BIO
The current line-up came together in Turku, Finland, 1998 when the
singer-bassist Sasu Mykkänen was asked to join the band. Before that
the drummer Matti Kallio and guitarist Mikko Luukko had recorded one
demo with Mikko singing. There was some motivational problems with the
original bassist, and it didn't make it any easier for the beginning
band that the bass player wanted to play solo all the time.
The
first recording with the new line-up was "Firemen of Love", a 7" EP,
which was released by Brown Records. The head of the "label", Marko
Brown, being Mikko's flat mate at the time. The singing and songwriting
was divided between Mikko and Sasu, both singing the songs they'd
written. After this record the band decided it may be better to
concentrate the vocal duties to one person, and Sasu's voice would be
better suited for the music they wanted to make.
Early
influences for Sweatmaster were Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, MC5 (era
"Back to USA"), James Brown, Misfits, AC/DC and a lot of Finnish bands
they'd been influenced to, like Xysma and Radiopuhelimet. The main idea
was to make stripped down catchy rock'n'roll with guts and soul, and
the grand idea hasn't changed on the way.
The second
recording with the new line-up was a CD-R "Lust For Heat" (2000). The
CD-R sold 500 copies in Finland in a short time with no pushing
whatsoever, and got the band a reputation in the Finnish rock'n'roll
underground as something to keep your ears open for. As Jay Burnside
from The Flaming Sideburns put it short after hearing the CD-R: "Best
Rock'n'Roll from Finland in five years". The five year period maybe
something to do with when The Sideburns started out...
Sweatmaster
was received extremely well in the Finnish Rock'n'Roll scene and media
almost right from the start, and it didn't take long until Danish Bad
Afro Records, known for releasing vinyl singles for Scandinavian rock
bands like The Flaming Sideburns, Hellacopters and Turbonegro, wanted
to release one for Sweatmaster also. "Hold It!" (also on the debut
album "Sharp Cut") was released in 2001, and got rave reviews. The
sleeve design on "Hold It!" as well as all of the Sweatmaster records
is done by the drummer Matti Kallio. After trying out on a vinyl
single, Bad Afro records and the band signed a deal for an album.
"Sharp
Cut", the debut album, was released November 2002 and got great reviews
on the continent but in the UK also, where Must Destroy records had
licensed the album. The album was reviewed in Kerrang (KKKK) , NME
(8/10) and X-Ray (4/5), to mention a few. Sweatmaster did a small tour
in England, played some shows with The Darkness, did a live-session for
BBC and X-Fm, got interviewed by Bruce Dickinson and made a lot of fans
and friends on the isles. The good press in the UK didn't go unnoticed
in Europe and especially their homeland Finland, where the band did a
good bit of touring and all of the biggest festivals. In Europe
Sweatmaster toured Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and
Denmark.
"Song With No Words", released 2004, shows
Sweatmaster acknowledging their roots. The 8 track EP has two
Sweatmaster originals and a collection of cover songs from some of
their favourite bands and artists, like Misfits, The Wipers, Music
Machine and The Modern Lovers. The bands' long time visual collaborator
Tomi Malkki made a video for the track "Song With No Words" together
with Kalle Kotila. This video is included on the CD-version of "Tom Tom
Bullet".
"Song With No Words" gave some time to get
everything ready for "Tom Tom Bullet", release date 4.4.2005.
Co-produced by Jürgen Hendlmeier, "Tom Tom Bullet" is a record where
Sweatmaster expand their views, but still hold on to the basic
principles of the band", the singer and bass-player Sasu Mykkänen
explained. The album got rave reviews in Finland and elsewhere, but as
it had a different approach to the Sweatmaster sound it got a little
lost in the record shops. The album was licensed to France and the band
did tours in France and Germany.
After Tom Tom Bullet
the band decided it was time to try something new. As they had made
almost all of their recordings to the Danish Bad Afro Records, they
wanted to try out with a good Finnish Record label. And really, the
only one that came up in the bands’ mind was Fullsteam Records, an up
and coming, hard working indie label. The band and producer Jürgen
Hendlmeier decided on some basic principles on the following album: no
sound that is particular for any decade, more hooks and melodies
contrasted with rawer approach on some of the songs and punchier low
frequencies. During the fall and winter of 2006/2007 the band and
Jürgen recorded 17 songs from which 12 were chosen for the album
"Animal" (out in Finland on Fullsteam Records 4.4.2007). The album got
great reviews in the Finnish media: 10/10 in SUE, 4/5 in Soundi, 4/5 in
Rumba…) and got the band for the first time on the playlists of
national radio channels. The band followed with a tour in Finland and
it was obvious that the buzz was not going on only in the journalists
heads.
MEMBERS
Sasu Mykkänen - vocals, bass
Mikko Luukko - guitar
Matti Kallio - drums
Domestic
