've read that you were very impressed by the mass of people that came there. Have you been aware of the fact that Die Böhsen Onkelz did no commercial for this last show? Do you think a similar event would be repeatable?

Henkka: Well, that was something I have never seen before and I don't think there is any band that can pull such a big audience for two days in a row. It's just amazing. So they did no commercials?

No. That has been all gone through internet, fansites or something like that. They did no commercials.

Henkka: Yeah, I heard that their whole career has been more or less kind of like that. They just do the records and people just buy them without any big labels or any big promotion. I think that's just so incredible. Well, I don't know if it's possible - well, of course it is possible for somebody else to repeat it, but I don't know if any band that's now alive can pull two days in a row more than 100.000 people.

How was the feeling?

Henkka: It was great to be there of course because for us the biggest event was Wacken Open Air last year. There we had maybe 20.000 or something and that was a lot. Now like 130.000. (laughs) It was just amazing. On stage, a lot of people... it's so huge that you actually lose the sense, you don't actually even really realise how many people... - you just see this big mass. You don't even see the faces, you know, it's totally different. You are more scared to go on stage when it's a small club and there are hundred people because you see everybody's faces, you can look in the eyes and stuff. But when you are playing in front of 130.000 you just see one mass and you don't discern it like individuals. It's different but it was great, a good experience.

Talking about “Are you dead yet?”. The album has been out now for four months. What feedback did you get so far?

Henkka: Pretty good. (laughs) The first reviews that I read were in Finland , some big magazines and they were really positive. Especially from the bigger mainstream magazines, there came some positive things. I was really surprised how that is possible. But I don't know, I haven't been following any reviews or anything, so I don't know.

You said you always went more straight forward with the new album. What's the reason for that change?

Henkka: I don't know. (laughs) I think we just like it more like that.

Or is it just a feeling that some people have?

Henkka: I think when you listen to for example ‘Something Wild' there are some really complicated or progressive things happening. We don't have this kind of stuff anymore. It's more straight forward, but still it's quite complicated. So I don't know what's the reason. Maybe we just like the music that way more because we made the songs like they are. That's how we like them. So there's no reason. (laughs)

We were astonished to find “Thrashed, Lost & Strungout” on the new album as well because you already released it on an EP before. Why did you put it on this album again instead of some new song?

Henkka: We have the tradition to have a single half a year before the album comes out, a single with a new song. We have done this with every album and then the single song ends up on the album as well. So this time it was the same, we had “Thrashed, Lost & Strungout” like half a year before the album and then we put it on the album. But now the thing was that it was an EP, so it was world wide. It was just a thing we have always done but I think before the singles were only released in Finland, so people didn't know about it. But that's what we have always done, so it's kind of a tradition thing.

It's also kind of a tradition that there aren't many lyrics released in the booklets. Why is it like that and isn't it like detaining the lyrics from the fans?

Henkka: Well, it's just Alexi who writes the lyrics. He just doesn't want to put them in there usually. Some of the lyrics are too personal for him to publish them anyway because there you can basically read his life in there so he's just a little afraid to expose himself that much. Some of the lyrics he thinks are not good quality enough to put them so that people could see (laughs), and I think those are the main reasons why he didn't want to put them. But he promised to me that we can put some of the lyrics on the website and I think there are already some of the lyrics on the website, you can download or you can check them out there.

What are your plans..., will you release a video of another track of “Are You Dead Yet?”?

Henkka: Yeah, we have planned to shoot another video, yeah. But I don't know what's gonna happen, or if it's confirmed yet... But there is a plan to make another video early next year.

But you don't know yet which track?

Henkka: No, it's probably gonna be “Are You Dead Yet?” but we didn't decide it 100% yet.

Besides the video, do you already have any further plans for 2006?

Henkka: We have another American tour in March, we have another Japanese tour in April and in summer we have planned some festivals or maybe another tour in America again. And in summer I guess we have another tour in Europe, so that how it goes.

Really a lot! As the year is almost over now, what were the ups and what were the downs for Children Of Bodom in 2005?

