Matthau Mikoyan

Matthau Mikojan on October 16, 2008 in Stuttgart

Matthau Mikojan (born March 26, 1982 in Tampere ; real name Matti Tapani Mikkonen ) is a Finnish rock musician , singer , guitarist and songwriter in the band named after him.

Life

Matthau Mikojan is the younger son of Arvo Tapani "Arwo" Mikkonen, who was active as a guitarist in the Manserock band Popeda . Little is known about his mother Sirpa, but all the more about his four year older brother Jukka Kristian Mikkonen, better known as "Sir Christ" (also known as "Sir General Christ" since 2009), former lead guitarist of Tampere-based glam rock Tape negatives . At the age of four, Matthau lost his father, who died of a heart attack at the age of 31 during a sound check.

Musical career

Earlier career

Matthau started playing the guitar from a very early age. Today he also masters bass, drums , a little piano and is learning the harmonica . According to his own account, he had his first acoustic appearance in 1995. A year earlier, in 1994, he founded a band with Paavo Pekkonen , which initially operated under the names Turmio and RIP , and later became known as Bloodpit . Matthau also played and sang in various other bands such as Lavasäteily (here at times together with his brother), Shit Kickers and SBT-666 .

Bloodpit

Ultimately, one of these bands remains Bloodpit as the band he focuses on. The first gig takes place on November 26th, 1999 in Tampere, in the following years the band goes through various line-up changes, especially on the bass the members sometimes change at very short intervals. Until 2004, the band had to get by without a record deal, released several EPs for promotional purposes and played various band competitions, of which they won three in a row in 2001 alone. This was followed by various appearances at festivals and finally in 2003 a contract offer from the record label Grotesque Records , which went bankrupt before the band could agree. Finally, Bloodpit came under contract with Beemvees / Playground Music in 2004 and released the albums Mental Circus (2005) and Off The Hook (2007) as well as various singles and EPs with this record company until 2007 . There are also appearances in Finland , Russia , Italy , the USA and Germany . The single Platitude from the album Mental Circus was selected as one of the title songs for the NHL 07 computer game by the American software company EA Sports at the end of 2006 . On July 20, 2007, however, the chapter Bloodpit ended for Matthau Mikojan. During the tour there were disagreements in the band, whereupon Matthau quit, "for personal reasons", as he later states. The band then took a break and presented themselves with a new line-up in summer 2008.

Matthau Mikojan (project and band)

Shortly after separating from Bloodpit, namely in September 2007, Matthau Mikojan begins recording his first solo album, which will be released on March 12, 2008 in Finland. A pre-release hit the stores on February 6th, the single Stiletto Heels . On the album, which bears the artist's name, Matthau plays almost all the instruments himself, only on drums he is supported by Simo Stenman (The Bitterlicks). Matthaus' live line-up caused a sensation, as until April 2008 it also included his brother "Sir Christ", who had been separated from his long-term band Negative since January 2008 . Also in the video for the second single Too Fortunate To Cry , which will be released in April 2008, the brothers can be seen side by side, but then Sir Christ leaves the band. Matthau is playing various concerts and festivals in Finland with his live line-up, followed in October 2008 by the “screw looser tour” with concerts in Germany and Switzerland . After the end of the tour, Matthau announces on his homepage that from now on the name "Matthau Mikojan" is to be understood as not just him, but his band, which started as a project, with the following line-up:

• Matthau Mikojan - vocals, guitar
• Teemu Broman - bass
• Simo Stenman - drums

One month after the end of the tour, on November 19th, 2008, the EP Chasing Ghosts hits the record stores. It is the first release by the band Matthau Mikojan .

On March 4, 2009, the band's first studio album, called Mania For Life , will be released. It also contains the songs from the previous EP, which can therefore be viewed as a pre-release.

In March 2010 the band will play again in Germany as part of the “Gypsy Tour”, but no longer Teemu Broman on stage on bass, but Janne Sundvall, who will be confirmed as a new member of the band at the end of the month. The separation from Teemu Broman went well, according to the band.

In April 2010 the band had to cancel some concerts because Matthau injured his arm in a car accident and had to pause playing guitar. This also leads to slight delays in the recording of the band's third studio album, which, according to Matthaus, will be titled Hell Or High Water on Facebook and will be released later in March 2011.

At the same time, the band brought Tommi Liimatainen (Hype Productions) on board to book gigs in Finland. Since August 2012, however, all bookings and inquiries (national and international) have been carried out through the band itself.

On March 27, 2015, the fourth studio album, "Her Foreign Language", was released initially in Finland via the "Inverse Music Group", and then finally internationally on April 10. On this Matthau Mikojan played all the instruments himself.

His current live band consists of Alarik Valarmo [the former BLOODPIT drummer] and Janne Sundvall.

Side projects

In addition to his band, Matthau also repeatedly plays solo appearances in which he accompanies himself on the acoustic guitar. This concert series, which does not have a fixed sequence, is called Matthau's Acoustic Sauna . In May 2009, a tour in Germany was planned with this series of performances, which had to be canceled at short notice.

In 2008 Matthau also played temporarily bass in the Tampere-based band Black Jesus . There he was seen again side by side with his brother, who played guitar in the band. In the meantime, however, Black Jesus have disbanded.

He also has a side project called Don Skorleone & Consiglieres .

Discography

With Bloodpit

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Mental Circus   FI 4th 35/2005 (2 weeks) Off the hook   FI 17th 17/2007 (1 week)

EPs

Platitude   FI 2 29/2005 (5 weeks)

Singles

Out to Find You   FI 1 14/2005 (5 weeks) Bad-ass blues   FI 4th 49/2005 (5 weeks) Sauna pää!   FI 1 23/2006 (10 weeks) Wise Men Don't Cry   FI 3 14/2007 (2 weeks) Recovered   FI 4th 41/2008 (1 week)

Albums

• Mental Circus (2005)
• Off The Hook (2007)

Singles

• Out to Find You (2005)
• One More Time (2005)
• Platitude (2005)
• Bad Ass Blues (2005)
• Wise Men Don't Cry (2007)

EPs

• Promo EP (2000)
• No 2 (2001)
• You Name It (2003)
• Platitude (2004)
• Sauna Päälle! (2006)

Music videos

• Platitude (2005)
• Bad Ass Blues (2006)
• Wise Men Don't Cry (2007)

DVDs

• Live @ Nosturi (2007)

With the Matthau Mikojan project

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Matthau Mikoyan   FI 21st 12/2008 (1 week) Mania for Life   FI 27 11/2009 (1 week) Hell or high water   FI 48 13/2011 (1 week)

EPs

Chasing ghosts   FI 17th 48/2008 (1 week)

Singles

Stiletto heels   FI 5 07/2008 (1 week) Too Fortunate to Cry   FI 19th 18/2008 (1 week)

Albums

• Matthau Mikojan (2008)
• Mania For Life (2009)
• Hell Or High Water (2011)
• Her Foreign Language (2015)

Singles

• Stiletto Heels (2008)
• Too Fortunate To Cry (2008)
• Gypsy Eye (2009)

Download singles

• Plastic Trays (2010)

EPs

• Chasing Ghosts (2008)

With side projects

EPs

• Catch The Madman (2008 with Black Jesus )

Private

The Tampere-based musician has been married to his long-term partner Minna Niiranen since 2012.

Web links

• Official website
• German-language homepage / support

Individual evidence

1. ↑ matthaumikojan.com ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ matthaumikojan.com ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ matthaumikojan.com (accessed on May 10, 2009)
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart results for Bloodpit FinnishCharts.com
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart results for Matthau Mikojan FinnishCharts.com