Henri Seppälä (born 7 June 1980), also known as Henkka T. Blacksmith, is the former bassist of the Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom from 1995 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[1] 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.
Seppälä was born in 1980 in Espoo, 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 and Pantera with his friends. Before that, he had only had contact with glam metal/hard rock bands such as Guns N' Roses and Poison. As time passed, his interest started leaning towards heavier bands, until in the early 1990s he discovered black metal and death metal bands of the likes of Burzum, Dissection and Cannibal Corpse.
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 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.[2] 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.
