There are 2 artists under this name; 1.Perkele started in late 1993. by four guys, Ron vocals and guitar, Jonsson drums, Olof Bass and Anders Guitar. Perkele recorded the first demo tape ”Nu får det vara nog” in the beginning of 94 and next one ”Det växande hatet” in late 94, the band did so many gigs that they became a well known punk band in their hometown, the sound was back in the days very fast punk with Swedish folk music influences a sound that you still can hear even today. After a while Anders got tired of playing music and left the band and Perkele became a three member band. It still worked and they wrote new songs for a new demo tape ”Aktion” that was recorded in 95, it sounded better and better. Perkele was now spread in whole Sweden and made gigs from South to north. Soon the bass player Olof left the band after some trouble and Perkele was now looking for a new member to grab the bass. Jonsson and Ron met an old friend to Ron with the name Chris at a party. Before Perkele, Ron and Chris had a band called Aids together with Olof and Anders. Chris was asked to join the band and in -97 Perkele was on stage again and started to plan a recording of a Cd, since the recording of ”Aktion” things had happened to the sound of Perkele, Oi! and Ska influenced the sound more and more, it was mixed with the sound of Swedish folk music and gave the sound to the Cd ”Från flykt till kamp”, released -98 in 540 copies at Ron’s own label, today it’s very rare and the band hardly has no copies of it themselves. It was first hard to get it out to people, but they sold some copies every month at gigs and through friends who was selling it in their hometowns. Some copies also reached France and Germany, this was the bands first connection outside of Sweden. After a while Ron was writing new songs again, this time in English and the sound once again turned more to the Oi! direction. The first songs ever written in English was Working Class followed by Raise your voice and then more and more songs were written and Perkele decided to record a demo to send to record labels and so they did. Six songs were sent to record labels around Europe and soon they got an e. mail from Bronco Bullfrog Records in Spain. They were really into releasing a fullengt album and Perkele went into the studio to record the rest of the songs. 2001 the album ”Voice of anger” saw the light and the people around Europe got to know the band Perkele from Sweden. Perkele was now making their first gig outside of Sweden in Denmark and also a lot of more gigs in Sweden. Somewhere in this mess the band found out that they wanted to try out having a fourth member and Ron met Richard at a party, Richard was a friend to a friend and Ron got to know that he could play bass and soon he was in the band. Chris was now playing guitar with Ron and the now four member band Perkele was once again going to enter the studio to record the album ”No Shame”. The songs were influenced by Rolling Stones, old Status quo, Ac/Dc, American Oi!, 77 punk and of course old British Oi! such as Last Resort, Crux and Criminal Class. 2002 ”No Shame” was released by Blind Beggar Records who found Perkele at the compilation ”Brewed in Sweden”. Just before the release Richard decided to leave the band because he had to solve some things in his life. Perkele became a trio again and now Chris was the bass player in the band again. The ”No Shame” album was a success and gave Perkele the opportunity to get to Germany, France, Ireland, Norway, Belgium and Prague. The crowd and support of the band was now growing bigger and people was singing along loud at the concerts. Soon it was time to get in the studio again, the E. p Göteborg had to be recorded and three new songs were born, Göteborg, Du fattar ingenting and Sanningen. Short after that Perkele went to the studio again, or the studio actually went to the Perkele headquarter, their rehearsing place in a basement, almost like a bunker. There they recorded songs like Stories from the past, Rebel Rock n roll and all of the rest that later became the album ”Stories from the past” released 04. In the middle of the recording a close friend to Ron died in a tragic way and it infected the singing a lot, this album became a little bit different but still it got some of the best songs that Perkele made until this day. Perkele got more gigs around Europe and a lot of interviews the world around were answered. Soon Perkele got in touch with Bandworm Records who had helped Perkele with merchandise in the past, Perkele had bad contact with Blind Beggar Records and changed to Bandworm Records to record next album. For this album the booked a new studio and it was a good decision the sound became great and Perkele was now recording ”Confront” and it was loaded with new influences such as old finish Tango and much moore. The band worked harder with this album than they done in the past and the hard work really paid off and the album ”Confront” broke dawn in 2005 and the reviews were great all around the world. During the release and after up ’til now the band have made gigs in Athens (Greece), Valencia (Spain), Magdeburg (Germany), Hildesheim (Germany) in Prague (Czech) and a lot of other places. The promotion tour for ”Confront” became one of the hardest and most succesfull time for Perkele ever.
DISCOGRAPHY
- Från flykt till kamp - 1998 (Bootboy Records), vinyl-repress 2003 on Blind Beggar Records
- Voice of Anger - 2000 (Bronco Bullfrog Records)
- No Shame - 2002 (Blind Beggar Records)
- Göteborg EP - 2003 (Blind Beggar Records)
- Stories From the Past - 2003 (Blind Beggar Records)
- Confront - 2005 (BANDWORM Records)
- Längtan - 2009 (BANDWORM Records)
2.PERKELE was also a finnish pagan rock/metal band. Perkele continued as Iron Bird, and did a demo in 1999 called “In the Name of Turisas”. Saatanalliset Himot (Rehearsal/demo I) Demo, 1994 Midsummer Murders Promo 1995 Demo, 1995 Pohjola Demo, 1995 Erotic Circus Full-length, 1996 -Band’s foreman sing also in bands Kalevalan Viikingit, Morningstar, Minotauri & plays guitar in Heathen Hoof.
