Finland

The Rasmus

© EBU/Nathan Reinds About Quick Facts MembersLauri YlönenEmppu SuhonenAki HakalaEero Heinonen Founded1994 Nationality🇫🇮 Finnish National SelectionUuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2022 In Eurovision2022 Turin SongJezebel (2022) Biography The Rasmus (during his first three albums “Rasmus”) is a Finnish rock band. It is one of the most internationally successful Finnish bands. The lead character of the band is singer and founding member Lauri Ylönen. In 2005–2006, he was Finland’s most deserving cultural figure. The style of the band has changed somewhat over the years. In addition to rock, the three albums released in the 1990s are influenced by funk, hip hop and pop, each with a significantly different style, while the 21st century albums are closer to cleaner rock, heavier and darker in tone. The Rasmus was formed in 1994 when the band members were in their junior high school. In the early days, Rasmus, who performed without the “The” prefix, played red Hot Chili Peppers-influenced funk rock. The band was formed by Lauri Ylönen, who currently works as a singer-soloist, and Eero Heinonen, bassist. That’s when Lauri still played the drums until her sister Hanna “forced” him to try singing. The band’s name was Anttila at first, but it was often confused with a department store of the same name. Another suggestion was also Sputnik, but eventually the band ended up being called Rasmus. The band’s first single “1st” was released in 1995. Rasmus signed a record deal in 1996. The first album “Peep” was released in Finland, Russia, Estonia and Japan. The record’s sales exceeded the gold limit in Finland by selling more than 21,000 copies. The singles “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd” are simply named with sequence numbers and contain Peep’s songs. A self-directed video was made of the song “Funky Jam”. Peep’s style of music could be called funk-influenced pop rock. The band’s second album, Playboys, also sold gold. The band made a video of the song “Playboys” themselves. With “Playboys”, the band gained more credibility and fame. The third album “Hell of a Tester” sold gold as did its single “Liquid”. The band made a video of it, and it was also chosen as the single of the year. The band took a break after Hell of a Tester. Janne, who played the drums, left for India, so the search for a new drummer began. The band’s three-album deal with Warner ended and a new record company was sought. The band wasn’t even sure if they would continue their careers. Eventually, current drummer Aki Hakala started in the band. Rasmus started at the Swedish company Playground Music. The name was also changed to The Rasmus so that the band would not be confused with an artist named DJ Rasmus in Sweden. In 2001, after the break, the band released their album “Into”. It was a great success. The album was released throughout Scandinavia, and in Finland it sold more than double platinum (67,000). The first single “F-F-F-Falling” became a big hit; it won the MTV Nordic audience vote and sold a platinum single. The single “Chill” also did well, selling gold. At the 2002 Emma Gala, The Rasmus won four Emma Awards. Enthusiasm can be called rock with a bit of pop influence. Into” is also the first record on which Aki Hakala played the drums. The Rasmus wanted to introduce its older production to its new fans as well. The compilation album “Hell of a Collection” was released in November 2001. It sold over 50,000 copies, a platinum record and a gold record on top. With their 2003 album “Dead Letters”, The Rasmus made its final international breakthrough and topped the charts in several countries (including number one in Germany). It made history as the first Finnish album to reach the top ten of the official album list in the United Kingdom. Internationally, the album sold eight gold records and five platinum records. The album Dead Letters differed stylistically from the band’s previous recordings as The Rasmus’ musical line and lyrics became darker and the sound darker. The album’s single and big hit “In The Shadows” was MTV Europe’s most played video and rose to number three on the British Isles single in the spring of 2004. It rose to the top ten in more than a dozen countries. The other singles on the album are “In my Life,” “First Day of My Life,” “Funeral Song (the Resurrection),” and “Guilty.” Of these five singles, the band also made music videos, three different versions of “In the Shadows”. The album “Dead Letters” was among the top ten bestsellers in about a dozen countries. In total, more than 1.5 million copies have been sold and 77,000 copies in Finland. Dead Letters is by far the best-selling album of The Rasmus. In 2004, the band released their first DVD release, “Live Letters”. It features a concert recorded on August 21, 2004 from Gampel Open Air, Switzerland. The Rasmus’ sixth studio album “Hide from the Sun” was released in Finland and Scandinavia, Central Europe, Great Britain and Japan on September 9, 2005. The album was very successful all over Europe, and the album reached number one in Finland as well as in Mexico. The band embarked on the album’s one-and-a-half-year “Hide from the Sun” tour, which included more than 200 concerts in 38 countries. The band began composing their new album Black Roses in late 2006, when the band met prestigious producer Desmond Child in the Dominican Republic during their concert on the Hide from the Sun tour. Ylönen and Rantasalmi composed new songs with Child, e.g. In Greece. Recording of the album’s 11 tracks began in September 2007 in Helsinki, after which the album was recorded in Nashville, USA, and four other countries. The record was mixed by Michael Wagener. In November 2009, The Rasmus released their second compilation album. The album features one new song, the duet “October & April” with Anette Olzon. It was also released as a single. The album has a total of 17 tracks. The

