Fat Beat Sound System

Fat Beat Sound System is a 5-piece group of rhythm doctors without boundaries.

The music is based on a seriously heavy drum/bass beat, spiced up with guitar that doesn't sound like one, while the sound effects and woodwinds make the music fly. For live gigs the group is usually joined by Extra Fat Robot Arttu Tolonen on banjo, lap steel guitar, harmonica, etc, and various vocalists with Hosni Boudali as a permanent fixture in the live lineup.

Fat Beat Sound System was founded in the early-90s by Dj Bunuel and Mitja Tuurala (Fat Bass player for e.g. J.Karjalainen Electric Sauna,Cool Sheiks,Bullworkers and Siiri Nordin). Despite the heavy musical pedigree, in Fat Beat both played records. Trumpet player Antsu Priha and Dr. Hepa Halme oln sax and flute soon joined the fray and a group was born.

In the beginning everything was based on pure improvisation, except for the first beat which always consisted of Mitja playing a Coltrane song with one channel disconnected, so only the drums were audible.

Mitja was later replaced by the inestimable beat merchant Dj Slow and by the mid-90s he, in turn, was replaced by drummers Abdissa ´Mamba´Assefa and Samuli Kosminen with bass player Jukkis ´the Anchor Closet` Kivinemi thrown in for extra heft. The band started writing material instead of 100% improvisation and a certain air of order was imposed. It wasn't too strict, though. There was still plenty of room to throw some musical weight around. At live shows a song could last anywhere from 10 - 40 minutes.

To make sure that no single musician overplayed, filling the heavy, heavy air with frilly lightweight notes, a dinner table was set on stage. Any musician who started to feel too excited and hectic could take a break and have a snack. Right on stage. Sometimes the audience joined in, too.

In the beginning of 2000 Antsu was replaced by Jollas Sinfonietta Jarmo Saari on guitar which seldom sounds like one.