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A Short History of Bitter Bois
Bitter Bois originally
formed in May 1996. We wanted to play the music we loved, and there were
no other Oi! bands in Finland at the time. The line up was Sami -
vocals, Hermanni - bass, Olli - guitar, and Nape - drums. However, in July
Nape decided that Bitter Bois were not his cup of tea, and blew up (a kind
of a Spinal Tap syndrome, eh?). Thus Reko was recruited to play the guitar,
and Olli started beating the drums. After rehearsing for a while, we played
our first gig in February 1997. After a couple of months, we played another
one. And then another one, this time abroad, in Umea, a town in Northern
Sweden. In the between we had been to a studio to record 4 tracks, 2 of
which (Backstreet Boys and No Politics) saw daylight on vinyl. The
summer of '97 saw nothing new as far as the band was concerned, except
for another studio trip, but a lot happened to the members... But that's
another story!
After autumn was at hand, we decided it was
time to start playing again. However, to our great shock we discovered
that we had no place to rehearse in! Well, at least that gave an excellent
excuse for not rehearsing... After a while we were asked to play a gig,
and we got to rehearse at a friend's garden shed. Better than nothing...
The gig went, well... it went. Then we finally got a rehearsal room, played
gigs, visited a studio again. In April '98 Reko decided to move to England
to work there. Thus we had to find a new guitar player, and we did find
Sami Buckler.
Here's a 'gig-o-graphy':
1st February 1997 - Kuopio
(with Guttersnipe, Brewdriver & others)
29th March 1997 - Turku
(with Sharpeville & Selfish)
16th May 1997 -
Umea, Sweden (with Guttersnipe, Bullshit & others)
1st November 1997 - Lahti (with Guttersnipe
& others)
19th March 1998 -
Helsinki
4th April 1998 -
Turku (with The Bruisers, Blood for Blood & others)
And here's something that has been said about our
music:
About "Punks,
Skins & Herberts Vol.3" Comp. LP:
"... My favourite
is Bitter Bois. To me, these Finns have the most classic Oi sound; hoarse
male vocals and a driving, simple thythm with plenty of low-end..." (Outlight
Reviews; Internet)
"... An especially strong finish on
this LP is supplied courtesy of BITTER BOIS from Finland with three killer
tunes. BITTER BOIS start with "Backstreet Boys" which has that
excellent gruff oi vocal style made popular by CONDEMNED 84. The BITTER
BOIS slam right into "No Politics", another fuckin' strong
piece with good lyrics. The LP finishes with "Unite". Good shit!" (Bruce
Roehrs' column, MRR 177, Feb 1998)
"... And a real kick in the head delivered
by the great Finnish skinhead band BITTER BOIS. Excellent!" (Reviews,
MRR 177, Feb 1998)
If you have seen other reviews of our releases, please let us know. Also
your feedback is always welcome! (e-mail: bitterbois@oocities.com
)