Gig Reviews
Terror
Tøjhuset, Fredericia, DEN - 22/3
Album Reviews
Children Of Bodom
Previous Nextauthor PP date 22/11/08
After having been a fan of Children Of Bodom for as long as I can remember, they finally came to Denmark for a show and thus an interview was a must for us. Roope Latvala emerged to the backstage area either slightly drunk or extremely hungover from the night before, just the way I had expected a crazy Finn to do, but he was still in a pretty good mood. Turns out he's been to Roskilde Festival several times and has always wanted to play there, but the bookers are, for some reason, ignoring the band, as we find out later on in the interview. Read on to find out about what he thinks about being regarded as one of the best guitarists in the world, about the Bodom lake triple homicide and Alexi's lyrical work!
RF.net: How's the tour going?
Roope: It's quite the beginning right now..
RF.net: Is this the first day, actually?
Roope: No we did a couple of shows in Finland, and then yesterday was Stockholm, oh yeah, and Oslo also. And now we're kind of heading down to Europe.
RF.net: You're supporting Slipknot, isn't that a kind of a weird band to support for you guys? They're kind of different, aren't they?
Roope: Well, in a way yeah, but I don't know. Pretty good crowd turn out anyway, I think the audience is pretty wide and they dig all the bands. Okay, Machine Head dropped out today. They were supposed to play here but I think Rob, the singer, fucked his voice up.
RF.net: Oh, that's a shame..
Roope: Yeah, it is, but I think we will be doing a little bit longer set today.
RF.net: Well that's at least good!
Roope: Yeah, it's also good for us, there wouldn't have been too much space on stage for us!
RF.net: Sure. There's a lot of rumours on the internet about you guys either breaking up or changing the name if the murders were ever resolved. Is that true at all?
Roope: [laughs] No.. I think it's still gonna be a pretty open case, because after forty years, they even took the case back, and this Nils Gustafsson dude, he was prosecuted again, but then they still didn't have any proof, so I don't know if it's gonna be solved ever.
RF.net: So IF it was solved, would that affect the band?
Roope: No I don't think so. I'm still dedicated to this band!
RF.net: So what are some of the themes that you explored on the record overall?
Roope: That's a tough question for me because Alexi's lyrics can be kind of hard and there's swear words so they weren't actually allowed to get printed [laughs], you know, a little I do know, but I go by the music.
RF.net: But even musically, it's a little bit different from the previous albums at least in my opinion? So is that something you did on purpose or did it just...
Roope: No no it just come by accident.
RF.net: Did those times effect the band at all, I know you said they weren't that big but?
Roope: Those times when he actually injured himself, you know broken bones and shit, sure it affecfs, we can't tour or play music.
RF.net: How are you able to come up with such original and awesome guitar riffs all the time, album on album?
Roope: Just play what you can [laughs], I'm trying to come up with interesting stuff, whatever interests you, you know, try to be as original as you can, just obey your normal taste.
RF.net: So when you're recording your albums, do you go into the studio with all songs fully written, everything's ready, or do you just change things in studio still, how does it work for you guys?
Roope: Well, we try to make them as ready as possible, so we don't have to start wasting expensive studio time. It's also much more relaxing when it's all figured out and done. But then you just go there, get concentrated on getting a good sound, and then just bang bang, get it done, it's a much more disturbing time when you have to start re-doing stuff, you know. Too much happening already, so it's better to have ready both songs and arrangements.
RF.net: So when you're in a tour bus, do you guys pop on some Children Of Bodom stuff ever?
Roope: [laughing] On this trip we have listened nothing else but AC/DC, man. It's just good for an evening, with a few beers and pop AC/DC on. It's my favorite, also Amon Amarth's been on the bus right now. So some newer stuff coming, but oldies are goodies.
RF.net: Do you like the new AC/DC album then?
Roope: Yeah man, they're good, I dig it, yeah! They've got a really orginal line up and a very original sound.
RF.net: How many crowd surfers?
Roope: You know, those that came over the fence, there was like 6 to 12 per minute! I heard there was someone who could count it, and he said a thousand and two hundred surfers. That was pretty weird looking at from stage, playing your stuff you know, "what the fuck is happening man"
RF.net: So would you say that's the best show you've ever played?
Roope: No I wouldn't say best show, but you know, anyway, each night is different.. it was the biggest show.
RF.net: Have you guys actually played here in Denmark before?
Roope: I don't think so, I don't know why. We've done a lot of touring in Europe and Scandinavia, but somehow I don't know what happened man, we haven't been coming to Denmark, so it's kind of a special evening tonight, because this will be the first time!
RF.net: It couldn't be funny even as a joke?
Roope: No, man, leave it to the... I don't know, it's far out, it's not our thing... and we would lose it anyway! [laughs] We don't have that Euro-pop style!
RF.net: Maybe this coming year?
Roope: Well, I don't know. Might be some money issue or something, but I've been begging them like "hey come on! why can't we do Roskilde!".. so that's one goal, you know!