Markku Lahtelan Sirkus

Markku Lahtelan Sirkus started in 2004, when a record label mogul Tuukka Vartiainen asked Mikko Nenonen and Tomi Pekkola to compose some experimental music for his label Kevyt Nostalgia. He knew they had been making music together since childhood, and felt they could provide something interesting. Mikko and Tomi agreed immediately, and started to come up with ideas, which happened quite naturally. They loaned a mixer, and recorded in Tomi’s parents’ basement with no earlier experience of recording.

It was a time when psych folk and experimental music in general were alive and well in Finland, but Markku Lahtelan Sirkus didn’t quite fit in the scene’s usual style, but received some positive feedback as well. Mikko and Tomi have played together in numerous bands and projects, from which Raptus still exists. Mikko kept the band alive in Tampere by himself as training and gigging whilst living in different cities became too difficult. However, Mikko and Tomi have always had a strong connection when playing, knowing intuitively what’s going on in each other’s mind and where to lead the song. Markku Lahtelan Sirkus has always been a mixture of improvisation and composition, and the way the songs are created follows the logic of poetry.

Any kind of instruments and techniques can be used. Sometimes the compositions are strict, sometimes there’s a loose idea, which evolves into something through improvisation. The recording sessions are always inspirational: we may take a crappy synthesizer and drive it through something so you’ll no longer recognize the original sound; we may make sounds of falling objects, and when they lie on the ground, they become gamelan instruments; we may compose something very thought-out and challenging, and transform it to something complete with improvised or simpler elements.

There has been a lot of different styles and influences in Markku Lahtelan Sirkus’ music: free jazz, art rock, experimental music, drone, oriental music, collage techniques, even post-rock or Swans-like pelting. After the first record was released, Jouni Hirvelä joined the band for live shows. He had already played saxophone on Vol. 1. He took charge of organ and saxophone, while Mikko and Tomi did guitar, drums, djembe and effects. The band did gigs for a couple of years as a duo and as a trio, but then took a break which lasted over ten years.

Then Mikko and Tomi thought it could be about time to do a second album, as it had always been in mind. Some songs were recorded in between, but the tracks were lost on a broken hard drive, only unmixed mixdowns surviving. Ville Kervinen and Matti Toikka joined the band as sessions members for Vol. 2. Ville played saxophone, and Matti played bass, electric violin and percussions. Mikko’s and Tomi’s other bands are Raptus, Bull in a China Shop/Bull in a China Shop Quartet, Old Wood’n Joe’s Hobo Bluestruction, Honey di Jones, Härmälä Camping Orchestra, The White Tarzans. Tomi has also joined the West-African-Finnish group Faso Kan.