isten . guide



updated 02 August 2010 (c) isten
Zero Nine
Zero Nine . I'' Gonna Try

Zero Nine . Visions, Scenes & Dreams
Zero Nine . Blank Verse
Zero Nine . Freak Show
The best known and most popular Finnish heavy rock band in Finland in the '80s. This Kuusamo-based sextet were on the right track right from the start - good production, recognizable vocalist and first of all real talent in the song writing dept. Despite numerous attempts over the years the band never really managed to break outside of Finland.

Each and every fan of the band have their pet theory to explain this injustice. Maybe everything can be blamed on the band insisting to live way out in the boonies. Or maybe everything failed due to their peculiar choice of cover songs. Or perhaps their heavy rock with '70s vibe just wasn't striking enough for all the hard rockers out there. Or maybe the band was too mundane to be marketed amongst all the hyped American bands.

Take your pick or just pick up any Zero Nine album and judge for yourself. In spite of all the misfortune abroad the band had things rockin'n'rolling well in Finland throughout the '80s. By the turn of the '90s the band had relocated to Oulu to run a rock bar of their own. At this point some of the guys recorded solo albums and except for occasional gigs it was pretty silent in the Zero Nine front. The comeback album "Freakshow" and the following tour is unfortunately pretty much the last sign of life the band has shown but rumours about a new album have been circulating for years.

disCOGRP hy
7" Down The Line/Suzanne (ps) Poko ZERO 1 FIN 1980
7" I'm Gonna Try/In Drizzlin' Rain (ps) Dig It DIGS 127 FIN 1981
LP VISIONS, SCENES AND DREAMS (inn) Dig It DIGLP 17 FIN 1982
7" Angel/I Don't wanna See You so Dejected (ps) Dig It DIGS 139 FIN 1982
LP BLANK VERSE Dig It DIGLP 20 FIN 1982
LP BLANK VERSE WEB WEBLP-001 SWE 1982
7" Much Too Young (to Rock'n Roll)/I Wanna Give You My Love Dig It DIGS 144 FIN 1983
7" Run to the Lights/Magic Dream (ps) Dig It DIGS 147 FIN 1984
7" Walk Away/Seven Days of Love (ps) Dig It DIGS 148 FIN 1984
LP HEADLINE Dig It DIGLP 27 FIN 1984
LP HEADLINE WEB WEBLP-8007 SWE 1984
7" White Lines/Talk Like a Lover (ps) Virgin   GER 1985
12"EP WHITE LINES Virgin   GER 1985
LP WHITE LINES (inn) Virgin 206 934 GER 1985
LP WHITE LINES Heavy Metal Worldwide HMILP-57 UK 1985
7" Never Stop Runnin'/So Hot (ps) Virgin   GER 1985
12"EP Never Stop Runnin' (Extended Mix)//Never Stop Runnin'/So Hot (ps) Virgin 601 719-213 GER 1985
12" River Deep, Mountain High/? Virgin   GER 1985
7" Bangin' on Drums/To the Mountain (ps) Megafon MEG-010 FIN 1986
LP INTRIGUE (inn) Megafon MEGLP 108 FIN 1986
CD 15 GREATEST Megafon MEGCD 108 FIN 1987
7" [split w/Boycott] Shadow on the Wall(promo) Polarvox PROMO 8 FIN 1988
7" Voodoo You/Total Blackout (promo) Polarvox PROMO 9 FIN 1988
7" Hold Your Punches/Baby Don't Stop (ps) Amulet HOPE 47 FIN 1988
LP VOODOO YOU (inn) Amulet WISH 25 FIN 1988
CD VOODOO YOU Amulet WISHCD 8 FIN 1988
7" Pretty Baby/Pretty Baby (Extended Version) (ps, promo) private Y.S.I.-01 FIN 1991
CDS Angel Poko PSCD 71 FIN 1996
CD FREAKSHOW Poko POKOCD 179 FIN 1996


Zero The Hero
Zero The Hero . A Sort of Goodbye Light weight hard rock from the Åland Islands featuring Lars Eric Mattsson.  

disCOGRP hy
7" A Sort of Goodbye/Rosalina (ps) private ZER-001 FIN 1988


Zowie
Zowie Good melodic hard rock from Kuopio featuring Hietala brothers Marco and Zachary from Tarot doing backing vocals.  

disCOGRP hy
7" Prisoner of Love/It's not too Late (ps) private SVENGI 4 FIN 1988


Zwanziger
Zwanziger Speed metallers from the capital area. Vocalist/guitarist Jake Marjamäki came from hardcore heroes Rattus (who were really quite metallic in their last years) and drummer Janne Parviainen (if it really was him and not just his namesake!) made it later to disco-metal mongers Waltari and also played, albeit briefly, in jet blacksters Barathrum.  

disCOGRP hy
7" Studied to be Civilized/The Paint (ps,ins) private ZWS-01 FIN 1989