Band’s history

The whole bloody story began in the cellars in Otaniemi, Helsinki University of Technology, where most of these youngsters studied and became members of the SIMILI.

Ahti Korpinen and Kari Kuosma met as coursemates in 1975 and started to perform as duo Korpinen and Kurttu, accordion-based solosinging with obscure performances. Korpinen started his musical career with rattles and clockworks at the age of two, concentrating on dorian scale greek music, then learned to play the piano through guidance of Eila Nuorivaara, and mastered also the old seacaptains Excelsior accordion in his youth. He has been playing and performing as a sing- along background jukebox for years and years for different performers and odd occasions. One of these performers was Karita Mattila, dancing and singing Tosca at the table praising her backing man, another worldfamous jazzband from New Orleans, The Young Tuxedos, whose ninety year old (only some years at that time older than Korpinen) and half-deaf pianist gave Korpinen the name “Mr Ear”– after an impromptu session at legendary Helsinki Storyville jazzclub stage, claiming he never had heard such playing. And as he said, the crickets for him had gone, too.

Kuosma had been playing back in the seventies in the school- and military service time bands, eg Texas, in Pihlajamäki suburb, with Laakso brothers Jukka and Kari (Kari Laakso, later eg in Livingstone, Swingtet etc). Bands at the same school parties, as well as their famous and loved music teacher Seija Järvinen (with husband Klaus Järvinen as school orchestra conductor) were shocked and needed nitro- capsules to cover from the Texas band’s rock and pre-punk, unheard at that time anywhere (1972–1974). Among others at the same school music rooms rehearsed and changed musical ideas were eg Speedy Saarinen ( Aaltoliike, J.Salminen Systems, Broadcast, Rinneradio etc) and Pekka Ruuska, also played as well there a little younger (maybe one of the first girl bands in finnish band history) Nakusika with Kaija Koo as the bands leader and soul. Kuosma brought Korpinen to Tavastia in the late seventies to the famous tee-illat on Tuesday every week, where they along his old buddies and ex-band members made underground music and together new, better and crooked words to many songs made by famous artists. Along this group was amongst others was Jorma Riihikoski, the founder member of Eppu Normaali. (from where Jorma was given the boot after two years playing in the band, because he never did learn to play any at least in the western hemisphere recognized instrument)

Long before in ancient times Martti Nurmisalo had attended pianolessons under he tough eye of the same piano teacher as Olli Ahvenlahti. Later he had grown a honoured member and wordtwister in the very same Otaniemi dungeons. He had his musical history in Roihuvuori bands already back at the swinging sixties, eg the Feetwarmers and the Viritones – a real rautalankayhtye like the Shadows – as a matching name to suit them, because their selfmade electric guitars all the time ran off key and had to be continuosly tuned. He then played eg with Seppo Hovi in the army. He has eg teached Rafe Pikkarainen / the Creatures how to play electric guitar. Also he has been playing hiss bass in the Polytechnic Symphony Orchestra. He is lefthanded, naturally, as many not so famous bassists. When Nurmisalo wrote with his left hand the famous poem book Patinoidut Runot 2001 with Kuosma and Korpinen, the last two soon after noticed that here is our bassist.

Lasse Rantanen, Heikki Metsäranta had been playing in Otaniemi deep dormitory caves together in the early nineties with Juho Uusihakala as guest vocalist first in Erkin Mopo, then Eri and the Keepers. Kalle Ylösjoki joined these musicians with Juho Uusihakala to play at the Eri and the New Keepers. Then they had numerous stagecombos, eg Pussi & Passi (Uusihakala and Rantanen), the Whistlin´ Brothers (Ylösjoki and Rantanen). Metsäranta had then bands called Hyvä Kysymys (whose drumset stool – a permanent loan from the state laboratories – still is the backbone behind Äktas Porslin dark beat). Then Metsäranta continued in heavyband U.Kekkonen, which had their first and only public performance naturally with completely different name “Rakkauden Meren Karikot”.

