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Poets of the Fall

Poets of the Fall (or "PotF") is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki, founded in 2003
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Poets of the Fall (or PotF) is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki, founded in 2003. The group consists of founding members Marko Saaresto (lead vocals), Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar) and Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen (keyboards, production), as well as later additions Jani Snellman (bass), Jaska Mäkinen (rhythm guitar), and Jari Salminen (drums, percussion). The band has sold over 100,000 albums in Finland.[citation needed] They also perform under the pseudonym Old Gods of Asgard in video-games made by Remedy Entertainment.

History

Beginning (2003–2004)

The band was founded on 25 April 2003 with the collaboration of Saaresto and Tukiainen who had written multiple songs for the band FUSS. Tukiainen had also performed with Finnish jazzband Pohjoinen Syke and Saaresto had been the front-man and songwriter for Playground in the 90s.

In 2003, Saaresto's friend Sami Järvi (known internationally as Sam Lake), a script-writer working at Remedy Entertainment handed Saaresto a poem he had written, asking him to turn it into a song to use in Remedy's upcoming video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The song, entitled Late Goodbye, was used as the ending-theme of the game as well as a recurring motif, being sung and whistled by multiple characters. It was produced by Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen, who joined the band that summer due to Saaresto and Tukiainen liking his work.[1]

Kaarlonen being a former employee of benchmark-developer Futuremark, PotF were offered to have their song Lift included in the 2005-literation of Futuremark's benchmarking software 3DMark, which exposed the band to a wider audience than Max Payne 2 had done.

In order to keep complete control and freedom over the band, the members founded their own independent record label, Insomniac, on which they have released all their CDs as of now.

On 30 June 2004, the Poets released their debut single Late Goodbye in Finland which was followed by Lift on 9 September 2004.[2][3] The songs charted #14 and #8 on the Finnish single charts and reached #2 and #7 in YleX's 2004-voting for "Best Finnish song". POTF were also voted "Fresh Newcomer of 2004" by YleX. The video for Lift was directed by Tuomas "Stobe" Harju.

With Lift, the founding trio were first joined by the "live band" - at that point consisting of rhythm guitarist Jaska Mäkinen, bass guitarist Jani Snellman and drummer Tapio Sutela. This lineup would remain the same throughout the Signs of Life era.

On 18 December 2004, the Poets released a free download single on their website Maybe Tomorrow Is a Better Day to market the release of their debut album Signs of Life. After having been taken offline, it was remastered and reissued on the band's second album Carnival of Rust.

Signs of Life (2005–2006)

The band's debut album Signs of Life was released in Finland on 19 January 2005, followed by iTunes on 25 May 2005. It entered the Finnish Top 40 album chart at number one and has been certified platinum by the Finnish IFPI. The album was awarded the Emma Award for the "Best Debut Album of the Year 2005" and the band received the "Best Newcomer of the Year"-Award.

Accompanying the album, the band released a video for the song Lift, directed by Tuomas "Stobe" Harju, and used the songs Stay and Illusion & Dream as promotional radio singles. The album contains a password granting access to a secret page on poetsofthefall.com that hosts a remix of the song Lift, entitled "Dramadance Remix" as well as wallpapers made from the Lift-video and the album-artwork. PotF performed at Popkomm 2005 in Berlin.

Carnival of Rust (2006-2007)

Having won the "Best Finnish Breakthrough"-Award at the NRJ Radio Awards, POTF released their third single, entitled Carnival of Rust in Finland on 22 March 2006 with a release in Germany following on 1 December 2006. The single, which entered the Finnish charts at No. 2, features a radio- and an album-edit as well as a live-recording of Don't Mess With Me, the fourth track on Signs of Life, from the band's performance at Rockperry Festival, Vaasa, Finland on 15 July 2005.

On 30 March 2006, the band released the video to Carnival of Rust which shows a gas-masked woman visiting an old carnival, and also references every song from the band's second album of the same name, became hugely popular in Finland, winning two Muuvi Awards as well as the YLE Audience Choice Award as "Best Finnish Music Video of All Time". It was also voted "Best Music Video 2006" by The Voice. The video shows drummer Tapio Sutela transform into Jari Salminen to signify the role's handover to Salminen who has been with the band ever since.

In 2009, the video was remastered by Elmeri Raitanen as his bachelor-thesis in visual and media arts at Lahti Institute of Design and reissued in high definition.

The Poets' second album Carnival of Rust was released in Finland on 12 April 2006 and has since been released in Sweden, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany and on iTunes. It includes 11 new songs, a remastered version of Maybe Tomorrow Is a Better Day, as well as the music video to the title track. The cover, which sees the return of the lollipop from the first album, was designed by Tuomas Harju.

