It was a lotta crap at first, but at least we had some fun. - Tokela Oh yeah. This band has been around for a long time. They started out as a rockabilly band/50s rock'n'roll combo in L?nsim?ki. Formed by Mika Tokela (lead guitar), Repa Nurmi (2nd guitar), Mika Rantanen (drums) and Jari Pillola (vocals). Demos were made, but never sent anywhere due to a lack of self-esteem and talent. Plain laziness was also a factor. Around 1984, they got a new drummer, Tero Sepp?nen. Then the singer left the band, allowing Tokela to take on vocal duties. These kids practised hard and expanded their musical likings towards edgier and rougher sounds, while playing gigs every opportunity they had. By the time they made their first single, the band had shifted from being a somewhat odd rockabilly quartet to a kind of psychobilly trio with the line-up of Tokela (guitar/vocals), Repa - who had switched from guitar to upright bass - and Jami Haapanen on the drums. I had a green and white baseball jacket that said 'Melrose S&A Club 1962' and that's where we took our name from. -Tokela The musical climate in Finland at the time favored melancholy pop sung in Finnish, usually in minor keys. We just wanted to play the kind of music that WE would have liked to hear... you know, on the radio or on records or somewhere! There were some bands in England and of course the Stray Cats, but that scene was dyingf and nobody had done it here before, so I guess it was the right time and place for our stuff. Actually. things really started to work when our demo tape got praised in this Finnish music magazine Rumba by this indie guru Miettinen. After that we had a couple of good gigs in Helsinki and got signed by Ralf ?rn and Jaana Rinne, who formed the One Inch Rock label, because of us. And, of course, when Jami came in to the band, it lifted us up to a new level. Everything just clicked. - Tokela They quickly became known for their energetic live shows and the distinctive image that made them stand out from the crowd. We were school friends with Repa and we designed all our posters and record covers ourselves, plus we liked to mess about with clothes and hairstyles and whatnot. You could say we had our own style. - Tokela That style, including the sound and the look, was later imitated by many Finnish bands. One Inch Rock put out Coming Out Soon/Real Dream single early '86, followed by another 45 Gang War/Rich Little Bitch. These singles did quite well on the charts and woke up the Finnish media. While papers and radio gave rave reviews, the band was busy finishing their album and doing gigs all over Finland and Sweden. The self-titled first album received good reviews and many artricles were written about this new combo. They also shot a video of the song Rich Little Bitch with Aki Kaurism?ki when Aki was making his version of Hamlet in 1987. Aki wanted us to be in his film and we needed a video. It was a great trade-off, I think. - Tokela This black-and-white clip was often shown on Sky TV (this was before MTV, kids...) and was a big boost for the band. Their music has been used in many films of brothers Aki and Mika Kaurism?ki, as well as in other Finnish movies. By the time they started to work on their second album, the cckily titled Another Piece of Cake (1987), they had changed their style and appearance a lot. Charismatic front man Tokela had "let his hair down" and the music was given a much heavier, harder and produced approach. Yeah, I was making human tests with myself and I got fed up with this teenage idol thing they were trying to mould me into. And I loved AC/DC and all that hard rock sound - Tokela Under a lot of pressure from the record company and the media they managed to come up with quite a good sophomore album. The single Sexuality/Trouble Bound did well and the album sent the band touring all ove rEurope, including gigs in England, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and, of course, Finland. They were chosen as the best live act of 1987 in Germany by the local press and even though the band never made a huge fuss about it, they were constantly in demand abroad, and for a good reason. The third album Full Music (1990) was made in between tours and family life and it took too long to make, causing the public's interest to fade. The honeymoon with the record company was also winding down and the guys decided to switch recording partners, signing with Atte Blom and Magamania. Atte bought all the tapes and stuff and we finally got to finish that album. It took ages! We waited for three fucking years for Ralf to build his studio and it killed us 'cos we couldn't get any new material out. I think that record was made in four different places, you know... while we were waiting. - Tokela Full Music received mixed reviews and marked the end of an era for the group. The 90s