Marko Haavisto & Poutahaukat

This is an introduction to a Finnish country-rock band Marko Haavisto & Poutahaukat. The band has become most famous performing music in several Aki Kaurismäki films, lately in ones like Dogs have no hell, The Man without the past and Lights in the dusk. In The Man without the past the band was even acting on screen, playing a Salvation Army band.

But Aki Kaurismäki films are not all these guys are about! Their music is as fresh as a field of wheat after summer rain; as bitter as a note on your kitchen table your wife left you after running away with another man; and all as true as your last coins spent on a pint of beer in your local bar while Hank Williams is singing melancholically in the jukebox. This quartet performs their songs with such a passion, full of emotion that you suddenly picture yourself in the middle of an old East European rock scene.

What being part of Kaurismäki films proves about these guys is that they must be top notch musicians. We're not talking about any drunken lousy rockers complaining how love hurts. We're talking about 4 talented guys who know that life can be hard sometimes. It can also be beautiful and bring smile on your face. It doesn't have to be always for a woman or for love; although it usually is. Love can be strange or wicked too. In real life there are no Hollywood stories with happy endings. But this is not your average “I woke up this morning” blues moaning - not at all. Like Kaurismäki, these guys have edge, they have personality and they’re god damn honest.

Marko Haavisto & Poutahaukat perform 98% of their songs in Finnish language. Still they have played numerous shows around the world with the language not being any obstacle. If you have a strong message, you’ll get heard. Some of the past shows include: Cologne Cinenova, Essen Eulenspiegel, Frankfurt Harmonie, Stuttgart Delphi, Freiburg Friedrichsbau, Regensburg Musichall, Baywa Kulturspeicher, Munich Arri Cinema, Dresden Schauburg, Berlin Cinema International, Bremen Schauburg, Hamburg Neise, Österreich Glatt und verkehrt, France La roche sur yon, Festival les cafes de i´ete, Paris La guinguette pirate, Norway Oslo Club blåa, Greece Athens Gagarin 205, Japan Tokyo, Nagoya and Kioto.

Singer-bassist Marko Haavisto has been a corner stone in numerous Finnish rock and schlager bands since 1986. In 1997 he took a big leap by resigning from his well-paid post in the band Badding Rockers to form his own band and make his own music. Later the same year first self-titled album was released. Subsequent albums saw daylight in -99, -02, -04 and -06. The band is releasing their 6th album in August 2007. Just like the previous records, it will be distributed all over Europe followed by intensive touring.