Children of Bodom have announced a US tour to begin 11 Sept and ending 10 October. Opening bands incluce Between the Buried and Me and “very special guest to be announced”. Ticket presales begin on July 16 via Nokia Ticket Rush (www.ticketrush.com), and general public sales begin on July 18 through www.livenation.com. Tour dates below!

September 11 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live!
September 12 Norfolk, VA The NorVa
September 13 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
September 14 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
September 16 Dallas, TX House of Blues
September 18 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
September 19 Los Angeles, CA Wiltern
September 20 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
September 21 San Francisco, CA The Warfield
September 22 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
September 23 Seattle, WA Showbox Market
September 25 Salt Lake City, UT The Great Salt Air
September 26 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre
September 27 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
September 28 St. Louis, MO Pop’s
September 30 Minneapolis, MN Myth
October 1 Chicago, IL House of Blues
October 2 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
October 3 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
October 4 Detroit, MI Clutch’s Cargo
October 6 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
October 7 Rochester, NY Water Street Music Hall
October 8 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
October 9 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom
October 10 Worcester, MA Palladium

So the numbers are in, and the release of Blooddrunk last week has put Children of Bodom on top of the charts! The first week chart positions are: Finland #1 (second week #1 as well), USA #22, Canada #7, Germany #10, Japan #12 (international chart #2), UK #44 (Rock albums chart #1), Austria #19. For a metal band in the US, #22 is a pretty good place to be! Congrats to the guys!

“We are so surprised about these chart things that are going on, it’s amazing! Even though it’s not the main thing for us to be high in charts, or whatsoever, it still feels really good. I think it indicates that metal people buy their records, even though the internet things can make music easily illegally available! We wanna thank people who’ve been supporting us in this matter! Respect!”
Henkka and the Bodom boys (from cobhc.com)

Children of Bodom released their sixth studio album, “Blooddrunk” worldwide on 12 Apr. 08. Click here for complete release details, reviews, and a link to buy it from their official webstore.

Blooddrunk
01. Hellhounds On My Trail
02. Blooddrunk | Video | Lyrics
03. Lobodomy
04. One Day You Will Cry
05. Smile Pretty For The Devil
06. Tie My Rope | Lyrics
07. Done With Everything, Die For Nothing
08. Banned From Heaven
09. Roadkill Morning

This past week, I was pleased to get several emails from Hot Topic about bands …. from Finland! Given that just about anyone who loves rock music has at some point stepped foot in a Hot Topic, it’s a good milestone to mark any band’s attempt to get a foothold in the US.

HIM has conquered the Hot Topic frontier thoroughly. You can walk in at any point and find the Heartagram all over the store.

I’ve noticed Children of Bodom merch in there before but usually just a t-shirt or two. So getting an email about the upcoming release of their new album is noteworthy because it signals another step into mainstream promotion via Hot Topic.

If you’re a Children of Bodom fan and have not yet ordered their new album: Blooddrunk, I highly recommend ordering it through Hot Topic. $9.99 is a great price and you’ll be voting with your consumer dollar to show Hot Topic that CoB does have a US fanbase and that it’s worthwhile to carry more merchandise.

And today’s email brought an announcement of an online Apocalyptica concert via Hot Topic! If you haven’t been paying attention, Apocalyptica is touching down this week for their first US tour starting on Friday. But according to the email, they’re starting a day early with a streaming concert exclusive to Hot Topic’s website.

Exciting isn’t it? I know they played a gig at the Roxy several years ago but that was before I learned about the wonders of rock music from the far north. I am really looking forward to seeing them at the Roxy this time around because it’s an intimate club where you can get a front row view of the band from anywhere inside the club.

Even when I went to the SOLD OUT Tokio Hotel concert back in February, we had no trouble finding a great spot even though we were one of the last ones in the club.

BTW LA denizens, keep your peepers open since the guys will probably be hanging out on Sunset Strip this week. Hot Topic’s headquarters are in the LA metropolitan area so it’s a good guess that they’ll be coming to LA first to do the concert before popping over to Vegas for the first gig of the tour. I know they like the strip because we ran into them several times last year. They were there filming the music video for I’m Not Jesus with Corey Taylor. Just look for a 6 ft Finn with long blonde hair gliding through the throngs.

I want to wrap up this post by applauding the Apocalyptica PR team for the excellent promotional photos they’ve picked. Paavo usually isn’t the focus of the artwork but it really works to have him front and center and the long haired ones flanking him and the mischievous Mikko peeking out of the background like Puck.