Korpikuusen Kyynel is a metal band based in Turku, Finland. The five-member group was born in 2007, when the first complete line-up was put together and the band was given its name. The origins of the band go back to the previous year, when the female founding members Leeni Mäkilä and Maija Nyström started picking musicians to work with. The band has been strongly characterized by the two companions ever since.
The name Korpikuusen Kyynel is Finnish, referring to moonshine liquor. Literally translated, it means 'a Tear of a Wildwood Spruce'.
The songwriting of Korpikuusen Kyynel is unique in its diversity and twists. Each member of the band has been influenced by different genres of music, different subgenres of metal and different aspects of life. As a result, no Korpikuusen Kyynel song resembles another. Each song is truly individual, and Korpikuusen Kyynel can not be easily categorized to any particular metal subgenre.
Musically, Korpikuusen Kyynel has drawn much of its influences from classic rock, traditional metal, melodic death metal, thrash metal, groove metal, folk metal, humppa... the list goes on. Some of the most influential bands include Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Opeth, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Amorphis, Katatonia, Hypocrisy and Iron Maiden. Lyrical themes include personal struggles and experiences in life, historical and natural events such as war and climate change, nature of man(kind), Finnish traditions etc.
Korpikuusen Kyynel has released a critically acclaimed demo CD Sense The Dreadful Presence (2008) containing three tracks that display the range of the first compositions of the band. The band has since worked on new material, inclined towards the heavier side of the previous demo. The follow up CD will be recorded in late 2010.
The current line-up of Korpikuusen Kyynel is (since November 2011):
Maija Nyström - Lead vocals, keyboards, piano, tin whistle (2007-)
Ville Paukkunen - Electric & acoustic guitars (2007-)
Jorma Roine - Electric guitars, background vocals (2007-)
Antti Auramo - Bass guitar (2009-)
Pekka Jokela - Drums (2011-)
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The inception of Korpikuusen Kyynel dates back to September, 2006. At that time, long-term friends and musicians Leeni Mäkilä and Maija Nyström had put their previous band project in a closure. They still had a huge passion to play music together and some wild song ideas to work on. With an isolated and cozy training facility readily available at Maija's parents house in Rymättylä, the two decided they needed fresh musicians to work with and thus turn over a new page in their musical pursuit.
Soon after, Ville Paukkunen and Mikko Rauvola were recruited to take up guitar and bass duties, respectively. With Leeni in the drums and Maija delivering lead vocals as well as playing keyboards and Hammond, the newly born quartet started rehearsing original material written by Leeni and Maija during their past projects. The songwriter duo was thrilled to see their material come to life, sounding renewed and heavier than before.
In January 2007, Jorma Roine joined the band after a tryout to share guitar duties with Ville, completing the five-member format of the band. With two guitar players, the sound of the band swiftly turned a notch towards heavier. In the following months, new song ideas began to emerge, and the course of the band was unveiling - they would definately be metal, diverse, and 'f*****g true'!
Finally late February, one night in a local bar enjoying a round of whiskey, the band decided to call themselves 'Korpikuusen Kyynel'. The name is Finnish, and refers to Finnish moonshine. Literally translated, it reads 'Tear of Wildwood Spruce'.
Korpikuusen Kyynel played their first live performance at S-Osis, Turku, Finland in April 22nd, 2007, about seven months after the first rehearsals. The set list included four original songs, three of which were part of Leeni's and Maija's legacy form their past projects rearranged by Korpikuusen Kyynel, and one of which was a brand new Korpikuusen Kyynel song. Second gig, this time in Rokkibaari, followed in June 26th after which Mikko resigned from the band due to personal reasons.
Korpikuusen Kyynel was without a bass player for the following summer up until September 7th 2007, when Paavo Karppinen was contacted based on a web-ad. He joined the band after getting acquainted with the others over some beers and whiskey. Intensive rehearsing, song-writing and memorable gigs soon followed for the fresh line-up. Early 2008 saw the band play its first show outside of Turku, as well as receiving a free music video shoot for later use as a prize in Turku Bandstand 2008 band contest.