And the last ten finalists are….

Yes, the die is cast again. Ten songs will go through to the final, to be exactly the ten countries you will find below: Belgium Czech Republic Azerbaijan Poland Finland Estonia Australia Sweden Romania Serbia Congratulations to the ten winners. And remember: only ten songs could go through. That does not mean that the other songs are bad.

Our prediction for the 2nd semifinal

Two days ago we made a prediction for the first semi-final. Okay, no Albania and Latvia, but Moldova and Iceland instead. But don’t forget: we got no less than eight countries right! That’s why we’re taking the risk for another prediction tonight, this time for the second semifinal. We think that these are the countries that will advance to the final tomorrow: Finland: Who doesn’t know The Rasmus? These rockers have a huge fan base all over Europe. They will vote en masse. Finland makes it to the final. Serbia: The bookmakers are even predicting that Serbia will finish in the top-10. The act with washing hands will be appreciated by enough people for a place in the final. Unfortunately, Britain’s Prince Harry lives in the US. He would definitely vote for this song that mentions his wife. Azerbaijan: This country almost always makes it to the final according to a fixed recipe: a foreign team writes a song. A strong act is built around it. A guarantee for success! Australia: This song is one you either love or hate. There are plenty of people who really appreciate the act with the mask and feathers. The message also gets across. Sheldon is also a very good singer. Cyprus: A surprising song in Greek. Cyprus is not necessarily high on all lists, but it is just such a number that still gets enough appreciation to reach the final tomorrow evening. Estonia: This song makes people happy. And if there’s one thing we need right now, it’s hope, and what’s this song about….? Stefan will be in the final on Saturday. Romania: Spain votes in this semi-final and that helps, but in the meantime WRS also puts on a slick show. We think there is a good chance that it will be a final place. Poland: This is one of two entries on which our entire team is unanimous: Poland goes to the final with the rock-solid, well-sung ballad. Welcome back in the final, Poland! Belgium: The Belgian gospel song is one of a kind, well sung and therefore stands out in a positive way. Although the Belgians themselves seem to have doubts, we are convinced of a place in the final for Jérémie Makiese. Sweden: If Sweden doesn’t go to the final, nobody will. Even when everything went wrong, Cornelia Jacobs remained professional. The bookmakers are still predicting a very high position. But are we right? We’ll know in about 24 hours!

