CHILDREN OF BODOM keyboardist Janne Wirman recently spoke with Michael Deeds at Macon.com. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Q: You started playing piano when you were 5 and played a lot of jazz before you joined Bodom. Your frontman, singer-guitarist Alexi Laiho, took violin lessons as a kid. Is Finland a musical place for children?

Wirman: "I think it is. Or just who I grew up with. All my friends played something, and already when we were 15, we were playing in bands and all that kind of stuff. I think Finland, they put a lot of (importance) into the whole musical education thing. I think even the government somehow is endorsing the whole thing. When I joined Bodom, I was still sure that I was going to become an architect. But then after a few years, I became a rock star (laughs). When we started, obviously, we didn't know what was going to happen. The music was very extreme. But nowadays, we are really happy and really fortunate to have been able to do this for 15 years."

Q: One of the signature sounds of Bodom is you and Laiho trading solos and matching super-fast notes - guitar and keys. Was that an obvious progression?

Wirman: "It wasn't an obvious thing, but then somehow we realized that it works really well between the two of us. It's really cool when we make these solos - mine and his playing style nowadays, I know exactly what he is doing, and he knows what I'm doing. It just fits really well."

Q: Did playing in Bodom force you to develop a different skill set? There's the pitch-bend wheel you use a lot.

Wirman: "Definitely, I had to learn, like, a whole new way of playing, basically. Because classical or whatever piano you studied - even keyboards and piano are different instruments even though they kind of look the same. And then the whole, like you said, the whole metal way of that thingy. So you pretty much have to learn a whole new thing."

Click here for the complete Q&A.;

Children Of Bodom have updated their 2012 European festival schedule with shows at Italy's Gods Of Metal (June 21st) and Switzerland's Earthshakerdays Fest (June 23rd). The band's conplete festival itinerary is as follows:

May

25/26 - Sonisphere - Madrid, Spain

June

15 - Melkweg - Amsterdam, Netherlands
17 - Hellfest - Clisson, France
21 - Gods of Metal - Milan, Italy
23 - Earshakerdays - Basel, Switzerland
24 - Graspop Metal Meeting, Dessel, Belgium

27- Volt Festival - Sopron, Hungary

29- Basinfirefest - Spalene Porici, Czech Republic

30 - Rock am Härtsfeldsee - Dischingen, Germany

July

1 - With Full Force - Roitzschjora, Germany
3 - Rockefeller - Oslo, Norway
4 - KB Kulturbolaget - Malmö, Sweden

6-8 - Ruisrock - Turku, Finland

The band is currently on tour in North America with ELUVEITIE, REVOCATION, and THREAT SIGNAL supporting. Remaining dates are as follows:

February

13 - Yost Theatre, Santa Ana, CA
14 - House of Blues, San Diego, CA
15 - Marquee Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
17 - Sunshine Theatre, Albuquerque, NM
18 - Tricky Falls, El Paso, TX
19 - The Pavilion, Lubbock, TX
21 - Emo's East, Austin, TX
22 - Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
24 - Expo Five, Louisville, KY
25 - Peabody's, Cleveland, OH
26 - Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
27 - Metropolis, Montreal, QC
29 - Imperial, Quebec City, QC

March

1 - Webster Theatre, Hartford, CT
2 - The Paramount Theater, Huntington, NY
3 - Starland Ballroom, Sayerville, NJ
4 - Ram's Head Live, Baltimore, MD