“A rock’n’roll trio where roots, skateboards and the 21st-century come together.â€
- DJ Bunuel
What is King Star?
King Star is a Finnish rock band of three guys in their mid-twenties who have played music together for over ten years. Guitarist-vocalist Bobby Nieminen, drummer Henri Suni and bassist Markus Heiskanen have formed King Star’s line-up since 1998. The band’s music combines old, traditional rockabilly with today’s pop rock melodies.
It might be difficult to name a genre for King Star’s music, but their sound unveils the trio’s own idols: Melrose, The Living End as well as Foo Fighters. However, all three admit Green Day being the biggest innovator for forming the band. Lately the group has also been influenced by the surfing melodies of the best 50’s bands.
The band has an established reputation as a knock-out live trio. And it’s the spirit of the on-stage performances that the group wants to transfer on tape as well. Bobby writes all the songs, but lyrics and arrangement are something the whole band works on.
How would you know of them?
In 2005 King Star made history by being the first demo band ever to make it to Radio YleX’s (over 1 million weekly listeners) radio chart. The song â€Better Daze†hit the 28th place.
In 2006, after a Danish agent had seen King Star playing live in Helsinki, the band was given an opportunity to tour in India. Without hesitating, the boys headed east to fill in for Flaming Sideburns, who had had to cancel their own Indian tour earlier. The six King Start concerts turned out to be a local success.
The song “No moreâ€, originally written for a charity campaign to support abused children, got played on several radio stations in Finland in 2007. One of the newer songs, “Ska-Bi-Dooâ€, got its first on air time in April, 2007, on BASSO-radio. King Star appeared on one of BASSO’s shows later the same year.
In addition to appearing on radio charts, King Star’s music was played on international snowboard movies as well as on The Dudeson’s DVD, TV-series and commercials.
In 2007, King Star produced a promotional DVD in co-operation with Verse Production. The professionally collected package brought well-earned attention for the trio in Finland. Despite the obviously growing interest towards the band, the boys decided to head for Stockholm, Sweden, to record their first studio album in the spring of 2008.
In Stockholm, the band gave itself to the hands of the acclaimed Swedish producers Ollie Olson and Henrik Edenhed, who took the job after having been impressed by King Star’s music. As the studio sessions in Sweden were rocked through even better than expected, both the band and their producer duo got convinced the first King Star album would be a unique experience not only in sound but also in terms of attitude.
Hold your breath.