Day 6: Bananas, raincoats, a circus and a rodeo rider

The storm around the still sun finally seems to have subsided a bit. This is not a weather forecast, but it is all about the Eurovision Song Contest. Now that everyone knows what really matters with the non-spinning sun, we can move on. And so we do. With ten countries from the 1st and 2nd semi, as well as the Big Five (more about that later), there is certainly something to look forward to. ICELAND: It is no surprise that the foursome (the girls’ brother is also there) can sing. The clothing and the setting are slightly reminiscent of “Little House on the Prairie”, for those who still know what that is. However, the whole thing seems a bit static. It’s not a done deal for the Icelanders. NORWAY: It ís a done deal for the Norwegians. They will make it to the final. Subwoolfer puts on a dazzling act. It is one of the kind that you either love or hate. Eurovision.tv notes that there is no change to the costumes. To be honest, we would also have been surprised if the gentlemen would suddenly wear something different. ARMENIA: She is the last one in the first semifinal. While she may not be the festival’s best singer, Rosa Linn does a good job. She walks around a bedroom covered with Post-Its. When she pulls it off the wall, for example, the title of the song appears, but also, yes, a Eurovision heart! FINLAND: The 2nd semifinal opens with the festival’s biggest stars: The Rasmus. The raincoats are now appropriate: the weather is not good. It also rains in Turin. Although the act is solid, there is something to be said for the vocals of Lauri Ylönen. We have heard better singing in the last few days…. ISRAEL: If we’re talking about song and dance, the Israelis do put down something. Michael Ben David never gets out of breath from all the dancing. He reaches the high notes effortlessly. The bookmakers’ expectations when it comes to Israel are not too high, but they could be completely wrong this time. SERBIA: No changes in the act of Serbia, which by the way is partially subtitled. The hands that are washed are also reflected in the graphics. Whether it is all sung very well, you can question that. Fun fact: for the second time in Eurovision history, someone from the British royal family is being sung: after Princess Diana in 1986 (“Européennes”, for France) it is now Megan Markle’s turn. AZERBAIJAN: Do you remember “Hold me”, Azerbaijan’s 2013 entry? It certainly wasn’t the strongest song that year, but thanks to the act it became second. We now see a similar act, but with a grandstand instead of a glass box. Big difference: Nadir is a very good singer. Because of the act and the good vocals this could end up higher than we all might expect. GEORGIA: “Lock me in” the members of Circus Mircus sing. And a circus it is, with flying goggles and a decorated beard. You may wonder whether the song is something that the televoter or the jury is going for. It just might become the least understood entry of 2022. MALTA: Few changes in the act. What we had not learned during the first rehearsals is that Emma not only sits behind the piano, but also stands on it. The moving and dancing seems to have an effect on Emma’s voice. SAN MARINO: The extravagant Achille Lauro jumps, dances, runs, rides rodeo: it won’t be three quiet minutes. Behind him are two musicians in cages. In addition, there are three guitarists. Achille Lauro’s agility does not benefit the vocals at all. It was all so wild that the rodeo seems to be broken by now. Hey wait…. I hear you thinking: and what about the Big 5!? Well, they will have their first rehearsals, without any press allowed. However, we will keep you updated about them later today.

Day 3: start of the 2nd semi rehearsals

Day three of rehearsals: the second semifinal has started. Nobody knows about the stage anymore. We try to keep you informed. For the time being, we’ll stick to the nine countries that rehearsed. FINLAND: Expectations were obviously high with a big name like The Rasmus in da’ house. In black and yellow rain gear, the stars stood on stage between huge black balloons. Eurovision.tv praises the professionalism of the band members. ISRAEL: It was quite exciting whether Israel would participate or not. However, the security issues died down. And so Michael Ben David stood on stage in white, surrounded by his dancers. Remarkable: eurovision.tv reports that there is good singing. That has not been done so far. SERBIA: Konstrakta’s act is little different from what we saw during the national final. She has the healthy hair of Megan Markle, which she also sings about. She washes her hands regularly. The dancers around her carry towels. Everything to stay “In corpore sano”, in a healthy body. AZERBAIJAN: It was to be expected: Azerbaijan has a standout act. Nadir Rustamli sings from a sort of staircase that looks like a grandstand. There is also a dancer in that stand. Halfway through the act, the stand is split in two and the dancer and singer can see each other. GEORGIA: Circus Mircus represents Georgia. And clowns belong to a circus. A singer in a leather jacket and flying goggles, a man with an eye patch and a belly organ and a bassist who seems to have borrowed the hat from the Ukrainians. That last man has a beard of flowers. Many colors can be seen on stage. Surreal is how even the official site describes it. MALTA: Emma Muscat performs in a dress covered with silver. She is flanked by four dancers. Later during the act, she sits behind a huge piano. She also uses the so-called B-stage, just in front of the green room. The sun springs into action and gives off its golden light during this act. SAN MARINO: You can expect a striking act from Achille Lauro. He wears body stocking, cowboy boots and hat, a black boa and he is at a red rodeo. While you’d expect that with the title “Stripper,” the clothes don’t come off. Where there is smoke there is fire: that certainly applies to this act, which ends with a lot of pyro technics. AUSTRALIA: Of course Sheldon Reily wears his jeweled mask. Surprising is the huge white suit he is also wearing. At the bottom of the suit is a huge tow. Eurovision.tv compares it to a wedding dress that drags on the floor. It almost seems as if Sheldon is staying in the clouds. CYPRUS: Andromache is singing in a purple dress with what looks like a huge fan behind her. The dancers move around that fan. The fan is also used to display the graphics. Different colors are visible.

