Ex-Children of Bodom Guitarist: Alexi Laiho Didn’t Record Demos, Wrote on the Fly with Band
Daniel Freyberg, former guitarist of both Children of Bodom and Bodom After Midnight, joined us for a recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast. We discussed Bodom After Midnight’s EP, Paint the Sky with Blood, as well as the late Alexi Laiho, as we dive into working with Laiho on those new songs and the decision to move forward with their release after his death. Freyberg also detailed what it was like as a fan of Children of Bodom before he was invited into the band, his experience writing and recording on the band’s final record, Hexed, the possibility of a future concert celebrating Alexi’s life and music, the next project for him now that Bodom After Midnight are finished, and if there is any leftover Bodom After Midnight material, including a possible live release.
Speaking on Alexi’s writing process, Freyberg had some interesting insight to share on how he never recorded demos, instead writing songs collaboratively with the other band members on the fly:
“Alexi’s working method is — and was pretty much the same [in both Children of Bodom and Bodom After Midnight] — he’s a very old school guy. He doesn’t do any demos, he doesn’t have any ProTools or any similar systems.
“He just writes inside his head and comes to the rehearsal place. He shows everybody their parts and… yeah. And we go from there.
“Then when it’s on the arrangement side, the band, a little bit [gives] input on songs. Alexi didn’t have all this figured out, structure or details or which parts should be a chorus or verse. [laughs] Stuff like that, so that was when the band came in.”
When asked what he learned from Alexi, he replied:
“He didn’t give me lessons directly, but of course [I learned] when we had these sessions. We had band practice sessions and we had guitar sessions where we would take out the guitars before we would enter the studio, just detailing stuff and making sure that everything works and harmonies are on spot and stuff like that. On those sessions I learned a lot from him. It was pretty amazing. Amazing how he… especially his ear for harmony. You know, how he composed those.
“He was just a super talented guy, musical guy. But it’s hard to point out what did I learn from him cause it’s like a little bit here and there.”
You can listen to the full chat with Freyberg right here or below.