Carnival of Rust also went straight to No. 1 on the Finnish charts. It has been certified platinum. It was selected as one of the best albums 2006 by Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, and was nominated for "Best Finnish Album" at the NRJ Radio Awards as well as "Best Rock Album" at the Emma Awards in 2007.

Revolution Roulette (2008–2009)

In 2008, PotF redesigned their moth-logo and also changed the font used to display their bandname. They also participated in the Voice's CD compilation Livenä Vieraissa, with a cover version of Chris Cornell's song "You Know My Name", and their own song "Diamonds for Tears".[4] In the same year, PotF signed Phoenix Effect, the band of former Sunrise Avenue-guitarist Janne Kärkkäinen to their Insomniac-label and produced their debut album Cyanide Skies with Saaresto / Tukiainen performing additional vocals / guitar work. The album was released on 18 February 2009 in Finland and entered the Finnish album charts at #22.[5][6] POTF also make a cameo-appearance in the video to Phoenix Effect's song "King See No Evil".

Poets of the Fall released their next single called The Ultimate Fling in Finland on 6 February 2008.[7]The single features three variations of the title track (a radio-edit, an album-edit and an impromptu-version) as well as a live recording of Fire, the opening track of the band's second album Carnival of Rust which was recorded during the Poets' performance at Ankkarock Festival 2007 on 5 August.[citation needed] The single charted at No. 2 in the Finnish singles charts.[citation needed] Months after the release of the single, the band published the accompanying video which consists of fan-recorded footage of the band performing at various gigs.

The third PotF-album, entitled Revolution Roulette, was released in Finland and on iTunes on 26 March 2008. Its cover was designed by Tuomas Harju and features a giant padlock with a built-in roulette, abandoning the lollipop used on the previous album-covers. The record marks the first PotF-album not produced in Markus Kaarlonen's living-room, but the band's own professional studio. It went straight to the top of the Finnish charts and was certified gold two weeks after being released.[8] The band also released the title track of the album as a promotional radio-single.[citation needed] While on tour with the album, the band played their first gig in the United States at Musexpo 2008 in Los Angeles on 29 April 2008.[9]

On 18 September 2009, the band released a "Best of"-compilation in India.[citation needed]

Twilight Theater (2010)

In mid-2009, after finishing the Revolution Roulette Tour, the band announced they would be heading into the studio to record their fourth album, the genre of which they described as "cinematic rock".[10] On 9 December 2009, the band announced that a song entitled "War" from their fourth studio album would be featured in Alan Wake, a psychological thriller video game developed by Remedy Entertainment. Along with "War", Alan Wake also features two new songs, "Children of the Elder God" and "The Poet and the Muse", which were written specifically for the game, and are performed by Poets of the Fall as the in-game band Old Gods of Asgard. In June, the band released a video for "War" (despite it being only a promotional single on radio) which re-enacts scenes from the game in live-action. It features Finnish actor Ilkka Villi as the game's protagonist of the same name (Villi also served as the model used for the creation of the Alan Wake character) and the band, except Saaresto. The band portrays in the video some of Alan Wake's in-game antagonists, lumberjacks possessed by an evil force named "the Dark Presence". The antagonists are collectively called "the Taken".

On 18 January, the band announced that their fourth album entitled Twilight Theater would be released on 17 March in Finland and that the first single from the album would be Dreaming Wide Awake which debuted on Radio NRJ Suomi on 21 January and was released on 3 February as a limited-edition single. It reached No. 18 on the Finnish single-charts.[11][12]

Twilight Theater was released in Finland and on iTunes on 17 March, followed by Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 29 October. It went straight to the top of the Finnish album charts and was certified gold a week after release.[13][14]

Alchemy Vol. 1 (2011)

The band released a double-vinyl edition of their debut album Signs of Life on 19 January 2011, exactly six years after its original release.[15] A CD & DVD-compilation entitled Alchemy Vol. 1 was released on 16 March 2011. It contains the band's whole videography up to that point as well as the favourite songs of the band-members and also features two new songs, "No End, No Beginning" and "Can You Hear Me". The latter was released digitally on 2 February 2011 and is featured in the remake of Remedy Entertainment's video game Death Rally.[16] The video to the song was directed by Mikko Härmä and premiered on The Voice on 18 March 2011.[17]

Temple of Thought (2012-2013)

A fifth studio album, Temple of Thought, was released on 21 March 2012 to conform to the release-cycle of two years set by the previous albums. Its name and album cover were revealed on the band's official Facebook page on 25 January 2012. The album debuted at #3 on the Finnish charts.

