Lodger (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Lodger


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Origin = Helsinki, Tampere, Finland
Genre = Indie rock
Years_active = 2002–present
Label = Urbanited music
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Current_members = Teemu Merilä
Panu Riikonen
Antti Laari
Hannes Häyhä
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Lodger is a Finnish indie rock band, formed by Teemu Merilä in 2002. Although largely unknown outside of Finland, they have established a cult-following on the internet due to the popularity of their flash music videos.

History

In the latter half of 2002 singer/songwriter Teemu Merilä created Lodger as a vehicle for his music, bringing together Jyri Riikonen on keyboards, Hannes Häyhä on bass, Antti Laari on drums, and London-based Richard Anderson on guitar. During the summer of 2003, the group recorded a self-financed demo of "Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low". Shortly thereafter, Häyhä created a flash music video for "Doorsteps" featuring a hapless one-eyed stick man. That year, "Doorsteps" went on to win "best flash" in the Bradford Animation Festival, as well as winning the Oulu Music Video Festival. In fact, these "One-Eyed Films" would prove so popular that the group went on to adopt a one-eyed skull and crossbones as its logo.

In 2004, Anderson returned to Britain, and was replaced by guitarist Panu Riikonen. "Hi-Fi High" was made available for purchase within Finland and the response was overwhelmingly positive - Lodger's debut release was the best-selling album at Stupido (a Finish record retailer) for 2004. Häyhä went on to create a second One-Eyed Film, "I Love Death" which proved to be even more popular than Doorsteps.

2005 saw Lodger release two as-of-yet unseen One-Eyed Films in the form of advertisements: God Has Rejected the Western World for Sabotaz spray paints, and 24h Candy Machine for idea-protector.com. In September, a remastered version of "Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low" was made available for sale. This remastered version contained a slightly different track list than the 2004 offering; although it included "24h Candy Machine", "Everyone Got to Go" and "Divine Right" were conspicuously absent.

In 2007, Lodger finished work on their second album, "How Vulgar". "How Vulgar" was released in Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria on March 14, 2007. No other release dates have been announced.

After almost a year of apparent hiatus, from summer of 2007 to spring of 2008, Lodger released three new songs and redesigned their website. Their third album, "Honeymoon is Over" will be released on November 19, 2008.

tyle

Lodger's lyrics are often cynical and nihilistic; their discography includes such titles as "I Love Death" which details the drudgery in life of the average person and "God Has Rejected the Western World", an anthem decrying the superficiality of western society. Their unabashed attitude is most apparent in their music videos, which prominently feature smoking, drinking, sex, masturbation, rape and death.

Discography

Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low (2004)

# Two Smiles is a Long Walk
# Fickle
# Bad Place to Earn a Living
# I Love Death
# Short Man on TV
# Radio
# Ordinary Men Make Ordinary Music
# Doorsteps
# Everyone Got to Go
# Divine Right
# Big Day
# When I Was Six
# Siamese Cats

Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low (Remastered) (2005)

# Two Smiles is a Long Walk
# 24h Candy Machine
# Bad Place to Earn a Living
# I Love Death
# Radio
# Doorsteps
# Short Man on TV
# Ordinary Men Make Ordinary Music
# Fickle
# Big Day
# When I Was Six
# Siamese Cats

How Vulgar (2007)

# Truck Driver
# Friends
# Satan
# Floozy With An Uzi
# Steal & Lie
# Wrong Bus
# Under One God
# Escape Plan
# I Would Like To Fulfill Your Dreams
# Brunswick Centre
# Don't Go Home Tonight
# Whatever The Weather

Honeymoon Is Over (2008)

# Requiem
# Chemicals
# Nostalgia
# Hairdo
# Recovering Alchoholic Visits Musso & Frank
# So Long
# I Was Young I Needed The Money
# Prefontaine
# Problems With Fat
# Girlfriend
# Go

Music videos

*Doorsteps
*I Love Death
*God Has Rejected the Western World
*24h Candy Machine
*Floozy with an Uzi (Live Version from album "How Vulgar")
*Satan

Trivia

The song "Two Smiles is a Long Walk" is widely believed to be about oral sex. If you take a look at the length of the song (6:09), you'll notice it's a reference to the sexual position ' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_(sex_position) 69] '.

The song "Floozy With An Uzi" is taken from the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon.

External links

* [http://www.lodger.tv/ Lodger's official web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/lodger Lodger's official MySpace page]
* [http://musex.fi/midem2006/index.html?artist-9YLDYJ52M4SV0G0S Lodger at Music Export Finland]