“Hellhounds On My Trail” - Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho spills the intimate details concerning sixth studio full length Blooddrunk


By Anthony Morgan

Sliding down the lane at a bowling alley in late January 2007, Children of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho had actually accidently stepped over the foul line. Laiho slammed hard into the wall, and the result of the accident was a broken left shoulder. Doctors ordered that Laiho should rest for six weeks, and so the group's planned appearance at Dubai's Desert Rock festival in March was cancelled. On February 16th at the Cable Factory in Helsinki, Finland, Children of Bodom garnered the “Band of the Year” award at the Finnish Metal Awards, held during the Finnish Metal Expo. At the same event, Laiho announced that the quintet would enter a rehearsal room in late February in order to begin writing material for the group's sixth studio album. Following the summer festival season, the collective aimed to record the tracks in support of a tentative early 2008 release. Featured as part of compilation album Bam Margera Presents…Viva La Bands, Vol. 2, new studio cut “Tie My Rope” was committed to tape at the end of May. Issued in September of that year, notable acts such as In Flames, Clutch, CKY and Vains of Jenna donated unreleased tracks. MTV personality Bam Margera, who has appeared in shows such as Jackass and Viva La Bam, also chose previously released songs from his favourite artists such as GWAR, Dimmu Borgir and The Sounds. June and July boasted a slew of festival appearances, at institutions such as Novarock (June 17th - Nickelsdorf, Austria), Hellfest (June 23rd - Clisson, France), Graspop Metal Meeting (June 24th - Dessel, Belgium), Tuska Open Air (June 29th - Helsinki, Finland), With Full Force (July 1st - Roitzschjora, Germany), Ruisrock (July 6th / 8th - Turku, Finland) and Masters of Rock (July 14th - Vizovice, Czech Republic).

Cut at Petrax Studios in Hollola, Finland during October to December, the title of Children of Bodom's sixth full length was announced as Blooddrunk in November. Whereas Hypocrisy and Pain's mainman Peter Tägtgren handled the production of keyboards and vocals, Mikko Karmila produced the rest of the effort, and also undertook mixing duties at Finnvox in that same month. Sessions spawned several cover interpretations, revealed by Finnish magazine Soundi to be the following; “War Inside My Head” by Suicidal Tendencies, “Lookin' Out My Back Door” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Just Dropped In” by Kenny Rogers, and “Ghost Riders in the Sky” by Stan Jones. Two music videos were cut in December of that year, for the tracks “Blooddrunk” and “Hellhounds On My Trail” respectively. Recorded in Berlin, Germany, both videos were spearheaded by director Sandra Marschner on behalf of Katapult Filmproduktion. A wide contrast of lyrical themes comprise Blooddrunk, from suffering a grisly hangover (“Roadkill Morning”), hurting oneself (the title track), to venomous anger (“LoBodomy”, with lyrics penned courtesy of Sinergy's Kimberly Goss). “Tie My Rope” was re-recorded, boasting superior guitar and vocal elements. Designed by Jussi Hyttinen, the album's cover art depicts the Grim Reaper, and is described by frontman Alexi Laiho as “pretty fucking hardcore”. Blooddrunk reportedly features “thrashier" and “faster” tracks in comparison to 2005 predecessor Are You Dead Yet?, and progressive elements in certain aspects. Main credits for this specific inspiration went to groups which had toured with Children of Bodom of late, particularly fellow Unholy Alliance alumni Slayer and Lamb Of God.

Blooddrunk will experience distribution via Spinefarm Records in April 2008. Children of Bodom delivered a sold out, acclaimed performance at London, UK's Astoria on March 8th, and signed copies of CD single and title track “Blooddrunk” at a Zavvi CD shop located in Oxford Street. Issued in CD, seven-inch and twelve-inch vinyl formats, the twelve-inch vinyl's print run was limited to six-hundred-and-sixty-six copies. On the 9th and 10th, Children of Bodom were scheduled to conduct telephone interviews with UK media. A little after 4pm UK time on the 9th, Lucem Fero was given a hotel number to dial. A receptionist at The Royal Trafalgar courteously answered, and directed the call to room six-one-three. Vocalist Alexi Laiho kindly lifted the receiver, and participated in a twenty minutes or so interview. Weary following the hefty strains of a live performance, Laiho still donated precious time to answer given questions.

