Formed 1997 in Helsinki, Finland by singer Olli Koskela and drummer Tipi Andersson. Guitarist Toni Ritonen and bassist Jake Hayry joined the band in the summer sameyear. Koskela had a poem called "Valerian Moon" and according to Koskela, it wasn't much of a poem but the name stuck: Valerian was born. The band's first performance was in a club called "Fat Mama" in Helsinki in December 1997. The cd-single "Don't Let Your Vision Blind You" was released in thesummer of 1998 with a keyboard-player as a fifth. Later on they decided to keep on rocking in the original form, as a quartet. At the end of 1998 Valerian's first video"Happy Is A Sad Word" was shot. The second single "Why" was released in March 2000 and in May Valerian signed a recording contract with an independent record label Uplift Records. The secondvideo, singletrack "Why" was shot in the summer of 2000. The debut album "Narcosis" was released in August 2000. Single "Why" gained airtime on Radio City in Helsinki. Also the video "Why" had on a goodrotation on a local tv-station, MoonTV. Year 2001/2002 passed by as the band concentrated on creating new material, searching for a new record contract and playing liveshows as well as making general adjustments. There has been a few changes in the line-up:
In November 2001 bassist Jake Hayry was replaced by Janne Jskelinen, who had played a couple of shows with Valerian previously so he was familiar with the band and theirstyle and vice versa. In April 2002, guitarist Matti Toivonen was welcomed to join the band. In March 2004 City Canyons Records signs a three album deal with Valerian. The three-album deal between the downtown Manhattan label and the Finnish group kicks off withthe late fall 2004 release of Valerian's North American debut album INTIMATIONS OF SORROW. In June 2007 Valerian..s third album GUERILLA FIGHTING METHOD was released.
Buy GUERILLA FIGHTING METHOD at:
City Canyons Store
CD Baby
Download songs from "Guerilla Fighting Method" on
iTunes
Buy Valerian's "Intimations Of Sorrow " CD at: City Canyon Store CD Baby Tower Records BuyIndieMusic Download songs from "Intimations of Sorrow" on
iTunes
My Interests
Music:
Member Since: 9/21/2005
Band Website: valerianmusic.com
Band Members: Olli Koskela: vocals
Matti Toivonen : guitar, backing vocals
Janne Jääskeläinen : bass
Sounds Like:
Liar
Homesick
Empty
Type of Label: None
My Blog
Olli's interview (by EuroBands.us)
First of all I would like to thank you all for this interview. You happen to beone of my favorite Finnish bands and to interview you for eurobands.us is ahonor.Olli: Likewise; it's an honor to be int... Posted by VALERIAN on Sun, 02 Apr 2006 07:39:00 PST
Interview with Olli Koskela (by Brian Rademacher)
Interview with Olli Koskela (Vocals - Valerian) ... Posted by VALERIAN on Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:45:00 PST