... And the Circus Leaves Town

By now, if they're Not Dead Yet, they must be Living Dead Beat. They've spent the best part of the last two years touring Blooddrunk and there surely have been times when they've been Trashed, Lost and Strungout and Needled 24/7, but soon Children Of Bodom will start the long trek home, Towards some Northern Comfort, before they disappear In The Shadows, to write the new album and return with ... Something Wild?

But right now, the tour goes on ... how has it been so far?

With a gap of five years since Children Of Bodom last appeared in South America, there was plenty of pent-up anticipation amongst the band's loyal followers there, and it was given full expression at the shows in Buenos Aires, Santiago and Sao Paulo - a great start to the tour, even with some technical problems, "old, bad gear and a semi brain dead crew", and occasional random looneys like the one outside the venue in Buenos Aires demanding tobacco from K-Man and Franky: when his request was denied he responded with a not-so-polite, 5-minute "fuck you" rant, repeated over and over again in some weird-sounding voice, much to the guys' amusement!


Next stop Mexico City, and after a 16-hour commute the band performed shows over 2 nights to a total of 4500 people. On both nights (the second of which happened to coincide with Mexico's 200th Independence Day celebrations) the crowd were going ape, "when they jumped, the whole stage bounced", said K-Man. After a problem-free appearance the following day at a festival in Monterrey, the band headed off for the North American leg of the tour ...


The Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, New Jersey is located ... well, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it's packed with around 2,000 commited and eager fans - well, all except the one who felt the need to spit on Alexi's guitar - not a good move ("my guitar gets more pussy than your fucking 86 Camero", Alexi berated him). It is in just such venues that Children Of Bodom have worked tirelessly around the US over the years, and their efforts have been rewarded, with Blooddrunk storming in at No.22 in the US Top 40 in the first week of its release, a major achievement in such a huge market and for a band that can hardly be described as mainstream.


On to Canada, and at the Montreal show (which seems to have been universally acclaimed by those who attended as "fucking awesome"!) much to the fans' delight, the surprise inclusion of Kissing The Shadows as encore - who could ask for more? The Toronto show was just as well received, Winnipeg another sold-out event. The show in Edmonton, according to K-Man "was off the hook, best this whole tour", (although a fan coming over the barricade and splitting his head open on the sound-man's rack perhaps not a highlight) and Vancouver the day after also sold-out. The Seattle date was a home-town show for K-Man, who got to hang out with his Mom and some friends - good times.


So far this tour has, thankfully, been free of any major injuries. In May on the No Fear tour, the somewhat accident-prone Alexi fell from his top bunk on the tour bus, breaking his shoulder and a rib, and suffering internal bleeding, which eventually forced the band to cancel the remaining five dates (he has been sleeping in the bottom bunk this time around). Roope has been targeted again by the mysterious finger-fairy (but Crazy Glue is his friend!) and Jaska suffered a problem with a trapped nerve that delayed the start of the performance at the San Francisco show, but, according to the band's latest twitter update, all seems to be well now.


And so to Hawaii - sun, sand, snorkelling, surfing ... oh yes, and there's a show to do! COB are Pipeline Cafe virgins but it's not every day that a band of this calibre puts in an appearance and when they hit the stage at 11:30 it's to an appropriately enthusiastic reception from the appreciative audience, who would have been quite happy for the performance to continue well past the 1:30 finish time. There are a few technical issues sound-wise but the show goes well: "in-fucking-sane", "they fucking rule live" and "the mosh pit was crazy" are just some of the comments from the well-satisfied crowd.


Ahead are dates in Japan, China and finally, Russia, before it's all over, the touring for Blooddrunk is done and the band returns to "sweet home Helsinki". In recent interviews, Alexi has said they will start writing songs for the new album early next year and enter the studio in May. As always, he has "a bunch of ideas and riffs, and shit like that in my head" and, according to Jaska, "Alexi has already composed one or two songs which sound really great". So, 2011 - expect the new Children Of Bodom opus. And then, of course, the touring starts all over again ...