Last month, Finnish melodic death metal legends Children Of Bodom made a historic return to the stage for two sold-out nights at Helsinki’s Tavastia club. The emotional performances served as a tribute to the band’s late founder, vocalist, and guitarist, Alexi Laiho. Tasked with the monumental responsibility of filling that vacancy was Samy Elbanna, frontman of the Finnish thrash outfit Lost Society.
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Samy Elbanna opened up about the profound honor of performing with his musical heroes, the rigorous preparation required for the shows, and his long-standing personal history with the band.
His connection to the group dates back to 2013, when Lost Society first toured as a supporting act for Children Of Bodom. Recalling their initial interactions, he noted that keyboardist Janne Wirman was the first to break the ice, which quickly led to the two bands bonding over drinks. By their 2014 tour together, Samy Elbanna requested to be officially initiated into the band’s notorious inner circle, the “Hate Crew.”
Detailing the extreme initiation process, he shared:
“In 2014, we did another tour together in Finland. I asked to be initiated into [the band’s inner circle] the Hate Crew. It involved being naked in a shower. You’re held upside-down by your legs and bourbon’s poured into your mouth, and I will remember that for the rest of my life. I’m not going to give you any more details, but that was something very special to me in all of its craziness. Ha ha!”
Years later, the devastating news of Alexi Laiho‘s passing deeply affected the young musician. When the idea of a tribute concert eventually began circulating, Samy Elbanna instructed his manager to inform the surviving members that he would be honored to assist in any capacity.
“I was expecting some sort of tribute to happen at some point. After Covid, I remember talking to my manager, and he asked me, ‘Should I contact the guys and see if they’re planning on doing anything? Could I tell them that you’d be interested in doing something?’ I said, ‘Let them take as long as they need, but if they ever do anything and would even consider needing me to help, I’d be honoured.’ Stuff started snowballing from there,” he said.
Once he was officially on board, the preparation process was intense. He had roughly six months to master a 20-song setlist. While the older material came naturally to him, he admitted that some of the band’s later work posed a significant technical challenge. When asked which track was the most difficult to learn, he specified:
“‘Blooddrunk‘. Rhythmically, the later Bodom songs were different from the early stuff. The early songs are somewhat in my DNA at this point, so the newer songs were the only ones I had problems with. I recognised, if something like this is going to happen, you have to nail it, so it was six months of me playing these songs every day.”
The pressure of stepping into such an iconic role was immense, though Samy Elbanna noted that the audience’s understanding of the event’s tributary nature helped ease the tension. The shows commenced with a 15-minute video presentation honoring Alexi Laiho, setting a highly emotional tone before the band even played a single note.
Reflecting on the flawless execution of the first night, he stated:
“I wouldn’t change a single thing! There was a beautiful, 15-minute video presentation before the show began, with a lot of unseen footage of the band and Alexi, so obviously it was very emotional from the get-go. But immediately, when the actual intro tape for the show came on, I was like, ‘Let’s f**king go!’ People were teary-eyed, as was I, and then from the very first notes that we played, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is how these songs are supposed to be!’”
Regarding the future of this current iteration of Children Of Bodom and the possibility of further performances, the frontman remained uncertain but entirely open to the idea.
“Honestly, I don’t know. We only talked about these two shows, and the priority was to make them as special as possible. I even said to the guys, ‘I’m going to be playing these songs anyway after these shows, because I f**king love these songs.’ I played them for most of my life and that’s not going to change. The reception to the two nights was so great that I don’t know what else to think about at this point.”
When pressed on whether he would accept an invitation for a full tour if the surviving members asked, Samy Elbanna offered a definitive response:
“We’re boys, so yeah!”
