Finnish energy from FINRG

Finnish energy from FINRG

FINRG Recordings is a record label specializing in hard-dance, established by 5 twenty-something guys from Lahti. Petteri Kääpä, Toni Eronen, Teemu Lahtinen and Ari Virtanen (DJ E-nrg) who form the band Carbon Based, decided to start up the label together with Ville Sorsa (DJ Rx), since there was no similar label in Scandinavia.

Other artists and DJs involved in Finrg’s operations are Karri K from Turku, Re-form, Alek Szahala and the newcomer Pain On Creation. The operations of the just over one-year-old label include gigs, publications, and making music – hard-dance with Finnish influences in its sound, well-known both in Finland and abroad. The main markets are concentrated in England, Central Europe and Australia. What we’re talking about here is real hard pumping music, no Ibiza sound.

The guys of Finrg started DJing at school discos. Teemu says that he made his first own track when he was 11 years old. The track included the famous tune from the Finnish TV ad of the clothing store Simon Vaatehuone. Raves, night radio shows by Ripatti and going through different genres for a long time have led Teemu to love hard dance, the very energetic type of techno music.

None of the guys, except for Ville, have any musical background. Toni recalls that his grades for music were nothing to be proud of, and Teemu played the piano when he was much younger. However, to produce electronic music you don’t need to master any traditional musical instruments. Instead having ear for music, innovativeness and experimental character, as well as being a bit of a techie are the qualities needed. The times of underground rave parties held at factory halls are history. Nowadays rave parties are mostly events for meeting other people in the business and building up connections. However, we are talking about dance music and dance culture which means that the music in question is made particularly for dancing. According to the guys, the euphoric feeling that you get playing the music on stage is at least ten times the feeling that you get when dancing. Ville says that making music is the best kind of therapy, with feelings from compulsive creativity to most depressing sentiments as its source.

School and work

The impassioned hobby has become a second job besides school for the guys. Music gets a lion’s share of their free time, and everything they do seems to be connected to music at some level. The busiest time with gigs is from the beginning of summer until December but at the moment there are no free weekends ahead for a long time. The guys spend their time at the studio as well as playing at gigs, attending different kinds of events and taking care of the business. The biggest event organized by the FINRG guys is FINRG on tour. The guys of FINRG Recordings are always thinking of new ways of developing the business. At the moment they’re working on an Internet store for Mp3 recordings. The store will be named Finrg digital and the plan is to have it opened until the end of the year. The guys are pedantic about running the business legally which means that there’s lots to do for them all in the project. They’re also planning to publish good electronic music in the Internet where everyone can listen to it. As the guys themselves say: “Real masculine music for an unbelievably low price.” After all, Internet is the most important marketing channel for FINRG.

DJs are performing artists, and although hard dance is not the same kind of musical genre as for example pop music where the artist’s looks is what sells records, also DJs have to give up their privacy every now and then to promote their music. The guys have divergent opinions when asked if there are such things as good publicity and bad publicity. However, they appear to be glad that they don’t need to wear sunglasses or baseball-caps on the streets to cover their identity. These guys are famous chiefly within the music industry rather than amidst the masses and are not the kind of celebrities that would end up in tabloids. They would rather see themselves as action figures.

FINRG Recordings publishes music chiefly as vinyls. Feel free to send them a demo if you wish to get your own music into distribution!

Article by Marion Robinson
Translation by Emmi Laitinen