Biography
Janne Tolsa began to play the piano in 1977, when he was seven years old. After studying music for three years in Helsinki, his family moved to Vuolijoki, where he continued to study piano through private lessons. His first band experience was with his older brother in 1983. [3]
A few years later, during the Follow Me Into Madness Tour, Tarot played a few shows near Tolsa's hometown. At the time, they were playing as a trio, having recently fired Mako H. from the band. Tolsa attended every show and continuously found his way backstage after shows to convince the members of the band (Marko Hietala, Zachary Hietala, and Pecu Cinnari) that he could play keys for them. He was often drunk and the band turned him away, not believing him. [4]
Eventually, Tarot played a show with a keyboard backstage, which Tolsa used to play Rose on the Grave (Follow Me Into Madness). Impressed, the band exchanged phone numbers with Tolsa, and invited him to one of their rehearsals. On 26 June 1988, he played his first show as a member of Tarot in Kalajoki. [5] He then joined Tarot for the writing and recording of their third studio album, To Live Forever, which was released in 1993. In addition to playing the keys for Tarot, Tolsa frequently writes and co-writes music for Tarot albums.
In 2003, Tolsa joined Turmion Kätilöt as part of the band's original lineup under the alias "RunQ." [6]
In 2004, Tolsa was invited to join the reformation of Eternal Tears of Sorrow, a melodic death metal band from Finland that had disbanded in 2003. He accepted, and joined the band for the making of its fifth studio album, Before the Bleeding Sun. His first performance with the band was on New Year's Eve in 2006. [7]
In 2007, Tolsa joined the Marenne band with Zachary Hietala as part of the band's original lineup. He also helped to mixed their debut album, The Past Prelude. [8]
As part of his "day job," Tolsa is the owner of Note On studio in Kuopio, Finland. That composing, records and produce commercial music, sound effects, background music. Also has been used by Tolsa's bands (among many others) to record parts of their albums. [9]
Janne Tolsa also has mixed, mastered and produced countless other bands.
In 2017 Janne Tolsa made a solo project, Epik Pike. Epik Pike paints a brand new atmosphere for domestic pop-scene.
Janne Tolsa, known as one of the composers and the man behind the synthesizers on bands like Turmion Kätilöt and Tarot, has now released a bunch of pop songs from his drawer. Lyrics for Tolsa's songs we written by his good friend and songwriter Pekka Tegelman, known from the 70's popular band Finnforest. The whole project came together as two interpreters from Kuopio were found: young and talented Pinja Pitkänen and guitar hero Joonas Pulkkinen from the band Black Light Discipline.
"Now as some extra time came up and professionals for the help were found, I was able to bring this project to another level. These songs are so much slower and more kind of pop songs that I felt like they are not necessary Turmion Kätilöt's style so I decided to make a new project for this. Some of the songs are composed almost on Middle Ages, so they have been waiting for further producing quite a while. Thank you fate, zaludo!" - Janne Tolsa
"I hope that all the listeners will enjoy these songs as much as I did with this experience. Although the future is open, I'm looking forward to it." - Pinja Pitkänen
The cover for the EP, which will be released on all significant digital services on May 18, 2018, is made by Tuomas Rytkönen.
Botsbwana is a EDM/Metal project that was born sometime towards the end of the 90´s. The composition was I made a few years earlier, inspired by 90`s techno. At that time, studio evenings were held with Zac and Jarkki with a spiked drink, and arrangements began to take shape. Most of the recordings were made then as well. I did a little modernization and fine-tuning and thought that we should put it in the publication rather than leave it in the bit sky graveyard. Guitars by Zachary Hietala and vocals by Julma J. The rest are played by me, including the production. - Janne Tolsa
