The Australian hard rock scene is best known for one band named after electric currents, but Airbourne’s respect for the fundamental values of hard rock make them a worthy contender. High-energy rock, solid instrumentalism and groovy riffs are the cornerstones that make Airbourne one of the toughest acts in their genre. Airbourne tour the world actively and their music can be heard also in several video games.
Anna Puu set out to make her fifth album with a new approach. She omitted her trademark acoustic guitar and replaced it with beats, synthesizers and electric guitar. Since its release last year, the album Nälkäinen sydän has been described as electronic pop that meets international standards. Besides her award-winning career as a solo artist, Anna Puu has displayed her expertise as a Voice of Finland jury member. Anna Puu is always an interesting and talented singer, and we are dying to hear her new electronic pop sound at next summer’s Qstock.
Apulanta have quite the career behind them, and there is more to come. With 21 number one singles, 12 albums and multiple awards on their belt, Apulanta sold out all of their own shows for 2018 in advance, including a massive spectacle at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. Apulanta is no stranger to the Qstock audience either, but it seems that they have more and more energy with each visit, making their shows more amazing year after year. If, for some reason, you have never seen Apulanta live, we recommend you do so at Qstock 2019.
The world needs more bands like these. Hailing from Finland, Barbe-Q-Babies are an honest rock band down to their very soul. Their music has been influenced by great bands such as AC/DC, QOTSA, Kiss and Motörhead, but Barbe-Q-Barbies have added their own Helsinki attitude and fateful female vocals into the mix. The band’s previous album came out in 2015, but that is not the most recent material we have heard from this original group: in 2016 they participated in the Finnish qualification of the Eurovision Song Contest and made it all the way to the national final. Check them out – we all need an extra dose of bold female rock.
Founded in 2015, Beast In Black are a fairly young addition to the chronicles of heavy metal, but few bands have taken off with such super success so fast. Beast In Black are getting ready to release their second album in February and expectations are high for it to equal the debut’s success. In any case, we are guaranteed a decent dose of down-to-earth metal with high vocals and catchy riffs. Beast In Black, the Beast is back!
Children Of Bodom are releasing their tenth album in March, with the title Hexed. Vocalist Alexi Laiho has said that the band’s music and lyrics are means of letting out the negative issues within his head, so we can be quite certain that COB have not come far from their former selves. And why should they – after all, they are one of the toughest names in their genre. Fast, furious and melodic riffs seasoned with hard and dark spices are what you can expect also at this summer’s COB show.
Don Huonot is one of the cornerstones of rock music sung in Finnish. There are few Finns who lived in the nineties who have not turned their cassette or CD players up for Don Huonot’s faster tunes or danced to their slow ones. Nowadays, Don Huonot tour irregularly, going on a hiatus every now and then. But this is no hiatus – this is full on rock bliss as Kalle Ahola and his mates get the party started at Qstock!
As far as the Finnish music scene goes, this gentleman hardly needs introducing. Elastinen is a Finnish rap pioneer, hip-hop artist, music producer, CEO, breakdance artist, Idols and Voice of Finland judge, and TV host. This musical multitalent has managed his own record label, sold out arena shows and teamed up with Cheek for their duo effort Profeetat, and there is no doubt that he is one of the biggest stars in Finland.
Evelina is a barrier-breaking musician and modern style icon. She boldly mixes urban pop, r’n’b and hip-hop and was the first Finnish artist whose debut album streamed platinum before its release. Evelina was awarded last year as the Finnish female artist of the year, and in the autumn she appeared on season 9 of the popular TV show Vain elämää. She has also featured on songs by JVG, Mikael Gabriel and Robin.
This is probably the first time we see a Moldovan band on the Qstock stage. Infected Rain mixes up various modern metal genres, but the concoction could be described as female-led nu metal with a melodic death metal twist. Infected Rain vocals are either screamed high or growled low. This is something rarely heard, so if you have not already caught the Infected Rain bug, we highly recommend you do so now.
JVG have accomplished practically everything a group can in Finland, including several Emma Awards and sold-out arena shows. They were the first Finnish group to reach the limit of 10 million streams on Spotify. The song in question was their superhit Tarkenee from summer 2015. It was also the first Finnish song to be included in EA Sports’ NHL game series. The hugely popular rap duo always serve their festival audience with one of the most energetic shows of the summer.
Kaija Koo’s career has lasted for more than 30 years, and yet she has always managed to sound fresh and up-to-date. Whether it is a radio megahit from 1993, a dancefloor favourite from 2010 or a song from her latest album, Kaija Koo has always known how to perform her songs in a way that hits the souls of contemporary listeners. She is undoubtedly the queen of Finnish adult pop.
Just like wine, Michael Monroe gets better year by year: the energy of his shows just keeps getting more and more intoxicating. The English rock magazine Vive Le Rock selected Monroe as last year’s best international artist, saying his career has reached a new peak in recent years. Michael Monroe is also preparing the release of a new album entitled One Man Gang. Among the guest artists featured on the album is Nasty Suicide, also a member of the legendary Hanoi Rocks. Counting Monroe’s bass player Sam Yaffa, a total of three Hanoi Rocks members appear on the release.
40 years on the road in Finland and still going strong, Popeda bring their hit machine to Qstock to delight the festival crowd in Oulu once again. Their high-energy stage presence is among the most impressive ever seen, and if you have never caught Popeda live before, it is about time!
