History: Put together the windmilling of Pete Townshend, the rich, cool musicality of Television and the crack & sizzle of Neil Young & The Crazy Horse at their loudest and lace the mix with the street poetry of Lou Reed and Springsteen, you pretty much get the main ingredients of Ruotomieli. Top it off with certain unique rawness of their own and voilá - you get the starter of a pretty heavy menu.

RuotomieliRuotomieli started out as a bit unfocused power trio in 1999 in Oulu. But they kept at it writing, rehearsing and touring. Pretty soon they were pretty wild and a wee buzz was on. Live they tend to vary from haunting to exhaustingly liberatingly rocking, also boring. You never know. Their attitude has created a stir, and still does. Their second independent album Koiruohobluesband (2004) fearlessly combined bluesy sonic riffrock, spaced-out psychedelic proto-punk and rural country flavors and - against all odds - was highly acclaimed and well received. The record sold out its first tiny pressing and brought home all kinds of homage unimportant to the band. The album and the touring after also stabilised the line-up and the band became a quintet adding Veera Nevala on sax and piano.

As a rock and roll unit, the band acknowledges the influence of the work of their mentors. However, Ruotomieli is not and has never been a retro group. They may seem to draw its influences largely if not exclusively from certain eras of music but that is just bullshit. They do their own thing. Music must be unique or it%u2019s down the crapper. This is unique and real. On a good day, they sound what blood tastes like. And yes, shit on a bad day.

To Ruotomieli rock and roll is anything and everything: a beat, a party and a funeral. A reason to live and not to. The perfect form of street art. The kids deserve to be able to dig bands daring and worthy - well, here is a daring band beyond your money's worth that knows pretty sure they are not going to make it - so why not go all the way? With Ruotomieli the chance for blowing it sustains and they confront it with the best possible rock and roll they can produce. The latest album Delta City (2007) pushes the envelope by miles and really re-defines their songwriting, swagger and rocking-out and is by far their finest effort to date. Still, it is no way a sure shot. It is a chance taken. A do-or-die album by a hard working do-or-die band the musicbiz has not fucked up yet.