Janne Wirman

Janne Viljami "Warman" Wirman (born 26 April 1979) is a Finnish musician; he is the keyboardist for the bands Children of Bodom^[1] and Warmen.

Biography

Born in the city of Espoo, Finland, Janne Warman began playing the piano at the age of five. For most of his early life he focused his style on jazz, switching his main interest to heavy metal music once he joined the metal band Children of Bodom in 1997.

He graduated from the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory at the age of sixteen and was subsequently invited by Jaska Raatikainen to join Children of Bodom, due to their previous keyboardist – Jani Pirisjoki – being fired from the band. Janne was the deciding factor for them to truly begin their professional career. Not only did he bring his talent to the band, but after a single practice he also became able to play in sync with lead guitarist and vocalist Alexi Laiho. This synchronization can be observed during their live performances, or on the recorded tracks Bed of Razors, Lake Bodom and Downfall.

His primary influence is keyboardist Jens Johansson from Stratovarius (also played with guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen and Dio) from whom he has adopted the style of playing his keyboard tilted forward.

In the year of 2000, Janne assembled progressive metal band Warmen as his main side-project. The band's second album – Beyond Abilities – continued with the presence of Janne's brother Antti Warman.

In the same year, Jens Johansson was asked by heavy metal band Masterplan to play on their debut album, but since he was already busy with other projects, he referred them to Janne instead. Thus, in early 2002, Janne took part in the recording of Masterplan's self-titled debut album. The band proceeded to offer him a permanent position, but Warman opted to continue playing with Children of Bodom. Masterplan released their album and gave credit to Janne's work on the CD's booklet. The band's keyboard player Axel Mackenrott – hired after Janne's decline to enter the band – appeared on all of the promotional pictures, and was officially credited as Masterplan's keyboardist.

To record with Warmen, Janne built the Warmen Productions Studio (now named Beyond Abilities). This studio has also served for the recording of Kotipelto's keyboard tracks, part of Ensiferum's Iron album and Sinergy's fourth album.

Janne has had bad experiences with sponsor deals. He had deals with both Roland Scandinavia and Korg in the past and was promised new equipment, but he never received anything. On the back of Warmen's second album it reads: "No Roland or Korg products were used".

Janne was originally just supposed to play a few shows with Children of Bodom, but they grew to like him. On the Chaos Ridden Years documentary, Alexi Laiho says, "But it was the first time I saw the guy drunk, and that's when I knew he was the fucking man." Janne stayed with the guys, but said he felt like a real member of the band around the time of the recording of his second album with them.

Equipment

Throughout most of his career, Janne relied on the Korg X5D keyboard to play live, although he only uses it as a master MIDI controller – the synth rack/module setup he's controlling onstage has varied. Janne's lead sound was crafted by Jens Johansson. It's a Korg Polysix emulation patch Jens made for the JV1080.

Janne's setup on Hate Crew Deathroll

• Macintosh G4 running the MOTU Digital Performer 3.0 audio recording software
• Roland JV2080 (three units, using different expansions)
• Akai S5000 and Akai pro synth module
• EMU P2000, Proteus1, e64 and 9090
• Korg Triton rack and X3r

Discography

With Children of Bodom

Albums

• Something Wild (1997)
• Hatebreeder (1999)
• Tokyo Warhearts (Live CD, 1999)
• Follow the Reaper (2000)
• Hate Crew Deathroll (2003)
• Are You Dead Yet? (2005)
• Stockholm Knockout Live (2006)
• Blooddrunk (2008)
• Skeletons in the Closet (2009)
• Relentless Reckless Forever (2011)
• Halo of Blood (2013)
• I Worship Chaos (2015)

Singles & EPs

• Children of Bodom (Single, 1997)
• Downfall (Single, 1998)
• Hate Me! (Single, 2000)
• You're Better Off Dead!' (Single, 2002)
• Trashed, Lost & Strungout (EP, 2004)
• In Your Face (Single, 2005)
• Blooddrunk (Single, 2008)

With Warmen

Albums

• Unknown Soldier (2000)
• Beyond Abilities (2001)
• Accept the Fact (2005)
• Japanese Hospitality (2009)
• First of the Five Elements (2014)

Singles

• Somebody's Watching Me (Single, 2005)
• They All Blame Me (Single, 2005)
• Alone (Single, 2001)

With Kotipelto

Albums

• Waiting for the Dawn (2002)
• Coldness (2004)
• Serenity (2007)

Singles

• "Beginning" (2002) – single
• "Reasons" (2004) – single
• "Take Me Away" (2004) – single
• "Sleep Well" (2006) – single

With Masterplan

Albums

• Masterplan (2003)

References