National Napalm Syndicate

Biography

National Napalm Syndicate was formed in 1986 / 1987.The band were one of the first speed/thrash acts to emerge from Finland. They started out playing songs from Metallica's "Kill Em All" album and the first Exodus album. In the early days Finnish bands like KANSANTURVAMUSIIKKIKOMISSIO and Faff-bey were a big inspiration for the band. Soon they started writing material of their own. The original moniker for the band was National Napalm Storm but it was changed soon after. A few line-up changes and a couple of demos later they found themselves signing a major label deal with EMI. After the release of their debut album in 1989 they recorded another demo and also a split album together with Sacred Crucifix which was never released since the singer lost / got drunk with the money for the album. The band was located in a very religious small town called Pudasjärvi outside Uleåborg in Finland. Since they were the only long haired guys in town they were always in deep shit because of that. The band hung out a lot with A.R.G. from the next town Kuusamo. Quite a lot of live shows were done with A.R.G. and Stone mostly. The band split up in 1991 since the members were fighting all the time and also moved to different cities. The former bass player Juha Vuorma became a famous album cover artist and did work for bands like A.R.G., Autopsy, Whiplash and Unholy.

National Napalm Syndicate reunited in 2002, when the original guitar duo Markku Jokikokko and Jukka Kyrö started jam and change some riffs and ideas together. In the same year they asked Burning Point drummer Jari Kaiponen to jam with them(Jukka was also in Burning Point with Jari). It felt so good and new songs started to take shape so easily so they felt it was obvious to continue the work. Next thing was to find a bass player. Soon Jukka asked Tero Nevala to join the band. Tero played then keyboards in Dorotha, today Tero´s also a keyboard player in Catamenia. 2003-2004 they recorded two promo/demo cd´s which included several different singers. The band needed badly a permanent singer, which luckily was found in 2004 when Jukka heard the band called Solution 13 where Ilkka Järvenpää was singing at the time. Jari also knew him from the past, so the contact was made. Ilkka promised to try out and, well the rest is history...Now when the line up was complete, soon it was time to play live(first time for the 15 years...) And 2005 February/March the band went on Finnish tour with the fellow-thrashers from their hometown, Maple Cross and Sacred Crucifix. The tour was a success and lots of fun, too. The single "Sweet Revenge" was released as a tour souvenir.(The single included also new songs from Maple Cross and Sacred Crucifix). In May 2005 NNS enters the Hellgate Studio and begin the recordings for a new full-lenght album. The band play also Tuska Open Air 2005 Festival, Jalometalli 2005 and tour with Sacred Crucifix and Sethery in Northern Finland. When the album recordings were completed, it was time to do the mixing at Tonebox studio by Kari "Kakke" Vähäkuopus. The album was mastered at Finnvox studio by Minerva Pappi...

Former members:

Aku Raaska - Vocals,(1988-1989) Juha Vuorma - Bass,(1986-1991) Heikki Lesonen - Vocals,(1989-1991) Vesa Ruokangas - Vocals,(1986-1987) Pasi Pauanne - Drums,(1986-1991) Aki Häkkinen - Vocals,(2003) Altti Veteläinen - Vocals,(2003)

Current line-up:

Ilkka Järvenpää - Vocals,(2004-) Jukka Kyrö - Guitars,(1986-) Jari Kaiponen - Drums,(2002-) Markku Jokikokko - Guitars,(1986-) Tero Nevala - Bass(2003-)

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