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THE DECADE OF DENATURATION & DEODORANT
(aka The story of Finland's most productive punk rock band)
The Odorants got started back in 1995 when
Jaska got to the high school of Nurmo. There he met
these guys Anssi and Rami. Jaska had a soulmate
called Murkku back at Seinäjoki and they we're
dying to get started with a band of their own. The four
guys quickly became inseparable and the band was born. Rami
and Anssi already knew their instruments but the two other
morons were totally hopeless. Murkku being somewhat fluent
in English, naturally became the lead singer and Jaska was
assigned behind the drumkit. At this point we ran out of
band members so Murkku herited the questionable honor of
bassism and bought a $30 Hondo II to jiggle with.
After a few months of not so rigorous practice
over some cover songs, we conjured few of our own and made
our first demo ever. It was 1996 and Butt First was ready
for delivery. The name was loved and hated, just as our
first song ever - "Meat Means Burger". Obviously
everyone didn't realize we were (and still are) having a chuckle
at everyone's expense.
Soon after a Canadian DIY label United Records
took interest in us and wanted us under their wing. UR released
our song titled "Stay Away" on their compilation
"United We Stand Vol. 1" (1997) and more was to
come... We had to change our name though, I guess the label
didn't grasp the essence of Butt First but whattahell, in
-98 or so we became The Odorants. Actually, before The O
we tried out quite a few but none stuck for more than a
day or two. So The Odorants it was and forever will it be.
The first EP we ever made was called "Tales
From The Underground" (rest in peace UG, you sweet
shithole of Seinäjoki), the year was 1998 and the opening
track "Not Over You" was even (whoa! :) played
on a national radio station (even if it was introduced as
"Not Over Glue [and I'll wait until you sniff it too]",
the dumb DJ read the fake title from the back sleeve.)
1999 was to be something else, a good year.
We were supposed to have a tour in Canada & Northern
US but alas, United Records decided to give up and tossed
the towel in. Funny as it wasn't, we heard the news from
a long time fan. Later I heard that United tried a shortlived
comeback, funny like the Sex Pistols :). Then came June
and we released another EP on our own, imaginatively titled
"2.". Anssi sung all the songs as Murkku was having
"a blast" in the Finnish defence forces and thus
he became the lead singer for the future, too. (A Fine decision
if you ask me -M :)
Having a bad year ended with Murkku moving
to Helsinki, Jaska to Imatra and Rami to Tampere. Anssi
remained in Nurmo and took loving care of our inexpensive
instruments and the garage. Then we had some quiet time.
Since 2001 The Odorants could be heard/seen on MoonTV and
Nelonen (Finnish TV stations) in the series of Extreme Duudsonit
(a jackass kinda show) and that's where our early stuff
is mostly known from. The third masterpiece, "Sing
When You Are Copulating" EP was released on the same
year by The Odorants founded record label Mörkö
Records. We had some trouble with the release as the school
we recorded the crap in "owned" the rights to
it. Well fuck 'em anyway and so we headed to Kauhava, into
our little love nest of AMS-Studio, and recorded it again.
Naturally, it rocked and the pressing of 500 was quickly
sold out.
In 2002 we tried some April fools of our own and what do
you know, BMG Finland was miraculously convinced and so
we got our first real recording deal (there's nothing like
the fat tit of a major label we thought :). And so we headed
(once again) to AMS and in a good week our major label debut
"Beat The Odorants" was ready for the masses,
released March 3rd, 2003. We also put out a couple of singles
on BMG, "This Night" and "Late Night Call",
which even got some commercial radio play. Jaska, being
an award winning movie director, directed our video "This
Night" and Rami, the great artist that he is, animated
the one for "Late Night Call". DIY is fun when you're
as lazy as we are :). The videos rolled on MTV and whathaveyou,
but our contract at BMG wasn't continued so here we are again:
angry, young and poor with no label in sight.
Rock on,
Murkku / The Odorants
PS. This bio was created by our loyal fans Tuomas
& Milla, thanks a bunch and excuse me for raping
it to my liking :)
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