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PRESTIGE BAND PAGE
 PRESTIGE
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CURRENT NAME
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Prestige | |
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FORMER NAMES
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- | |
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ORIGIN
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Finland | |
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STATUS
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Active | |
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FORMED IN
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- | |
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LABEL
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Currently unsigned | |
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GENRE
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Thrash metal | |
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STYLE
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LYRICAL THEME
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| BAND ADDED | 2003-09-16, 00:00 | |
| LAST UPDATE | 2008-08-22, 15:22 | |
| Band biography |
The city was Tampere in Finland and the suburb was called "Annala" or rather "Hikivuori" to be exact. The two brothers Ari (guitar) and Tero (drums) Karppinen formed a metal band together with Aku Kytölä (bass/ vocals). They got a brilliant rehearsal room in the bomshelter of the youth-club of Annala. Some six meters under the ground, no other bands rehearsing and there was even an own toilet in the room. Down there - literally "underground"- they rehearsed and wrote the first songs for "Prestige". In 1987, they also played their first gigs.
In the early spring of 1988 Jan "Örkki" Yrlund joined the band after his former band "Claymore" had ceased to exist. Jan already had met the guys before and Ari was besides that in the same senior-highschool as Jan.
The band started rehearsing a lot, some five-six days a week and played their first gigs with that line up in the spring of 1988. The first "Metal Party" at the school of "Hikivuori" was a great success. In addition, their good friends of "Dethrone" played on that gig. Because the official rock-clubs did not book any Speed Metal, the band organized their own gigs by renting venues and PA for that purpose. In the same spring of 1988 Prestige were ready to record their debut- demo. So they went to a studio in Ylöjärvi, run by Maijala brothers, to record four songs for the demo, which was to be titled "Gods" - after a song of them.
The demo turned out to be quite a success and it was spread around the country and beyond. The guys sold them not only by mail order, but also in the local shops and summer festivals. After all more than 1000 copies were sold/given away. After "Gods" was noticed in the music-press also the official venues started to pay attention to the band. That is how the band got their first gigs in other cities and how they participated on the legendary "Metal Massacre IV" gig in Helsinki, in the late "Lepakko". The sold out gig was reviewed in major music magazines and the band got more regognition.
A gig at the brand new "Tullikamari" in Tampere - "Speed Metal Party I" - turned out to be very important. The huge "Pakkahuone" venue was fully crowded and also "Dethrone" and "Necromancer" were playing. Prestige had heard beforehand that a talent scout from "Poko Records" company would be there to check them out. And indeed, after the show they were contacted by the record company, which was very impressed. After hearing the "Gods" demo, Prestige was signed right away by Poko Records. Everything happened very fast indeed.
Only couple of weeks later band got in contact with the producer TT Oksala, who was very known name, also in metal. He chose as for the studio the very well equipped 24-track JJ-Studio of Juuso Nordlund in Tampere. In the autumn of 1988, Prestige was already recording their debut-album with TT Oksala there. For the mixing the band travelled to Helsinki, to the famous Finnvox studios.
The first full-length album was called "Attack Against Gnomes" and it was released in January 1989. The first edition was released as an LP & MC, later that year the album was also released on CD.
"Attack Against Gnomes" got very positive reactions in the music press and Prestige started to play more and more gigs. Also international press seemed to be interested and the first interviews in English, Spanish and German Metal Hammers took place. The album was also licenced to the Spanish GBBS records and and a special shipping of 1500 pieces went to the Semaphore in Holland. Also the metal heads in their own country were impressed - it seems -, because the album went to the Top 20 Charts in Finland.
That year Prestige played all over the country, supported bigger and even more mainstream names (like Yö, Peer Gunt, Gringos Locos etc.) and played some festivals (Musiikki & Media, Forssa Icehall). They supported Nuclear Assault in "Lepakko"and the gig was awesome and of course sold out. In September of 1989, Prestige was ready to release something new and that is why they went back to JJ-Studio with the producer TT Oksala to record some songs for a single. The three-song 12" maxi-single "Priest" was the result. It was released in January of 1990 and it sold out quickly.
But in 1989, Prestige was also busy with something else: in November, after a trip to Sweden they decided it was time to record "Veijo"- EP. "Veijo" was a kind of punk-HC rip-off raped version of Gene Vincent's "Be Bop A Lula", but sung in Finnish and of course with Prestige-style lyrics. It was all about Aku's one time boss, who was a total pain in the ass. The song was an absolute favorite of the live-audience, so sure it had to be recorded. Therefore, the band went to the Tonal Studio in Helsinki to record an EP. On the EP there was besides "Veijo" also another punksong, called "Jani", which was sung by Örkki and which was dedicated to the most grazy metal head in town, Jani Ruuskanen (R.I.P.). Next to those two, there were four other Hard Core songs on the EP. "Veijo"- EP was strictly limited and sold only at the gigs. It became a collector's item later.
In April 1990 Prestige was ready to record the follower of "Attack Against Gnomes". Mister Oksala was again chosen for the production and the studio was the same JJ-Studio as on the previous album. The recordings took more time than on the debut. The album would have 12 tracks, from which one, "Help The Science" was taken from the "Priest"sessions of September 1989. The full-length was titled "Selling The Salvation". This time Prestige had much more to say, also lyricwise. The album presented a more technical Prestige. The songs had more riffing and also they were faster than on the deput.
The album was again well received by the fans and the media. In the summer of 1990, Prestige played several gigs and later that year they went to play in Denmark for the first time. They were invited there by the Danish thrashers "Invocator". To support the release of "Selling The Salvation" Prestige did "Mutaa Lapioon" tour in Finland after the Danish trip. Invocator came over to Finland to do four gigs on that tour with Prestige. After the tour Prestige was invited to play in Czechoslovakia. This small tour of a week was a truly unforgettable experience. Prestige was one of the very first foreign metal bands to play there after the velvet revolution of '89. And certainly the first in the most of the venues. The reaction of the audience was something unbelievable.
In 1991, Prestige kept on playing live. They went first to Sweden in April, (invited by the Örebro thrashers Fallen Angel). After that, they went back to Denmark to play a tour there with Invocator. The good friends of the band, Maple Cross from the Oulu- area of Finland, were also taking part of the Danish tour. Soon after this adventure Prestige brought the Swedish Hysteriah' G.B.C. over to Finland to play with them. This all happened in April 1991. In May 1991, it was time for another band to come over to Finland, invited by Prestige. This time they chose for the Norwegian black metal band Dark Throne. They played three gigs together on that short tour. Memorable is the big "Feast Metal" festival in Riihimäki's "Urheilutalo" on that occasion with Dark Throne.
In June 1991 Prestige went back to Sweden, this time invited by No Remorse, which changed its name later to Temperance. It was a lot of fun to play with those guys.
In July, Prestige was ready to hit the studio again. This time they wanted to do some things differently and that's why another studio/producer combination was chosen. First of all, they needed more time and somebody who they were familiar with. They chose for Jani Viitanen from the band "Yö" and as for the studio the "Harasoo" studio, owned by Costello Hautamäki. The producer Jani understood the band perfectly and the guys were very happy with the result. The songs were mixed at the "MSL Studio" of Mika Sunquist.
The symbolic name "Parasites In Paradise" was chosen as title for the album and it turned out to be the heaviest and fastest Prestige album ever. Pure thrash-metal and even if the album was very fast, it also had some more quiet moments on it. The press received the album very well again.
"Parasites In Paradise" was released in January 1992. After the release of the new album, Prestige also started extensive touring in Finland in January. The Swedes of Fallen Angel came over to play four gigs with them on that "Parasites In Paradise" tour. They played more than 25 gigs during the spring. Right after that Prestige recorded a video-clip for the song "Sniff" with the help of the new "School Of Art And Media". Poko Records used this clip mainly for promotion, though it also ended up on some compilations later. Finally, Prestige received the news that they were chosen to play on the legendary "Ruisrock" festival in June 1992 (with headliners like Nirvana and Bryan Adams) in Turku, Finland. This festival gig was to be the last gig Prestige would play, although the guys did not know that at the time.
After that festival gig, the four guys of Prestige decided to have a break. They felt they had earned it. The time had gone by very fast and the band had also lived fast. And, what happened after that?
Well, they never actually returned together from the break. Sounds funny indeed. Aku and Örkki started experimenting and gigging more and more with their punk/crossover band "Heppihirviö". Prestige also lost their long kept rehearsal room that spring. The new rehearsal place did not feel the same at all, the magic was gone. Maybe everybody just got a bit tired after those memorable years. So nobody ever quit or left the band or anything like that. The band never split up either. Other things and interests came in place. Just like one day, everybody realized at the same time - without even discussing about it - that all the deeds were done.
| Former members Add - Fetch | |||
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| Session musicians Add - Fetch | |||
| Unknown / none |
| Buy Prestige albums |
| Official releases Add | ||
| Tour dates / gigs |
