MIR (Finland)

Finnish metal band

In fall 2004, Sami Anttila was seeking a vocalist for a few alternative metal tracks of his. The vocalist was sought from Muusikoiden.net and many other websites. As the vocalist, Eero Sopanen was chosen and the initial plan was to make only a few songs, in the nature of the project. The first tracks, "Empty Faces" and "Here and Now", were recorded on the same fall. The idea of a possible band was also concieved. As the drummer Eero suggested Mikko Haiko, who was at the time still in the army. Eero and Mikko had been playing together since their teenage years, and when Mikko decided to move to Helsinki he was the obvious choice being the drumstick-magician he is. As the second guitarist Eero had asked Hannu Hooman at a houseparty after some modest drinking and wrestling. At that time Hannu already had the reputation of being one of the meanest bad-ass guitarists near the Russian border. This was the original lineup, which started to train in January 2005. Later Sami Luukkonen joined the band to play the bass. Although the band lives and was formed in the Helsinki area, everyone is originally from a smaller town called Lappeenranta. The same hometown was a sheer coincidence when guitarist-Sami contacted Eero, and then again when bassist-Sami joined the band. There surely must be some invisible Lappeenranta-factor that has drawn the band together in the big city.