Metallic greetings from the Wiltern Theater, friends and fellow metal fanatics! Tonight we’re meeting with bassist Henkka Seppälä from Finnish rock band Children Of Bodom, shortly before their performance at this landmark site. Good evening, Henkka, welcome to Los Angeles, thanks for sparing a few moments to talk about music. Your band has been tagged with many descriptive designations over the years, and we’d like to know if you have any favorite labels yourselves. If you’re going to be pigeonholed anyway, is there any particular pigeonhole you think you fit into best?
Henkka: We’ve been associated with all kinds of metal styles, and some people call us black metal, some people death metal, but I would just prefer using “melodic death metal.”
So that’s your one-two sound bite on how you’d describe the sound of Children Of Bodom, melodic death metal?
Yes, we’re very melodic!
We’ve noticed that. Any of the other labels you find amusing? We’ve heard “speed-death” and “thrash,” and we don’t really think you’d fall under “gothic,” but are there any other tags that made you laugh?
Power metal. That’s always kind of amused me a little bit, because it reminds me of these old German power-metal bands who always sing very high.
Like the Scorpions, for instance?
The Scorpions, for example, or Man-of-War, or Primal Fear.
We have heard that you’re looking to go back into the studio to do some recording early next year, and it appears we can look forward to a new CD in 2007, true?
We will write during the whole first part of the next year, and we will enter the studio in the summer, so the release will be in the beginning of 2008.
Do you have any ideas recorded yet?
No. Alexi has done some production by himself, but we haven’t sat down together. We have to do that all together, so we will start in January.
So then, you all share in the creative process?
Yeah, we do.
Do you have a particular producer in mind?
No, we’re just thinking about it, actually. We’ve never had any real producer, we have always kind of produced by ourselves. So we are now thinking if it will even be necessary to have one, or is it bad or is it good, or could we somehow get some new ideas or new perspectives if we had a producer. So we are still thinking about it.
Do you suppose that in the upcoming album there will be another reference to Bodom itself, or another song with Bodom in the title, do you think that’s in the cards?
I think it’s gonna be there, yeah!
Could you do us a favor, please, and describe for the uninitiated reader just where your name comes from. A lot of people don
’t know.
It comes from the biggest unsolved crime mystery in Finland. There was Lake Bodom, a very popular camping place for young people and families. Four kids went there camping one summer [1960], and during the night somebody cut the tent-strings and the tent fell down, and then he stabbed the kids through the tent. One survived, and forty years later they found some evidence that it could be the only survivor who actually killed the others.
What is your belief on that?
There was not enough evidence. So he got freed, but now he got labeled. There might have been some kind of jealousy thing going on, but I think he was innocent. There’s been a lot of thinking that there was just some sort of wacko who just randomly killed these kids, because there was no motive ever found. It was weird, because he didn’t steal anything. I really don’t know what to say.
Well, that’s a pretty grim theme, and we see that the Grim Reaper is kind of like your mascot. What name did you guys give the Reaper? I think he has a nickname, like Eddie from Iron Maiden?
We called him Roy.
That’s right, thanks. Well now, the whole band is from Finland, born and raised. Does everybody learn English as a second language in your country?
Third language, yeah. Finnish is the first, Swedish is the second, and English is the third.
Then Russian would fall way down on the totem pole?
Yeah, when people choose a fourth language, they can choose between Russian, German, or French.
How about skiing, is that a national form of transportation in the winter?
Probably in the north parts where there are no roads, but otherwise not so much.
Do you guys enjoy any other sports?
I enjoy skiing in the wintertime, and soccer, and swimming.
We understand that you are one of the top acts in your homeland, and you’re pretty popular around the world. What American bands are most popular over there?
As far as metal bands go, of course Slayer is always big, and Lamb of God is very huge, and Killswitch Engage is coming up too, and Hatebreed. And of course Megadeth has always been there.
What are the most memorable big-name rock acts that you have seen in Helsinki, or in other Finnish cities?
That’s very easy for me. In 1994 I saw Pantera in the Ice Hall in Helsinki, and that was amazing.
In the past couple of years, at any time when you haven’t been touring yourselves, what rock shows have you enjoyed seeing, say, in the past couple of years?
I don’t go to shows that often, because I get to see a lot of bands on the road. But there are always some small shows in Finland that I don’t get to see anywhere else. For example, Down My Throat is always one of my favorite bands. It’s hardcore metal. I just saw them a couple of months ago in Helsinki in a very small club, and it was great.
You guys are all seasoned musicians with years of education and training, in a variety of musical genres besides the extreme kind of music you’re most associated with. Could you describe why you guys gravitated towards this heavy music?
I think everybody was just listening to it when we were kids.
So it reached out and grabbed you by the ears at an early age. But did you grow up watching MTV or listening to hard rock on the radio? How was your exposure?
First, I remember watching Headbangers’ Ball on TV with my friend, and I took my cassette tape recorder and put it on the speakers and recorded all the old stuff on Headbangers’ Ball, and later on I’d listen to it.