The first single of the new album, Cradled in Love, was released for Finnish radio airplay on 24 January 2012. On 26 January it was released for digital download on the band's official digistore. The band released the music video for the song "Cradled in Love" on 3 March 2012. "The Happy Song", an original song written for Alan Wake's American Nightmare, also appeared on the album. A 45-second snippet of the German radio edit of "Kamikaze Love" was uploaded by Remote Music, an independent German record label, on 24 February 2012. The single was released in Germany on 13 April 2012. A special edition of the album was released on CD in Germany and internationally as a digital release on 20 July 2012. It includes three bonus titles. The Temple of Thought Tour included locations in Finland, Russia, Germany, Romania and India.[18]

In March 2013, the band announced that they would film their show in Moscow on 23 March, during their 10th Anniversary Tour. They launched a campaign collaborating with PledgeMusic. On 13 September 2013 the band released their first live performance DVD titled Live in Moscow.[19]

Jealous Gods (2014-2015)

On 8 July 2014 the band announced that their sixth studio album Jealous Gods would be released on 19 September on iTunes and Spotify, along with other digital music retailers, streaming services and selected record stores. The album's first single, Daze, was released on 22 August on their official website along with its music video.[20] Additionally, prior to the album's release, and as a countdown to the new single and video, each Friday, starting from 11 July with Signs of Life, the band released each of their albums on Spotify in chronological order.[21] In October 2014, the band began the Jealous Gods Tour in Finland and Germany.[22]

Clearview (2016-2018)

On 11 June 2015, the band announced that they had begun working on their seventh studio album.[23] In January 2016, they announced they would be working with Kent producer Stefan Boman on the album. On 26 May 2016, the band announced that their seventh album would be titled Clearview, to be released on 30 September 2016 and is to be followed by an extensive world tour.[24] On 4 August 2016, the album's first single, "Drama for Life", was released. Clearview was released on 30 September 2016, co-inciding with the start of the Clearview Tour in Helsinki.[25]

Ultraviolet (2018-2019)

On 11 March 2018, the band announced that their eighth album will be released in October 2018.[26] On 5 October 2018, Poets released their eighth album Ultraviolet, which once again hit the #1 position on the Finnish album chart. Two singles, False Kings and Dancing on Broken Glass, were released prior to the album. In 2019, a single from the album, My Dark Disquiet, was featured in the video game Control alongside the experimental dynamic track Take Control (as Old Gods of Asgard).[citation needed]

Alexander Theatre Sessions (2020)

Throughout 2020, PotF released an unplugged track performance from the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki every month to YouTube, showing new sides to existing tracks such as False Kings and Angel. Having to cut the Ultraviolet Tour short due to the pandemic, the band instead focused on this venture and released the 12 track Alexander Theatre Sessions album on 11th December 2020, featuring Triosis+ on the final 3 tracks.[citation needed]

Ghostlight (2022-)

On 13 March 2022, Poets of the Fall announced their album Ghostlight[27], released in April 2022, as a completion to the band's third trilogy, consisting of Clearview, Ultraviolet and Ghostlight. According to the band, Ghostlight embodies the idea of metamorphosis, winning over hardship, of acceptance and becoming whole.[28] The first single released was Requiem for My Harlequin.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Release Charts Certifications
2005 Signs of Life 19 January 2005 (Finland)[29]
25 May 2005 (iTunes)[30]
19 January 2011 (Limited Edition Vinyl – official webshop)[31] 		#1 (Finland)[32] IFPI certification: Platinum[33]
2006 Carnival of Rust 12 April 2006 (Finland, iTunes)[34][35]
12 September 2006 (Sweden)[citation needed]
6 October 2006 (Australia, Russia, Ukraine)[36]
20 April 2007 (Germany)[citation needed] 		#1 (Finland)[37] IFPI certification: Platinum[33]
2008 Revolution Roulette 26 March 2008 (Finland, iTunes)[38][39]
 #1 (Finland)[40] IFPI certification: Gold[33]
2010 Twilight Theater 17 March 2010 (Finland, iTunes)[41][42]
29 October 2010 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)[43] 		#1 (Finland)[44] IFPI certification: Gold[33]
2012 Temple of Thought 21 March 2012 (Finland)

20 July 2012 (Germany)[46]

#3 (Finland)[47]
2014 Jealous Gods 19 September 2014 [48] #1 (Finland)[49]
2016 Clearview 30 September 2016 [50] #2 (Finland)[51]
2018 Ultraviolet 5 October 2018 [52] #1 (Finland)[53]
2022 Ghostlight 29 April 2022 [54] #2 (Finland)[55]

