Apulanta

Apulanta is a Finnish punkrock band founded in 1991. The band played heavy rock with their origins, but moved on in their first releases to the punk. In the fourth album ‘Aivan kuin kaikki muutkin‘, the band’s style began to become more serious and experimental, and the “Heinola 10” album already had a serious alternative rock and nu-metal style. Today, Apulanta‘s music also has hard rock touches. Apulanta have sold more than 500,000 albums and have gained a strong popularity in Finland, especially among young people. Until the year 2017, a total of 21 of Apulanta‘s singles have reached to the top of the official singles list in Finland.

Apulanta was founded by Antti Lautala and Toni Wirtanen in Heinola in 1991. In the same year, Sipe Santapukki joined the band, and in 1992, Amanda “Mandy” Gaynor, a US exchange student, was the bassist. In 1993 Tuukka Temonen became the bassist. Since the departure of Lautala in 1994, Wirtanen, Santapukki and Temonen became established members of the band. The band currently consists of founding members Toni Wirtanen (lead vocals/guitar) and Simo Santapukki (drums), and more recent addition Sami Lehtinen (bass), who replaced Apulanta‘s previous bassist, Tuukka Temonen.

Their breakthrough came in 1996 with the hit song Mitä kuuluu from “Hajonnut EP” followed by the single Anna mulle piiskaa. Since then, they have consistently topped the Finnish charts, and they continue to be one of the most successful rock bands in Finland. Teit meistä kauniin is one of the all-time biggest-selling singles in Finland and their current hit-single Koneeseen kadonnut has been extremely successful. As of January 2006, 16 of their singles and 8 albums have reached the #1 spot on the Finnish charts. Still, they have not received any Finnish Emma-awards (the equivalent of the Grammys), since their record label Levy-yhtiö is not a member of the Ääni- ja kuvatallennetuottajat ÄKT ry (the local representative of IFPI). This has allowed records released through Levy-yhtiö to be sold at a lower price than those through the record labels that are members of ÄKT. Surprisingly, in the end of 2006, Apulanta was nominated for the Best Music DVD Emma for their DVD Kesäaine.

In September 2009, Apulanta members established an independent label, Päijät-Hämeen Sorto ja Riisto (“Päijänne Tavastian Oppression and Exploitation”). Since its beginnings, the label has so far managed to get one artist, pop singer Kaija Koo in the summer of 2010. In February 2011, they revealed that they had a new prospective artist in the label, though not disclosing their name.