The Rasmus

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Biography

The Rasmus are a Finland|Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were still in upper comprehensive school.Main source of the band's history: The original band members were Lauri Ylönen ( singer|lead singer / songwriter ), Eero Heinonen ( Bass guitar|bass ), Pauli Rantasalmi ( guitar ) and Jarno Lahti ( Drum kit|drums ), Jarno Lahti left the year after and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen in 1995. Heiskanen quit the band in 1998 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala .

History

Formation (1994-1995)

While still in highschool, Lauri Ylönen, Eero Heinonen, Pauli Rantasalmi and Jarno Lahti formed the band "Rasmus". The band played their first gig at their schools pre-Christmas party. In 1995 Jarno left the band, and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen. In December 1995 they released their debut EP " 1st (The Rasmus EP)|1st ", including the songs "Funky Jam", "Myself", "Frog" and "Rakkauslaulu". Only after a few weeks the EP has already sold 1000 copies. The EP was originally released independently through Teja G. Records but was re-released through Warner Music Finland after they signed with them in early 1996. The band also wrote the song "Don't Shut the Door" which would stay unused until it was re-written in 2009 as " October & April " for their compilation album Best of 2001–2009 .

Peep & Playboys (1996-1997)

In 1996 they released their debut album " Peep (album)|Peep " through Warner Music Finland. The album was first released in Finland on September 23, where it went Gold, and later in Estonia and Russia, and subsequently worldwide. Later in 1996 the band released two more EP's, " 2nd (The Rasmus EP)|2nd " and " 3rd (The Rasmus EP)|3rd ". Even though labeled as an EP, "3rd" went #8 on the Finnish Singles Chart later that year.

Next year the band wom an EMMA (the Finnish equivalent of Grammys) for the best new comer of 1996. Lauri and Pauli decide to quit school to focus fully on Rasmus and on August 29 they released their second album " Playboys (The Rasmus album)|Playboys ". It went Gold in Finland, and the single "Blue" also went Gold when it was released in May the same year.

Hellofatester and musical change (1998)

1998 marked the release of the third Rasmus album " Hell of a Tester " (sometimes written Hellofatester). The album was released on November 2 and marks a change in their musical style from funk to more solid rock. The album received Gold status in Finland. The most popular single was " Liquid (The Rasmus song)|Liquid ", which was released in September, getting into the Top 40 on MTV Nordic. It was voted Single of the Year for 1998 by music critics and fans and the video won an award in 1999 at the Finnish Music Video Awards. Lauri wrote Liquid on Lauttasaari bridge. The band also wrote religious material which never saw daylight.

Janne leaves the band and Dynasty is born (1999)

During 1999 Rasmus were headlining big festivals in Finland. Janne Heiskanen left the band after playing his last gig supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers . This left the band in dissaray and were close to breaking up. Aki Hakala, the guy in the merch stand was eventually asked to become to bands new drummer. Together with Killer (band)|Killer and Kwan they formed the Dynasty (association)|Dynasty association a small, independent record label for recruitment of new Finnish artists.

Signing with Playground Music (2000)

In 2000 the band changed their name from "Rasmus" to "The Rasmus" to avoid confusion with the Swedish DJ Rasmus (Swedish musician)|DJ of the same name . In late 1999 The Cardigans' manager Petri H. Lundén recommended the band to Lars Tengroth, director of new Swedish independent label Playground Music. Tengroth went to see them play live in Helsinki and, as he later told HitQuarters , "fell in love with them straight away". Having released three albums in Finland and achieved modest success they were looking to develop their career outside of the country and Playground agreed to help them do this. In late 2000 the band began working with producers Martin Hansen & Micke Nord in Sweden for their next album, ending in leaving their funk sound completely behind and changes into straight forward pop rock. Once signed to Playground the band spent time developing their act to meet the demands of establishing themselves internationally. According to Tengroth: "It was like starting from scratch; we were creating a new band so to speak." They did a lot of things that were new to them - they spent a long time working on their songs before recording, they worked with producers for the first time, and they recorded outside of Finland. They already had a strong stage show but welcomed ideas in improving it still.

Into & Hell of a Collection (2001-2002)

In October 2001 The Rasmus released Into (album)|Into their fourth studio album, and first album for Playground Music. It was the first The Rasmus to be released in other European countries such as France and Spain. The album reached #1 in the Finnish album charts and spawned the singles "F-F-F-Falling", "Chill", "Madness" and "Heartbreaker/Days". All of these were released in 2001 apart from Heartbreaker/Days, which was released in 2002. For this fact and the name's change, some fans consider this album the first of "The Rasmus". F-f-f-falling became one of the most played songs on the Finnish radio in 2001. In 2001 they also released their first compilation album " Hell of a Collection ". It is composed of eighteen songs, nearly all of which are revamped versions of songs from their previous three albums. The exceptions are the final track, "Liquid" (Demo), which is a demo tape of their hit song "Liquid", and the songs "F-F-F-Falling" and "Chill" which were the first new songs released after Aki replaced Janne.

