About Me
The Atomic Blast is an instrumental group that is mostly influenced by garage, surf and lounge sounds of the 1960's. Link Wray, Dick Dale, Henry Mancini. This 5-piece group comes from Helsinki, Finland. The members have gained popularity earlier with bands like The Valkyrians (Stupido Records) and The Beetle Crushers (Goofin' Records).
The first version of The Atomic Blast took place in the turn of the millennium when Senor ??? and Joe Bikini got interested in surf, garage rock, feedback and such, and started doing home recordings on that base. The aim was to create sounds that people in the early atomic era thought the future might sound like. With these songs they performed as The Atomic Blast Duo in some small parties using feedback guitar and cheap Yamaha keyboards with simple drum machine.
In 2007, a group of musicians decided to get together in TK Force's underground rehearsal room to play the songs from the old demos as well as some Link Wray tunes, just for fun and kicks. The organizers of The Helsinki International Burlesque Festival heard of their side project, and decided that the band should play in their (now legendary) first event, planned for February 2008. That gig was the first step in making The Atomic Blast more of a band-like group.
After the Burlesque gig people were asking for more, and that's what they got. After some member changes (The Valkyrians' El Selenita joined to play Farfisa organs and punk drummer Zip Martini for drums). The Atomic Blast played at numerous garage rock, punk and indie clubs during the years 2008 and 2009.
In 2009 they went to the studio, with 22-Pistepirkko's Asko Keränen as a sound engineer, to record some of their original tunes. Four of the songs (each written by a different band member) were released in the fall of 2009 in 7†vinyl format. It was titled The Atomic Blast EP, and received rave reviews in the Finnish media (see below).
In 2010 The Atomic Blast was featured on Bear Family's 35 Year Anniversary Box Set with a tune "The Amazing Hypno-Bear (On A Unicycle)". At this very moment band is locked in the studio, a full length album will be released in 2011. Stay tuned....................................................... ....................................
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The Atomic Blast's debut EP has recently received some pretty good reviews in the Finnish music magazines:
* 4/5 -RUMBA
* "...edennyt paineaallon lailla Suomen retrofuturistisen surf-rautalanka-skenen kiintotähdeksi." 5/5 -VOIMA
* "Olen vakuuttunut että Laika & The Cosmonautsin jättämä tyhjiö on saanut täyttäjän..." "Kappaleet ovat toisistaan poikkeavia, mutta "post-coldwar"-tunnelma pysyy upeasti kasassa..." -BIG BEAT
* "Atomic Blast osoittaa jo ensimmäisellä julkaisullaan olevansa alalla maailmanluokan bändejä. Surf-musiikin tulevaisuus on enemmän kuin vain pelastettu!" -Honey Aaltonen/BLUES NEWS
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The Atomic Blast limited edition 7†vinyl EP (incl. free poster and MP3 download codes) is available in these fine stores:
* Stupido Shop (Iso Roobertinkatu 23, Helsinki, FI, 09-646990, www.stupido.fi)
* Goofin' Records (Hämeentie 46, Helsinki, FI, 09-7733113, www.goofinrecords.com)
* Kiasma-kauppa (Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, FI, 09-17336505, www.kiasma.fi)
* Like-kirjakauppa (Iso Roobertinkatu 20, Helsinki, FI, 0400 249565, www.like.fi, www.rosebud.fi)
* Fatty Sounds (Hämeentie 4, Helsinki, FI, 09-42833556, www.fattysounds.com)
* Digelius (Laivurinrinne 2, Helsinki, FI, 09-666375, www.digelius.com)
* The Barber Shop (Fredrikinkatu 19, HELSINKI, FI, 09-671197)
* Combat Rock Shop (Vaasankatu 7, HELSINKI)
* Jungle Records (Yrjönkatu 3, PORI, FI, 0400 128966, www.junglerecords.fi)
* Swamp Music (Tuomiokirkonkatu 32, TAMPERE, FI, 03-2123087, http://www.swampmusic.com)
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...psst, new Atomic Blast t-shirts came from print as well. They're available only at our gigs, see you there...
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