The Rasmus are a Finnish rock band that formed in 1995 in Helsinki while the band members were still in upper comprehensive school. The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer/songwriter), Eero Heinonen (bass), Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar) and Janne Heiskanen (drums). Heiskanen quit the band in 1998 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala.
History
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.
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.
In October 2001 The Rasmus released Into their fourth studio album, and first album for Playground Music. The album reached #1 in the Finnish album charts. The release saw the changing of the band's name from Rasmus to The Rasmus in order to avoid being confused with a Swedish DJ of the same name. They gained international fame with their 2003 album Dead Letters which went gold and platinum in several countries, accompanied with the single "In the Shadows" which reached number 1 in a number of countries. Their follow-up album Hide from the Sun which was released in October 2005 also went platinum in Finland.
The band is one of Finland's most successful with more than 3.5 million albums have been sold worldwide, eight gold awards and five platinum awards. They have released seven studio albums, two compilation album and 21 singles. Some of the band's most famous songs are the singles "Liquid", "F-F-F-Falling", "In the Shadows", "First Day of My Life", "Funeral Song", "No Fear", "Sail Away", "Livin' in a World Without You", and "Justify". Their most recent album, titled Black Roses, was released in 2008. Immediately it replaced Metallica's latest album Death Magnetic in the Finnish Album Charts and went gold after one week. In early 2010, The Rasmus started working on their next album, which will be released by the band's personal record label due to their contract with their previous label dissolving at the end of 2009.
Most recently, Ylönen announced a solo album scheduled for release in March 2011 with the first single "Heavy" being out in February. The material will have its premiere 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 his record label Dynasty Recordings. In the summer The Rasmus will team up again to finally produce their eighth studio album. At the end of October 2011 The Rasmus will be performing two back to back concerts in Mexico.
Band members
Line-ups
(1994–1998) |
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(1998–present) |
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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 |
Compilations
Year | Title | Record label |
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2001 | Hell of a Collection | Warner Music Finland |
2009 | Best of 2001–2009 | Playground Music Scandinavia |
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