JOIN US'We're concentrating on our new album'
They came, they performed, they conquered. Members of Finnish heavy-metal band ‘Children of Bodom’ recently made their first visit to India in their 19-year-long career.
They were in the City to headline ‘The Great Indian Octoberfest’ (in the pouring rain!). Metrolife spoke to the band about their experience in India and what they’re presently working on.
Since the release of their last album, ‘Relentless Reckless Forever’ in early 2011, the band has been busy touring and hardly had the time to work on any new material. But the good news for their fans is that the wait for the new album now has a deadline to count up to.
“We did a world tour with our last album and continued touring for almost 18 months. Now, we’re concentrating on our new album. We’re entering the studio early next year and the plan is to release it by May, 2013. After that, it’s back to the road for us,” informs the drummer, Jaska Raatikainen. He is quick to add that this 8th studio album is going to be “a little darker than the previous albums”.
Interestingly, most of the members have, at some point or the other, tried their hand at side projects as well. In the past, the frontman Alexi Laiho founded a punk project called ‘Kylähullut’, Jaska has one called ‘Gashouse Garden’ and guitarist Roope Latvala has a bunch of them up his sleeve.
But according to Laiho, this doesn’t come in the way of the band’s music. “‘Children of Bodom’ is the top priority for everyone. The side projects are just what some of us do when we have spare time. Maybe, unintentionally, their individual experimental style does come into the band’s sound. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” he says.
While they had no clue what to expect from Bangalore, they seem to have enjoyed the Indian hospitality. “Since we’ve come, we’ve just been chilling, trying out new food, going shopping and sightseeing. We even visited some temples and some crowded streets. It seems like a lovely place to stay,” shares Jaska.
Alexi joins in, saying, “This is the band’s first time in India and it feels really good to be here. We’ve always been trying to come down and play here but it never got around to actually happening — until now!”