Compilation albums

Year Album Release Charts Certifications
2009 Best of Poets of the Fall 18 September 2009 (India)
2011 Alchemy Vol. 1 16 March 2011
2016 Instrumental Collection Vol. 1 19 February 2016

Live albums

Year Album Release Charts Certifications
2016 Live in Moscow 19 February 2016
2020 Alexander Theatre Sessions 11 December 2020

Non-album tracks

Track From Release
The Beautiful Ones Lift Single 9 September 2004
You Know My Name (cover) Livenä Vieraissa
Single 		3 November 2008
Tobacco Road (cover) Nimemme On Dingo 29 November 2008
Grinder's Blues Rochard Soundtrack 27 September 2011
Rolling In the Deep (cover) Radio Nova Suomi 21 January 2015
Salaisuuksia Performed live
Written for Johanna Kurkela 		2008
Kaipaus Nousee Siivilleen Never performed
Written for Martti Saarinen 		2011
Until Silence Never performed
Written for Tarja 		28th August 2013
Tonight Tour exclusive

Tours

See also Non-tour concerts.

Tour First Date Last Date No Performances Countries
Signs of Life Tour 2nd February 2005 9th November 2005 50 Finland, Germany, Sweden
Carnival of Rust Tour 16 April 2006 27 October 2007 55 6 Countries
Revolution Roulette Tour 18 April 2008 8 July 2009 51 Finland, Russia, Germany, USA
Twilight Theater Tour 25th March 2010 25th November 2010 21 Russia, Finland, Germany
Alchemy Vol. 1 Tour 8th April 2011 9th December 2011 16 Russia, Ukraine, Finland
Temple of Thought Tour 23rd March 2012 6th December 2012 40 6 Countries
10th Anniversary Tour 22nd February 2013 20th December 2013 30 6 Countries
Jealous Gods Tour 3rd October 2014 23rd January 2016 58 9 Countries
Finnish Tour 2016 24th February 2016 26th August 2016 9 Finland
Clearview Tour 30th September 2016 16th December 2017 69 9 Countries
15th Anniversary Tour 10th March 2018 7th July 2018 18 Finland
Ultraviolet Tour 28th September 2018 21st December 2019 52 21 Countries
Ghostlight Tour 5th May 2022 17th December 2022 28 12 Countries
20th Anniversary Tour 1st April 2023 1st December 2023 22 10 Countries

Interviews

The name of the band

  • "The name, Poets of the Fall, comes from the idea that two opposites form a whole, ie. there isn't one without the other. "Poets" here represent the positive side and 'the Fall' the negative. Of course, when you join these two concepts, the 'Poets' starts to sound just a tad mischievious as well... depends, of course, on how you perceive 'the Fall'. You might see it as a beautiful crisp season and the 'Poets' are its insightful architects..." - PotF Website, 2004[56]
  • About the name of the band Marko said in an interview that the fall represents "the 'fall' as in the biblical term, when Adam and Eve in the paradise took a bite of the apple", and it means that "we’re the architects of our own demise". He also stated that "if it was fall as in autumn, it would be Poets of Fall, without 'the'." [57]
  • The name was just an idea of Marko out of thin air when they wrote down a few possible names for their new band. "We looked at the name and thought-yeah it's true it is kind of descriptive of the way we do and feel about things" said Marko in an interview.[58]

Lyrics

  • "But if you read any of my lyrics, you would need me to be there and tell you what I meant so that you could understand where I come from. Otherwise it’s just you reading the lyrics and finding out where you come from."[59]
  • "My lyrics are meta-level lyrics so the listeners can understand them in their own way. There’s an idea in the lyrics that I could open up, but I don’t, so that everyone can understand the lyrics in their own way."[citation needed]

Influences

<+Joysticker> Whats your favourite music? i don't think your listening to your own tunes all the time :)
...
<@POTF_Mark> Nope... listen to myself singing too much if you wanna know...
<@POTF_Mark> I do like everything from metal to metal...
...
<@POTF_Captain> pink floyd, electric light orchestra, classical, movie soundtracks.. there's pretty much my all-time favourite bands & genres.. plus of course individual songs from here and there, in all music genres
<@POTF_Mark> but seriously, music is just music... if you just listen to it you'll soon start to appreciate it beyond categories and boundaries
<@POTF_Ollie> I love so many kinds of music... it depends on my mood, from love ballads to death metal [60]

