BLIND CHANNEL – “VIOLENT POP” – ARTIST SHOWCASE
Finland’s Blind Channel is fostering a bold new sound they describe as “Violent Pop”. Formed in 2013, the band has powered their way into the musical matrix of the world with thunderous guitar riffs, muscular vocals and tenacious songwriting. Blind Channel has received Finnish Grammy Awards nominations, represented their homeland in Eurovision 2021 and have received over 40 million Spotify streams. They also recently signed a deal with Century Media. Quite an impressive resume!
Blind Channel is composed of Joel Hokka (Vocals/Guitar), Niko Moilanen (Vocals), Joonas Porko (Guitar), Olli Matela (Bass), Tommy Lalli (Drums) and Aleski Kaunisvesi (Samples/Percussion/DJ).The band released their first album in 2016 entitled Revolutions. They followed with Blood Brothers in 2018 and Violent Pop in 2020.
This year Blind Channel dropped two blistering singles. “Dark Side” is a driving inferno of a track that grabs the listener by the throat and doesn’t let go. It’s the song they performed at Eurovision and it has already attracted over 40 million streams. The beat is voracious and the vocals are pummeling. The guitars wail and the backbeat is fiercely addictive. The tune is plainly killer. “Balboa” continues the assault with edgy vocals and monstrous grooves. The entire song is an incendiary juggernaut.
Joel Hokka from Blind Channel was kind enough to answer some questions for AMP.
AMP: Can you give the AMP readers a quick history of the band?
JH: Blind Channel is a band formed 2013 in Oulu Finland. We describe our music as “Violent Pop” and we’ve played over 200 shows in over 15 countries, been nominated for a Finnish Grammy, streamed over 70 million streams on Spotify, placed 6th on ESC 2021 finals etc. So we’ve already done a lot haha
AMP: You describe your music “Violent Pop”. Why?
JH: Violent Pop is the perfect way to describe our music: it’s heavy, it’s catchy and on the same time it’s complete new way of making rock – music in 2020’s. We wanna be the pioneers of the new era: so we need our own “brand” / genre and this time it’s called Violent Pop.
AMP: Your music is extremely powerful and dynamic. Who writes the songs?
HP: We write all the songs by ourselves. Every song is written by band members and usually we stick around with ideas for weeks: it’s like 6 guys in a boxing ring! We try to put all of our hearts into the songs we write and we feel that we already have an important place in many people hearts.
AMP: What’s the Finnish rock scene like?
JH: Back in early 2000’s it was hot: we had those massive export bands like HIM, The Rasmus (we still have em!), Children Of Bodom (RIP Alexi), Nightwish etc. Todays scene is not that hot anymore but there’s a new wave rising. Our friends from Lost Society & Shiraz Lane are doing great job to bring Finnish rock back to it’s glory days and we can’t wait to tour with ’em someday!
AMP: Americans really don’t have any idea of the scope of Eurovision. How important was it to represent Finland?
JH: Eurovision was massive: we made our big breakthrough while we represented Finland in the competition. We got tons of new fans from all around EU and at the same time Dark Side became a number 1 hit in Finland & it peaked 62 on global Spotify top 50. Finland is known for it’s rock / metal exports so we felt that Finnish flag suited us pretty well on that competition.
AMP: How stoked are you to sign with Century Media?
HP: Century Media / Sony is the perfect home for our music / future. We had been dreaming of an international record deal and while we heard that CM is interested we were super stoked. Our A&R rep Dennis + the whole CM team is doing insanely great job for us and we can’t wait to rule the planet with them!
AMP: What’s next for Blind Channel?
HP: We just released an 8 show tour in Finland for December. After that we’ll hit Europe with Eskimo Callboy for 25 show tour which is already almost sold out. Then we HOPEFULLY go to US for our first tour and come back to EU for the album release! So big plans ahead.
AMP: Best authentic Finnish meal?
HP: Karelian Pie! Easily. It looks like… well go & check it out!
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To learn more about Blind Channel, check out their website
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such a good interview — I didn’t know much about the Finnish 2000s scene!