// Resident 43 biography \\

Resident 43 started out as a quartet in 97. Influenses in the music
were typical of those bands that sprung from the ashes of the grunge-
era.
Pearl Jam was one major factor in the bands sound, but you could also
hear that we had been listening a lot of Kingston Wall, Screaming
Trees, Alice in Chains, The Cult etc., not even mentioning the various
punk bands that were a big deal to us back then, and still are to this
day.
Original members were Janu on the vocals, me Jura on guitar, Juha on
bass and Jakke on drums.
There had been an early incarnation of the band, which was cleverly
named Rectum (sure there are hundreds of bands playing in garages
even today with the same name).
It was brought to life by Lasse Sjöroos who then was the singer-
guitarist of the band. He started it out with his classmate Juha
Kiskonen and friend Peter Henriksson.
With Juha on bass and Peter on drums they felt the need for a lead
guitarist, in came me...! Well Rectum or Slappies, we couldn´t decide
between the two, didn´t actually take off too well and the band
called it quits, with Lasse hitting his guitar against the wall and
leaving.

Some time after that me and Janu first met at school and found out
that we had similar tastes in music. I started thinking about making
songs with him and finding new band members, to launch a new kind of
band.Then without a name, Resident 43 seeds were planted.

I asked Juha if he´d like to come and try playing with us and he did,
so the first rehersal was held in my room, still living with my
parents. I think the year was 1996.
Soon after we were looking for a drummer because Peter wouldn´t do
anymore, he was too busy, and his style too limited for the style we
were going for. Luckily my friend´s girlfriend´s littlebrother (still
following...?) Jakke known for his drumming skills, after all he´s
studied marimba and percussions in Turku Conservatory, was interested
enough to try out with the rest of us, and it went well. Only problem
being, that while me, Juha and Janu were already in our twenties,
Jakke was only sixteen, so he couldn´t keep up with the beer drinking
with his older bandmates...well he wasn´t too interested in those kind
of passtime activities anyhow.

Soon we started playing gigs around town, the first gig was at Club
Down Town, opening for a glam-rock band Crystal Exstacy in the
September of 97.
Soon after the first two gigs I had been talking to Lasse about the
need for a second guitarist, and he agreed to come and check out if he
could deliver the goods!
The first practice to my recollection didn´t go too well, for Lasse
was too stoned, and the second rehearsal we had, he couldn´t remember
any of the stuff we had practiced the first time...! Slowly but surely
Lasse´s playing got better and we played the first gigs with him around
the club circuit of Turku.

Now after five EP´s and 70 or so gigs in Turku and some surrounding
smaller towns, we can say that we have a steady following, sometimes be
it 5 people and their dog, otherwise tens or hundreds of people
listening to our special blend of music which nowadays puts together
styles inspired by such bands and artists as Captain Beyon, Camel, Roky
Erikson, Allman Brothers,Kiss etc. You can even find sounds similar to
Interpol and and other new new wave-acts in the the mix. But the most
important thing to us is to play music we enjoy that sounds like
Resident 43!!!

-Jura Salmi 12.01.2006