[Archive 2008-04-13] Teräsbetoni frontman J. Ahola on representing Finland at Eurovision 2008 & more

Historical archive — originally published 2008-04-13. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Teräsbetoni means "steel-reinforced concrete", and is also the name of a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 2002. Their music, which centres on an honourable warrior lifestyle or on metal itself, quickly became popular in 2003 on the Internet, resulting in a petition by fans being sent to several record labels demanding a recording deal. In late 2004 the band signed to Warner Music Finland, and the following year debut single Taivas lyö tulta rose to number one in the Finnish charts, and debut album Metallitotuus hit number two and went platinum, and has now sold about 47,000 copies.

The band, who sing exclusively in Finnish, have just released their third album, Myrskyntuoja. The lead single on this album is Missä miehet ratsastaa, which Teräsbetoni decided to enter in the Finnish selections for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, where it was selected to go on to the semi-final in Belgrade, Serbia as Finland's representative this year. Although Finland has seen limited success in the contest, their only victory was with a comparable group. In 2006 hard rock band Lordi - whose monster costumes and pyrotechnic displays are famed - achieved a record 292 points in the final with Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Teräsbetoni's frontman, vocalist and bass guitarist Jarkko Ahola's fame extends beyond the band he heads. He also features in Finnish symphonic power metal cover supergroup Northern Kings, alongside Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto of Charon.

Wikinews was able to conduct an exclusive interview with Jarkko Ahola to discuss these various achievements. This interview is now published below for the first time.

((Wikinews)) Desite the fact that you focus on a lifestyle set in historic times, your band's name means "steel-reinforced concrete". Why did you choose that name?

((Jarkko)) We got together and had a little conversation about the name of our band. Pretty soon V. Rantanen suggested the name “Teräsbetoni”. We all thought it sounded great and it described our music well in a way that made people think “what the hell is this?…” (And here you have to understand that word “Teräsbetoni” sounds and IS much cooler than “steel-reinforced concrete”.) I guess the name was okay, ‘cause we didn’t have a tendency or need to write songs about historic times, those kind of songs just came out. There are also songs that aren’t set in the past, more into this day or this moment.

((Jarkko)) Mostly it just happened. We all must have had some kind of vision about the music and the looks for sure and we all agreed about the leather and skin. That’s how it all began. We wrote songs we thought were good and metallish. We played them as metal should be played: loud’n’proud. There must have been something special about our music and live performances, ‘cause the fan crowds just kept growing and growing. And while the band evolved, the concept evolved on its own.

((Jarkko)) We all have our inspiration. I can’t tell who have inspired other band members, but I’ve always been inspired by the hard rock bands of the seventies: Deep Purple, Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath… you know, all the 70’s classics. From the eighties bands like Dio, Manowar, Helloween, Accept have been on my CD- player. Nowadays I’m inspired just by good music. No matter what kind of music it is, if it sounds great.

((Jarkko)) It sure did. We knew we had something special on our hands, but there’s always something special somewhere all the time, you know. We had this “not-so-pro”-looking site with a picture of us and three demo songs…and that was enough! All the basic pieces were so fit, that nothing else was needed. And of course there was also this “Are these guys serious?”-thing going on. It still is.

((Wikinews)) When you made your debut releases you became an instant hit in Finland. What was that like for you at the time, and how is it now, still being a big success there?

Source and licence

Text adapted from Teräsbetoni frontman J. Ahola on representing Finland at Eurovision 2008 & more by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.