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Suburban Tribe - Tavastia Klubi, Helsinki - April 23rd 2010
This will not be wide of the truth if I say that each minute a new band is born in Finland. The reasons are different, of course: someone just want to be rock stars; others have a fierce passion for music.
Anyway, the vast majority of bands do not make it to the top of the music industry – sooner or later they give up and vanish into thin air. Unfortunately 'the survival of the fittest' principle is in force here as well. But what is the secret of success then? What helps the bands actually fit?
Suburban Tribe are a Finnish pop rock band with a surprisingly steady success story in which there seem to be no dramatic ups and downs. For more than ten years already they have been regularly releasing catchy-tunes, top-charts hits, touring around Finland and abroad, performing as headliners at a great number of rock festivals. A curious fact is that their song 'While The World Awaits' was even played as theme song in 'Big Brother' (season 2006).
I believe their secret can be expressed through a rather simple formula: talent, special spirit and professionalism. You are sure to realize that when you see them live. On April 23rd, it was their first live show after a short break, and the guys looked excited and a bit nervous. I met them before the gig where I was drinking beers and talking with Ville Tuomi (vocals). Shaking hands with Alec Hirst-Gee (drums), Janne Joutsenniemi (bass) and Roope Sirén (guitar) I was surprised at how serious and concentrated they all looked as I've got used to seeing musicians mostly chilling, having fun and hitting the bottles before gigs.
They have reached the point in their music careers when they have to ponder hard over their future directions of development…though Ville says that childish delight and adrenaline buzz still strike them when they are touring or performing on stage.
That night Tavastia was overpacked – I had to queue for 30 minutes to get inside. Elbowing my way to the stage to take pictures I noticed people of all ages, styles and social backgrounds. Suburban Tribe had already started the gig, and the audience had gone pretty wild jumping and screaming, overwhelmed with rock energy and excitement. When I finally reached the stage, I had still to defend myself from overexcited women bumping into me from all sides and wasted guys offering shorts to Ville and shaking hands with him. The guys played all the songs that I like the most: 'Smallest Little Things', 'Frozen Ashes', 'Silent Rain', 'Nevermore', 'Stay', 'While The World Awaits' and the hit from their new album 'Now and Ever After'.
If you haven’t heard them yet, I would recommend checking them out on MySpace. In general, what makes Suburban Tribe’s gigs so special is the sense of belonging to a family. In Tavastia they even sang Happy Birthday for one girl. The spirit they share with you is much more valuable than supercool rags and rock tricks. Lots of recent bands stake on appearance and sexuality and they lose eventually because they fail to produce the spirit to add to their great looks. So now you seem to know the secret of steady success in music industry, and as for me, I’m anticipating seeing Suburban Tribe again, this time at Sauna OpenAir Metal Festival in Tampere in June, and you are more than welcometo join me.
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