Tell us about how it was playing music when you were younger. Did you play in garages or living rooms or at the local high school?
Garages and high schools.
Tell us, please, about your equipment. Do you have a favorite bass that you primarily use?
We are all endorsed by ESP, I have an ESP bass and the other guys have ESP guitars, so that’s obviously our favorite.
Tell us please, what other bands or musical styles to you listen to regularly – for instance, when you’re relaxing at home?
I listen to a lot of female artists, female pop rock singers – for example the Cardigans, or old Nelly Furtado. Very light stuff. The Gathering, from the Netherlands, is one of my favorites.
Are there any bands from the lively Southern California metal scene that have come to your attention lately?
I always mix up where the bands are from, but there would be a lot of old bands, of course, but I think of Throwdown, they’re from here, Orange County.
Are there any U.S. cities that you have enjoyed playing in the most?
We just realized that our strongest areas are the New York area and this California area. For example, San Diego was amazing, Anaheim was amazing, and today I’m looking forward to it, because there are a lot of people here, and I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of pleasure, too.
Tell us please, in Finland do you have big divisions in various factions of youth culture, like maybe metal versus hip-hop versus alternative-pop versus the gothic scene? Is it divided, or do people come together?
I think the hip-hop scene is pretty much separate, but then rock, metal, and gothic all get along together, and they kind of like mingle.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of dark themes in your songs, and some people might point out that in your country, there’s a l-o-o-ong period of darkness, a long, dark winter, every year. Does this annual lengthy lack of sunshine color the national mood with a particularly grim mindset, just because it’s dark, so they’re feeling dark, at least during the winter months?
It could be. One sad fact is that Finland has the second-highest suicide rate in the world, so I guess it affects some of us. And there’s drinking too, but I don’t know if the drinking thing is because of the darkness. But people do get depressed during the long, long darkness of wintertime.
On the other hand, during the months of the “midnight sun,” does everyone’s mood get brighter, or do people just go crazy in another way?
I think it’s brighter. The summer is kind of like a celebration time of the year. For example, all the young people are out, they drink a lot and party almost every day. They go camping, summer cottages. When you visit Helsinki in the summer, it is totally different than if you would go there now. When the summer hits, people really want to enjoy each ray of the sun. If it’s a sunny day, people go out, they don’t stay at home. They make the most out of it, because it’s so rare.
You guys have been touring for quite a while. Your stickers say 2005 and 2006. Do you have a name for this tour?
We’ve just been calling it the “Are You Dead Yet?” tour.
Is this tour actually coming to a close pretty soon?
In one and a half weeks.
Will you head back to Finland to relax, or do you plan to go somewhere warmer for vacation?
Well, first I’m going back to Finland and I’m going to spend Christmas with my family and then New Year’s Eve in the north of Finland, which is going to be very cold and very dark, and then I’m planning to go either to Mexico or Indonesia for a couple of weeks.
Now, back to the music. You know, COB’s lyrics have a distinctly apocalyptic edge. Do you think that you guys have a bleak outlook on the future, or are you more positive in real life than you might come across on your records?
I think we are more positive. I think some of us used to be, when we started the whole thing, a little more dark-minded, a little more negative, with a pessimistic point of view. But somehow, I don’t know, we have learned to have fun and to make fun of the small things. I think nowadays it’s much more positive.
That’s great, because we see that you’ve had fun doing many cover songs. Any cover songs in mind for the upcoming project?
No, that’s a tough question, because we always try to find something very special and very surprising, and it’s always really a hard decision. We are constantly thinking of many ideas, and it’s hard to say, but we’re probably going to record two or three cover songs.
You know, some bands get associated certain songs in particular, like Metallica and “Enter Sandman” or Ozzy Osbourne and “Crazy Train.” Could you name any of your own songs that you feel identified with?
That’s pretty hard. I think that somehow the it’s the old ones, for instance “Silent Night, Bodom Night” and “Hate Me,” I’d say.
Are those some of the special songs that fans keep screaming for, or what other numbers get the biggest crowd response when you perform them?
Those are the ones that we have always played every time, and this time we don’t actually play “Silent Night” because we have played it on the other tours always. Of course, “Needled 24-7” is one of the favorites with the crowd, and among the new ones, I think “In Your Face” is one of the strongest.
All right, then. To sum up, do you have any words of advice and inspiration for our readers – those who play loud, those who listen loud, those who live loud? Any parting shots?
Just have fun. That’s the main idea. Whatever you do, you just have to enjoy it, and keep in mind, it has to be fun, always. And for the bands who are starting, it just takes a lot of practicing, and when it comes to songwriting, never do any compromises because of somebody else!
Gentlemen, as you prepare to rock the Wiltern Theater, we’re looking forward to an excellent show. AAM thanks you very much for your time and comment. Here’s to your continued success and fulfillment, individually and collectively as Children Of Bodom. Rock on, guys!
