A couple of years ago, Marsh Tea from Jyväskylä appeared on the Finnish heavy music scene, and his ability to conjure progressive music that penetrates the central nervous system immediately attracted attention in industry circles and music media. The lineup for the debut album consisted of hard-core professionals, Teemu Liekkala (Rioghan, Red Eleven), Valtteri Revonkorve (Rioghan, Leverage) and Nils Ursini (Trio Niskalaukaus), around whose compositions the band was built.
Marsh Tea’s singles, such as Mirrors, Chairs and Convert My Dreams, raised high expectations for the band’s upcoming debut album, but the radio silence that began after the single Stenched Pride left the promising rise unfinished. The walls had come up, and Marsh Tea was ready to be buried. Now, however, the band has found new wind in its sails, and the band’s primus motor Nils Ursin tells us what has happened since the release of the last single:
“After Disturbances In Movements was finished, my hunger grew to such proportions that our time together with Teemu and Valtteri was simply not enough. I had a strong desire to get the band in live shape and I was pushing the guys, way too much. At some point, our conversation led to the conclusion that in the face of other projects and personal life situations, I had to accept that I would continue alone, if at all. Naturally, I was really disappointed and wondered if this was it.”
“My wife saw that disappointment and strongly encouraged me to continue. Heta Hyttinen and a few other people joined that choir. I thought for a long time, ‘Will I be able to put together a new line-up? I don’t know, but we’ll see.’ We are still friends with Valtteri and Teemu. I’m working on other musical projects with both of them, and Teemu will definitely be Marsh Tea’s external ears when planning and making the next stage.”
The next stage is the release of the finished album, which has been maturing in the drawer. Disturbances In Movements, created with the old line-up, will be released on June 6th. You can pre-record the album here. The album was recorded and mixed, except for the drums, by multi-instrumentalist and studio wizard Teemu Liekkala. The drums were recorded under the direction of Tuomas Kokko at Electric Fox studio.
“The new Marsh Tea is a start, one of them, but definitely the last. I’ve learned to calm down, but I try to keep the reins in my hands without squeezing too much. We’ve slowly started to hoe the soil, with no rush remaining as the guiding principle.”
“New material is constantly being created. With the new Marsh Tea music, we’ve practically started from scratch, because the band is completely new. We’ll take over old material when the time comes. There’s a really tough group, professionals with a capital P and some damn good guys,” Nils Ursin enthuses.
The new line-up consist of – Tony Kaikkonen (Red Eleven) as singer, Mikki Rousi (Dead Season, ex-humavoid) on guitar, Jaska Raatikainen (Children Of Bodom, Mercury Circle) on drums, and of course Nils Ursin himself commands the low frequencies. He says that the band plans to tour in the future, but first it’s time to create new music.