Stop the press! Radiopuhelimet are playing at Qstock. Always hot, always fierce and always so punk. We’ll just have to wait and see what the distinguished local gentlemen come up with this year. 17th time is the charm, as they say.
As far as we know, this is the only group in the world to combine big band jazz and hip-hop to this extent. Ricky Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana released their third album last year. On the release it is easy to hear how the artists are even more in touch with their fresh and different style of music. An RTBB show is always quite an experience, too, as three first-class rappers (Paleface, Redrama and Tommy Lindgren) perform with the 17-piece Ricky Tick Big Band led by Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen. This January, Ricky Tick Big Band & Julkinen Sana announced that they would stop touring with this lineup at the end of 2019. This is all the more reason to mark this gig up in your calendars.
Last year, the music scene was buzzing and whispering about a band who were playing electronic pop that was totally new and different in Finland. The band was Ruusut, a collective of musicians from acts like The Hearing, Eleanoora Rosenholm and Disco Ensemble. Already last summer they toured the biggest festivals, having released only a few songs by then. Their self-titled debut album came out in early autumn, and the positive feedback proves that the buzzing around the group was not purely coincidental. Ruusut are a band with a wonderful future ahead of them. Don’t miss this!
”An arrhythmia describes an irregular heartbeat – the heart may beat too fast, too slowly, too early, or irregularly.” This is what Medical News Today says about arrhythmia, the English translation of Rytmihäiriö, the name of this Finnish group from Helsinki. To know just how this fits the band’s music, you had better see them live. What we can tell you right now is that their range of musical output varies from hardcore punk and death metal to heavier grindcore.
SANNI has performed in the Vain Elämää TV show, sold platinum with an album prior to its release and sold out Helsinki Arena. She is recognisable, strong, sensitive, skilful and extremely identifiable. SANNI’s lyrics about diluted coffee and Ikea sofas bring the artist close to the listener, so we all can imagine se is singing expressly to us. This makes SANNI amazingly popular, and she is one the most listened to artists in Finland. The music scene is already eagerly waiting for SANNI’s fourth album as several samples off it have been released by now. You should also check out the singer’s short film Dracula from last November – it is also a music video for a song by the same name.
The energy we have seen at Stam1na shows over the years makes seismographs react. The band’s eighth album was released in October, and the group themselves say they sound more relaxed and honest than ever. Stam1na manage to re-invent themselves for each new album. You had better join the earthquake and come see Stam1na as they shake the earth at Qstock in 2019.
If the space for the band’s name says Teflon Brothers, you can be sure that the crowd is in for a party. Voli, Heikki Kuula and Pyhimys will make both the young and the old shake it. Few artists can say they have sold double platinum before the release of an album, but these guys can: their 2017 album Circus made history by being the first Finnish album that crossed the double platinum limit before even coming out. Teflon Brothers songs have been streamed more than 100 million times. This band is guaranteed to pick your festival mood up!
The Helsinki Vampires are back. The first sounds of Goth ’n’ Roll rang out from guitars in 1989, which means that 2019 marks the 30th anniversary for 69 Eyes. To celebrate this, the band will put out a new album which is the 12th one on their career. The group tour actively around the world, but luckily there was a slot in their calendar for a visit to Oulu during Qstock!
If you ask almost any nineties teenager about the soundtrack of their youth, you will find one thing in common: The Offspring were playing. More than 40 million albums sold and a list of songs with one hit after the other: Self Esteem, Come Out And Play, All I Want, Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), The Kids Aren’t Alright… The Offspring are yet another punk band whose story began in the garage – a story to which a new chapter will be added about Qstock 2019.
It is rare to see Academy Award winners in these latitudes, but this summer even that is possible: the brilliant Jared Leto and his brother, drummer Shannon, are bringing their group Thirty Seconds to Mars to Qstock. The band were formed in 1998 and have since become known for their immaculate style of alternative rock, social themes and very active touring: Thirty Seconds To Mars even made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest tour in history. During their career, the group have snatched numerous awards and sold millions of records around the world. Last year saw the release of the band’s fifth album, America. This is a show worth checking out – Thirty Seconds To Mars gigs often make their audience reach states in which Mars has never been closer.
Originally known as a member of massively popular Finnish band PMMP, Vesala has a very convincing resume: she is a singer, musician, lyricist, actor, dramatist and documentarist. She has written the lyrics for many leading Finnish artists and been awarded for her work, too. Her first solo album, Vesala, sold platinum quickly after its release and the singles off it have had a lot of airplay on Finnish radio stations. During the past year, new songs from Vesala have been popping up, and the releases show that her artistry is immensely versatile and plastic.
Vesterinen Yhtyeineen is a hugely popular live band at the moment, and they deserve it, too: the band have proved themselves one of the best at what they do in Finland. The sixth album from this now ten-piece band will be released in March, and their form prior to next summer’s festivals will be tested on a tour of ten shows at concert halls and clubs over the spring. Vesterinen & co. can make you rock but they can touch you, too.
Late last summer we got happy news as former HIM frontman Ville Valo and Finnish guitar group Agents announced they would be making an album of Rauli ”Badding” Somerjoki’s unreleased material. This combo interpreted Badding together for the first time around the turn of the millennium and displayed instant hit potential. The mixture of unique, original artists and great music cannot possibly fail, as we have heard on the very first single off the upcoming album. And thus it is our pleasure to inform you that Ville Valo and Agents will also appear at Qstock next summer.
