Status Minor

Status Minor has recorded their debut album, Dialog, and it is released in September 2009 by Lion Music, a label specialized in progressive and neoclassical metal and hard rock. Status Minor signed an artist deal with Lion Music earlier in 2009. Melodic progressive metal The now finished album - Dialog - is the most recent illustration of Status Minor's expertise. The record includes eight catchy progressive metal masterpieces with a strong feeling. The songs are stories about the emotions, problems and acts between people, told by the intricate combination of lyrics and melodies.

Melodic progressive metal

The now finished album - Dialog - is the most recent illustration of Status Minor's expertise. The record includes eight catchy progressive metal masterpieces with a strong feeling. The songs are stories about the emotions, problems and acts between people, told by the intricate combination of lyrics and melodies. If only one-word description for Dialog would be required, sincerity would be the one. The pinnacle of the album is the title song Dialog which is emotionally strong song with a length over 15 minutes. In the arrangement process, band used voice actors to strengthen the mood. The album was recorded at Matrixtor and CPS studios between 6/2008 and 2/2009. The album is produced by Status Minor. Mixing of the record was done by Nino Laurenne (Thunderstone, Ari Koivunen, Amorphis, Lordi, Children of Bodom, etc.) at Sonic Pump Studios. Mastering was handled by Pasi Kauppinen at Studio 57. Cover and booklet art is designed and made by Matti Kuusniemi.
Dialog is Status Minor's debut album, concluding one of their sub-goals on their way to fame, and the band is extremely proud of it. The record is released by a label with credibility in the genre. A great part of the joy of music is to make it available to the audience and Status Minor is looking for more and more possibilities to make it happen. The music genre represented by Status Minor is rather small in Finland but has a significant world-wide audience, so it is natural to aim for the global markets of records and live experiences. And the second album is already worked on at idea level.

Status Minor as a band

Status Minor is a progressive metal band that is formed by five competent musicians. The foundations for the band were laid by Sami Saarinen in 2002, and little by little the line-up stabilized to what it is today: Markku Kuikka - vocals, Sami Saarinen - guitars, Jukka Karinen - keyboards, Eero Pakkanen ? bass and Rolf Pilve - drums.
The goal of Status Minor is to gain fame and credibility as a musically interesting and skilled band. The musical roots of Status Minor are wide-spread around the musical field, having a strong concentration on melodic metal with a great deal of adaptability. Status Minor has released two promotional EPs before their debut album, gaining positive feedback and praising reviews in international music media. The band has done a good deal of live performances, forging their songs into a rock-hard live set which has been seen to drop the jaws of even the most cynical critics to the floor.

Markku Kuikka (1970) is the voice of Status Minor and has been involved with music for more than 30 years. As a singer he is still quite young, though, as he started singing in 2004 to back up his guitar playing. Markku has classical singing studies and a long experience in playing guitar under his belt. The most significant of Markku's influences are Jorn Lande and Russel Allen (Symphony X). Out of finnish singers, Markku looks up at the skills of Pasi Rantanen and Christian Palin. Kuikka is behind the vocal melodies and choir arrangements of Status Minor music.

Sami Saarinen (1979) is the composer-guitarist of Status Minor. He found his first dusty acoustic guitar from his parents' storage room and with the help of his friend, studied his first Metallica songs with it. Around the same time, he felt intrigued by the piano and tried a few things composed by him and others with one. The influences of early times from Yngwie Malmsteen to Iron Maiden were later accompanied with progressive metal, jazz, classical and film music. Sami's compositions can be heard in Trash Video's movies since 1999. After countless musical projects, movies and instrument try-outs, Sami finally chose guitar as his main instrument and Status Minor was born, taking the focal point in Sami's musical aspirations. Music that displays real talent and strong emotions has always been what Sami values the most.

Jukka Karinen (1983) is the band's keyboard player. He started to play the piano at the age of 6 and, after hearing Jens Johansson's work, begun to move on to synthesizers roughly 8 years later. The new-born passion for playing heavy metal was expanded to more progressive directions when he was introduced to Dream Theater's music a while later. In 2003, Jukka joined a band that is nowadays known as Status Minor after hearing Sami's demo songs. He also plays keyboards in Thunderstone.

Eero Pakkanen (1987) is Status Minor's bass player. He started to play the bass when he was 12 with the humble intentions of one day becoming the best bass player in the world. Professional and broad way to look at perceive things has given him the chance to work with countless interesting artists of many musical styles. His goals with Status Minor and musicianship are set high.

Rolf Pilve (1987) is the drummer of the band. Music has been Rolf's passion since early childhood. He got his first drum set at the age of eight and his teachers include Jukka Arola, Heikki Malmberg, Kai Hahto and Ari Isotalo. His broad-based musical roots can be heard in his playing and it is possible to meet Rolf from local jazz-clubs to big metal festivals. At the moment, Rolf is active as a freelancer musician and drum teacher. His greatest sources are Tony Williams, Jim Black, Elvin Jones, Joey Baron, Ari Hoenig, Roy Haynes, Frank Zappa, John Coltrane and John Zorn......