Meet Dead Huldians
Dead Huldians – who are they? What’s the story behind the name? And what does this all have to do with a broken tire on a highway? Keep reading, and you’ll find out.
Hey Siili & Spiikki! Tell us, what is Dead Huldians?
Dead Huldians is a rock-playing party-band consisting of Huldians in Tampere. We play and have fun together in a good and relaxed atmosphere. For gigs, we try to choose songs from our own heavy music taste, which others would like to listen to too.
Since being a rockstar isn’t our day job, finding common times to practice sometimes turns out to be challenging. Otherwise, we fight significantly less than other rock bands in general.
Where does the idea for the band originate?
We’ve all been playing in different bands since we were kids – some have background even in bands that have recorded music and played gigs more widely. For Siili, singing started more recently, but for example, our musical virtuoso Juha plays not only bass, but also guitar, keyboards and trumpet!
Playing together had been a hot topic in the coffee room for a long time. Finally, at Huld’s Christmas Party in Helsinki in 2019 we decided to go rehearsing and see how it goes. In the summer of 2020, we started to practice more actively, targeting to play at the Christmas Party the same year. This repeated in 2021, when we by the way played at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, which was definitely our best gig so far. The settings, the sound, and the audience – everything was just right.
This interests me the most – could you reveal the story behind the band’s name?
A classic mistake, i.e., a typo that happened when our CEO approached us in his monthly message. Usually, the message started with the words “Dear Huldians”, but this time, the letter accidentally read “Dead Huldians”.
At the time, we had just started playing, and we hadn’t yet figured out a suitable name for the band. The typo kept us laughing for so long that at the end of the day at the practice we realized that hey –this is it.
As a thank you for coming up with the name for the band, we named our CEO as the sixth member of the band at our first gig and gave him the band’s shirt.
Dead Huldians – 5 facts
Members: Siili (vocals), Spiikki (guitar), Tommi (lead guitar), Juha (bass, keyboards), and Jonne (drums)
Year of establishment: 2020
Home: Tampere
Genre: Party rock/manse rock
Idols: Juice Leskinen, Dio & Iron Maiden
In May, you released a single in honor of the Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships in Tampere. Tell us something about the song?
The inspiration was clear, a hockey-song was the order and we concluded that it must be manse rock (a rock music genre from Tampere). Bringing the song to life was not a tough road, although the final version lived a lot along the way. Our virtuoso Juha composed and created the structure of the song, Siili wrote the lyrics, and finally the song was put together by the whole band.
By the way, the song was recorded during a practice session, so it’s no studio-quality – but maybe that’s exactly what makes it sound like us.
What’s the most memorable story from the band years?
We were playing at a birthday party of one of our employees at lake Saimaa. Everything went well and all injuries were avoided, although narrowly. However, on the way back on a highway with a van and a trailer, we started to hear something rattling weirdly. Finally, in Mikkeli we stopped at the gas station and decided to check the situation, and yes – the second wheel of the trailer, which was full of expensive instruments, was totally broken.
Luckily, we found a store selling car spare parts next door. With the strength of three men, we tried to put the new tire in place in the parking lot. However, the part to put the tire in place did not come off despite creative solutions, and we started to run out of ideas. It was Sunday, so all the car repair shops were of course closed. In the end, we decided to call the local fire department, where we ended up driving with the broken tire. There we got the trailer fixed and jumped back on the road. The homecoming was a little delayed.
What kind of future plans do Dead Huldians have?
We want to keep playing. We don’t imagine conquering the world, but we want to continue with the same low profile and the spirit of having fun together as we have been. Making a song was fun, so maybe something like that can come in the future. So, follow Dead Huldians on Youtube, there you can find new songs if something is released.