Biography
Sturm und Drang is a five piece band hailing from Finland – the native land of heavy music! Sturm und Drang’s heavy rock might be labelled as old school, but the band ain’t old, that’s for sure!
Name Sturm und Drang can be tracked down to the 18th century’s romantic epoch. Sturm und Drang (storm and zeal) was a literature movement started by young German writers, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who protested cultural environment and society in general. It was the first youth movement ever, so when Henkka’s dad came up with the idea, the guys thought that the name most definitely suited them.
Sturm und Drang was formed in a west coast city in Finland called Vaasa in autumn 2004 when the guys were 12 and 13 years old. André and Henkka were on their way home from a Judas Priest gig. The gig hit them so hard that they decided what their live would be in the future. School mates Calle and Jeppe joined the band straight ahead and first rehearsals were held in Calle’s basement. First songs were covers from Judas Priest and Dio and the first gig was only few weeks after that! However, the band soon realised that they needed more guitars so André’s old friend Alex was invited to join them.
In autumn 2005 the band recorded demo from Rising Son at Tits and Ass studio in Halmstad, Sweden. The demo was sent to HMC- Helsinki Music Company where they couldn’t believe their ears. That was when HMC’s legendary A & R manager Asko Kallonen said the legendary line “Is this a dark joke?” After a gig with Swedish The Hellacopters in Vaasa Asko was convinced that it really wasn’t a joke and the band had a recording deal in their hands.
After that Sturm und Drang started spending even more hours (SuD trains 4 to 6 times a week!) in their rehearsal place writing more songs. Once in a while they got out and played some gigs, for instance as a support act to the legendary Glenn Hughes (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple).
The results of the hard work have been praised - Sturm und Drang was named as the biggest sensations of 2007 even before their first single Rising Son was released in Finland in February. Soon after that the single and the video was released in Sweden and they hit the play lists in many national radio stations and television channels in both countries.
Sturm und Drang’s debut album was released in Finland May 30th 2007 and it hit the album chart at place 3! Scandinavian release was June 7th 2007. Summer 2007 Sturm und Drang tours heavily in Finland and in Sweden. In May 2007 the band signed an European deal with GUN-Records – same company which helped fellow Finnish band HIM to the international stardom. Learning To Rock will be released in Europe this autumn. And the rest of the world - well, we’ll get back to you with that pretty soon…
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