started with the slap bass player Repa Nurmi quitting the band. He just made a phone call an hour before we were supposed to go on stage. And it was a sold-out gig and everything. he'd had family issues for a long time and he just decided to quit. Luckily, Mitja Tuurala and Jukka Orma were there and they helped us get through that show. - Tokela Shortly after this breakup the remaining two, Tokela and Jami, decided to continue under a different name. This four-piece band was, called The Liberators, worked for a year and managed to record a maxi single for Magamania in 1991. There was Lyle N?rv?nen on the other guitar and Jari Paulam?ki on electric bass. I wanted something different or melodic for a change, but it never really took off and we decided to go back to the trio formation. - Tokela Roger Nieminen joined the band in late 1991 and completed the aimless duo of Tokela and jami. They changed their name back to Melrose and released the single Santa Claus/Who Sold The Earth (1992). The following year they went to Los Angeles to record their 4th album, Rock My World (1993). Atte asked us if we would like to go to LA and we went like 'Yippeeee!' I didn't have the heart to tell him we barely had any new songs. I had to write in the daytime and record at night. It gave me more self-confidence to see we could pull it through. - Tokela The radio single Whatever was lifted off the album and received some airplay. The record got a good word from the critics, but it didn't sell very well. This situation forced Tokela to join the Leningrad Cowboys in 1994. Well, it was a very easy decision to make. They wanted me to write songs for them and they needed a guitar player. I was broke and we had a 4-year old daughter at home. As the man of the house, you gotta keep bringing that food money on the table, you know. Besides, they also wanted Roger to join the group as a roadie and Lyle was already in the band playing the other guitar, so I jumped on the bandwagon, too. That was one hectic year, I tell you. We travelled all over the world, like in Europe and Japan and we even got to play in the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. I have absolutely no regrets about my time in that band - Tokela After this short sting with LC, Melrose was put back together and the whole group was anxious to tape some of their new material. Their next album was the appropriately titled Trio (1996). It shows us a tightly formed group who amazingly laid down their rhythm tracks in one day, leaving more studio time for other musicians and overdubbing, etc. I'm really kinda proud of this record'cos it's almost live all the way and it sounds like...well, it sounds just like we wanted. Fats did a good job of NOT producing the album too much. Tokela Trio was the record where Roger had clearly settled in with his electric bass and the band had found their new, heavier and more bluesy style. No singles were taken from this album, but songs like the The Chief were played on the radio a lot. In spite of not having a hit record, they still remained to be the force of nature-like live act that they had always been. After Trio, Melrose laid low for a while, so Tokela joined his childhood favorites The Slippers. Jami had gigs in Estonia with the popular Smilers, while Roger was still an active crewmember at the Leningrad Cowboys. During the years that followed Melrose did gigs in Estonia, Finland, Sweden and some in the USA. The recording of It's In The Bag (2002) and started in late-2000 throughout the year 2001. The band teamed up with old buddies Mitja Tuurala and Tommi Viksten, who had been around since the 1980s. Times were kinda grim then, not just for us, but everywhere, you know. Because of that terrorist and war shit. That's why the record turned out so heavy and hard. It's probably the reason why we wanted to play something easier to listen to next, like Loverboy. - Tokela The record has itslighter moments, too, like MVP and It's In The Bag, which they released as the first single. All in all, this compilationis a presentation of their recording career from 1986 to 2004. It'll give you a clue of the long trip they have made and their transformation along the way. it can never reach the heights of their live shows, but it'll give you some idea of what Melrose was/is all about. Well, it's our first real compilation ever and we haven't done a live album, either. I don't think we're ever going to do a live album, 'cos you wouldn't see us playing and then it should be a live video. And even that wouldn't be real live 'cos you wouldn't get our sweat on you! So you just gotta check us out yuourself. - Tokela We wish you enjoybale moments with this disc, no matter who you are, where you are, what you do to live, thrive, survive. Everybody, everybody. Yours sincerely, Fats Murdogh "But always your pal."