CHILDREN OF BODOM frontman Alexi Laiho is featured in an interview with Scott Smith at Australia-based May The Rock Be With You. An excerpt is available below:

SS: This year you either have, or will be, touring places such as Russia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and of course Australia, you sure have been getting around the world!

Laiho: "Well, coming up we actually have dates in Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines and then South Africa. There are a couple of dates in South America as well so it’s definitely exciting to hit new places and not always do the same shit."

SS: Have you found that with this album in particular, it has opened doors in these other markets?

Laiho: "Well, given we have covered Europe and USA pretty well and we did a tour In Japan, basically those markets are the most important for us, but now it’s the perfect moment for us to do the rest of the world. We’ve actually done a lot of dates in the UK this time around. The shows were a little bit bigger than before, so that was really cool too with things finally picking up there as well."

SS: Speaking of the UK, this year you played at Download festival and then also Wacken in Germany, how do you like playing on those big festival lineups as opposed to doing your own headline tours?

Laiho: "It’s such a different vibe and you can’t really compare the two. If I had to choose I would go for a really insane, sweaty club show as opposed to an outdoor thing. Then again there are the positives of doing festivals, obviously the crowds are bigger and just in general it’s a lot of fun doing festivals, as there are so many bands and some you don’t get to see that often."

SS: Travelling the world as you do, have you got a sense of the type of people that Children of Bodom fans generally seem to be?

Laiho: "Well it’s funny, our fan base is just so diverse. We have a bunch of 50 something biker dudes and then there are kids that are under 10 years old who come to the shows with their parents! Which I think is really cool, it’s not just a certain age going to these shows. What I have noticed on the tours we have done this year, there’s a lot of younger kids now in the audience than there used to be. Which I think is a good thing, at least that means a bunch of todays youth are into metal."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Children Of Bodom recently announced the Wild Xmas 2011 Finnish tour in December. The dates are as follows:

December

27 - The Circus - Helsinki, Finland
28 - Pakkahuone - Tampere, Finland
29 - Rytmikorjaamo - Seinäjoki, Finland
31 - Teatria - Oulu, Finland

BraveWords.com takes you back to the first ever Heavy T.O. festival held July 23rd and 24th at Downsview Park in Toronto, Ontario. Below is a never before seen interview with Children Of Bodom drummer Jaska Raatikainen and bassist Henkka Seppälä, conducted by Aaron Small. Enjoy: