Dingo (band)

Dingo is a Finnish rock band formed around 1982. They fused Finnish melancholy with catchy rock melodies. The band was led by the frontman Pertti Neumann (also known as Pertti Nieminen). For a few years of top success, Dingo was one of the most popular Finnish rock bands and caused a phenomenon called "Dingomania" all over Finland.

Dingo's hit number one was called "Autiotalo", released also in English as "The House without a Name". There was even formed a separate youth culture in Finland, the Dingoes. The success, however, lasted only for a couple of years and Dingo broke up in October 1986. The band regrouped in 1998 and continues to perform occasionally. During their career, the band sold over 500,000 records in Finland.^[1]

Apart from "The House without a Name" Dingo has released the following songs in English: "Tell Me Now" (1986) and "Tobacco Road" (1986).

Biography

1980s

Dingo was formed in 1982. Through different phases it reached its permanent line-up and recorded a demo which was sent to different labels, for example Finnlevy and Poko Rekords. Poko Rekords abandoned the demo and there has been a rumour that the demo "accidentally" ended up in the wrong drawer. On the other hand, it took only one song to convince Finnlevy. That song was “Hölmöläisten laiva” and from the songs we know, “Sinä ja minä” was also on the demo.

Through different occurrences Dingo recorded their first album Nimeni on Dingo before they started playing live gigs. The album sold amazingly right from the beginning. Although at this point Dingo was still in the shadow of another popular band from Pori - Yö, since their debut album Varietee had sold over 60 000 copies and right after its release it became number 1 on different charts. Also “Nimeni on Dingo” became a number 1 -album and as time passed it was sold a lot more than Yö’s album. There were many hits on the album: Sinä ja minä, Levoton Tuhkimo, Lakatut varpaankynnet and Pistoolisankari to name a few.

Along the success came also the fans. In public Dingo became known as a band for teenage girls. The fans screamed and cried of happiness when seeing their idols live. Especially the blonde frontman, Neumann was idolized tremendously. In the “rock circles” that was strongly despised and naturally, envied.

A lot more was yet to come. After Eve leaving the band (and Pepe replacing him) in the end of 1984, the new single “Autiotalo” was released. The single climbed to the first position on every chart and the band reached incredible fame. Dingo was no longer considered to be a band for teenage girls only, since also older people started to like them, including the teenagers’ parents.

While waiting for the new album to be released, the new Dingo-fans ran into stores to buy the first album and surprisingly “Nimeni on Dingo” reached the 3d position on sales list.

By the time the new album was published in 1985 it had been ordered in advance the amount of a gold album (and at the time a diamond album, meaning over 50 000 copies. Kerjäläisten valtakunta exceeded all expectations. The album remained as a number one for 3–4 months and in the end the sales were around 190 000 copies. Every song on the album became a hit, especially the single “Kirjoitan”. It can be said that Dingo became an all time number one in all aspects: fame, hysteria, sales, media value and the impact on Finnish rock music at the time. They influenced several different Finnish bands and musicians such as Pyhät Nuket (the hit Enkelit sulkivat silmänsä), SIG and Pave Maijanen.

The year 1984 was the year of the “Dingo-fever”. It was no longer a question of rock music alone, but a sociologically interesting phenomenon as well. Dingo was not only a rock band but also a corporation. The band members were seen on TV-programs and on covers of the magazines. On the tour the success was unbelievable.

Neumann’s philosophical preferences, the conscious avoiding of publicity and several trips to Ireland started to alienate Dingo from their younger audience. Yet Neumann’s solo single “Mennään hiljaa markkinoille” and the expectancy of the new Dingo single kept the band in headlines. Finally in November 1985 “Kunnian kentät” was released. The music sounded so familiar and excellent that Neumann’s song-writing-pen was to be considered to be extremely sharp. The charts position was no surprise; number 1. The new album was supposed to be released on Christmas, but it wasn't released that soon. Instead Dingo had a huge tour around the country which turned out to be very expensive for the band since someone weaselled a part of their earnings.

Th year 1986 was the year of international dance music. Finland also had its own popular dance music group in the form of Bogart Co. Also, the album Kahdeksas ihme by Eppu Normaali reminded that there is excellent Finnish rock music other than Dingo. After living in silence for quite some time Dingo published their new album Pyhä klaani but it didn’t turn out to be as successful as their earlier albums. “Koulukapina”, “Kreivin sormus” and “Suru tahtoo sua” were the radio hits from the album. However “Pyhä klaani” also became a number 1, but the sales of 80 000 copies was a disappointment. The change of direction that Neumann’s musical style and especially lyrics had experienced didn’t please everyone.

