RASKASTA JOULUA tour to celebrate 5th anniversary! Includes Marco Hietala, JP Leppäluoto, Ari Koivunen etc.

Finland's annual all-star heavy rock Christmas show ”Raskasta Joulua” returns on the road with a Finnish tour in November and December to celebrate it's 5th anniversary. The project that started with the album ”Raskasta Joulua” (Heavy Christmas) in 2004 and released it's sequel ”Raskaampaa Joulua” (Heavier Christmas) in 2006 has toured every year since 2005, starting with just 3 shows which expanded through the years into a 17-show tour in 2008, climaxing with 2 sold out shows in Helsinki's legendary Tavastia Club for more than 1500 people.

”It's amazing that we're still doing this and it has grown to these proportions.”, says the project's producer/arranger and guitarist Erkka Korhonen. ”Every year has been bigger for us and this year doesn't seem to be an exception. This show has become a tradition for so many people. They are really looking forward to seeing us before the holidays. Even people who haven't celebrated Christmas for several years have found it's spirit again through what we do. We want to give our friends a special show this year with new song arrangements and some other surprises!”

Inspired by Trans Siberian Orchestra, the project has really worked hard on their song arrangements, which not always the case when it comes to holiday music. A lot of rock artists and bands release ”Novelty” Christmas Albums which are nothing more than the same songs with distorted guitars. This is not the case here. You can find elements of several metal subgenres in the songs, from fast power metal through Nightwish-style epics to slow doom. Sometimes it may even be difficult to recognize the original song...

Some of the singers featured on this year's tour are: Marco Hietala (Nightwish, Tarot, Northern Kings), J. Ahola (Teräsbetoni, Northern Kings), JP Leppäluoto (Charon, Harmaja, Northern Kings), Tommi ”Tuple” Salmela (Tarot), Ari Koivunen (Solo, Amoral), Ilja Jalkanen (Kiuas) and Antony Parviainen (Machine Men). The band features Erkka Korhonen (Northern Kings, Ari Koivunen) as musical director & lead guitarist, Vili Ollila (Ari Koivunen) on keyboards, Erkki Silvennoinen (Ari Koivunen) on bass, Tuomas Wäinölä (Kotipelto) on rhythm guitar and Mirka Rantanen (Thunderstone, Kotipelto) on drums. 

Raskasta Joulua Tour Dates 2009 (additional bookings will be added later)

20.11. Lohi, Lohja
23.11. VIP Christmas Party, Helsinki
24.11. VIP Christmas Party, Vantaa
27.11. Night Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä
04.12. Raahesali, Raahe
10.12. Puijonsarvi, Kuopio
11.12. Vaakuna, Mikkeli
12.12. Rikala-Sali, Salo
16.12. Klubi, Turku
17.12. Yo-talo, Tampere
18.12. Nosturi, Helsinki
18.12. Nosturi, Helsinki
19.12. Osmantupa, Eura
25.12. Puustelli, Nivala
26.12. Puustelli, Alavus

For more info and music visit www.myspace.com/raskasjoulu.
Bookings: Minni Kumpuvuori minna.kumpuvuori@dexviihde.fi