They won four EMMAs in 2002 for Best Group, Best Album, Best Pop/Rock Album and Best Song (for "F-F-F-Falling").

Dead Letters (2003-2004)

On March 21, 2003 they released their album " Dead Letters ". Dead Letters sold 1.6 million copies worldwide and signified the band's major break-through. "Dead Letters" received 8 gold and 6 platinum Awards, while "In the Shadows" received 6 gold and 2 platinum awards. "In the Shadows" which sold over 1 million copies reached historically number one on the list of Finnish compositions earning performance royalties abroad and so overtakes the works of Jean Sibelius . They won the Best Nordict Act and Best Song on MTV music awards 2003.

They also won five Emma awards, best group, bestalbum, best video (In My Life), best artist and export emma in 2004. They also won the Echo award for the best international new comer. The success of "Dead Letters" lead for exstencive touring around the world. In 2004 they released their first live DVD " Live Letters " which was filmed at Gampel Open Air in Switzerland on August 21, 2004.

Hide from the Sun (2005-2006)

On September 12, 2005 they released their album " Hide from the Sun ". The album received Platinum status in Finland and sold more than 15,000 in the UK alone. All in all Hide from the Sun sold 400,000 copies worldwide. They also won best international artist at the MTV- Russia awards.

On September 20, 2006 bassist Eero Heinonen released his solo album "Making Waves" with his side project Hay & Stone .

Black Roses (2007-2008)

The band continued their extensive touring throughout 2007. The band met Desmond Child in Dominican Republic who produced their next album " Black Roses (The Rasmus album)|Black Roses ". 2007 also marked the start of Eero Heinonen carreer as a director.

" Black Roses (The Rasmus album)|Black Roses " was released on September 24, 2008. It Immediately it replaced Metallica 's latest album Death Magnetic in the Finnish Album Charts and went gold after one week. Retrieved on October 2, 2008
The album was originally planned to be released in March, but was delayed due to new songs the band still wanted to record, including the lead single, "Livin' in a World Without You". The album's sound is generally less heavy than that of Hide from the Sun. However, a few of the album's songs, such as "Ten Black Roses", "The Fight", and "Lost and Lonely", contain symphonic rock/metal elements. The album spawned a second single "Justify" in 2009.

Best of 2001–2009 (2009-2010)

On November 28, 2009 they released their compilation album " Best of 2001–2009 " featuring songs between 2001 and 2009. While most of the songs were already released, it features a new unreleased song called " October & April " which features vocals by Anette Olzon from Nightwish . This song was recorded during the same time as Black Roses, but wasn't included as it didn't follow the album concept.

In early 2010, The Rasmus started working on their next album, which would be released by the band's personal record label due to their contract with their previous label dissolving at the end of 2009.

New World & The Rasmus (2011-2012)

On March 30, 2011 Lauri Ylönen released his solo album " New World (Lauri Ylönen album)|New World " with the first single "Heavy" being released in February. The material premiered at Emma Gala on February 26, 2011. Ylönen stated that he wanted several songs that didn't fit The Rasmus to be released as a major record rather than a demo. The album was self-produced with their record label Dynasty Recordings. The album reached second place on the Finnish album charts.

In 2011 they signed a contract with Universal Records who will publish their upcoming record instead of themselves.
Shortly after The Rasmus began producing their eighth studio album, the band revealed that the album would bring The Rasmus back to the sound of Into (album)|Into . The albums lead single, "I'm A Mess," was first performed on the 25th February 2012 during the show to choose Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012|Finland's Eurovision act for 2012 . The 8th studio album will follow in spring. It was announced that the album would be self-titled and released on April 18. The Rasmus are providing the song for the 2012 European Athletics Championships.

Music videos

The Rasmus have released a total of twenty music videos. Niklas Fronda and Fredrik Löfberg of Baranga Film have directed three of the band's videos, all from the Dead Letters album. Dead Letters is the album with most music videos: seven videos have been released from that album, including three versions of "In the Shadows". The videos of Immortal and Your Forgiveness were directed by bassist Eero Heinonen. The first video they ever made was for Funky Jam in 1996.

