The Rasmus (band)

The Rasmus are a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were in upper comprehensive school. The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer-songwriter), Eero Heinonen (bass), Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar) and Jarno Lahti (drums). Jarno left the year after and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen in 1995. Janne quit the band in 1998 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala. Pauli Rantasalmi left the band and was replaced by Emppu Suhonen in 2022. Best known for their 2003 hit single *In the Shadows*, the band has sold 5 million albums worldwide and approximately 350,000 albums in Finland alone, and has won numerous awards, both domestic and international. The band represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song *Jezebel*.

## Formation, *Peep* and *Playboys* (1994-1997)

While still in high school, Lauri Ylönen, Eero Heinonen, Pauli Rantasalmi and Jarno Lahti formed the band "Rasmus" while they were in 8th grade. The band played their first gig at their schools pre-Christmas party (23 December 1994). In 1995 Jarno left the band, and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen. In December 1995 they released their debut EP *1st*, including the songs *Funky Jam*, *Myself*, *Frog* and *Rakkauslaulu*. In only a few weeks the EP had already sold 1000 copies. The EP was originally released independently through Teja G. Records but was re-released through Warner Music Finland after they signed with them early in 1996. The band also wrote the song *Don't Shut the Door* which would stay unused until it was re-written in 2009 as *October & April* for their compilation album *Best of The Rasmus 2001-2009*. In 1996 they released their debut album *Peep* through Warner Music Finland. The album was first released in Finland on 23 September, where it went Gold, and later in Estonia and Russia, and subsequently worldwide. Later in 1996 the band released two more EP's, *2nd* and *3rd*. Even though labelled as an EP, *3rd* went No. 8 on the Finnish Singles Chart later that year. Next year the band won an EMMA (the Finnish equivalent of Grammys) for the best newcomer of 1996. Lauri and Pauli decided to quit school to focus fully on Rasmus and on 29 August they released their second album *Playboys*. It went Gold in Finland, and the single *Blue* also went Gold when it was released in May the same year.

## *Hell of a Tester* and signing with Playground Music (1998–2000)

1998 marked the release of the third Rasmus album *Hell of a Tester* (sometimes written *Hellofatester*). The album was released on 2 November and marks a change in their musical style from funk to more solid rock. The album received Gold status in Finland. The most popular single was *Liquid*, which was released in September, getting into the Top 40 on MTV Nordic. It was voted Single of the Year for 1998 by music critics and fans and the video won an award in 1999 at the Finnish Music Video Awards. Lauri wrote *Liquid* on Lauttasaari bridge. The band also wrote religious material which never saw daylight. During 1999 Rasmus were headlining big festivals in Finland. Janne Heiskanen left the band after playing his last gig supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers. Janne decided to retire himself in meditation in India, where he lived for some years. This left the band in disarray and were close to breaking up. Aki Hakala, who had previously sold merchandise for the band, was eventually asked to become the new drummer. Together with Killer and Kwan they formed the Dynasty association a small, independent record label for recruiting new Finnish artists. In 2000 the band changed their name from "Rasmus" to "The Rasmus" to avoid confusion with the Swedish DJ of the same name (another artist, British Rasmus Gardell, has also used the name). In late 1999 The Cardigans' manager Petri H. Lundén recommended the band to Lars Tengroth, director of new Swedish independent label Playground Music. Tengroth went to see them play live in Helsinki and, as he later told HitQuarters, "fell in love with them straight away". Having released three albums in Finland and achieved modest success they were looking to develop their career outside of the country and Playground agreed to help them do this. In late 2000 the band began working with producers Martin Hansen and Micke Nord in Sweden for their next album, ending up leaving their former funk sound completely behind and changing the style into straight forward pop rock. Once signed to Playground the band spent time developing their act to meet the demands of establishing themselves internationally. According to Tengroth: "It was like starting from scratch; we were creating a new band so to speak." They did a lot of things that were new to them – they spent a long time working on their songs before recording, they worked with producers for the first time, and they recorded outside of Finland. They already had a strong stage show but welcomed ideas in improving it further.

## *Into* and *Hell of a Collection* (2000-2002)

In October 2001, The Rasmus released *Into*, their fourth studio album, and first album for Playground Music. It was the first The Rasmus to be released in other European countries such as France and Spain. The album reached No. 1 in the Finnish album charts and spawned the singles *F-F-F-Falling*, *Chill*, *Madness* and *Heartbreaker* / *Days*. All of these were released in 2001 apart from *Heartbreaker* / *Days*, which was released in 2002. For this fact and the name's change, some fans consider this album the first of "The Rasmus". In 2001 they also released their first compilation album, *Hell of a Collection*, composed of eighteen songs, nearly all of which were revamped versions of songs from the previous three albums. The exceptions are the final track, *Liquid* (Demo), which is a demo tape of their hit song *Liquid*, and the songs *F-F-F-Falling* and *Chill* which were the first new songs released after Aki replaced Janne. They won four EMMAs in 2002 for Best Group, Best Album, Best Pop/Rock Album and Best Song for *F-F-F-Falling*.

## *Dead Letters* and *Live Letters* (2003-2004)

On 21 March 2003, The Rasmus released their fifth studio album, *Dead Letters*. Dead Letters sold 2 million copies worldwide and signified the band's major breakthrough, receiving 8 Gold and 6 Platinum music certification awards. Lead single *In the Shadows* received 6 gold and 2 platinum awards, selling over 1 million copies and breaking the record for performance royalties received abroad on a Finnish composition (overtaking the works of Jean Sibelius). The commercial success of the album saw the band receiving numerous music awards across Europe, winning the 'Best Nordic Act' category in the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, and five Finnish EMMA awards for Best Group, Best Album, Best Video (*In My Life*), Best Artist and Export in 2004. They also won an ECHO award for best international newcomer and were awarded "Best International Artist" at the 2004 MTV Russia Music Awards. *In The Shadows* was on the nominations list for the 2004 Kerrang! Award for Best Single. Such success led to extensive touring around the world. In 2004 they released their first live DVD *Live Letters* which was filmed at Gampel Open Air in Switzerland on 21 August 2004.

## *Rise* and departure of Pauli Rantasalmi (2020-Present)

In 2019, Lauri mentioned that the tenth album will possibly be released in 2020. They had booked a studio in England with their producer and would start in Spring 2020. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band all had to write and record from home - Lauri in Hawaii, Eero in Australia, and Aki and Pauli in Finland.

During this time, Lauri was struggling with being away from the band for so long, and was considering ending the band to go solo instead. In addition, Pauli had decided to leave the band mid-2021, causing more uncertainty as to whether the band should continue.

## Discography

### Studio albums

* *Peep* (1996)
* *Playboys* (1997)
* *Hell of a Tester* (1998)
* *Into* (2001)
* *Dead Letters* (2003)
* *Hide from the Sun* (2005)
* *Black Roses* (2008)
* *The Rasmus* (2012)
* *Dark Matters* (2017)
* *Rise* (2022)

### Compilation albums

* *Hell of a Collection* (2001)
* *Best of The Rasmus 2001-2009* (2009)

### Videography

* *Live Letters* (2004)
* *Live 2012/Mysteria* (2012)
* *Live 2012/Volume II* (2013)