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Check out the bio on their webside 1986 - Robban met and brought Hiding and Niko from the backwoods of Nedervetil to Kokkola one summerday. Axeli came to Robbans parents garage in Wentus to rehearse with the boys. Their first appearance would be at the West Park Concert the same afternoon. When the promoters ask what the name of the band is; Axeli says ”Wentus Blues Band” since they have two bluestunes in their half-hour repertoaire. So the story begins.. - The Wentus Blues Band rehearse regularly in the garage in Wentus driving the neighbourhood nuts! - First restaurant gig at Vaakunan Kellari supporting Tuppu Orrenmaa Fusion (Hiding and Robban 16 years old, Niko just 13! Anders Boijer deputies Axeli due to Army service.) 1987 - Playing as supportact for DUKE ROBILLARD & The Pleasure Kings at Vaakuna, Kokkola. Robbans older brother Leif plays keyboard. - First demo recorded at Music Barn Studios, Purmo - WBB performs also at the Eastern Jam in Kokkola, AQUA-Rock in Kålby, SÖU-Rock in Molpe, Midnight Jazz in Kokkola (Niko got late for this pubgig due to his own confirmation party!). 1988 - First performance in Vasa at the Oliver´s Inn. - WBB was rated third at the ROCKOKKOLA-contest, Hiding was rated best guitarplayer. - Anders starts to sing with the WBB after moving to Kokkola in the summer. - WBB plays regularly gigs at Kanttarellis and at Hickarö in Kokkola and at Pavis, Pietarsaari - Second demo recorded at Ram-Ham Studios, Kokkola 1989 - Debut-record releaseparty in February at Chess Music Bar, Kokkola. The longplay-record sells about 1000 ex. - First real tour with appearances in Vasa, Ekenäs and Rauma - WBB plays SÖU-Rock in Vasa , Rock-Pool in Jakobstad, Kåren in Åbo etc.. 1990 - Gigs all around Pohjanmaa.. - Historical gig in Nizhny Novgorod, USSR had to be cancelled due to political reasons. - Robban joins the army. 1991 - Robban gets out, Hiding and Niko joins the army - Singlerecord release ”Genuine Dog Music” recorded at Karivox Studios, Kokkola - TV-appearance; FST, Söndagsöppet. 1992 - First tour to Sweden and Denmark playing in: Linköping, Helsingborg Jazz&Blues Festival and in Copenhagen. - WBB meets bluesician/harpplayer Hungry John from Norway in Copenhagen. - The society for living music in Kokkola(Kokemus) releases a compilation-cd (named Experience) with WBB on two tracks. 1993 - WBB invites Hungry John to Finland for a two week tour, the tour goes to: Vasa, Pietarsaari, Iisalmi, Kokkola, Turku, Helsinki, Tampere, Espoo and Forssa. - TV-appearance with Hungry John. - WBB gigs now more regularly and plays at Elefantti-Rock in Kokkola, Manse-Rock in Tampere and the Scandinavian Blues Party is arranged for the first time. 1994 - WBB tours with Hungry John again in February. This time the tour went to: Vasa, Turku, Ekenäs, Järvenpää, Lahti, Kouvola, Jyväskylä, Lohja and Helsinki. - Robban visited Hungry John in Bergen, played a gig with him and had the great opportunity to meet B.B. KING . - WBB played the Scandinavian Blues Party with Pepe Ahlqvist and C.C. de Plicque (USA) - WBB toured in Northern Norway in October and played in; Kiruna(Sweden), Ballangen, Tromsø, Nordkjosbotn, Hasvik. (The tour was a great adventure traveling with reggaeband-Dreadlines tourbus with summertires on!) - WBB started the Oliver´s Bluesclub where they performed once a month with some guest stars. The bluesclub guests were: Lynwood Slim and James Smith from Chicago(October), Bill Öhrström from Sweden (November) and Jukka Tolonen (December), WBB played with Jukka also in Jyväskylä, Tampere and Kokkola. 1995 - The bluesclub continued with Pepe Ahlqvist (January), Esa Kuloniemi & Ilkka Helander (February), Eero Raittinen (March) and Heikki Silvennoinen (April). We had a break over summer and did the club again in the fall with: Honey B & T-Bone Ed (November), Bob Manning from USA (December). We did also several gigs allover Finland with these guests when they visited our bluesclub. - Live at Club 25; a half hour concert with WBB on TV - Our second longplay ”Chitlin´Circuit” was released on Bluelight Records. - WBB performed at Kainuun Jazzkevät Festival, SunPampas Festival in Ylivieska, Jakobs Dagar in Pietarsaari.. etc.. - WBB did also a tour with C.C. de Plicque (USA) in Sweden and played at: Piteå dansar och Ler-Festival, Fiskekyrkan in Luleå and the Flakasand Blues & Rock Festival. 1996 - The last bluesclub was held in January with guests; Pelle Lindström (Swe) and Jukka Tolonen. We also played at Tavastia in Helsinki and did a short tour to Lapland. - Rundradion releases a cd ”Gunghästen” with new songs for children , WBB plays 4 tracks. - A cd-compilation of Scandinavian blues acts; Scandinavian Blues Barbeque is released internationally, WBB is on the cd with one track from the ”Chitlin Circuit”-album. - We performed at: Mönsterås Blues Festival (Swe), Sun Pampas Festival, Midsummer Party in Kalajoki, Rovaniemi Roots´n´River Festival, Åmåls Bluesfestival, Jakobs dagar, Risulahti-Rock in Luumäki, Porolampi Rokkaa ja Heilaa in Ristiina, New Years Eve in Pyhätunturi, Lappi etc.. - Robban went to Chicago with Pepe Ahlqvist to jam, listen, study and met all the great there..