Alexi Laiho

Alexi Laiho
Alexi Laiho at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival
Background information
Birth name	Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho
Also known as	Wildchild,
Born	April 8, 1979 (1979-04-08) (age 32) Espoo, Finland
Genres	Melodic death metal, power metal, neo-classical metal, avant-garde metal, speed metal, progressive metal, groove metal, thrash metal, black metal, heavy metal, punk rock
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, violin, banjo
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast, Century Media
Associated acts	Children of Bodom, Sinergy, Kylähullut, Impaled Nazarene, Thy Serpent
Website	http://www.cobhc.com
Notable instruments
ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Models, Jackson Randy Rhoads

Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (born Markku Uula Aleksi Laiho^{[citation needed]}; April 8, 1979) is a Finnish singer, composer, and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead guitarist as well as lead vocalist for melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and he is also the guitarist for Sinergy and Kylähullut. He has previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy.

Laiho was ranked #96 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World.^[1]

Guitar World magazine has ranked him as one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world.^[2]

Roadrunner Records ranked him #41 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time.^[3]

Career

In 2004, Laiho founded a side-project called Kylähullut, which was assembled together with Tommi Lillman (ex-Sinergy) and Vesa Jokinen 69er (from Klamydia). The band was created merely for the entertainment of the musicians, and takes a carefree approach to their music. The band's discography includes two EP's, and two full-length albums.

In February 2002 Alexi married Kim Goss during a private ceremony in Finland. Prior to the marriage, they dated for four years. In 2004 they separated, but still remain close friends and band mates in Sinergy. He has the letters "COBHC" (Children of Bodom Hate Crew) tattooed on his left hand and "HATE" tattooed on his right hand as an homage to Ozzy Osbourne, who has a similar tattoo with the letters O-Z-Z-Y, except it's on the left hand. Alexi has been featured on the cover of Young Guitar Magazine several times, as well as being on the cover of Guitar World along with master guitarists Steve Vai and Zakk Wylde. The "Wildchild" nickname is derived from the song "Wild Child" by the band W.A.S.P. he also has a clothing line called "wild child industries". His first guitar was a Tokai Stratocaster.^{[citation needed]}

Children of Bodom Played the 2008 Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards, Laiho also received the Dimebag Award for "Best Shredder", and he performed a track off of Children of Bodom's 2008's album, Blooddrunk.

Laiho appears on Canadian thrash metal outfit Annihilator's 2007 album, Metal, as a guest, performing a guitar solo on the song "Downright Dominate".

In spring of 2009 Children of Bodom was forced to drop out of their North American "No Fear Energy Tour" when Laiho broke his wrist after falling out of his bunk when the tour bus took a sharp turn on April 26, 2009, after the show in Palladium Ballroom, Dallas TX. Laiho originally planned to continue touring despite his injury, but was forced to cancel the last 6 dates when any efforts to alleviate the pain failed.

Guitar endorsements

In January 2003, ESP Guitars announced a line of Alexi Laiho Signature Models. The US version guitars are a slightly different shape than what Alexi usually plays, as the SV shape is a copyrighted Jackson shape. So to avoid a lawsuit, ESP made the bottom horn slightly larger and also put in a cut-away to get to the higher frets, like a modified B.C. Rich Ironbird. Another difference is the use of solid black or yellow pinstripes on the paint finish instead of his traditional pinstriped design which lies on the bevels of the guitar.

The guitar comes in two finishes: black w/yellow stripe, white w/black stripe. The guitar has a neck-thru 25.5” design, using a 3-pc unfinished maple neck with a 24-fret ebony fingerboard and pearl saw-tooth inlays, although Alexi does not actually use these in live shows

The ESP Alexi includes white binding on neck and head, the ESP custom shop version comes with a natural maple neck while the LTD is painted, and it comes with professional-quality components including a Floyd Rose original tremolo, Gotoh tuners, Schaller straplocks and a single Seymour Duncan AHB-1 in the bridge position, (or an EMG HZ H4 humbucker). Alexi's personal guitars, as well as Custom shop, Standard, and the models made for the US market are equipped with an MM-04 preamp.

As of 2007, a cheaper model (the Alexi- 200) is also available, in either solid black or white finish. It's a bolt on, 25.5" Scale with the body made out of basswood, with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. It features a Floyd Rose Licensed bridge and one EMG-ESP LH-301 bridge pickup. There is also a Limited Edition Alexi signature guitar (the ESP LTD Alexi-600SE) which is black and pink. He also has a Custom Shop and Standard version of the Black and Pink guitar in his traditional pinstriped design that is not available in the USA.

There are six ESP models that he actually uses (custom shop models are mostly seen in Japan)

1. Scythe (available in Standard version, Custom Shop Version and USA version) white with black pinstripes and Scythe inlays,Chrome hardware

2. Arrow Head (Alexi's first ESP signature) (Only available in Custom Shop version) Black with solid yellow pinstripes very much like the USA Alexi and the Alexi 600 but with pearl Arrow Head inlays, Gold hardware

3. Sawtooth (Custom Shop Version) Black with luminous pinstripes and luminous sawtooth inlays (Standard Version) Black with white pinstripes and pearl sawtooth inlays both the CS and STD version are available in chrome or gold hardware

4. Katakana (originally there were 10 made for the Finnish market, now available in a STD version) Black with yellow pinstripes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 frets with pearl sawtooth inlays katakana (Japanese letter) inlays in the 12 fret which spelled "Alexi", gold hardware with larger cutaway, frets 21-24 scalloped.

