Ancient Drive was born in 1996 when members from various bands teamed up and started to play heavy but at the same time melodic music. Later on the band was named Ancient Drive. Current lineup, which has stayed almost the same since then, formed towards the end of the year 1997.
The first real taste of making music for Ancient Drive was the recording of Romantic Funeral in February of 1998 (Watercastle Studios). After that the band did many live performances all around the Finland.
Due to their aggressive and frequent live performing the band become gradually better known. Also at the same time Ancient Drive released songs in the Internet for free. Thousands of downloads have been made from this site and from www.mp3.com, where it has topped the Gothic Metal chart in many occasions.
In March 1999 the band recorded their third demo "Orgasmic Adores", and autumn of that year AD was signed to Actcom Music.
December 1999 band started to record their debut album "Black Orgies" and this highly anticipated album was released in April 2000.
In June 2000 one of the founders of Ancient Drive Janne Kankkunen (Keyboards) decided to concentrate more on his work and hobbies. Also during summer 2000 Julien "Julle" Besio-Laurens joined from Anabiosis to AD and plays third guitar.
Current lineup:
Tommi Virranta - Vocals Veikka Jokela - Drums Late Kauppinen - Guitars Harri Hyvönen - Guitars Julien Besio-Laurens - Guitars Mika Järvikuona - Bass Petja Turunen - Keyboards
