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CHILDREN OF BODOM Bassist Checks In From The Road!

Bassist Henkka Seppälä (a.k.a. Henkka T. Blacksmith) of Finnish metallers CHILDREN OF BODOM has issued the following update from the road:

"In the beginning of the summer, we went to Janne's [Wirman, keyboards] small studio and recorded a couple of new cover songs for the forthcoming cover album. The songs turned out really good. Especially the slower song, that seemed to be a little hard to arrange. Then we kept on doing the festivals, as planned. Provinssirock, was good, even though we played soooo late. 'I hate these Finnish mosquitos!' as our German friend used to say. Then we went to hot Spain. Zaragoza city is beautiful, but it was very windy. Again we played very late, and the wind just kept getting stronger. We had to really choose our steps carefully on stage in order not be blown down by that wind. It was surreal. But it was good to be in Spain again, after a couple of years break." He went on to say, "Today we came back from Belgium. Graspop [Metal Meeting] is known to be one of the best metal festivals in the world, and again it truly was nice. Sunday was sort a reunion feeling when LAMB OF GOD and GOD FORBID were playing too. And SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. Saturday we managed to get to the festival in time to see JOURNEY. We played on Sunday, and the tent was really hot. But the crowd was amazing. Best Graspop show ever for us. On Friday we played Sweden, Gothenburg. MUNICIPAL WASTE guys were hanging out as did some of the IN FLAMES guys too. It was good to have beers with friends from past tours. Show was our best show ever played in Sweden, in my opinion. And I fell in love with summer — Gothenburg."

CHILDREN OF BODOM will return to North America this fall to headline a massive, month-long tour. The 20-city trek will launch on Friday, September 18 at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island and will run through October 14 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Support will come from THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and SKELETONWITCH.

Children of Bodom Forced to Cancel Remaining Tour Dates!

Finnish heavy metal band CHILDREN OF BODOM was forced to cancel its remaining live dates as part of the No Fear Energy Tour with LAMB OF GOD, due to injuries sustained by guitarist and frontman Alexi Laiho. Laiho, 30, broke his shoulder two weeks ago when he was ejected from his tour bus bunk after the vehicle took a sharp turn. The whole situation sounds pretty funny, but this is no laughing matter. ;) Laiho and the rest of CHILDREN OF BODOM were touring North America in support of the band's critically acclaimed album "Blooddrunk".

Against recommendation, Laiho had decided to "bite the bullet" and remain on tour, wearing the arm in a sling to restrict movement at all times when he was not on stage. But after performing ten live dates with both the broken shoulder and internal bleeding, the toll became too much for the guitar hero to endure and CHILDREN OF BODOM made the decision to cut its current tour short, placing Laiho's longterm health as its first priority.

"After the New York show (on May 8), I knew it was going to be over," Laiho said in a statement. "During the third song, I started feeling like someone was stabbing me in my lungs, my heart and my ribs. That was the kind of pain that neither stubbornness, painkillers, nor alcohol could alleviate. I wanted to try to keep going but after seeing a second doctor in Philadelphia, I was basically told that I could fuck myself up for life if I don't stop playing. Against all recommendation, I have played and sang for the last 10 days in violent pain which has only made my condition worsen. So I decided to listen to everyone around me, who were telling me the best thing to do would be to go home and get some proper rest and give my shoulder some time to heal.

"This was a hard decision for me and I feel bad about it," he continued. "But it is the right thing to do if I want to keep making music. I apologize to our great fans for not being there for the remaining shows and I want to thank all the guys from the other bands — LAMB OF GOD, AS I LAY DYING, GOD FORBID and MUNICIPAL WASTE — for backing me up on this. Most of all, I want to thank our fans for still being there, showing support, and continuing to rock out with me! I promise I will be back and I hope you all will too! Horns up!"

Fan-filmed video footage of CHILDREN OF BODOM's last song from the New York City show before Alexi's shoulder gave out can be viewed below.