UEFA 2020: DAY 11

It’s day 11 of the European Championship soccer already. Today, no less than four matches will be played. To start with Ukraine against Austria. Both countries once had an act containing a burning fake piano. It was Mélovin who played the piano in his song “Under the ladder” in 2018. He was not the first one to do so. In 2015 The Makemakes had a piano burning during the performance of “I am yours”. The second match is between North Macedonia and the Netherlands. Both countries once had a song about darkness and light. The 2012 North Macedonian entrant Kaliopi sang “Crno i belo”, which means black and white. The Dutch sisters of O’G3NE sang “Lights and shadows” in 2017. Russia will meet Denmark tomorrow. It was back in 2000 when Russia and Denmark ended up in the top, Denmark as the winner, Russia as the number 2. When The Olsen Brothers won with “Fly on the wings of love”, Alsou was the runner up with “Solo”. Another match will be the the one from Finland against Belgium. In 1977, both countries were favorites to win the contest. Both ended up disappointed. Finnish Monica Aspelund and her “Lapponia” ended up in 10th place, while Belgian Dream Express brought their “A million in one, two, three” to a 7th place.

UEFA 2020: Day 6

Again, three matches in UEFA 2020. To start with Finland against Russia. Where have we seen this battle before? Well, remember the 2006 contest. Lordi from Finland won with a landslide. Their song “Hard rock hallelujah” broke all the records. It was hard for Dima Bilan from Russia to get there with his song “I never ever let you go”. But you don’t have to feel sorry for him: two years later Dima got the prize! Turkey and Wales meet today as well. In 2004, the contest was held in Turkey. For the host country the group Athena participated with the song “For real”. One of the other contestants that year was Welshman James Fox. He represented the United Kingdom with the song “Hold onto our love”. Italy will meet Switzerland in the arena today. In both countries, Italian is one of the main languages. So that might be an easy connection. But in fact, we found another one. Both countries once sent a song in a minority language. In 1991, host country Italy sent Peppino di Capri who sang “Comme e’ ddoce o’ mare”, sung in the Neapolitan language. Switzerland, also host country but in 1989, decided to sing a song in Romansh: “Viver senza tei”, song by the group Furbaz.

UEFA Euro 2020 started!

