MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has paid tribute to former CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho, who died recently at the age of only 41.
During the January 7 episode of his Gimme Radio program “The Dave Mustaine Show”, he said (hear audio below): “We had a tragic loss last week with my friend, and I’m sure a lot of your friend loss also. I’m sure a lot of you were friends with this gentleman too — Alexi Laiho from CHILDREN OF BODOM passed away.
“They didn’t really have anything to say about how he passed away other than he’d been battling some long-term illnesses,” Mustaine added. “I knew him as a very gentle spirit with an amazing talent. In fact, when I was doing the ‘Symphony Interrupted’ performance [with the San Diego Symphony in April 2014], I watched he and his other guitar player — I can’t remember the guitar player’s name — but they did the Vivaldi part. It was one of the two Vivaldi pieces that I did; I can’t remember their names right now off the top of my head.
“Rest in peace, my friend. You are sadly missed by so many people. We love you. I guess now the heaven heavy metal band has its lead guitar player.”
Alexi Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen 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. Last year Alexi Laiho put together BODOM AFTER MIDNIGHT, who recorded three songs and shot one music video, which will be released later on posthumously.
Besides CHILDREN OF BODOM, Laiho was known for acts such as WARMEN, SINERGY, KYLÄHULLUT and THE LOCAL BAND. Awarded with a Metal Hammer Golden Gods and several other international prizes, the guitarist was also the main star, leading a group of one hundred guitar players at Helsinki Festival in 2015 in “100 Guitars From Hel” – a massive concert piece he composed.
