February 2005
- Features:
* Finns @ by:Larm
* Nordic Nights @ SXSW
- Business
- Awards & Honours
- Live News
- Behind the Numbers / Behind the Scenes
FINNS @ BY:LARM
This year´s by:Larm trade event in Stavanger, Norway, Februray 10th12th boasts a line-up of not only Norwegian, but of pan-Nordic acts. The three Finnish showcases present the current Finnish album chart number one Poets Of The Fall, indie-pop geniuses Sister Flo, who where also the favorites among readers and critics alike in Finnish rock&pop byweekly Rumba‘s polls, and the live energy bomb Soul Tattoo.
Poets Of The Fall (SAM AGENCY)
8.30 pm @ VG Tent, Skansegaten, parking lot
“A well refined and confident package that sounds international on the first listen” - Sue Magazine
Prospect of the Year - YleX Radio
Sister Flo (DELPHIC RECORDINGS)
10.30 pm @ Röde Sjöhus A, Nedre Holmegatan 12
Sister Flo know the secret theory of a perfect pop song. -Sue Magazine
“Great songs and a truly charismatic frontman” - Record Of The Day
Soul Tattoo (PLASTINKA RECORDS)
11.30 pm @ Hall Toll, Skansegaten 2
“Great players - great voice and they rocked!” - John Cloud, Head of Playground Label & International
“One of the most intense live acts around” - Record Of The Day
NORDIC NIGHTS AT SXSW
The Nordic countries have joined forces to initiate a joint effort for their artists at South By South West (SXSW) March 16th-20th. The biggest and the most important annual music and media conference in the US will host two nights of the hottest acts from each of the Nordic countries; Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Finnish bands on the Nordic Nights bill on the 6th Street venue The Drink are the undisputed champions of quirky garage rock 22-Pistepirkko (Thursday March 17th) and the stylish pop-rock ensemble The Crash (Friday March 18th).
GRANDPOP RECORDS & Warner/Chappell Music Finland joint label showcase at SXSW 2005 will feature three cool bands - instrumental rockers Laika & The Cosmonauts, Scandinavian action jazz duo Nieminen & Litmanen, and the dark pop sounds of The Latebirds.
More info on the Finnish SXSW showcases and participation in next month’s FI News or assistant@musexfinland.fi.
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BUSINESS
The first International Metal Meeting held in Helsinki was a huge success with sold out Saturday. The concept of live music, exhibition stands and a two-day party worked its magic among the professional headbangers and proved that there is a true need for a metal pro event. Plans for next year are already under way; next year’s IMM will take place at Helsinki´s Kaapelitehdas February 16th-18th.
Universal Music has bought the rest of SPINEFARM RECORDS, home of i.e. Nightwish and Children of Bodom. Universal Music already owned 51% of Spinefarm. Spinefarm still continues as an independent unit, with founder Riku Pääkkönen still as the CEO. Last year Spinefarm Records share in the Finnish music markets was 8,5%. Spinefarms leading star, Nightwishs Once was the best selling album in Finland in 2004 with sales of 86 700 copies.
The eclectic and esoteric garage rockers 22-Pistepirkko have just finished their new album Drops & Kicks and launched their own label, Bone Voyage Recording Company. The company will relaunch their back catalogue, as well as all of their future recordings. Drops & Kicks was recorded with the help of producer Kalle Gustafsson (The Soundtrack Of Our Lives) and Michael Ilbert (The Hives, Nomads, Roxette, Cardigans, Wannadies) and John Hanlon (sound engineer for Neil Young) working on the mixes. Extensive touring will follow after the album release in April 2005.
Power metal band Stratovarius have left the crisis behind. Singer Timo Kotipelto and drummer Jörg Michael left the band last year but have now returned. The band announced that the problems are in the past now and that they have started to work with new material. Just before the break-up last year the band had signed a contract with Sanctuary Records.
The Latebirds (GRANDPOP RECORDS) have been busy recording their follow-up album to 2003’s critically acclaimed album Fortune Cookies. Recording sessions have taken place in the legendary town of Woodstock, NY with Ken Coomer (Wilco) and Charlie Brocco (George Harrison, Jeff Lynne) producing. The new Latebirds album will be finished in early 2005, and released later this year.
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AWARDS & HONOURS
Finnish hip-hop maverick Redrama (EMI FINLAND) received a European Unions Border Breaker Award, presented by commissioner Ján Figel and Mauri Pekkarinen (Finnish Minister of Trade and Industry) in Midem, Cannes. Lasse Redrama Mellberg received the award for his debut album Everyday Soundtrack, released in 2003. Border Breaker prizes are granted to debut albums achieving the highest annual sales across the European Union, outside their country of origin. Everyday Soundtrack has sold 50 000 copies so far. Redrama starts working on his second album this spring and it will be released at the end of the summer in 20 countries.
The sparkling vocalist of the rock´n´roll group Negative (Gbfam Records), Jonne Aaron, has been voted the rock star of the year 2004 by the readers of Japanese rock-magazine BURRN. In the year 2002 the honor went to Nikki Sixx and in 2003, Jon Bon Jovi. Negative just returned from a successful tour in Japan.
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LIVE
Monster metal band Lordi (SONY/BMG FINLAND) will join Hammerfall on their European tour. The Icebreaker tour starts April 21st and visits Switzerland, Germany and Sweden. Lordi, who just signed a cooperation deal with Sanctuary, will play their first pyro filled rock´n´roll monster show of 2005 at the Scala club in London March 23rd. Tour info>>>
Having just announced the upcoming DVD release of their blockbuster album Once, opera-metal band Nightwish (SPINEFARM RECORDS) continue their world tour after a short hiatus around the winter holidays. In February they play on European stages until crossing the ocean in March to perform in Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo, Japan, and Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. Tour info>>>
Lab (SONY/BMG FINLAND) joins Zeraphine for a tour in Germany March 16th29th. Before the ten-date tour Lab will perform at the Helsinki based Femmagaala Awards and have their third album Where Heaven Ends released in Finland. Tour info>>>
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Behind The Scenes: When Finnish Remedy Entertainment was getting ready to release the sequel to the supersuccessful Max Payne, they got the idea to comission the theme song from an unknown Finnish band called Poets Of The Fall. It was no surprise that Max Payne 2 became an international hit in 2004, but it caught people off guard when Signs Of Life, the debut album of Poets Of The Fall, went straight to #1 in the Finnish album charts in January 2005. The album hasn’t been licensed abroad yet, but since Max Payne has made POTF’s single Late Goodbye known around the world among gamers it is no surprise that interesting offers have arisen.
Behind The Numbers: No one can blame you for thinking that a band that started its career with an album of eight cover versions of Metallica songs rearranged for cellos would become anything but a novelty. Even when Apocalyptica‘s second album Inquisition Symphony was released seven years ago you had every right to suspect a short career despite the three songs composed by band member Eicca Toppinen. In 2005 Apocalyptica have proved to be much more than a novelty. In January the band released album number five, which entered the Finnish charts at #5. All twelve songs on the self-titled record are original compositions by the band. The album also features guest vocalists Ville Valo from HIM and Lauri Ylönen from The Rasmus.