Source

References

  1. ↑ Euro-Rock Radio interview with M.Saaresto from 21 April 2010 – retrieved on 9 April 2011
  2. ↑ Late Goodbye single OUT NOW! http://www.poetsofthefall.com/news, 30 June 2004 – retrieved on 1 October 2010
  3. ↑ "Lift" single OUT NOW! "http://www.poetsofthefall.com/news, 9 September 2004
  4. ↑ Poets of the Fall's You Know My Name cover out now
  5. ↑ Phoenix Effect discography retrieved on 6 October 2010
  6. ↑ www.finnishcharts.com – PHOENIX EFFECT – CYANIDE SKIES (ALBUM) retrieved on 6 October 2010
  7. ↑ Brave new Poets single out soon
  8. ↑ Revolution Roulette sells gold http://www.poetsofthefall.com/news 21 May 2008
  9. ↑ [1] retrieved 5 May 2011
  10. ↑ [2] retrieved 21 August 2023
  11. ↑ [3] archived
  12. ↑ [4] archived
  13. ↑ [5] archived
  14. ↑ [6] archived
  15. ↑ [7] archived
  16. ↑ [8] archived
  17. ↑ [9] archived
  18. ↑ [10] archived
  19. ↑ [11] archived
  20. ↑ [12] archived
  21. ↑ [13] archived
  22. ↑ [14] archived
  23. ↑ [15] archived
  24. ↑ [16] archived
  25. ↑ [17] archived
  26. ↑ [18] Retrieved 19.09.23
  27. ↑ [19] Retrieved 19.09.23
  28. ↑ [20] retrieved 09.10.23
  29. ↑ discographyworld.com retrieved on 26 February 2012
  30. ↑ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/signs-of-life/id270776765 retrieved on 30 September 2010
  31. ↑ Poets Of The Fall: Signs Of Life Gatefold Vinyl 2LP retrieved on 15 December 2011
  32. ↑ www.finnishcharts.com – POETS OF THE FALL – SIGNS OF LIFE (ALBUM) retrieved on 30 September 2010
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Poets of the Fall certification data according to the Finnish IFPI retrieved on 30 September 2010
  34. ↑ discographyworld.com retrieved 26 February 2012
  35. ↑ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/carnival-of-rust/id270801994 retrieved on 30 September 2010
  36. ↑ Carnival of Rust released in Australia, Russia and Ukraine http://www.poetsofthefall.com/news, 6 October 2006
  37. ↑ www.finnishcharts.com – POETS OF THE FALL – CARNIVAL OF RUST (ALBUM) retrieved on 30.September 2010
  38. ↑ Poets of the Fall : The Ultimate Fling – www.stara.fi – 29 January 2008 (Finnish)
  39. ↑ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/revolution-roulette/id277132262 retrieved on 29 September 2010]
  40. ↑ www.finnishcharts.com – POETS OF THE FALL – REVOLUTION ROULETTE (ALBUM) retrieved on 30 September 2010
  41. ↑ Twilight Theater by Poets of the Fall www.discographyworld.com – retrieved on 9 April 2011
  42. ↑ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/twilight-theater/id361256179 retrieved on 29 September 2010
  43. ↑ Twilight Theater in Germany, Austria & Switzerland 29 Oct www.poetsofthefall.com – retrieved on 27 September 2010
  44. ↑ www.finnishcharts.com – POETS OF THE FALL – TWILIGHT THEATER (ALBUM) retrieved on 30 September 2010
  45. ↑ Temple of Thought Poets Of The Fall - Music - CDON.COM retrieved 26 February 2012
  46. ↑ [21] retrieved on 23 April 2012
  47. ↑ finnishcharts.com - Poets Of The Fall - Temple of Thought retrieved on 4 April 2012
  48. ↑ [22] retrieved on 09 August 2023
  49. ↑ ifpi - Poets Of The Fall - Jealous Gods retrieved on 09 August 2023
  50. ↑ [23] retrieved on 09 August 2023
  51. ↑ ifpi - Poets Of The Fall - Clearview retrieved on 09 August 2023
  52. ↑ [24] retrieved on 09 August 2023
  53. ↑ ifpi - Poets Of The Fall - Ultraviolet retrieved on 09 August 2023
  54. ↑ [25] retrieved on 09 August 2023
  55. ↑ ifpi - Poets Of The Fall - Ghostlight retrieved on 09 August 2023
  56. ↑ archived from PotF Website
  57. ↑ Musicalypse interview
  58. ↑ Examiner interview with Marko Saaresto
  59. ↑ retrieved 20.09.23
  60. ↑ AMA webchat on maxpaynedev.com, archived
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