 |
|
||||||||||
  English | Home
| Press > Desert Planet |
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 DESERT PLANET- „moonrocks" Band history Among all the oddities, genius nonsense and musical phenomenons Finland has got ot offer Desert Planet indeed claim an exceptional position. But let's start from the bginning. Two nerds from northern noman's land way beyond Finnish Lapland's capital Rovaniemi start in 2001 to create catchy, trashy pop-gems from the sounds of old-fashioned Commodore and Amiga gameconsoles and experiment with the visual aspects of 8-Bit esthetics. Music meant to be released only on the world wide web. Not for long they realize there is a huge interrest in that stuff, particularly in the worldwide „micromusic“-community. Huge enough that the free downloadable video-clip of the Desert Planet track „Asteroid Hopper“ earn them in few days multiple downloads. Good for Desert Planet not so good for the server of the University Of Lapland which crashes from that massive traffic... As this all turns out to be quite promising, Jukka Tarkiainen and Jari Mikkola – the heads behind Desert Planet - decide to release a first album on their own without a proper recordcompany behind them. This ones' by the way sold out since years... The record-industry starts getting interested. An ep and a full-length album are released in 2003 on Finnish major-label Odor, a sub label of Rock/Metal label Spinefarm. Obviously the wrong label as both releases are not selling at all though it's great stuff. The next release, an album with fictional film soundtracks, sells through the band's own websites in few months a couple of hundreds of copies. First thoughts of presenting the material live on stage. As a real show. Not just two nerds with notebooks. The reactions of the first gigs are convincing: Tarkiainen and Mikkola dressed up in white space-suits and green helmets jumping around on stage like madmen with plastic space-guns, playing on toy-keyboards and laptop-computers, supported by their new bandmember VJ Antti Hovila who is adding weird visual projections of game-console imagery to that crazy performance. The bands live-performances turn out to become real party-explosions. In April 2005 – Mikkola meets up with Mäkkelä, an old friend from their punkrock days who is running the label 9pm Records in Germany which is focussing on exceptional non-mainstream pop-music. They quickly come to an agreement and the album „Mario Built My Hot Rod“ is released in Germany/Austria/Switzerland and is – odd enough – licensed to Stupido Records/Finland. April/May 2005 – the album get's best reviews in almost every relevant online- and print magazine in Germany. May 2005 - the first full German-tour takes place and Desert Planet manage even then to play well attended venues and leave impressed and enthusiastic audiences all over the place. November 2005 – Foodjammers, cult-programm on Canadian tv, license several tracks of Desert Planet for the program for upcoming shows in 2006. December 2005 – due to the rising interest in the band some extra-dates are played in Germany. And: Desert Planet are honoured with the „Artist Of The Year“ award of the cultural department of northern Finland. The first pop-group ever to earn this award. Spring 2006 – the Desert Planet videos are downloaded in unbelievable amounts from the band's website. May 2006 – second tour of Desert Planet becomes a big success. Half of the played venues are more or less sold out. Desert Planet plays a sho-case mgig on Germany's biggest independent music convention, Popup musicfair in Leipzig. June 2006 – Desert Planet contribute tracks to the documentary movie „Highscore“ an award-winnign independent filmproduction from the US. Film is screened on renowned Finnish „Midnight Sun Filmfestival“ in northern Lapland. August 2006 – The band plays a gig in front of 5000 people on the final party of „Assembly 06“, Scandinavias biggest computer-convention. September 2006 – Desert Planets video of „Return Of The Ninja Droids“ is screened on renowned „Love & Anarchy“-filmfestival in Helsinki/Finland. November 2006 – Return of The Ninja Droids“-clip is screened at „Unlimited“, the prestigious short-film festival in Cologne/Germany. April 2007 – Desert Planet release (this time again on their own) the USB-stick „Aska Osaka Virtual Highway“. May 2007 – Next tour in Germany/Switzerland. Rising visitor figures, merchandise turnover. First appearance on German public tv. The gig in Berlin is filmed and shown the next day featuring an interview with Mikkola and Tarkiainen. December 2007 – Desert Planet play Berlin, Vienna and Zurich as part of the „Polar Zoo“ festival-tour. April 2008 – release of new album „Moonrocks“ simultaneously in Germany/Austria/Switzerland on 9pm Records and Stupido Records in Scandinavia. May 2008 – so far most successful tour including shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. ... and now, 2008, finally the new album at 9pm Records/Broken Silence!
Current publication:  Moonrocks, CD-Album, 9pm Records/Broken Silence, 2008 Discography: Asteroid Hopper, CD-Album, Desert Planet, 2001 Dune Buggy, CD-Single, ODOR Records, 2002 Joystick Pop, CD-Album, ODOR Records, 2003 Turbo Tellytunes, CD-Album, Desert Planet, 2004 Mario Built My Hot Rod, CD-Album, 2005 Aska Osaka Virtual Highway, USB-Stick, 2007 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
