Matthau Mikojan
Encyclopedia
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician, singer, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
in a band named after him. In addition, he has thrown some gigs with a Finnish rock band called Black Jezus but he is not an official member of it. Instead, he plays guitar in another Finnish rock band named Don Skorleone & Consiglieres.
Life
Matthau Mikojan was born on March 26, 1982 in Tampere. He's the younger son of Arvo Tapani "Arwo" Mikkonen who played guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
in the famous manserock band Popeda
Popeda
Popeda is a Finnish rock band hailing from Tampere and one of the staples of Manserock. Epe Helenius, who signed the band for Poko Rekords in 1977, called the band "Finnish Rolling Stones"...
. About his mother Sirpa, there is quite no information to find, therefore a lot more about his brother Jukka Kristian Mikkonen, rather known as Sir Christus
Sir Christus
Sir Christus is a Finnish guitarist, best known as the former rhythm guitarist of the glam rock band Negative. His father was Arwo Mikkonen, guitarist of the legendary Finnish rock band Popeda...
, ex-lead guitarist of the Glam-Rock band Negative from Tampere.
At the age of four, Matthau lost his father who died of a heart attack during a rehearsal with his band. Nevertheless, Matthau says that the musical work of his father shaped him a lot and that already in early childhood, he could not imagine anything else than becoming a rock musician.
Matthau has suffered from Tourette's syndrome since a ten year old and he also needs medication due to this. He was also in a clinical treatment in his childhood, but after a few weeks he decided to discontinue.
In addition, he said in an interview that he had some problems with alcohol for a time of three years.
Early beginnings
Already in his very early childhood, Matthau started playing guitar. Besides this, he also can play bass guitar, drums and a bit pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and is learning to play the harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. His first acoustic appearance was, following the information given by himself, already in the year 1995. One year before, in 1994, he founded a band together with Paavo Pekkonen. The band was first named Turmio, then RIP and got finally known under the name Bloodpit
Bloodpit
Bloodpit is a Finnish hard rock band. Before 1998 the band has been named "RIP" and "Turmio". It was founded in 1994 by Matthau Mikojan , lead singer, and Paavo Pekkonen, guitarist. They released their first album Mental Circus in 2005, along with many singles, such as "Platitude", "Bad-Ass Blues",...
. Besides, Matthau also played and sang in other bands such as Lavasäteily (for a certain time together with his brother), Shit Kickers or SBT-666.
Bloodpit
Finally, Bloodpit is the band which he concentrates on. The first appearance of the band takes place in Tampere on November 26, 1999. In the following years, the band goes through several line-up changes, especially the bass players do not stay very long. Besides this, the band had to get along without a label until 2004, releases several self-produced EPs for promotional reasons and participates in several band competitions of which, alone in 2001, they win three in a row. The competitions are followed by several appearances on different festivals and finally the band is offered a contract by Grotesque Records, but the label is broke before the band agrees. Finally Bloodpit get to sign a contract with Beemvees/Playground Music in 2004 and release the albums Mental Circus (2005) and Off The Hook (2007) as well as diverse singles and EPs with them. The releases are followed by live appearances in FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the USA and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The single Platitude from the album Mental Circus is decided to be one of the title tracks of the computer game NHL 07
NHL 07
NHL 07 is an ice hockey video game. It was released on September 12, 2006, the successor to NHL 06. The game improved the series' gameplay with more realistic features, such as stickhandling and a wider variety of controller schemes...
from the American software company EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
in the end of 2006.
But on July 20, 2007, Matthau closes the chapter „Bloodpit“. During the tour, there appear discrepancies among the band and Matthau finally decides to leave Bloodpit „for personal reasons“, as it is to read later. The band takes a break after this and presents itself with a new line-up in summer 2008.
Matthau Mikojan (Band/project)
Already quite a short time after breaking up with Bloodpit, in September 2007, Matthau Mikojan starts recording his first solo album which is released on March 12, 2008 in Finland. On February 6, there is already a pre-release for the single Stiletto Heels. On the album named after the artist, Matthau plays almost all instruments himself, except for the drums played by another musician, Simo Stenman (The Bitterlicks). Matthau's live band's line-up causes furore because until April 2008, it also included his brother Sir Christus, who had left his long-time band Negative in January 2008. Also in the video for Matthau's second single Too Fortunate To Cry, the brothers appear together, but then Sir Christus leaves the band with no drama involved. Matthau plays sundry gigs and festivals in Finland with his live-line-up, they are followed by the Schraubelocker Tour through Germany and SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. After having finished the tour, Matthau announces on his homepage that his live-line-up will not only be a live-line-up anymore, but that the name Matthau Mikojan means from now on a band with the following line-up:
- Matthau Mikojan – vocals, guitar
- Simo Stenman – drums and percussions
- Teemu Broman – bass guitar
One month after having finished the tour, the EP Chasing Ghosts is released. It's the first release of Matthau Mikojan as a three-piece.
On 5 February 2009, Rokker Production's short documentary named Koti, kellari ja kuppila (in English "Home, loft and bar") has its premiere.
On 4 March 2009 Matthau's second album, Mania for Life is released. It's the first album where the name "Matthau Mikojan" covers the whole band, not just Matthau as a solo artist. The album gets a warm reception by fans and critics.
On March 2010 Teemu Broman leaves the band and is replaced by Janne Sundvall.
Sideprojects
At the moment, Matthau plays guitar in the rock band Don Skorleone & Consiglieres from Tampere. Besides this, Matthau plays acoustic solo shows under the name Matthau's Acoustic Sauna.With Bloodpit
Alben- Mental Circus (2005)
- Off The Hook (2007)
Singles
- Out to Find You (2005)
- One More Time (2005)
- Platitude (2005)
- Bad-Ass Blues (2005)
- Wise Men Don't Cry (2007)
EPs
- Promo EP (2000)
- No 2 (2001)
- You Name It (2003)
- Platitude (2004)
- Sauna Päälle! (2006)
Music videos
- Platitude (2005)
- Bad-Ass Blues (2006)
- Wise Men Don't Cry (2007)
DVDs
- Live@Nosturi (2007)
Under the name Matthau Mikojan
Alben- Matthau Mikojan (2008)
- Mania For Life (2009)
Singles
- Stiletto Heels (2008)
- Too Fortunate To Cry (2008)
EPs
- Chasing Ghosts (2008)
Music videos
- Too Fortunate To Cry (2008)
- Chasing Ghosts (2008)