The surviving members of Children Of Bodom continue to herald the legacy of late frontman Alexi Laibo, who passed away in December 2020 at the age of 41.
Jaska Raatikainen, Janne Wirman, and Henkka Seppälä have issued the following message via social media:
"The story of Children Of Bodom started in the early 1990s in Tapiola, Espoo, Finland.. Five young guys with a burning desire for making music. At some point the basements and garages of Espoo became too confined and we moved to Lepakko in Helsinki.
We did years of van touring playing small shows with no sleep all around Finland. Adhering to very strict rehearsal routine. Drank a lot of beer. We did hit a few dead ends all while either freezing or sweating our asses off.
Already before the Y2K we were partying all around the world. We had toured Europe extensively and visited Japan. We had no idea there was going to be two decades of this lifestyle ahead. We ended up playing in places we couldn’t even dream about. We ended up going thru places we didn’t even know existed.
In those two decades of touring, the band sculpts a public image of itself via concert and live photos.
Bands on the road are constantly photographed. With every album release a new set of carefully selected photos is released. Majority of photos of us out there are from live shows. In those shots you see the band doing what bands do and are meant to be doing. Playing live.
After a couple of dozen releases and thousands of live shows there are millions of photos of us out there.
Children Of Bodom was extremely serious about its music. At the same time it was our sense of humour and ability to laugh at our selves that kept us going.
We wanted to bring into light photos throughout our career that portray the joy and sorrow of playing in a band, but also photos that show the reality of constant touring.
This exhibition was put together by a bunch of awesome photographers, the estate of Alexi Laiho and Henkka, Janne and Jaska. We are grateful to have the cultural centre of Espoo to have provided us their space for this exhibition as it was only a stones throw away where the story of Children Of Bodom begun.
In memory of Alexi Laiho
The exhibition is open during the opening hours of Espoo Cultural Centre (Mon–Fri 8–21, Sat 9–18 ja Sun 9–15). Free entry."
(Photo: Jarmo Katila)
