Airut

Biography

In the beginning

AIRUT was founded as a trio in Jyväskylä, Finland, in May 1999. The first line-up was formed by Antti Happonen, Matti Nevalainen and Antti Simolin. In those days Simolin lived in Lappeenranta, but within a year moved to Jyväskylä.

After a few months of practice, the first cd-ep ("AIRUT") was released in October 1999. Recording and engineering took place at Studio Watercastle by mr. Arttu Sarvanne. Happonen was the drummer, Nevalainen bassplayer and Simolin played the guitar and tried to find his hidden talent as a singer.

First four songs were a mix of progressive and bleak metal. The lyrics were and still are in Finnish.

Cd-ep was delivered to a leading Finnish music magazine, Soundi, for a review. It ended up to be chosen the demo of the month (04/2000). A place in the final round of a local band competition (organized by Jyväskylä Music Association, JELMU) was a remarkable merit for a new band. After the first few gigs it was obvious that the band needed more instruments to back up the trio.

Keyboards

Year 2000 was spent mainly at rehearsals practicing new songs and seeking for a keyboardist. Finally, the search was over and Ilpo Partanen joined the band. Shortly after that the next cd-ep was on it's way and "Kaunis on elon tie" (“This Beautiful Way of Life”) was released in November 2000.

Acoustic guitars

On Happonen’s suggestion, in the end of 2001 yet another new member, Matti Äijänen, joined the band as a solo-guitarist. The band was ready for the next recording session at the Watercastle Studios. Five songs of progressive metal, spiced with lots of acoustic guitars were recorded and “Marrasmaa” (“Deadlands”) was released in spring 2002.

At this point a few live appearances sounded like a good idea, and AIRUT threw several gigs around Finland with a Finnish punkmetal-band called Extaasi.

Metal – more and heavier!!

In the following years AIRUT had more gigs around the southern parts of Finland. The songs started showing a heavier side of AIRUT. The line-up changed when progressive metal enthusiast Sami Poimala took charge of the keyboards. The next two cd-eps were recorded in Watercastle Studios, called Tiennäyttäjä ("The Prophet") (2003) and Surujen Marmorit (“Marbles of Mourn”) (2004).

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