(Junior Wells, James Cotton, Joe Louis Walker, Eddy Clearwater, The Lone Ranger and visited Little Walters grave together with Dave Myers!) - WBB celebrated their 10-year birthday by giving a great concert at the Scandinavian Blues Party in Kokkola. The band featured Toholampi-horns, two beautiful singing ladies, Hammond-wizard Tommi Peltola and Pepe Ahlqvist. WBB got a special trophy as thanks for all of these years from The American Car Club in Jakobstad! 1997 - Bluelight records releases EP: ”Boogie Man” with Jukka Tolonen as guest on one track. - WBB did more gigs than ever, They took Pepe Ahlqvist to Sweden and Norway to play for the first time, they toured with Pelle Lindström, Jukka Tolonen, Bill Öhrström, Eero Raittinen and Hungry John all over Scandinavia. - They performed at: Tunturiblues-festival in Saariselkä, Fiskekyrkans Blueshappening in Luleå, Seljes Midsummer, Imatra Big Band Festival, Hangö-regattan, Jakobs Dagar, Flakasand Rock & Blues-Festival (Swe), Varanger-Festivalen (Norge), Villstafesten in Eskilstuna (Swe) + ca. 130 clubgigs. - WBB supported Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, Geraint Watkins & The Refreshments at the Scandinavian Blues Party. - WBB toured in Denmark in September and did a three-week tour in Sweden in November-December. 1998 - 1998 started with two festival appearances in January; Tunturiblues in Saariselkä and The Helsinki Guitar Festival. WBB also performed at Storyville in Helsinki when the club celebrated their 5-year-birthday-party and did a three week tour with Pepe Ahlqvist in Finland. - WBB does a bluesclub once a month at Hotelli Kalliohovi in Rauma with gueststars: Jukka Tolonen & Pelle Lindström(January), Pepe Ahlqvist (February), Eero Raittinen(March), Honey B & T-Bones (April) and Louisiana Red (May) - We also did our first tour of Germany, a memorable show was in Lübeck,Werkhof with The Holmes Brothers 1999 - In february we started a 2 weeklong tour together with LOUISIANA RED and we did some successful shows in both Finland and Sweden.. - In May we returned again to Germany and played two festivals: Schwerin Bluesfestival and Lübeck Bluesfestival - New CD: Hoy, Hoy - Wentus Blues Band feat. Pelle Lindström was released on Bluelight Records. - TV-show with Pelle Lindström in October - Also Heikki Kossi had begun to shoot the documentary "Mississippi - Nedervetil".. - In the fall we also did again a two-week tour with Louisiana Red, One highlight was the Scandinavian Blues Party in Kokkola which ended in a jamsession with Knut Reiersrud (N), Calle Lindholm (YLE), Pepe Ahlqvist and LA RED.. - In November we toured in Denmark, Germany and Luxemburg.. 2000 - Tour of norway with Louisiana Red and Hungry John, - We continued the Wentus Blues Club at Cantina West, special guests: Jukka Tolonen, Bill Öhström, Derrick Walker (USA).. - A definite highlight was the Mideuropean Tour with CANNED HEAT in April.. We toured Germany, Austria,etc.. and played for sold-out houses.. - In the summer we performed at Imatra Big Band Festival (FIn), Falun Folkmusicfestival (Swe)..etc.. - Playing in front of both Hells Angels and Bandidos at the Mosten Raceday in Denmark was also an experience.. - Wentus Blues Club at Cantina West had the following guests: Rock Bottom (USA), Hungry John (N), Lynwood Slim (USA) and Sven Zetterberg (SWE) - in November we toured again in Germany, Luxemburg and Belgium 2001 - We started the year with doing a TV-show for the Finnish National Television on a programme called Dynamo.. - First tour with Barrence Whitfield and Clas Yngström in January.. - In February we played Kiel Bluesfestival and Rostock Bluesfestival.. - New CD: "No Beginner" produced by Clas Yngström was released in February.. - Successful Finlandtour together with OMAR & THE HOWLERS (USA) in March.. - Also we played 2 shows together with the legendary YARDBIRDS during Eastern. - In the summer we toured Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Holland and did some shows with both DR FEELGOOD and CANNED HEAT.. - In september we toured Germany once again.. - The documentaryfilm "MISSISSIPPi - NEDERVETIL" by Heikki Kossi was being shown on both Swedish and National Television - First tour with legendary bluesman EDDIE KIRKLAND (USA), we toured Finland and Sweden.. - A tour with Rock Bottom was cancelled just 3 weeks before the tour. Rock had just came home from some gigs in Florida and laid down home on his sofa. He passed away a few minutes later.. May he rest in peace.. - In december on our way home from some gigs in Denmark we crashed our Chevy Van just 10 km away from our hometown Kokkola.. 