KORPIKLAANI, the Finnish folk-metal band started in 1993 under the name of Shaman, and changed their name in 2002 to KORPIKLAANI (Clan of the wilderness).

Their music consists of metal with a happy folky base. So does their choice of instruments, they use a mixture of electric guitars and drums as well as violin, woodwinds, jouhikko, djembé, and the typical Finnish folk instrument: the accordion. They reject synthesizers (of course), and use only genuine instruments. To most people their music is so cheerful and lively that they cannot resist dancing, laughing and feeling happy. Maybe that is why fans call it 'beer-metal' (it certainly has the same effect as beer), but it could be also due to the many songs about this all-time favorite drink of Korpiklaani. The first Korpiklaani albums contained merely English lyrics, but nowadays most lyrics are in Finnish. These lyrics are often written in the Kalevala-style (a special metre, from the Finnish national epic) and tell about nature, history, partying and the already mentioned beer of course!

At first Korpiklaani was just another unknown Finnish band. Nowadays they are widely appreciated for their unique and cheerful music. But it was a hard road to travel. In the beginning they were happy if they got a gig set, any gig… even for just some beer and travelling costs. They could not afford a proper place to sleep after a gig; often they had to spend the rest of the night stuffed together in a small room in a crappy and cheap hotel. They slept on the plain floor or in the bathtub. If they were lucky they could stay at some friend´s home. Their instruments were not of any quality, and if one got broken, there was no replacement. Of course they all had a job, because they had to make a living. It was hard to combine a job with a band; gig planning was really tough, and the band members always suffered a severe lack of time and money. But… these friends had a lot of fun together, and loved to play.

Some milestones came by: the first gigs abroad, the first time headliner at a small festival, a bigger festival, a big festival. Another milestone, the first time at WOA, and soon the second time will come! Things grow slowly in the right direction for this band with its original sound.
A big wish is a US-tour, which has been in the works a few times already, but never quite happened until April this year when the band headlined the so-called Paganfest.

These Korpiklaani guys play because they really like to, they write songs because they cannot resist it, and they enter the studio because it would be waste not to do anything with the endless stream of songs.
Therefore they released two albums under the name of Shaman, and as Korpiklaani already five full length albums, the last one is “Korven Kuningas” (King of the woods). In February 2009, the band again entered the studio to record the follow-up. 

In a relaxed atmosphere they have been working together to record the songs for the upcoming album “Karkelo”. The recordings started at the famous Petrax studio in Hollola and were supervised by Aksu Hanttu, who certainly contributed to the improvements of the songs.