Uusihakala, a dormitory mate of Rantanens at that time– there’s the link You eager fans!– has been making a famous career in the mid eighties as the vocalist in rockabilly and rock bands Backick and Rawhide,( with Jupe Litmanen and other famous musicians) they performed in giglists with famous bands and even made records. He has even sang a duet with Jorma Kääriäinen (ex Freddy the Falcon)

Ylösjoki had been playing in schoolband called Metamorphosis in late 80’s. Also he had been singing in quartets etc, and in Cantores Minores as a dazzling-eyed “sengerknabe”, where they noticed his absolute ear for harmony singing. During the eighties and nineties the mix of group members performed together in different line-ups and -downs and duos, but not as a band – mostly Ylösjoki-Rantanen- Korpinen-Kuosma in whatever order, combinations and conditions. Rantanen has had together with Metsäranta and Uusihakala their prevailing band One Mint Tulip (OMT) together with Juha Kopu (Ex Hyvä Kysymys and U. Kekkonen) and Esa Heikkilä (ex U.Kekkonen) acc Ray Charles´s song (and a famous drink) One Mint Julep from the nineties.

For a reason unknown even to themselves, back in April 2002, at a party Korpinen and Kuosma were asked to perform as a bigger group, and they got with Uusihakala and Rantanen. But the band´s drums pretended to be ill with Metsäranta. The legendary “off were the drums incident” led to cardboard drum kit with the famous name on battered this time by Kuosma – which has been the trademark of theirs ever since. At the same party Kuosma gave a solo performance with accordion backing with Korpinen, dressed as look-a-like Marilyn Monroe, here Carilyn Conroe. Such a sight has never been seen since.

The success and gigs kept on coming, and to add darker rhythm beat to the orchestra,even already the line-up had been strengthened with guitarist/vocalist Ylösjoki, bassist Nurmisalo and drummer Metsäranta joined the irregular permanent line-up in December 2003. Later – because there wasn’t still enough darkness and deep forest magic, two more drummers and percussionists, Pepi Takala and Jonas Malmström joined in. Kuosma talked Takala over to join the group at Ruttopuisto Helsinki over some civilized pussikalja supper in early spring 2004. Takala has his background in the 80´s in eg bands Paavalikuoro(= St Peter’s Choir) in his early teens before his voice was finally broken, and later in early 80´s in contemporary synth pop music band Kurt V Group (inspired by a scifi author), and NeoD with some too far going unnatural jungle percussional experiments copying the Finnish band Sielun Veljet. This explains his style of beat described with puritan music theoretical experts “hard, but beautifully wrong”. He changed himself as a kid to the musical class and faculty line at school, not telling anything to his innocent parents – this to be found schockingly out many years later. Jonas Malmström was a well- known all-round brass-musician within the same dungeon dwellers in Otaniemi, where he was ear-picked to join in late summer 2004. Malmström has his band history with more than unbelievable instruments as the tuba, in eg Humpsvakar and still going strong – in the bands the Los Quattros Molos (previous Los Trio Molos, today Quattros Molos)

Rauli Ukkonen had been playing with Kuosma back in seventies- eighties, so when Rantanen got lazier and lazier to rehearse because of his innate talents, and more because he had boldly started to build a house according to Kuosma´s design and drawings, he had to skip more than every now and then now also gigs – Rauli joined the group in December 2004. They remet with Kuosma all of a sudden, just suitably, in 2004 in Tammisaari Långstrand deep forests (to where Kuosma had designed one even more strange cottage nearby an even more strange sauna in the next neighbour residence, designed By Ukkonen) one dark august night. Rauli has had many bands during his career, eg HUMO(huonon musiikin orkesteri) and 2-MUCH and still plays in Blackdog. Bluffen Tötterman jumped in to join the band in early 2005 for the occasions, when bassist Nurmisalo started to sell just with his left hand only more and more steel mills eg in Argentina and China etc evergoingly too often. Tötterman – a former band mate of Malmström’s in Humpsvakar etc – has also a large band career, and still he keeps on playing in the group with a menace and fierce sounding name Carboela (Kårböle to be the suburb where they came from - which didn’t sound bullyrough enough)