For those unaware, Beatmakers formed some 32 years ago. Jori Venemies (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Juha Heinonen (lead guitar, backing vocals) were both studying at the University of Tampere and student parties needed music.

They started the band with Petri Ylonen and the band played almost all parties there for four years. By coincidence Jori and Juha went to work at the same place after studies and decided to continue with the new line up.

In 1998, Pekka Tiilikainen (vocals. rhythm guitar) joined the band and they started gigging more professionally (inclusive now of Mikko Lund on drums and percussion) and have continued to do so, having now done around 1300 gigs worldwide!

Their collective influences are quite wide, everything from 50s rock n roll to Black Sabbath, from Eddie Cochran, and Elvis, and Johnny Cash, through to Johnny Burnette, the Stray Cats, The Ventures and, naturally enough, The Shadows.

Although Pekka Tiilikainen & Beatmakers is not just an instrumental band and have recorded several vocal albums (and with about two-thirds of a liv set list containing vocalized songs), here is what Alan Taylor has said about the band: The gig material includes a good mix of roots style music from rockabilly, rock n roll, sixties beat and rock instrumentals; with at least a third of them always being band originals.

And so the band, who have also won two lifetime achievement awards - in Finland, Rautalanka (2007) and The Key of Yyteri (2019) - now bring us their brand new album, Guitar Town (via Swedish label Triola Records).

Featuring guest musicians, Kaarle Viikate (the well known leader of a Finnish melodic metal band Viikate) and Hannu Kiviaho (lead guitarist for the famous Swedish rock n roll band Fatboy), the highly motivating, always lovingly frenetic, precisely orchestrated and never dull new album is, to my mind, one of their best yet!

1. Golden Days
2. 1963 - Fifteen Years Later
3. Do The Waddle
4. I Love You Anyway
5. El Baile de la Cobra
6. Musta ruusu - Dark Rose
7. Song for Wendy
8. The Road to Bodie
9. Popcorn
10. Guitar Town
11. Elena
12. Archipelago

Opening on the lush, melodic, late Summer ambiance of Golden Days and the rhythmic hipsway of 1963 - Fifteen Years Later they then back those up with the slightly more pronounced Do The Waddle, the lushly orchestrated I Love You Anyway, and then some lighter fare in the form of the drum-led El Baile de la Cobra and then the foot-tapping energy of my own personal favorite, Musta ruusu - Dark Rose.

Next up is the sweepingly magnificent Song for Wendy and the swing jive of The Road to Bodie, which are in turn followed by the feistier musical edge of their rendition of the original Gershon Kingsley surf rock tune, Popcorn, with the album rounding out on the dancefloor hop of the title track Guitar Town, the adoringly heartfelt Elena, coming to a close on the mid-tempo, yet slow dance ballad Archipelago.

Jori himself has said that the Beatmakers formed in 1988 and have been twanging all over Finland ever since: I do not know why, but Finland is a very good country for this kind of music. Guitar instrumentals, in general, have been quite popular here since the 60s.

We do around 50 gigs a year which is quite good and have also played gigs in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden. This pandemic has messed things up, but our calendar still looks quite good despite the cancelled gigs!

Exclusive SIGNED CD Giveaway!

If you would like to win a, AUTOGRAPHED copy of this new CD, just answer this question about the band, set by Jori himself: How many times has the band performed at the Lakeside Festival in the UK?

Send us your answers and if you are correct you will be in the running to win one of these brand new, and FULLY AUTOGRAPHED Guitar Town CDs!

Just send us an e:mail here before August 1st, 2021 with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: BEATMAKERS SIGNED CDs to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

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Golden Days - Music Video

El Baile de la Cobra - Music Video