With a year of delay, Euro 2020, the European soccer chiampionship, has started. The fun thing for a Eurovision fan is that a lot of matches remind us of Eurovision Songs, because it’s with (partly) the same countries. Yesterday, Italy won the match from Turkey. Many people on the internet mentioned Måneskin (of course) and Sertab (of course). But the match reminded us of another performance. You see Italian host Toto Cutugno (1991) learning Turkish. The Turkish contestants are Can Uğurluer, İzel Çeliköz & Reyhan Karaca singing “Iki dakika”. That is a hard one to pronounce for Toto. Today, Wales meets Switzerland. Wales is a part of the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest. But did you know that a Welsh woman almost won Eurovision? She became 2nd in 1970 and her name was Mary Hopkin. Also for Switzerland we chose someone who became 2nd: Daniela Simons in 1986. Both ladies have in common that in their years, one contestant could impossibly be defeated. In 1970 it was Dana and in 1986 Sandra Kim. Denmark meets Finland this year. Opposites attract, that’s what people say. We have a Eurovision winner from both countries. A ballad, sung by two man in their 40s from Denmark: “Fly on the wings of love” by the Olson Brothers. And a rock song from Finland, sung by Lordi, dressed as monsters: “Hard rock hallelujah”. And last but not least, Belgium meets Russia. They did so too in 2003. Turkey (as mentioned), Belgium and Russia struggled for the first place. Belgium became 2nd with Urban Trad, with a song in a non-existing language. Russia became third with the famous duo t.A.T.u. and their “Ne ver’ ne boysia”. Who is going to win? We put our money on Måneskin. Or were you talking about soccer?

Road to Rotterdam: Finland

Blind Channel is the band that represents Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest. The band has been active since 2013 and has now released three albums. Of the many singles they released, none of them became a hit so far. That changed after they won the Finnish preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest with “Dark side”: rightaway the group was at 1. Angry metal fans stated that the music of Blind Channel is absolutely not metal. Okay…. photo credits: Stefan Bollmann, Wikimedia Commons

Blind Channel

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts Group membersJoel HokkaNiko VilhelmJoonas PorkoOlli MatelaTommi LalliAleksi Kaunisvesi Established2013 Nationality🇫🇮 Finnish National SelectionUMK 2021 In Eurovision2021 Rotterdam SongDark side (2021) Biography Blind Channel is a five-, now six-man rock band founded in Oulu in 2013. The band itself defines its music with the term “violent pop,” which the band has used since its inception. After two self-published releases, Blind Channel participated in the 2014 Wacken Metal Battle. They won, and the prize was a performance in the festival Wacken Open Air. In the same year, the band signed their record deal with the Finnish company Ranka Kustannus.Their debut album Revolutions was released on October 1, 2016. In June 2016, Blind Channel was chosen to open for the Canadian band Simple Plan in Finland and all Baltic countries. In 2017, the band also opened for Royal Republic. Their second album Blood Brothers was released in April 2018, while in February, Blind Channel opened for Hollywood Undead, who played at the Helsinki Ice Rink. It resulted in the band opening for Hollywood Undead at four other European concerts as well. In May, Blind Channel played at Tavastiafor the first time as the main performer. Following the release of the album, the band went on a tour in June that included performances in Finland and abroad. In December 2018, Blind Channel toured the UK with All That Remains and Sevendust. After the tour, Blood Brothers was nominated for the Emma Gala in the category Rock Album of the Year. In November 2018, Blind Channel released their first single from their third album, “Over My Dead Body”. In March 2019, the band released a song called “Timebomb” in which Alex Mattson (Aleksi Kaunisvesi) was a visiting artist. With the collaboration, Blind Channel also ended up playing a joint gig later that year with him. The third studio album Violent Pop was released in April 2020. In October 2020, the band announced Alex Mattson would join the band as its sixth member. He plays samples, synthesizers and percussion in the band and produces the band’s music. In february 2021 the band won UMK, the Finnish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song “Dark side”, and thus represented Finland in Eurovision. In May 2021, Blind Channel signed an international record deal with Century Media Records, a record company focused on metal music under Sony Music. In August 2021, the band released the single “Balboa.” In November 2021, the Blind Channel released the single “We Are No Saints,” which, according to band members, reflects how they were pressured to become role models. At the end of 2021, the band was awarded the Kaleva Publicity of the Year award. Entries Dark side Country🇫🇮 Finland Year2021 LanguageEnglish Lyrics & MusicAleksi KaunisvesiJoonas PorkoJoel HokkaNiko Vilhelm MoilainenOlli Matela Backings– Results Semi Points: 234Position: 5Running order: 14 Results Finals Points: 301Position: 6Running order: 16 https://youtu.be/fOPGxQ4fgVw