Kemopetrol

Kemopetrol is a Finnish band from Helsinki combining traditional, moody pop sounds with intriguing modern esthetics. Guitarist Marko Soukka and keyboard player Kalle Koivisto founded Kemopetrol in November 1998, originally as an ambient music project. Vocalist Laura Närhi joined the band in January 1999, followed by drummer Teemu Nordman and bassist Kari Myöhänen later same year. Kemopetrol’s first single Child Is My Name was released at the end of 1999 and was a breakthrough success. In 2000, their debut album Slowed Down was released. Slowed Down contains music that is a mixture of rock, jazz and electronic music. In March 2002, the single Saw It on TV and, two months later, the album Everything’s Fine were released. Kemopetrol's original bass player, Kari Myöhänen, left the band in July 2003. In 2004, the single My Superstar and the album Play for Me were released. Having Kari left the band the previous year, on those releases, Kemopetrol's producer Kalle Chydenius plays bass. Shortly after the release of Play for Me, Lauri Hämäläinen joined the band as the new permanent bassist. The band's fourth album, Teleport was released on 29th March 2006, preceded by Planet-single on 8th March. The latest album features disco influences from the 80's, including notable usage of synthesizer sounds from that era. Kalle Koivisto writes the songs for Kemopetrol. All their songs have English lyrics. The name of the band reportedly originates from a Czech ice hockey team named Chemopetrol Litvinov.