5. Pink Sawtooth (STD&CS) Black with Pink pinstripes pink sawtooth inlays 20 to 24 frets scalloped, black hardware with larger cutaway

6. Blacky (STD&CS&USA) Matte black with gloss black pinstripes black pearl sawtooth inlays, frets 20 to 24 scalloped, black nickel hardware with larger cutaway

Note: The 2010 version of Scythe, Sawtooth, and Arrow Head has the larger cutaway like the Pink Sawtooths

Equipment

Alexi Laiho has used the Lee Jackson Preamp and Marshall JCM 800 cabinets (with 75 watt Celestion speakers) and various power amps for the first half of his career. After Hate Crew Deathroll, he started experimenting with different amp heads including the Krank Revolution, Marshall JCM800 KK (which he used to record Blooddrunk), and the Engl Special Edition EL34 head. As of late August 2011, Alexi is now signed with Engl and is currently using the e530 preamp with various poweramp and cabinet combinations.

Laiho first used an Ibanez KZ 220B to record the first Children of Bodom record and eventually switched to Jackson Guitars which he used for several years until 2 of his 3 Jacksons (the one with the WildChild sticker and the one with white pinstripes) were stolen. He asked Jackson to make him another one, but the time-table they gave him for its production was too long (around a years time). ESP came to him and said that it would take around 3 months for his new signature model to be up and running, so Alexi took this offer. Thus he switched to ESP guitars. The change occurred shortly after the release of Hate Crew Deathroll. His ESP guitars are based on the Jackson Randy Rhoads, except the body is cut slightly different on North American models. They all feature a single bridge pickup and double-locking tremolo. He is known for using a passive EMG ALX pickup with an on board active preamp circuit to boost the output signal as oppose to active pickups.

He also uses DR Strings Hi-Beam 11-50 gauge for D Standard tuning. For Drop C, he uses DR Jeff Healey Signature 10-56 Strings. He has also recently been given a signature set of DR strings. He uses Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks.

In February 2011, one Purehmv (Canada) member redeemed a Children of Bodom Alexi Laiho Signature ESP Flying V guitar for 1,100,000 points, the highest point total redeemed to date.

Tunings

• D Standard (D G C F A D) : Hatebreeder, Follow The Reaper, Hate Crew Deathroll (except 2 songs), Are You Dead Yet? (Next In Line) Blooddrunk (Smile Pretty For the Devil; Done With Everything, Die for Nothing; Roadkill Morning), Relentless Reckless Forever (Not My Funeral, Cry Of The Nihilist)
• Dropped C (C G C F A D) : Hate Crew Deathroll (Sixpounder, Angels Don't Kill), Are You Dead Yet? (except 1 song), Blooddrunk (except 3 songs), Relentless Reckless Forever (except 2 songs)
• C# Standard (C# F# B E G# C#) : Something Wild

Discography

Children of Bodom Main article: Children of Bodom discography 1997: Something Wild 1999: Hatebreeder 2000: Follow the Reaper 2003: Hate Crew Deathroll 2005: Are You Dead Yet? 2008: Blooddrunk 2009: Skeletons in the Closet 2011: Relentless Reckless Forever Sinergy 1999: Beware the Heavens 2000: To Hell and Back 2002: Suicide By My Side Kylähullut 2004: Keisarinleikkaus (EP) 2005: Turpa Täynnä 2007: Lisää Persettä Rättipäille (EP) 2007: Peräaukko Sivistyksessä Impaled Nazarene 2000: Nihil Warmen 2005: Accept the Fact 2009: Japanese Hospitality

Guest appearances 2009: Saattue - Vuoroveri [guitar solo on "Vapahtaja"] 2009: Warmen - Japanese Hospitality [vocals on "High Heels On Cobblestone"] 2008: Megadeth Live - Peace Sells [Gigantour 08 live background Vocals] 2007: Guitar Heroes album - [all guitars and bass on the song "Sioux City Sarsaparilla", and guitar solo on "12 Donkeys"] 2007: Godsplague - H8 [guitar solo on "Don't Come Back"] 2007: Pain - Psalms Of Extinction [guitar solo on "Just Think Again"] 2007: Annihilator - Metal [guitar solo duel with Jeff Waters on "Downright Dominate"] 2006: Raskaampaa Joulua (Various artists) - [guitar solo on "Petteri Punakuono (Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer)"] 2006: Rytmihäiriö - Seitsemän Surman Siunausliitto [guitar solo on "Pyörillä Kulkeva Kuoleman Enkeli"] 2006: Stoner Kings - Fuck the World [guitar solo on "Mantric Madness"] (2006) 2005: Lauri Porra — Lauri Porra ("Solutions") 2003: No Holds Barred — Griffin ("The Sentence", "Bleed") 1999: All Eternity — To/Die/For ("In The Heat Of The Night")

See also

• ESP Alexi Laiho

References

1. ^ "Guitar World's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. 23 January 2004. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=18446. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.guitarworld.com/article/50_fastest_guitarists_of_all_time?page=0%2C1
3. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/news/THE-50-GREATEST-METAL-FRONTMEN-OF-ALL-TIME-19861.aspx

Persondata
Name	Laiho, Alexi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 8, 1979
Place of birth	Espoo, Finland
Date of death
Place of death