Member Since: 11/12/2007
Band Website: mysterytrain.fi
Band Members: Ari Hanninen, slap bass
Mika Hanninen, guitar
Pauli Peni, drums
Juice Muttilainen, guitar
Petri Mäntysalo, vocals
Influences: Hi! And thanks for checking out our MySpace! Mystery Train is a rock'n'roll / rockabilly band from Finland. Below you will find our history so far. The underlined songs (or snippets of them) can be heard on the player below. Enjoy this boogie!
1977
In September 1977 Ari Hanninen(bass) and Pete Makkonen (gtr) started to play with various drummers: Go Daddies was formed.
1978
Pauli "Pate" Peni (drums) joined in October 1978.
1979
In October 1979 Ari bought himself a double bass. Jere Laukkanen (vocals, gtr) joined the band.
In November the band had its first gig at Oulunkylä Pop/Jazz Institute and the day after it the band was attending "The King of Rock" band competition at Casino, Helsinki. Go Daddies was the only band with double bass.
1980
During the summer 1980 Kimmo Rosti (piano) joined the band for a while. In August 1980 the band recorded a demo tape (actually a C-cassette with four songs: Jukebox help me find my baby /Grandmas old rocking-chair/Sweet Judy/Rock Me Right) which got into the hands of Kari Heimonen of Rebel record/management company. Mr Heimonen signed the band and released the demo tape as band's first EP in October 1980. At the same time the name was changed to Mystery Train.
Jere and Ari were also playing on the single Buck Fever Boogie/Let's go boppin and album Bad by Buck Jones, another Rebel artist.
In December 5th to 7th Mystery Train was gigging with Ray Campi (as an opening act and also backing up Mr Campi), when he visited Finland the first time.
Pete left the band and was replaced by Klaus Sundström (gtr) and Ari's brother Mika Hanninen (gtr) from Ducktails.
1981
In February the first single Play me / On and on was recorded. At the same time the Kitty Lee single Booger Red/I can't stand the nights alone was recorded.
During spring and summer (and continuing thru winter '81/'82) the recordings of Teach You to Rock were taking place at the band's rehearsal place (8 channel mixer and a two 2 track tape recorders). Rebel never released the album although it was already mastered and engraved, due to going out of business.
1982
During the winter 1982 Mystery Train toured with English piano legend Dave Taylor. Ari And Jere were also doing studio recordings with Mr. Taylor.
Three track released on Finn-a-billy compilation album: Rockin Rollin Stone, I'll be waiting for you and I can't stand the nights alone (Kitty Lee & Mystery Train)
1983
Jere leaves the band and was replaced by Anssi Aalto (gtr) and Petri Mäntysalo (vocals). Mystery Train continued recording new material in their rehearsal place. Mystery Train was backing up Gene Summers on his visit to Finland (Culture House, Helsinki, October 11th).
1984
Teach You to Rock (Teach You to Rock/She's got it/Stranger man/Hair-down hoe-down/She loves me too/Later/Ain't that nice/Hullo operator/Hey baby/Jungle rock/Teenager's mother/Talk of the town/Cool as a comet)was finally released by Driving Guitars Records. Some tracks from the 1983 sessions (Smack Dub In the Middle/That Cherry Wine/Her Loving Is Gone) were released on a compilation album Finnish Rock'n'Roll Vol1. Later Anssi left the band and was replaced by Juice Muttilainen (gtr).
1985
The second EP (and so far their latest release) (Have a heart/I found you/Latin lover/Something I said) was released on the band's gig with Dave Phillips & The Hot Rod Gang at Tavastia Club, Helsinki. After the release Mystery Train took a brake.
2005
Ari and Petri started to get the band together again. Mika and Juice joined, but Pate was too busy, so Jani Hirvonen (drums) joined the band instead. Most of the guys haven't been actively playing for almost 20 years, but after few rehearsals it started to sound OK. The band made some recordings at the rehearsal place (which is shared with T-Bird Gang at Malmi, Helsinki) to help the guy practice at home (Lonesome Train/Rock Therapy/13 women).
2006
In summer 2006 it was time to return to the gigs. The band made three gigs, but then Jani decided to leave the band.
2007
After some hard persuation Pate agreed to join the band again, so Mystery Train was back on track with the same guys as in 1984. The band again made some recordings to help the guys to practice at home (4 tracks of these "Summer Sessions" on the top right player). The first gig with the original line-up was at Iisoppi, Nokia October 13th.
2008…
Mystery Train will be in studio recording some new material. Stay tuned for more information and check out our forthcoming gigs! Keep up the beat!
Sounds Like: Check out the song information above!
Remember to close the other player before listening to these rockabilly songs.
Keep up the beat!
Record Label: Unsigned
Type of Label: None