Children Of Bodom keyboardist Janne Wirman recently opened up about the band’s decision to continue performing and celebrating their music following the death of frontman Alexi Laiho. He shared details about the process in an interview with This Day In Metal.
Wirman explained how a persistent booking agent from Austria ultimately convinced the remaining members to consider performing again after initially declining all requests.
“We’ve gotten some requests and we’ve said ‘no’ to everything. But then this one guy, who is now our booking agent, from Austria, Dominik, he contacted us and he was convincing enough,” Wirman said. “Like, ‘Guys, I have so many requests for Bodom shows.’ And we replied to him politely that we don’t have a band.”
The keyboardist described how the booking agent’s personal approach made the difference in their decision-making process.
“We just have three guys and a legacy. And he goes, like, ‘Can I come to Helsinki and meet you?’ We were, like, ‘Okay, fine.’ And this guy flies to Helsinki and we meet him for dinner,” he continued. “He turns out to be a super-nice guy, someone we could work with.”
Wirman emphasized the importance of personal connections within the Children Of Bodom organization. He explained how this influenced their choice to work with the Austrian booking agent.
“Back in the day, Bodom, it was such a tight family. Everyone needed to kind of fit in — like a manager, booking agent, we always kind of needed to know these guys, that they really fit to the picture,” he explained. “So this guy kind of was very convincing. And this was a couple of years ago. And then we started thinking, like, ‘Okay, well, if we ever gonna play any shows, how are we gonna approach it?”
The band brought back their former manager Steve Davis to help develop their approach to honoring their musical legacy.
“And then we hired our old manager Steve [Davis] back, ’cause Steve is a mastermind and a genius in his own really f*cked up way. And he said that, ‘Guys, how we are gonna do this is that we’re gonna celebrate the music, ’cause that’s what we have — we have the music,'” Wirman said. “And then that’s how we started unraveling. And, yeah, that’s where we are right now.”
Wirman confirmed that the band plans to continue their celebration of Children Of Bodom’s music beyond their recent performances.
“I mean, we said that next year the celebration is gonna continue, so it’s gonna continue,” he concluded.
This decision to continue performing ultimately led to a significant milestone for the band and their fans. Loudwire reported that the surviving members of Children of Bodom reunited for a one-off Alexi Laiho tribute show titled “A Celebration of Music” on February 26, 2026, at Tavastia Club in Helsinki, Finland.
The tribute performance marked a historic moment for the Finnish metal band. Blunt Magazine noted this was the band’s first performance since their final concert on December 15, 2019. The reunion lineup featured Janne Wirman on keyboards, Henkka T. Blacksmith/Seppälä on bass, Jaska Raatikainen on drums, Alexander Kuoppala on guitar, and Samy Elbanna from Lost Society handling guitar and vocals.
The tribute show served as a direct homage to Alexi Laiho, who tragically passed away on December 29, 2020, from alcohol-induced liver and pancreas degeneration. Metal Injection documented that the original members performed a comprehensive 20-song set at the historic Tavastia club, celebrating the band’s extensive catalog and legacy.
The February 2026 tribute concert represented the culmination of the careful planning process that Wirman described in his interview. The band’s emphasis on celebrating their musical legacy rather than attempting to replace their iconic frontman resonated with fans who had been requesting performances since Laiho’s death. This demonstrated the enduring impact of Children of Bodom’s music on the metal community.
