BIO / BIO (fin)

In the year 1997 I got bored with playing alone and set up my first blues band. At that time my instrument was a Fender Telecaster made for me by my father. The members of the band were Matts Remell on guitar, Rauli Suuronen on bass, Antti Erkkilä on drums, Joonas Haavisto on piano.

This group practised a lot. Every friday evening at Keskipohjanmaan Conservatory's Jazz class, at the legendary time, 6pm . We were all studying at the music school at that time and that's why the Conservatory was a good place to practise and play loud! We didn't have any gigs. Actually we didn't even try to find some, we just wanted to play for fun. It is true that when a band practises a lot, it starts to sound like something. We played for many hours every friday evening and we realized that our music really sounded as good as an original blues band! (at that time we were about sixteen years old so I don't know how awful it was...). Then we decided to get some gigs for the band because we thought that it would be fun after practising for such a long time.

One day I was reading the Kokkola magazine and I found an announcement in which they were looking for performers for a local welfare party. I immediately made a call and they were glad to have a young blues band to show their skills. So, that was the first gig of Black&Blues. I really can't say anything about that name. We didn't have a name and when the first gig came we had to figure out something. The name was short lived.

Kosovo-Gaala (29.5.1999) was the name of that event and it continued for two days at the Kokkola market place. I have never seen so many performers in one session like they had on the Kosovo-gaala event, and the performers didn't charge anything for their performances! But unfortunately it was raining the whole day and there was not that many in the audience. Kosovo-Gaala was an important gig because on that day I decided that I wanted to be a blues harmonica player. Here is what happened: I heard quite good harmonica stuff as played by Gusti Nordlund. Gusti was, and still is a harmonica player and vocalist of the Lena Maate Bluesband. That day I started to search for somebody who really knew how to play original blues harmonica.

I made a few phone calls and after a couple of days I was sitting in the home office of Robban Hagnäs. He is the bass player and manager of Wentus Blues Band and he told me that he knows how to play harmonica and would show me a couple of good licks. So I took a few lessons from Robban and he told me all the basic ways to play. I have to say that without Robban I would still be playing guitar! I bought cd's of Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and all the great blues harmonica players, and tried to play in the same way as them. (Nowadays I am listening to all the West Coast harmonica wizards like Rod Piazza, William Clarke etc. That is the style I love!)

As I said, the Black&Blues name didn't last for very long after the Kosovo-Gaala gig. We even performed a few times as a nameless band. There were also changes in the band line-up. Our drummer Antti Erkkilä left the band and the piano player Joonas Haavisto did the same. They were so busy at that time that they didn't have much time for the band anymore. Also the guitar player Matts Remell left the band because he joined the army. So, there were only two guys left; me and the bassmaster Rauli Suuronen and we had to get new players to the band. After a while we had a second bluesgroup ready for doing great gigs. And the second blues band was: me and Rauli of course, Tuomas Huhtala on drums (he was Rauli's childhood friend and he had played with Rauli in several other bands), and Tuomas Kurki on irritating trombone. That was the new line-up of the band with a brand new name, Bluesology which still exists today.

To make a comparison between the old band and the new Bluesology I have to say that the style and the way of playing changed a little bit. At the beginning we used to play mostly basic blues and old blues classics but when the group changed we added some funk and rockblues to our repertoire. Bluesology started to have some gigs, big and smaller ones. We did every gig that we could have. Two remarkable gigs that comes to mind were the "Rock of Wanha Calle" (7.7.2000) and the "Scandinavian Bluesparty" (13.10.2000). Unfortunately the second group broke up after a while. Tuomas Huhtala's work, and finally the army forced us to find a new drummer. The new drummer was Tero Moilanen. Same thing happened with Rauli when he got a conservatory place from Helsinki . So, we needed a new bass player and the right guy was Mikko Pellinen. Actually Tero and Mikko did the Scandinavian Bluesparty gig after two rehearsals!

Although Bluesology had many gigs and practise hours, I didn't forget the harmonica. So I started to figure out for myself, who would be a good guitar player for Bluesology so that I could put my guitar away and take my harmonicas to rehearseals. After a little while I found Arto Särösalo from the Conservatory. He was studying music and guitar at the Conservatory and he didn't think twice when I asked him to join the band. Now the third group was me on vocals and harmonica, Arto on guitar, Tero on drums, Mikko on bass and Tuomas on trombone. We had many good gigs. Especially the Wentus Blues Band warm-up session at Calle Night Club (2.6.2001). Unfortunately Arto left Bluesology after that summer because he got a university place from Helsinki Pop/Jazz Conservatory. That's why Bluesology was again without an important player. We didn't practice and we didn't do any gigs. Afterwards I think that it was good to have a short break.

It is part of the blues tradition that all blues people help each other when help is needed. We found help to our guitarist problem from "The Blues Blackmail" blues band. The guitar player of that band moved to Kokkola and he got excited when he heard that Bluesology was without a guitarist. After two days we had a practise session with the band and Bluesology was raised from the dead. And when we did our first gig with Tuomas Laajoki I knew that he was the right person for my band, a real bluesman! Afterwards Tuomas has become a good friend of mine and I have met his friends and good blues musicians all around Finland .

In the beginning of the year 2002 Bluesology started to live a quiet life because me and Tuomas Kurki joined the army. During our army service we didn't have so many gigs because we couldn't practice so much. We had three gigs in the summer of 2002. Our bass player Mikko couldn't handle these gigs so we had to call Rauli to help us because he was back in Kokkola. Afterwards Mikko announced that he would leave the band because he had so many other bands and gigs. So, Rauli was back in business. When I was in the army I met a great tenor saxophone player all the way from the backwoods of Ilmajoki. Olli Pelto-Aho joined us for those three gigs and showed his skills. He has been a part of the band ever since.

In the beginning of February 2003, British guitar hero Otis Grand invited me to join his band. So I had to leave Bluesology and all the other projects that I had. At that time Otis had so many gigs that the easiest way for me was to move to London . I stayed there five months and I had a great opportunity to play with Jimmy Thomas, Bobby Parker, Deitra Farr, Michael Roach and many other very good blues musicians all around the UK . Although it was a great experience and I really enjoyed myself, I moved back to Finland in June 2003. While I was there Bluesology hired Arttu Louhela to do the vocals. Also Tero Moilanen left the band after my last gig here in Finland . The new drummer was great Timo Tikkamäki. Very strong shuffle drummer with great timing!

In the beginning of the year 2004 we released our debyt album. Recording session was held at Studio 57 (its a very nice homestudio in the backwoods of nedervetil) 28-30.11.2003. This was a very good session. Even Rod Piazza said: " This band is doing it, and doing it right. Tough, tough, tough!! Olli is a great harp player and, at 21 years old, is already on the heels of some of the U.S. 's top harp players ".

At the end of the year 2004 and in the beginning of 2005 Bluesology was recording again. We wanted to do best live sound as possible and thats why we Hired Miika Halmetoja to pack his moving studio into his car and drive to Kokkola for a two weekend sessions. The recording was held in a wooden warehouse in Ykspihlaja. Well, heres the result; warm , raw and colorful room sound that we have been looking for! Red House Roll will be released on the 29th April.

Both albums are available! If you want your copy, contact us!

-Olli Ontronen- 2007