Henri Seppälä (born 7 June 1980), also known as Henkka T. Blacksmith, is the former bassist of the Finnish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of frontman Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä, ...

from 1996 to 2019. He is also responsible for backing vocals both in studio and live. In 2020 he announced he would be joining the band Moon Shot as their bassist. Henkka is a very common nickname for Henri and ''seppä'' means ''blacksmith'' in English. The reason he has a ''T.'' in the middle of his name is his nickname being Torso.

Biography

Seppälä was born in 1980 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

, Finland. He first started playing guitar at the age of eleven. He got into the heavy metal scene through his brother, who listened to bands such as

Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...

and

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

with his friends. Before that, he had only had contact with glam metal/hard rock bands such as

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

and

Poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

. As time passed, his interest started leaning towards heavier bands, until in the early 1990s he discovered

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

bands of the likes of

Burzum Burzum (; ) is a Norwegian music project founded by former Mayhem member Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a staple of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most infl ...

Dissection Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause of ...

and

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based in Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio ...

. He played drums in his first band at the age of 13. The band was called ''Aivokasvain'' (Brain Tumour). He was part of the band for two years, and then quit, switching his main instrument to the bass. When Samuli Miettinen quit ''Inearthed'' (the original name of Children of Bodom) in 1996, Seppälä joined the band, (asked by lead guitarist and singer, Alexi Laiho) he then adopted the 5-string bass. He is the frontman of the band when it comes to interviews and public appearances. Other than the fact that he can speak Russian, Finnish, English, Swedish and some Spanish and French, he is also the most equilibrated member of the band, in a general way. He studied political history at the ''

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

'' when not on tour, and received his Master's Degree in 2012 with a thesis on the role of NGOs in rural development in Finland. He is also into sports, and has a passion for (European) football and enjoys swimming. Musically, Seppälä was completely dedicated to Children of Bodom, and was the only member who did not have any side-projects during their time together. According to him, the most important things in his life are his family and his band at the time.

Influences

On the Children of Bodom official website, Seppälä lists his influences as

Tom Araya Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz (; born June 6, 1961) is a Chilean and American musician, best known as the vocalist and bassist of the thrash metal band Slayer. He was ranked 58th by ''Hit Parader'' on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalist ...

Billy Gould William David Gould (born April 24, 1963) is an American musician and producer. He is best known as the bassist of Faith No More. Biography Early years Gould was born on April 24, 1963, in Los Angeles, and he is of Scottish and Hungarian desce ...

, Steve Brunner,

Paulo Jr Paulo Xisto Pinto Júnior is a Brazilian musician best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Sepultura. He joined Sepultura after Roberto Raffan left the band in 1984, becoming Sepultura's second bassist. Although no original members are ...

Joe Principe Joseph Daniel Principe (; born November 14, 1974) is an American musician. He is the bassist, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is also straight edge, a vegan, an animal rights advocate, and actively prom ...

and

David Ellefson David Ellefson is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist and backing vocalist for thrash metal band Megadeth across two stints. Ellefson initially became an accomplished bassist and honed his songwriting skills whi ...

Equipment

* ESP Henkka T. Blacksmith Forest Signature Bass, 4 string (34" neckthru body alder, EMG 35DC) * ESP Henkka T. Blacksmith Bottom Line Signature Bass, 5 string (34" neckthru body alder, EMG 40DC pickups) * ESP Custom Shop "Assault" shaped (34" neckthru body alder, EMG 40DC pickups) * ESP Custom Shop Viper Bass, same specs as his other basses, and can be seen on their live DVD Chaos Ridden Years (tuned CGCF) * ESP Custom Shop Araya Shape (White with COBHC logo on fretboard, seen on the 2009 No Fear Tour) Amp is an Ampeg SVT3pro and cabinet Ampeg 810. He boosts his sound with a Super Overdrive pedal or Tech21 Sansamp pre amp and uses a
Audiotech Guitar Products Source Selector 1X6 Rack Mount Audio Switcher
for switching between wireless units.

References

External links

Interview with HenkkaInterview with Henkka at NZRock.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seppala, Henkka Finnish heavy metal bass guitarists Children of Bodom members Living people 1980 births 21st-century Finnish bass guitarists