Earlier this month, former CHILDREN OF BODOM members Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henri “Henkka T. Blacksmith” Seppälä (bass) and Janne Wirman (keyboards) were interviewed by Chaoszine about the band’s second beer collaboration with Fat Lizard brewery titled Murder Point.
During the chat, they were asked if they would consider playing a tribute concert for their former bandmate, late CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho, who passed away in December 2020 at the age of 41.
Janne responded: “Well, it’s a tricky question, and then even the three of us, we have not really discussed about it. The way I personally feel about this is Alexi would not like a tribute show. Alexi would like just CHILDREN OF BODOM playing a show. And even though he would be replaced, which is a really hard thing for us, and it’s a really hard thing in the whole world of heavy metal vocals and guitar playing… I know from experience with Alexi and going to tribute shows and stuff like that that he wouldn’t [want there to be a tribute show for him].
“So, we have no passion to try to put together a tribute show for Alexi. We might play a show someday. Never say never… But for us, it would not feel natural to try to put a [tribute] show together right now.”
Henkka added: “It would be weird to play a tribute show for Alexi. And like [Janne] said, I’m pretty sure that he would want somebody else to be there to play a tribute show for him. It would feel awkward to play a tribute show. I’m not against if some other people play CHILDREN OF BODOM music for his memory… And every time I see somebody [covering our songs], we always share them because that’s the best thing to do. Alexi‘s music will live forever.”
Alexi 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.