However, Dingo still had it going for them. They wanted to publish a single in English and also make a video. The English version of “Autiotalo” (The house without a name) and the b-side, English version of “Kirjoitan” (Tell me now) weren't successful outside Finland as we know by now.

The next single released in Finnish was “Juhannustanssit” and it was conveniently released around the midsummer time (=juhannus in Finnish) in 1986. The single was such wild rock song that the band’s style seemed to please the rock critics more than the general audience. Dingo was still a very popular band and when the fans gathered in Nivala, Tuiskula in the autumn of 1986, they were shocked by the news of their favourite band falling apart. Replacing Pete on the keyboards in Nivala there was Tumppi, who only had time to perform in the band for a few weeks.

From the vicinity of the Dingo-members a band called S.E.X was formed. The journey of S.E.X remained shorter than expected, since they only had time to create two or three singles depending on whether the song “Vierivä kivi” sung by Pepe was counted as one. The other two were “Uuden aamun kitarat” and “Canada”. Also the eponymous album S.E.X was released in a rather posthumous spirit.

1990s

There were rumours of Dingo getting back together during the years 1990-91, but only after publishing the compilation album Tuhkimotarina. In 1993 the band united to record a new song which was added to the next compilation album Sinä ja minä. The new song was named “Perjantai”. Finally, in the spring of 1994 a whole new studio album,Via Finlandia, was released. The most popular songs on the album were “Elämäni sankari” and “Nähdään taas”. Dingo also went on tour with Pave Maijanen on the keyboards. It took many by surprise that Dingo quit working together again. After all, Via Finlandia had also sold tens of thousands of copies.

2000s

Dingo is publishing expected new material after 11 years. In June 2005 a new single “Musta leski” was released and a whole album in the end of the same year.

Dingo is still active. Neumann and another original member of the band, Eve, constitute the core of the band. The new line-up tours intensely around Finland. The gigs are an amazing combination of nostalgia, history and nowadays also new, excellent Dingo-material.

Discography

Studio albums

• Nimeni on Dingo (1984)
• Kerjäläisten valtakunta (1985)
• Pyhä klaani (1986)
• Via Finlandia (1994)
• Purppuraa (2005)
• Humisevan harjun paluu (2008)

Videos/DVDs

• Nimemme on Dingo (1984, VHS)
• Kerjäläisten valtakunnassa (1985, VHS)
• Dingo Live (1999, VHS)
• Dingomania (2004, DVD)

Tributes

• Melkein vieraissa – Nimemme on Dingo (2008)

Compilation albums

• Tuhkimotarina (1993)
• Sinä & Minä (1993)
• 20 suosikkia - Autiotalo (1997)
• Parhaat (1999) (2CD)
• Dingomania (2004) (2CD)
• Tähtisarja – 30 suosikkia (2006) (2CD)
• Kunnian päivät 1983–1986 (2006) (3CD+DVD box)

Band members

Current members

• Pertti Neumann – vocals 1982–
• Rein T. Rebane – lead guitar 2015–
• Taago Daniel – bass guitar 2015–
• Petri Lapintie – keyborads 2015–
• Vallo Vildak – drums 2015–

Former members

• Jonttu Virta – lead guitar 1982–2002
• Juha "Quuppa" Seittonen – drums 1982–2002
• Jarkko Eve – bass guitar 1983–1984 and 2002–2008
• Tuomo Vähä-Pesola – keyboards 1983, 1986
• Pete Nuotio – keyboards 1983–1986 and 1998–2002
• Pepe Laaksonen – bass guitar 1984–2002
• Pave Maijanen – keyboards 1993–1994
• Jari Nieminen – lead guitar 2002
• Vesa Aaltonen – drums 2002
• Pekka Kuorikoski – keyboards 2002
• Hombre Lampinen – lead guitar 2004–2005
• Juha Jokinen – drums 2004–2005
• Sami Välimäki – keyboards 2004–2005
• Erik Valkama – lead guitar 2005–2014
• Ari Toikka – drums 2005–2007
• Pekka Siistonen – keyboards 2005–2007
• Jukka Mänty-Sorvari – drums 2007
• Robert Engstrand – keyboards 2007–2011
• Vesa Kuhlman – bass guitar 2008–2014
• Ville Siuruainen – drums 2008–2014
• Jani Hölli – keyboards 2011–2014
• Janne Kasurinen / Mikko Virta – electric guitar 2014–2015
• Esa Nummela – acoustic guitar, backing vocals 2014–2015
• Topi Karvonen – bass guitar 2014–2015
• Jere Ijäs – keyboards, backing vocals 2014–2015
• Tero Rikkonen – drums, backing vocals 2014–2015

See also

• List of best-selling music artists in Finland

References

External links

• The Official Dingo Pages
• Dingo Myspace Page