As more new Korpikuusen Kyynel tunes saw daylight, the band finally entered Fantom Studio, Tampere in August 2008 to record its first demo CD, Sense the Dreadful Presence. The three-track demo was recorded over a weekend in a total of just 16 hours, and released on September 19th, 2008. The tracklisting is: 1. Hope, 2. Season of Gray and 3. Candle. Leeni wrote Hope and Candle completely, while Ville composed Season of Gray, with Leeni, Maija and Jorma also contributing to the lyrics. Hope originally predates Korpikuusen Kyynel, and was rearranged for the demo CD. The two remaining tracks, Season of Gray and Candle were written completely while Korpikuusen Kyynel has been in existence. On November 5th, a music video was shot for the heaviest track of the demo, Season of Gray.
With the release of Sense the Dreadful Presence demo, Korpikuusen Kyynel was no longer mute off the stage. The first review of the demo came out in November 9th, 2008 in korroosio.fi, reception being very positive (4/5 stars). Soon half a dozen other reviews followed up, toned similarly to praise Sense the Dreadful Presence as an impressively great effort for a demo band indeed. Happy to have received such generous reviews of the critical Finnish music press, the band was full of energy in the live shows to follow.
On November 21st 2008, Korpikuusen Kyynel again was reduced to a quartet without a bass player, as ways with Paavo and the rest of the band drifted apart in mutual agreement. However, the band was in such high spirits about the recent taste of critical acclaim, in such burning sensation to return to the live stage as soon as possible, in such passion to just keep kicking some ass that no shows or events were ever considered to be canceled because of the sudden vacancy in the band's line-up. The first show as a quartet was played in December 10th in Vegas Night Club, Turku.
The next year kicked off with Korpikuusen Kyynel still playing live shows shorthanded, while constantly looking for a new bass player. After a few interviews and tryouts, a phenomenal bass player, Joni Meriläinen was introduced to the band on February 10th, 2009. Joni joined the audience in February 26th to check out Korpikuusen Kyynel play once more with four members in Rokkibaari, Turku. After the show he was taken in as full member, playing his first show with the band on April 1st, 2009. Although a great show, sadly that also remained Joni's last with the band as his interests were elsewhere.
In the following months, Korpikuusen Kyynel took some time off from live playing. No attempts were made to recruit a new bass player as of yet. Instead, the Korpikuusen Kyynel rehearsal headquarters was permanently moved to the heart of Turku, where all of the band members lived. As a result, organizing band rehearsals became effortless. Any excess time and energy of the band members were now allocatable to the rehearsals themselves, instead. Considerable amounts of time was spent for songwriting, a future release in mind. It wasn't until late summer that the search for a new bass player was launched, once again. After a few candidates, Antti Auramo was invited to rehearse with Korpikuusen Kyynel after meeting with the band on August 10th, 2009. Antti had first witnessed a Korpikuusen Kyynel gig on December 10th 2008, at which time the band had no bass player.
On August 14th 2009, the long awaited Season of Gray music video that was shot almost a year earlier, was released. In September 5th the video premiered in national TV, as it was broadcast on Voice TV.
After a while, the first live show of Korpikuusen Kyynel in more than seven months was finally played with the new and current line-up in the main stage of Klubi, Turku on November 17th, 2009. The show was the first for over a year with a full, five-member roster. Antti was officially accepted as full member of Korpikuusen Kyynel immediatelly after the show.
Right now, the future of Korpikuusen Kyynel looks brighter than ever. Finally it seems the chemistry of all band members is working, and everybody is having the best time with the band ever. Some exciting shows have been planned for 2010. An autumn release for the next Korpikuusen Kyynel CD has been planned. This time, the new material will see daylight in the form of an EP length CD. Hell Yeah!!!
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