 

  • Hello? Is this Alexi?
  • Yeah, it's Alexi.
  • This is Anthony. How are you?
  • I'm ok.. I'm alright.
  • Is it alright if I start the interview?
  • Yeah.
  • Could you give me an introduction to Children of Bodom's sixth studio album?
  • Yeah. The new Children of Bodom album is called Blooddrunk.
  • In making Blooddrunk, how did the process begin?
  • We started writing songs for Blooddrunk in roughly February, I think. We had a decent amount of time to write the music, which was nice. When we were recording the previous album, Are You Dead Yet?, it was somewhat hectic - we only had roughly two months to work on the material. This time around, the process was more laid back. Yeah, it was pretty nice. In terms of stress at least, it was pretty mellow. Blooddrunk was recorded at this studio (Petrax Studios), and that studio is located in the middle of the woods in Finland. There's this house which has a studio, and that's where we lived for six weeks. It was pretty cool.
  • Did the location help you, in terms of inspiration?
  • I think it did. All the guys were in the middle of the woods, so there were no distractions or anything similar. All the fucking bullshit which we usually have to deal with back home wasn't there, so we concentrated on the album one hundred percent.
  • So it helped you focus?
  • Yeah.
  • You mentioned that there was more time to record Blooddrunk, so do you feel that was beneficial towards the album itself?
  • I guess it could have been. If you have too much time, then that can cause a lot of damage. Also, you don't get shit done either. Then again though, if you only have two months, then that's just too little an amount of time. We had roughly four months to record Blooddrunk, and I think that's a perfect amount of time to write an album.
  • You've obviously chosen to name Children of Bodom's sixth album Blooddrunk, so what do the lyrics of that specific song document? The title track itself?
  • I think the whole topic of that song revolves around self-destruction, and just somewhat being addicted to hurting yourself. That's what it's about.
  • When speaking about “Blooddrunk”, you've previously referenced the past two years and so on in certain interviews. What have the past two years been like, and how did that inspire the song?
  • Yeah, well, that too. A lot of crazy shit has happened. Ten years ago though, I was even crazier. Back then, I did a lot of stupid shit. I think that's where it comes from.
  • “Blooddrunk” is a reference to your teenage years?
  • Well, something like that. That too - let's put it that way.
  • In some interviews, you've mentioned the fact that you self-harmed in the past.
  • Yeah. I used to cut myself, and do all that stupid shit. I don't do that anymore, but sometimes I just... I don't know. Sometimes, I just end up doing a bunch of crazy shit where I get hurt. “Blooddrunk” concerns self-destructive behaviour.
  • Have you found new ways to cope, other than self-harming?
  • Ultimately, I have decided that I have broken enough bones for one lifetime. I'm done with that shit (laughs), and I try to take it easy.
  • Could you discuss some of the other lyrical content which features on Blooddrunk?
  • Usually, the lyrics are pretty much the same in each song. Having said that, there are a couple of songs which have different topics. For example, the last track is called “Roadkill Morning”. The whole song is about the worst fucking hangover you could ever imagine, but just multiplied by ten. I actually like those lyrics somewhat; they're very graphic, and discuss how fucking bad you can feel when you have a hangover. As a whole concept, it's actually somewhat funny.
  • On Blooddrunk, is there a certain theme which ties the songs together overall?
  • No, not really. They're just separate incidents, all of them (laughs).
  • You worked with Peter Tägtgren on your vocals, and he also worked with Janne on his keyboard parts. How did Peter's approach help to get the best take out of you and Janne?
  • He was there to record my vocals, and that's what I wanted him to do. It was definitely a good idea, and just made the whole process so much easier for me. Peter is a singer as well, so he knows how to work around the studio. He contributed a lot of good ideas, and things like that. It was most definitely a really good idea to do that; in future, I'm pretty sure we're going to do the same thing.
  • So you'll work with Peter on vocals in the future as well?
  • Hopefully, yeah.
  • As Peter's a vocalist himself, do you feel he understands your position more?
  • Yeah, exactly. That's what it is.
  • In terms of your vocals, what did you aim to achieve with Blooddrunk?
  • Well, pretty much the same thing that we aimed to achieve musically. We aimed to be more extreme, and just more aggressive - that's always been the whole objective of Children of Bodom anyway. This time around, I think that we surely did a pretty good job.
  • So you feel that you took a more aggressive approach with this album?
  • Yeah.
  • Was there a reason for this?
  • No. Really, it's just how it turned out.
  • Were there any circumstances which inspired that, or reasoning?
  • I can't think of any specific things, but that was the whole idea. We don't think about things like that too much, and we don't plan what we want to sound like with the next album in advance. We just go ahead, and do it. Whatever material emerges, it's spontaneous.
  • Mikko Karmila produced the rest of Blooddrunk, although you said his style is more that of a sound engineer. Can you tell me about?
  • He records, and he mixes. That's what he does, and he does it pretty fucking good.
  • You said that you prefer to get on with the recording process, and don't need a “babysitter”.