2002 - The year started with a lot of problems to solve out: we had to find a new Van, our Tour of Florida, USA had been cancelled since Rock Bottom had passed away.. anyway we managed to be back on the road in January touring first with Jukka Tolonen and then after that with Louisiana Red.. - Our Bluesclub at Cantina West had a real good line-up: Jukka Tolonen, Louisiana Red, Gary Primich, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Eddie Kirkland.. fortunately the shows we´ré all recorded.. - Mississippi-Nedervetil was shown at the Berlin Filmfestival.. - Tour of England in April; we played Oxford, Swindon, Chester and Nottingham and had a real wonderful time! Dick Heckstall-Smith showed up at the show in Oxford together with Pete Brown ( who wrote lyrics for Cream.. ) - 2nd tour with Eddie Kirkland, we toured in Finland, Sweden and Denmark.. - During the summer we played Bragdøya Bluesfestival (Norway ) and Torshavn Jazz, Blues & Folka Festival on Faeroe Islands.. - We also played the main festival in Finland: Pori Jazzfestival - Succesful tour with Sonny Rhodes in Finland and Sweden.. - the fallseason on Our Wentusbluesclub had the following guests: Barrence Whitfield, Phil Guy, Bill Öhrström and Otis Grand. in November we did our 3rd tour with Eddie Kirkland. This time we went to: Sweden, Denmark, France, Belgium and Holland.. - Antti informs us that he wants to stop touring due to his big family.. 2003 - in january/february we tour with Eero Raittinen and Dick Heckstall-Smith. we had some really great time playing Ylläs Jazz&Blues Festival and clubs in North Sweden.. - We found our new singer Juho Kinaret out on the potatoefields of Himanka. We started to make up a completely new repertoaire with him in february and we baptized him in Koskenkorva(!) yes, it´s true! The first gig was in Koskenkorva.. - During eastern we did our 1st tour with ex. Rolling Stones guitarplayer MICK TAYLOR. we did a successful tour in Finland. - I May we headed for our 1st German Tour with Juho, we played the Dresden Bluesfestival and we received some nice reviews in the German Bluesnews magazine.. - during the summer we did about 20 shows with Louisiana Red and in August/September we did 20 shows with Phil Guy.. - In November we played Helsinki Tavastia club with THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS.. after that we headed on a tour with Sonny Rhodes to Sweden.. 2004 - In January we went this time to South Germany to tour for 3 weeks.. - NEW CD " FAMILY ALBUM" with special guests was released.. Great reviews everywhere.. - This Years Eastern-tour was a tour with both Louisiana Red and Carey Bell together.. What an experience.. Carey Bell came back a month later and we did 10 shows with him in Sweden.. - During the summer we did our 2nd tour with Mick Taylor in Finland.. - In the fall we started to do the Wentus bluesclub again, this time at the legendary FASCHING JAZZCLUB in Stockholm.. special guests on the bill was: Eddie Kirkland, Phil Guy and Mick Taylor.. - In october we started a one month long tour with Phil Guy in Europe, Axeli had to stop the tour halfway due to problems with his back, fortunately our friend Olli Ontronen could replace him for the rest of the shows.. - our 3rd tour ( but 1st in Sweden ) with Mick Taylor was a big success with sold-out houses everynight.. 2005 - In january we went down to South Germany again to do a 10 day tour.. - We continued the Fasching Blues Club with guests: Carey Bell, Eric Bibb and Barrence Whitfield, - in May we toured Germany again this time sponsored by the Deutsch-Finnsiche Gesellschaft.. we played 7 shows at different Culturalhouses.. - The Summerfestivals were this year: Aulanko Blues (FIN), Åmåls Bluesfest(Swe), Flashboda ( Swe), Luxemburg Bluesrallye( L).. - We released the CD-single "BLUES TODAY USA" and it was played on bluesradiostations all over the world.. - We did a tour with Phil Guy in Germany and at the same time released a CD called: WENTUS BLUES BAND featuring PHIL GUY - Live in Helsinki.. - During Decembermonth we did 10 shows in Sweden with Mick Taylor, and this time again it was a big success!! 2006 On September the 14th,15th and 16th we celebrated the WENTUS BLUES BAND 20-years anniversary by giving 3 concerts at the Russian Emperors Old Operahouse in Helsinki: Aleksanterinteatteri. We invited a lot of friends and guests that we have been working with throughout the years and the following guests performed with us at the concert: SVEN ZETTERBERG, CLAS YNGSTRÖM, EDDIE KIRKLAND, BARRENCE WHITFIELD, LAZY LESTER, LOUISIANA RED, OMAR DYKES, MICK TAYLOR and KIM WILSON. This special event was also filmed for the upcoming movie " FAMILY MEETING" and is directed by Heikki Kossi. The film will be shown on movietheatres in Finland and Sweden. Read more about it here: FAMILY MEETING You can also check out the trailer and more about the film at: www.mokulfilmi.com