The Rasmus
The Rasmus are a Finnish rock band that formed in 1994 in Helsinki while the band members were still in upper comprehensive school. The original band members were Lauri Ylönen (lead singer/songwriter), Eero Heinonen (bass), Pauli Rantasalmi (guitar) and Jarno Lahti (drums). Jarno Lahti left the year after and was replaced by Janne Heiskanen in 1995. Heiskanen quit the band in 1998 and was soon replaced by Aki Hakala. The Rasmus has sold 4 million albums worldwide, 310,000 copies in their native Finland alone. They have won numerous awards, both domestic and international.
The Wanton Bishops
The Wanton Bishops are a two-piece blues and garage rock revival band from Beirut, Lebanon. The band is made up of Nader (vocals, harmonica, guitar, keyboards) and Eddy (guitar, backing vocals, banjo), who are joined on stage and in the studio by a hired drummer and a bassist. Nader met Eddy in a blues bar in Beirut a couple of years ago. Well, technically, they met outside the bar on the sidewalk in the middle of a fistfight. Luckily, they weren’t punching each other, and their friendship developed over cheap tequila. They eventually decided to form a band together.