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| Biography |
Ben's
Diapers are a guitar pop band from Turku, Finland, formed
in late 1996 to operate an aesthetic emphasizing songwriting,
timeless classic values of a good song and humble, down-to-earth
attitude. The band (at that time featuring the songwriter Jaakko
Söderström on guitar and vocals, Vesa Salonen
on bass and backing vocals, Mikko Närvä on guitar
and Mikko Lappalainen on drums) entered the scene
pretty early on after getting signed by a then newborn Finnish indie
powerpop label Popatak and releasing their debut
7" single Warriorette and two songs
on Popatak's Vol. 1 compilation CD in June
1998.
In 1999 Ben’s Diapers had a busy year with the addition of a third
guitarist (Panu Jaakkola), the June release of
their 2nd single Las Vegas, inclusion on Bam
Balam Records’ European powerpop compilation, a bunch of
gigs and a memorable trip to Los Angeles, USA, where the band played
a show at the International Pop Overthrow guitar
pop festival and recorded their debut album, later titled Celebrate
The Cliche, with the Australian songwriter/producer Michael
Carpenterand recording engineer (ex-Mighty Lemon
Drop) David Newton at Newton’s studio in
Burbank. The journey also provoked other positive things such as
participation on the Del-Fi Records’ IPO
vol.2 compilation (a collection of songs from bands
playing at the festival), a live Internet-single on Unicycle
Records and a backing band stint for Michael Carpenter’s
solo show at IPO. For a Finnish band within the guitar pop genre,
you can call this a dream come true.
2000 saw Ben’s Diapers release their debut album on Popatak (now
owned by a bigger Finnish indie Poko Rekords) in
May and the international guitar pop community welcomed the band
with several positive reviews, some of which are available through
the band’s website. The band also secured a show at Finland’s
most classic rock festival Ruisrock in July as well
as some other festival shows in support of the album. In March
Ben’s Diapers played two shows in Finland with Australian
singer/songwriter Joe Algeri, the leader of highly
acclaimed power pop group Jack & The Beanstalk.
Joe played acoustic solo material and a set of Beanstalk songs with
Ben’s Diapers backing. The friendship immediately found between
Jack and Ben spawned another joint gig in Finland in August and has
led to close collaboration between Joe and Ben’s Diapers ever
since.
In February 2001 Ben’s Diapers entered a studio in their hometown
with Joe Algeri as the producer. The result of this intense
three-day session (spiced up by another joint show in front of about
200 local music fans) was 4 new songs that were later released along
with an old 98 outtake of the Diapers classic Thinking
Platonic as a 5-song EP on a cool French label Pop
The Balloon in October. In June Ben’s Diapers once again
backed Joe up for a CD launch gig celebrating Jack & The
Beanstalk’s 2nd album release and during this visit, Joe and
Ben’s Diapers also hit the studio to record a cruisy country
version of The Stems’ She’s Fine for
an Australian Stems tribute on Off The Hip Records,
released in May 2002. Late 2001 also witnessed the release of
years-in-the-making split-single project by Ben’s Diapers and
local chums Hundred Million Martians, both bands
doing a song of their own titled Thinking Platonic and the
release of Meet The Scene, a sampler of
Finnish pop featuring Ben’s Diapers track Josephine
Geraldine.
2002 was a year of recording for Ben’s Diapers. The band released
a new song on a Japanese compilation and visited three different
studios to record songs for the band’s 2nd album. During the
recordings it became apparent that Panu did not have enough time to
dedicate to the band. The band found a fine substitute in Harri
Huuhtanen from the band Cartoon Tree,
already a good friend of the band. He joined the band to help with
the guitars and backing vocals. The 2nd album, titled Laughter
Tracks, was released on drummer Mikko’s
own label Rhythm Barrel Records in April 2015. A
new song was also released on Australian Popboomerang
Records’ global pop compilation in September 2015.
In December 2016 Ben’s Diapers released a new promo single Road
Songs, preceding a new full-length album
Little Pilgrims, released in January 2005. The new
album, recorded during summer/fall 2016 at Red House Studio
in Turku and produced by the band themselves and the studio house
engineer Danil Venho, showcases Ben’s Diapers
more confident than ever, on top of their their game and in top
form.
Ben’s Diapers are constantly looking for new contacts,
opportunities to play live, people to communicate with etc. Feel
extremely free to get in touch!
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