Biography
A long long long long long time ago in Oulu there was a band called The Unblessed (the band broke up in January 2001, to be exact). Its founding member, composer-guitarist-drummer Kylätie had to give up due to too many obstacles that were too difficult to overcome. The band was torn apart mainly by its members' lack of interest and membership in other bands, and Kylätie's decision to move away from Oulu. Still, the idea of a "modern thrash metal band" kept on smouldering. A tiger can't lose its stripes, as the Finnish saying goes, and so on...
Far far far far far away from this Kylätie-guy, in Tampere, there was another desperate metalhead struggling with his band. Jankkari and his Ferocity had had numerous changes in their line-up; the band was slowed down by less-than-adequate players, players going to the army, players without real interest in playing, and the lack of a training place. The last straw was the withdrawal of the lead guitarist Hynninen in December 2004, as well as the sacking of the drummer Nykänen in January 2005. However, the die-hard Jankkari wouldn't even consider giving up his idea of a thrash metal band, perkele.
Thrash metalists unite
It's not too difficult to guess what happened next, is it? 1 plus 1 equals 2, doesn´t it? :) Well, here's how things got started.
Just before moving to Tampere at the turn of 2004-2005, Kylätie had found a couple of intresting messages from artists seeking players in the website "Muusikoiden.net" (this site rules!) and decided to contact them; one of them was Jankkari. A shared enthusiasm for Metallica and Megadeth and Kylätie's flawless audition were enough to jumpstart a new band.
UnblessedFerocity inc.
It would've be a bit lame to name the new bands by combining names of the previous bands, in the style of StoraEnso or TietoEnator, wouldn't it? Bah bah... :D
The missing beat
In the first line-up of Ruinside Jankkari was the rhythm-guitarist-vocalist and Kylätie took care of the lead guitar. Jankkari wasn't the only thing that remained of Ferocity: There were also one half of a drumset and lots of spiders in the training room, and a bassist called Lehtiö. Though Lehtiö was an excellent and very original player, no matter how fast and loud we played, we didn't sound like a real thrash metal band. :/ Yeah, we definitely needed a drummer.
In the beginning, Ruinside trained new songs with MIDI drums played from a computer. The first drummer candidate showed up in only two training sessions, after which he heard he'd got a place in a recording band. Another guy gave it a shot but he didn't seem to be good enough. Several months later, the pressure of finding a decent drummer had grown so bad Kylätie decided to take the drummer's throne.
Dr. Seppänen and Mr. Kolehmainen
Ruinside's first rehearsal recordings took place in the summer of 2005. It resulted in many negative comments about Jankkari's voice. If Ruinside was ever to gain the label of a top-quality metal band, the only reasonable solution was to start searching for a decent lead singer. One such was found suprisingly fast. The man came from the outskirts of Oulu, assured us with his Iron Maiden covers and his sideburns, and went by the name of Seppänen.
Due to changes in line-up, Ruinside left an announcement in Muusikoiden.net (this site rules... again) to find a lead guitarist. Not very suprisingly, several answers came in just a few days. Say, this seemed to be a really favourable time for Ruinside; after witnessing Kolehmainen's Yngwie Malmsteen-like speed in handling his Ibanez, we instantly chose him to play the lead guitar.
...to the future unknown
Call it "the circle is completed" or "a fresh start", there's no doubt this is an exceptionally opportune line-up for a metal band with two composers overflowing with musical ideas. Establishing the line-up, training and working with new songs will take its time but it'll be fun! See you in the summer of 2006 at the earliest!!!
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Pt. II Lehtiö =>Sahtari
Since the beginning of Ruinside's tale, Jankkari and Kylätie had written all the songs, meaning at the point when the new songs enter the training room door, they are completely arranged and ready for the band to play them. This practice didn't seem to satisfy the bassist Lehtiö, who would've preferred some sort of "jamming style composing" where the whole band brings out ideas by playing at the training room. Eventually, Lehtiö decided to leave the Ruinside to establish his own project called 20 000 leagues under the sea.
The bassist-size hole Lehtiö left was instantly filled with the other half of the original Unblessed: Sahtari. This living bass synthesizer learned nearly all Ruinside songs within a couple of days!!
So they were five again.
WTF...?
The first live photos came from an extremely sweaty performance in Kaijakka's 30 celsius karaoke stage. After Kaijakka and the two following gigs in Bar Tender and Bar Virtanen, Seppänen started complaining about Ruinside's lame gig situation, meaning there should be at least one gig per month. He also disliked the new material. If this wasn't enough, he already had a co-existing band whose style would suit for his voice better.
...Is Seppänen leaving?
At first, Seppänen's decision to leave Ruinside felt like the end of the world. Luckily the belly-landing was softened by his promise to take care of the last gig in Hellä. In spite of the wistful situation, the farewell gig went well.
It would mean we don't have this great singer anymore!
At this point, Kylätie was ready to leave the band and actually did, for a few days. Announcements for a new drummer were left in Muusikoiden.net but no drummer replied, as usual. Kylätie promised to continue until a new drummer would sign in.
Episode IV A NEW HOPE
Show must go on, and announcement for a new singer were left again in... by now, you should now where. Two or three replies, of which one seemed worth to try - this candidate was called Kärki. The first audition impressed the band enough to practise a couple of songs with Kärki although his voice sounded something totally different from Seppänen.
Wait a minute, Olli kicks ass!!
It took us time to get accustomed to Kärki's voice but when we finally did we didn't miss Seppänen anymore; the more we played together, the better Kärki sounded! Not later than the first gig with Kärki, he assured us he was the right guy.
What a great new beginning for Ruinside, and new demo is already on its way!
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