Bam is the guy they need to get the attention, then all we need is Ville Valo to perform as guest vocalist, and also Johnny Depp... But I think equally important in 80's music was the synth wave, not just rock.
I know it's not a pic, but I started this topic here so I want to close it here. Remember how I was asking about what was wrong with Janne's hair because it looked pretty horrible and fake when I saw him at 100Guitarsfromhel? Well, I watched a live from this summer and just look at his head at the beginning of Lake Bodom (4:30). He definitely is going bald and I think his hair on the top of his head is implants. Not that it particularly matters though as I'm losing my hair too (thanks dad for your genes), but at least now we know why he's looking so weird now.
Unfortunately Bam isn't really relevant anymore though. And yes, synth wave was a part, but not so much as you might think. The audience for that stuff wasn't as big as the modern synth wave (and by this I mean retro-wave, ala Peturbator) is now, which isn't even huge on it's own.
Check out the movie It Follows, 80's synth wave style music. I think Perturbator is coming to my town next spring, I sometimes play them at gym. I guess 80's is this huge nostalgy for people born in that era. I would say I'm a 90's kid (born in '86) and 2000's youth, but a huge part of my childhood involved 80's music, 80's videogames, 80's animes, and of course the style of living and the way the world was back then (not ultra-feministic like now, people lived real lives, less technology, kids played outdoors, great music, less superficiality, extreme racing cars...). It's always saddening to see the new generation not giving a fuck about the good art back then, and not knowing what things were better than now. If you ask me, time should've stopped around 2001. Only good thing that came since was youtube.
I've seen the movie. Pretty good but nothing mindblowing imo. That show Stranger Things has a lot of synth-wave type stuff in it as well. I think people just like the (quoting you here) atmosphere of it. It's really cool music and definitely has it's own feel to it. I think a lot of people identify with it because it feels fresh and familiar at the same time if that makes sense. Also, I was born 1 year after you so I too consider myself mostly a 90's kid but much of that 80's culture was not lost on me. Movies like Robocop embody that type of feeling I just mentioned above.
I feel bad for Archie playing bass when he's a lot cleaner than Alexi on guitar- the neck pickup obviously helps and Laiho's tone & guitar can be pretty unforgiving but he doesn't even try anymore to be clean live. The Jackson pickup was so smooth sounding (sounded like a mix between a bridge and neck pickup with a tinge of wah) so he could get away with a bit of sloppy playing but now his tone is so stagnant every single mistake rings out which is probably not his fault. Maybe he needs a neck pickup nowdays if he's not practising as much?
WELL i have few guitars with the same J50BC pickup with an Original JE-1000 and it sounds even sharper than the modern EMG pickups, Alexi Played a HELL of a lot tighter back in the day, the jackson guitar was a little higher on his body with a strap that was shorter, he later started to became more American stylish with a lower hanging guitar and that doesnt help on the tight playing, than he broke his arm and he did al weird shit, pretty sure Drugs fucked up things too,. Back in the day it was more Alcohol i quess,. Nowdays Alexi just look very Unhealty and i think it has influance on his playing too,
Yeah I think his health is also a factor for why he doesn't play as well nowdays. I've also got insomnia like I think he does & it really does fuck with your playing ability- he would also have jet lag on top of that. I dunno if it's because he stopped drinking and still hardly eats anything or he's on heroin or something but he looks sickly thin.
With five hours of sleep your brain functions like you're drunk, so... Well, who cares about this tour, bring on the something breeder tour and the next album with pleasant surprises. Who would've ever thought they'd play In the Shadows and Wrath Within some day...
Not really a fan of In the Shadows but Wrath Within would be cool. I don't get why they don't replace downfall with something like bed of razors as no matter who it is whenever I mention Bodom most people know that song. Might be a bit biased as it's my favourite song by them & the first I learnt on guitar from start to finish but that & silent night seems to capture all the elements that make COB- memorable melodies, cool melodic guitar solos & nice keyboard work.
Well, I didn't see him, since the rock school vids on YT, which are probably nearly 10 years old... Yeah, he's older and of course bigger (that one's not surprising at all) But still has his long hair
He works as a guitar teacher at Tauko Espoo. I used to be his student. EDIT: Looking at their website it seems Ale has left Tauko. Haven't been there since last spring due to the army and now since Christmas, work, so I'm not quite up to date on what's going on.
Must had been a real WOW moment when you took your first lesson with him Did he told something about the COB era, or did u ask him about that? Or at that time you were just a little puppy and you didn't even know what's metal? Btw, It would be awesome if they invite him to this nostalgia tour as a guest performer
I knew who would be teaching the class well ahead of attending it. Luckily I wasn't the only one in the class as I was, at first at least, far too afraid of him to really talk unless talked to. During the year that I was his student I did eventually come to know him more as "my guitar teacher" than "rhythm guitarist of COB" and thus realized that talking would not actually kill me . He didn't really talk about COB though he did play a few riffs and melodies (We would have played the TDE intro melody but one of us had only 22 frets making it impossible and I remember him playing the HCDR pre-chorus and saying that it is a great riff though we never played it as a class (Drop tuning perhaps? Can't remember)).