Band members

Line-ups

(1994-1995) Lauri Ylönen - vocals Eero Heinonen – Bass Pauli Rantasalmi – Guitar Jarno Lahti – drums
(1995–1998) Lauri Ylönen – vocals Eero Heinonen – Bass Pauli Rantasalmi – Guitar Janne Heiskanen – drums
(1998–present) Lauri Ylönen – vocals Eero Heinonen – bass Pauli Rantasalmi – guitar Aki Hakala – drums

Lauri Ylönen

He is the lead singer of the band and was born Lauri Johannes Ylönen in Helsinki on April 23, 1979. His parents names are Matti and Liisa Ylönen and he has an older sister called Hanna, who was the muse of the song "P.S.", a song about Lauri's love/hate relationship with his sister. Lauri is the main songwriter and has also worked on various collaborations with fellow Finnish people|Finns Apocalyptica and Ville Valo from the band HIM (Finnish band)|HIM . He has also worked in the production of music for fellow Dynasty members Killer (Finnish band)|Killer and Kwan (band)|Kwan , together with bandmate Pauli. In 2007, Lauri and other Dynasty members opened their own recording label, Dynasty Recordings. Lauri's nickname is "Lintu" which is the Finnish equivalent for bird which explains the crow feathers he once used to wear in his hair since just before their fifth album Dead Letters was released. He has been dying his hair black since early 2007 but dyed it blonde for their album Black Roses. Shortly after the band started touring for the Black Roses Tour, he changed his hair back to black. He appeared on MTV for the first time in July 2005 and three years later, he was also a presenter at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008|2008 MTV Europe Music Awards . In 2008 he composed the score to the Finnish thriller Blackout. He has a son named Julius Kristian Ylönen with Finnish PMMP singer Paula Vesala who was born in April 2008.
In November 2010 he announced the release of his first solo album which will hit stores in March 2011.

Pauli Rantasalmi

Pauli is the guitar ist, songwriter, producer and was born in Helsinki, Finland on May 1, 1979. He helped design the "dynasty" logo on four of his ESP custom guitars. He co-owns the record label Dynasty Recordings with Lauri Ylönen, who is the singer in the band. Together they have also produced one of the Finnish band Killer's album before they split.
Pauli has written and produced songs for several artists, including The Rasmus, Kwan, Killer, Pikku G and Anna Eriksson.
Pauli has a Singaporean wife and his first child (a baby boy) was born August 13, 2008, in Singapore where he currently lives.

Aki Hakala

His full name is Aki Markus Hakala. He is the drummer and was born in Espoo , Finland, on October 28, 1979. He joined the band in 1999, after the former drummer, Janne Heiskanen, left the band to "find himself". Aki originally sold band merchandise at their shows and joined the band after jamming with Pauli. He says that the only thing he was ever good at was drumming, and he "sucked at everything else", although he has done some acting in the past in Siamin tytöt (a Finnish drama series) and can play the guitar. Before joining The Rasmus, he was a drummer for Killer (Finnish band)|Killer and Kwan (band)|Kwan , (he was replaced by Risto). In 2006, Aki decided to finally have LASIK eye surgery, and ceased wearing his trademark black glasses. Early 2007, he stopped dying his hair black, opting instead for platinum blond. In July 2007 he welcomed his first daughter.

Eero Heinonen

He is the bass guitarist|bassist and was born Eero Aleksi Heinonen in Helsinki, Finland, on November 27, 1979. Eero is a follower of Sahaja Yoga and is a quiet and well-balanced person, but also well known for playing tricks on bandmates and others. He was the first member of the band to get married and he is also a father of two young daughters, born in 2003 and 2005 . After playing in Korpi Ensemble for many years he now has a new side project (since 2004) called Hay and Stone , where he is bass player and lead singer. Eero also plays the violin.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Record label
1996	Peep	Warner Music Finland
1997	Playboys	Warner Music Finland
1998	Hell of a Tester	Warner Music Finland
2001	Into	Playground Music Scandinavia
2003	Dead Letters	Playground Music Scandinavia
2005	Hide from the Sun	Playground Music Scandinavia
2008	Black Roses	Playground Music Scandinavia
2012	The Rasmus	Universal Music

Compilations

Year	Title	Record label
2001	Hell of a Collection	Warner Music Finland
2009	Best of 2001–2009	Playground Music Scandinavia

Tours

Years	Tour	Countries	Cities	Concerts
2003	Dead Letters Tour	29	107	296
2005	Hide from the Sun Tour	36	110	249
2009	Black Roses Tour	style="text-align:center;"	style="text-align:center;"	style="text-align:center;"

Dynasty

The Rasmus were part of a brotherhood of Finnish bands known as "Dynasty", along with the hip-hop band Kwan (band)|Kwan and the now-separated modern rock band Killer (Finnish band)|Killer . Dynasty also have a studio in Helsinki, where they recruit new Finnish people|Finnish talent. Several members of Dynasty have tattoos with the Dynasty text; one can be found on Pauli's left and Lauri's right arm. Pauli and Eero also have instruments and gear bearing the Dynasty logo. Pauli has helped with the production of Kwan, winning an EMMA for Producer of the Year in 2001.

Copyright Citations

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