The Odorants are a Finnish
punk rock band.
Biography
The Odorants were formed in 1995 when members Jaska, Anssi and Rami met in high school in
Nurmo
Nurmo is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated, together with Ylistaro to Seinäjoki on 1 January 2009.
It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a p ...
. Jaska had a friend called Murkku in
Seinäjoki
Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...
and the four of them quickly formed the band. Rami and Anssi could already play their instruments but the other two had no experience. Murkku, being somewhat fluent in English, became the lead singer and bassist, with Jaska assigned the drumkit.
The band made their first demo in 1996 under the name "Butt First" featuring their first song "Meat Means Burger". Soon afterwards, the Canadian DIY label
United Records signed the band and included the song "Stay Away" on their compilation "United We Stand Vol. 1" (1997). One condition of this was the band changing its name, which was when they became The Odorants.
Their first EP, "Tales from the Underground", was released in 1998 and the opening track "Not Over You" received national radio airplay. In 1999 United Records closed down, cancelling a planned Odorants tour in Canada & the northern US. Their second EP, "2.", was self-released in June 1999 with Anssi taking over from Murkku as lead singer. After this the band were inactive for a while, with Murkku moving to
Helsinki, Jaska to
Imatra and Rami to
Tampere.
Since 2001 The Odorants were featured on the Finnish TV stations
MoonTV
MoonTV was a free Finnish cable network channel. It started off as a channel for programmes about computer and video games but later grew into a channel covering several areas of youth culture. In its prime it was the first interactive TV channe ...
and
Nelonen in the Jackass-style series "
Extreme Duudsonit
The Dudesons ( fi, Duudsonit) are a Finnish entertainment group. They are best known for their TV shows and live performances, which are a combination of stunts and comedy. Their early TV shows were similar to '' Jackass''. Starting their televi ...
", which is where their early recordings are mostly known from. Their third EP, "Sing When You Are Copulating" was released in the same year by The Odorants own record label Mörkö Records. 500 copies were pressed which quickly sold out.
In 2002 the band got their first major recording deal with
BMG Finland
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music co ...
. Their major label debut "Beat The Odorants" was released March 3, 2003. They also released two singles on BMG, "This Night" and "Late Night Call", the latter of which got some commercial radio play. Jaska, being an award winning movie director, directed the video for "This Night" and Rami animated the video for "Late Night Call". Their videos were shown on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
but the band were later dropped by BMG.
Discography
* 1996 - ''Butt First'' (demo), United Records
* 1998 - ''Tales from the Underground'' (EP), self-released
* 1999 - ''2.'' (EP), self-released
* 2001 - ''Sing When You Are Copulating'' (EP), Mörkö Records
* 2003 - ''Beat the Odorants'' (album), BMG
* 2003 - ''This Night'' (single), BMG
* 2003 - ''Late Night Call'' (single), BMG
* 2007 - ''Counting Wolves'' (album), Moby Disc
* 2021 - ''When Tigers Used To Smoke'' (album), Harava Records
* 2024 - ''Love Songs Never Die'' (album), Striped Records
Members
* Anssi - vocals and guitar
* Murkku - bass
* Rami - guitar
* Jaska - drums
External links
*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odorants
Finnish punk rock groups