In a new interview with This Day In Metal, Children Of Bodom keyboardist Janne Wirman shared details about the band’s upcoming official book, due out this August from London-based publisher Rocket 88. The oral history will recount the rise, fall, and legacy of the Finnish melodic death metal group, told by the people who lived it.
The book features personal accounts from Wirman, bassist Henkka Seppälä, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, early guitarist Alexander Kuoppala, and other former members and close friends. Drawing from more than 30 years of memories and fresh interviews conducted by Finnish author Timo Isoaho, the book offers what the band calls “the full history of Children Of Bodom in our own words.”
Janne explained (via Blabbermouth): “We spent, I don’t know how many times, like 10, 15 times we got together and we had drinks and we told these stories to [Timo’s] recorder. And there was laughter, there was tears, there was everything. ’Cause it tells the whole fucking brutal honest story of the band and how much fun was it when it started and how shit was it when it went to shit.”
Two deluxe editions will be available, including a signed “Signature” version from Janne, Henkka, Jaska, and Alexander. Fans who preorder directly here will also have the option to get their name printed in the book.
When the project was first announced, the surviving band members said: “Since we stopped making music and suffered the tragic loss of our brother Alexi, we’ve been remembering so many great times that we had together, and you can now read about those times in this book. It tells the full history of Children Of Bodom in our own words.”
In December 2023, Henkka and Janne hosted a listening party for A Chapter Called… Children Of Bodom (Final Show In Helsinki Ice Hall 2019) at the Bodom Bar & Sauna in Espoo, Finland. The live album, released via Spinefarm, captured the band’s last concert on December 15, 2019, just a year before frontman Alexi Laiho died from complications related to alcohol and drug use.
Discussing that final show, Janne said: “I felt a sense of relief onstage [at the final concert] ’cause I was very tired of Alexi’s problems and constant problems with one guy. And then this guy who was our best friend and who wrote all the music, all of a sudden from 2016 on, just became someone I didn’t recognize anymore. He was a different person, and he was so overcome with his disease and problems and it got to the point in 2019 we decided that this can’t go on anymore.”
He added that the band had originally planned a farewell world tour through 2022 but noted, “Something we did not know, was [that] the pandemic [would happen], obviously, and that would have canceled all of those plans anyway.”
Henkka echoed that sentiment: “So it was kind of, like, in a way we are lucky that we had this confrontation within the band that made us decide to drop [the group] earlier than we were supposed to and have this final show that was recorded. Because if you would have kept on the original plan with Alexi… the pandemic would have ruined everything. And we probably would have never had this kind of last proper souvenir.”
On the possibility of taking a break and reuniting later, Henkka admitted, “That would have been like a mature way of dealing with it.” Janne recalled a conversation with their manager Steve the night before the final show: “Steve asked me… ‘Are you ever gonna play with Alexi again?’ And I said, ‘I would only [play with him] if he would seek help and become fully sober.’ And I knew that wasn’t an option… that he had decided at that point, unfortunately, that he’s just gonna die by his addictions, which is horrible.”
Henkka added: “The problems were pretty bad — I mean, within the band, all the relations. And I don’t think anybody could see a future anymore. So [putting the band to rest] was the only option at the time. I’m sure that Steve, our manager, had some hopes of a reunion show within some years… but it didn’t even cross my mind at that time.”
Janne emphasized: “That’s why I said that at the time I said that I will never play again with Alexi, ’cause I knew that he will not get sober… If somehow any of us would’ve felt that, ‘Okay, Alexi is gonna get help…’ all of us would’ve been, like, ‘Okay, fine. Let’s give him a couple of years and then let’s get back together.’ But that was not foreseeable at the time.”
Alexi’s struggles weren’t a secret to the band. Janne recalled in a 2023 interview: “Alexi’s downfall started in 2016… He told me… ‘Dude, from now on, I’m going to drink until I die.’ I said, ‘Fuck, man. You can’t say that to me.’ He said it another time in 2018… He had decided he didn’t want help and would keep drinking until he died. That’s what he did, which is fucking crazy.”
He added: “A lot of people don’t understand you cannot help the person who doesn’t want help… The last years were pretty bad… There was a lot of bullshit. It’s so crazy because he was in such a good place a couple of years before… I don’t know what happened to him.”
Alexi Laiho died in December 2020. He was buried nearly a year later in Helsinki’s Malmi Cemetery. After Children Of Bodom disbanded in 2019, Alexi had started Bodom After Midnight, which recorded three songs and one video before his passing.
The final lineup of Children Of Bodom included Laiho, Raatikainen, Seppälä, Wirman, and Daniel Freyberg. The band’s discography spans ten studio albums, two live records, and several other releases since forming in Espoo, Finland in 1993 as Inearthed.
Following the band’s end, Laiho sold his stake in the group’s LLC, while still receiving royalties. The remaining members continued to honor his legacy, and received public support from Laiho’s sister, Anna Laiho, who said: “At heart, he was a warm and caring person… But he had his demons, and he wanted to fight those alone. He wanted to make his own choices. For better or worse.”