  • Yeah, pretty much. All of us know what to do; we don't need anybody holding our hands, and showing us what to do. Everybody knows how all the songs go, and that's because we have everything ready before we hit the studio. Personally, I think that's a pretty good idea (laughs). When you hit the studio, you better have your shit together.
  • In terms of the recording process, do you feel you've learnt a lot over the years?
  • Over the years? Yeah, of course. The more experience we get, it obviously makes the process easier in the future.
  • In comparison to the tracks featured on Are You Dead Yet?, the songs on Blooddrunk are reportedly “thrashier” and “faster”.
  • I think so, and a lot of other people think so too.
  • Do you prefer that specific approach? Being “thrashier” and “faster”?
  • In this case, yeah.
  • How do you feel Blooddrunk surpasses Are You Dead Yet??
  • I think it's just more catchy. On Are You Dead Yet?, there are a couple of tracks which are probably still my favourite Children of Bodom songs ever. As a whole album though, it's not as good as Blooddrunk. Blooddrunk, as a whole album, is definitely better from my point of view at least. There are no weak songs, or anything like that. That's why, as a whole album, Blooddrunk is a pretty good one.
  • So you judge Blooddrunk as featuring an album's worth of strong tracks, as opposed to a few songs?
  • Something like that, yeah.
  • You said that parts of Blooddrunk are more progressive, so can you tell me about that?
  • You probably won't even notice Blooddrunk's more progressive aspects. Some timings in the guitar riffs, some hooks here and there, and things like that, are more progressive. Blooddrunk isn't progressive per se, but sometimes the album isn't as straightforward as it sounds, or appears to be.
  • Were there any specific bands which were influences on Blooddrunk?
  • Usually, you get musically influenced by the groups around you. We've been touring a lot with groups such as Lamb of God, Slayer and similar sounding acts. Subconsciously, the influence just seeps in.
  • So you feel that Children of Bodom touring with Slayer and so on is responsible for Blooddrunk's thrashier elements?
  • Yeah, it could be. Like I said, it's a subconscious influence. I'm sure it happens though.
  • As a whole, were there any other groups which you feel influenced Blooddrunk?
  • I'm sure there are many, though I can't really think of any names right now.
  • “Blooddrunk”'s music video is set in a ghost town, so can you talk me through the video's concept?
  • Yeah. Actually, that was an idea from the video company (Katapult Filmproduktion). They just looked that place up, and it was pretty cool. It's this abandoned town, and it's brilliant. Pretty much, they came up with the whole idea. We thought it sounded really cool, so we just went for it.
  • You also recorded a music video for the track “Hellhounds On My Trail”, so can you reveal the concept for that video as well?
  • When it comes to the lyrics, I guess the whole idea is the following; your past, and things which you have done in the past, just keep on chasing you. You just can't get away.
  • Will any other music videos be filmed to promote Blooddrunk?
  • I don't know. We got two videos at the moment, so we'll see what happens. Maybe.
  • Children of Bodom cut four cover tracks during recording sessions for Blooddrunk, so how did the group put its own individual stamp on the interpretations?
  • When it comes to cover tracks, we always have to do a lot of them. We enjoy doing them. For us, it's just boring to do Metal covers. Instead of that, we just pick a fucking Britney Spears song or something. This time around, we covered acts like Creedence Clearwater Revival, fucking Kenny Rogers, and music like that. That's what really makes it fun - that we can make the Bodom version of a good old Country song (laughs).
  • How do you feel the re-recording of “Tie My Rope” differs from its original version?
  • It has better sounds, especially better guitar sounds. Also, it definitely has better vocals as well.
  • Do you feel that was because the group had more time to cut the re-recording?
  • Yeah, exactly.
  • How did the concept for Blooddrunk's album cover come about, and what mood do you feel it evokes?
  • Do you mean the Grim Reaper concept? We just wanted to have a cover which would fit the album, and I think that it fits Blooddrunk pretty well. The cover is a complete fucking punch in the face, and I think that the album is in that vein as well. They go together pretty well.
  • Kimberly Goss wrote the lyrics to a track called “LoBodomy”, so what do the lyrics of that song concern?
  • I think the concept of that song concerns just being pissed off about these fucking idiots who surf the fucking internet, and just write shit about you.
  • Are you referring to internet critics of Children of Bodom?
  • Yeah.
  • On websites such as Blabbermouth and so on?
  • Personally, they just make me fucking angry. Like I said, they're fucking internet tough guys who just hiding behind their bullshit fucking nicknames, and they don't have the fucking balls to come...
  • Do you feel they make judgments about you, even though they don't even know you?
  • Yeah, exactly.
  • Do you have a message for the fans of Children of Bodom?
  • I'd just like to thank everybody who's bought our albums over the years, and has supported Bodom in any way. The listeners and the fans are definitely the most important people to us.
  • Alright. Is there any final comment you would like to make concerning Blooddrunk?
  • Buy it (laughs).
  • (Laughs) Ok. Thanks for the interview Alexi, it's really appreciated.
  • Ok.
  • Take care, and goodbye.
  • Goodbye.