Henkka: The downs were probably when Alexi broke his arm so that we couldn't start rehearsing the new songs as we had planned in January. So everything went on until February. This was bad for us and especially for Alexi, for him it was really a big thing. And the ups (thinks)... yeah, the Böhse Onkelz for example, one of the greatest things that we have done or the whole American headlining tour, that was a big thing for us, too.

Some general things. Did you follow up yourselves the trial about the Bodom murderer which was a pretty big issue in the Finnish news this year and what do you think about this all?

Henkka: Yeah, it was such a big thing in the news that everybody had to follow it actually. I think it's really surprising that they accused him in the first place but then during the whole process – it was a public trial so all the evidence was in all the public magazines and all the media so everybody could know what's happening – and it seemed almost in the beginning that he cannot be charged of the murders because the evidence was just too old and all the eye-witnesses were getting really old and it seems like there isn't enough evidence against him. Even though they had a lot of proof that he probably was the killer but just not enough evidence. So I think now everybody thinks that he is the killer but he's still free, so it's a little sad story, I guess.

As we are a webzine dedicated to Finnish metal, let's talk a bit about the Finnish metal scene in general. From your point of view, why do you think is Finnish metal so popular at this time?

Henkka: I think the thing is that once there is one band breaking through from Finland or from any other very small country that is not such a normal music industrial country, if there is one band breaking through, then everybody in the business realises “hm, there is Finland, maybe there are some other bands, too... we have to pay more attention to Finland.” And then similar bands come more and more and more. I think that's what is happening in Finland now. I don't think there is any other reason.

Which influence do you think Children Of Bodom have had in the PAST and have at PRESENT to the metal scene in Finland ?

Henkka: If you mean the bands that have been influenced us, like for example Sentenced, Amorphis, Impaled Nazarene and there have been so many good Finnish bands in the past. At the moment... (thinks) What bands do we have now? Which else Finnish bands do we have? (thinks)

Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Finntroll...

Henkka: (takes a look at the wall where there is written “Norther” in big black letters) Norther... And Finntroll is funny. They have good stuff. We have still Amorphis. I heard the new album is great... have you heard it?

No, not yet.

Henkka: I heard it's the best since ‘Elegy'.

And what do you think what do you give yourself as influences to the scene?

Henkka: I don't know. Do I give anything? (laughs) I don't know. (thinks) I know what we give, we heard that many people think that there are many bands that sound like Children Of Bodom and I think that's just great to hear to have an obvious influence in some bands. As long as we are the reason for somebody to start playing guitar that's enough. And that's what we heard from some fans, so...

Aren't you actually scared of becoming mainstream because of your increasing popularity?

Henkka: Well, kind of, yeah, but in the end I don't know how you can be mainstream in this kind of music... I don't know...

I mean mainstream in metal, not in general.

Henkka: Yeah. Well, we don't actually think about it in that way. So I guess we are not afraid of that. But we are not trying to go into that direction, neither. The basic thing is that we just do the music that we do and we never think about what people think about it or whether people would like it or not. We just do the music really without any compromises. That's what we have done so far and that's why we are here now, so there is no space for thinking if we are going mainstream or whatever. We just do the thing that we want to do.

How is the relationship between you and other Finnish metal bands? Do you have any contact to other bands?

Henkka: Yes, we have. For example Amorphis guys we know, HIM guys we know, Sonata Arctica guys we know, Finntroll guys we know, Norther guys we know… I mean if we don't hang out in for example Helsinki that much but of course we see them at festivals and stuff, so we hang out, we get drunk... I think all Finnish metal bands are pretty good friends with each other. It's kind of a brotherhood, I would say.

Actually we are through with our questions. Would you like to add something or say anything to our readers?

Henkka: Well, I just wanna thank everybody who has been involved in the story of Children Of Bodom and looking forward to tour in Europe this time, as I said before, I'm pretty excited and I hope to see as many fans as possible at the shows. Thank you everybody!

Kiitos haastattelusta and good luck for the show!

Henkka: Thanks!