CHILDREN OF BODOM: "It Wasn´t Supposed To Be A Big Deal"

METALLICA, SLAYER, NAPALM DEATH, ICED EARTH, GUNS N’ ROSES, L.A. GUNS, POISON, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE – they’ve all released cover albums. Initially these albums are – for the most part – well received. But then they ultimately fade into obscurity. Now CHILDREN OF BODOM has joined those tribute-paying ranks with their very own covers album, Skeletons In The Closet.

Bassist Henkka Blacksmith spoke exclusively with BraveWords.com scribe Aaron Small and revealed that he’s “not trying to stop” Skeletons from experiencing the same fateful outcome. “It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but it somehow became that. The point was just to make something special for die-hard fans to have all the cover songs in one package. It wasn’t meant to be an album as part of our catalogue. It goes as far as 12 years back. There’s a lot of different stuff; it’s kind of a weird album.”

As Henkka pointed out, the 17 covers on Skeletons In The Closet were recorded in various studios from 1998 to 2009. With the exception of PAT BENATAR’s ‘Hell Is For Children’, TRUST/ANTHRAX’s ‘Antisocial’ and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES’ ‘War Inside My Head’, the rest of these songs are previously available, yet difficult to find as they initially appeared as a Japanese bonus track or the b-side to a single. So now it’s easy for everybody to get it all in one place. “That was the point.”

Children Of Bodom filmed a video for their cover of CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL’s ‘Lookin’ Out My Back Door’. The locale was their rehearsal spot in Finland. “It’s the same building,” concedes Henkka. “It’s a complex with a lot of rehearsal spaces, but ours was too small, so we shot it in another band’s. We actually had a lot of fun. It’s made to be similar to CCR’s original one, they’re also having a lot of fun in it. We figured we’d do the same.” Both videos can be seen below.

The selection of covers on Skeletons In The Closet is incredibly diverse. Who would expect songs from BRITNEY SPEARS and KING DIAMOND on the same album? “True, now that I think about it,” admits Henkka. “It’s always really difficult to choose them. Usually a month before going into the studio, we come up with two or three cover songs to do. Everybody has a couple of suggestions and brings CDs with them. We listen to them and see what we could do… usually nobody comes up with any ideas. It’s hard to figure out the kind of stuff that fits us and isn’t too obvious. We want to surprise people all the time. I suggested KRAFTWERK on the last session but they figured it was impossible to do, which is probably true.”

Regarding the cover of SLAYER’s ‘Silent Scream’, Children Of Bodom frontman Alexi Laiho has said, “I’m cool with Kerry King… and he’s cool with me… really… but he better not come near us with a bazooka!” Henkka sheds some light on this rather peculiar statement. “That was an old one. Back in the day, Slayer was a big band that we were fans of. We were asked to do this European Slayer tribute and we chose ‘Silent Scream’. Metal songs are hard to do because they’re so full of stuff. There’s not much space for arrangements. It’s pretty strict to the original, except it’s got the keyboards in it. So it’s kind of like… raped! But I heard that Kerry King actually heard the song and he hasn’t shot us yet, so I think we’re safe now.” As for Henkka’s favourite cover song by another artist… “THE ATARIS doing ‘Boys Of Summer’ (by DON HENLEY). That’s one of the best I’ve heard.”

The last date of CoB’s Blooddrunk tour is October 24th in Moscow. After that, Henkka will enjoy “holidays for the rest of the year” while Alexi goes out on tour across North America with HYPOCRISY. “Then we’ll start concentrating on new stuff… we have until June when we hit the studio.”