Ahead of Satellite Stories forthcoming Bristol Louisiana gig, Andy Howells chats to lead guitarist Marko Heikkinen

Finnish indie rockers Satellite Stories will play Bristol Louisiana on February 15 as part of their current UK tour. The group - formed of Esa Mankinen (vocals/guitar), Marko Heikkinen (lead guitar), Jyri Pesonen (Bass/vocals) and Olli-Pekka Ervasti (drums) - have generated a reputation for creating powerful indie pop. 2012 saw the band release their debut album ‘Phrases to Break the Ice’ before touring extensively through Europe. The same year the bands music spread through much of the blogosphere.

Last single ‘Campfire’, the band hailing from Oulu, Finland, have gone one step further, heading straight to No.1 on the Hype Machine most blogged about artist chart. Their

energetic sound has led to them receiving comparisons with bands such as Two Door Cinema Club and Tokyo Police Club.

‘Campfire’ was the first single taken from the band’s latest album ‘Pine Trails’. The band’s second studio album is a record where the band has truly found their sound. Self produced and self recorded, the album sessions begun in the Swedish countryside in January of 2013, with only a field of horses as neighbours, the days spent filled with long jaunts in the snow filled pine forests, before night fell, and attention turned to writing and recording. Sweden moved onto sessions in London and Manchester, and ended in the bands decommissioned nuclear bunker turned studio in northern Finland, culminating in 10 stories of growing up, love lost and near misses.

Their first single of 2014 is Lights Go Low. Paying testament to their incredible live shows, the single demonstrates why the group were such a resounding success at their summer festival appearances - which included appearances at the Dot to Dot Festival tour, Spain´s

Arenal Sound, Finland's Flow Festival, Sweden's Hultsfred Festival and Holland's Lowlands festival.

Who are you and how did you come together?

We are Esa (singer), Marko (lead guitar), Jyri (bass) and Olli-Pekka (drums). Esa and Olli-Pekka met in Oulu university and started instanly talking about forming an indie band. Jyri was found from Lapland and Marko one day walked to their rehersal and joined the band.

Where are you from?

Our nuclear bunker studio is located in the northern Finland coastal town Oulu, but only Esa is originally from there. Jyri is from Kemi, reindeer-ridden city located really far up north of Finland. Marko and Olli-Pekka are from a small eastern border village Taivalkoski, which is only 40km away from Russia.

How would you describe your music style?

We have many kinds of songs, but I would call us "Scandinavian indie pop made for dancing".

What’s been your best live experience?

It's really hard to choose, we've experienced so many memorable shows past these couple of years. Some great highlights have been playing in Spanish Arenal Sound festival for 15000 people, doing Dot To Dot tour in the UK and headlining a sold out show in Tokyo. Last year we did 23 festival shows so I'm looking forward what this year brings.

You have a new single and album coming soon can you tell us more about that?

Our new album "Pine Trails" came out last November so this month we are releasing Lights Go Low / Australia (Don't Ever Let Her Go) double A-side single off that album. Lights Go Low is a indie track based on Detroid Underground style electronic sample and chord progression. Lyrically it's a song about a person who moves to a new city and kind of forgets who she really is. Australia is more guitar based indie pop song. It's about a man in a relationship who sees from the photographs that his girl is up to no good.

You’re touring shortly are you looking forward to that?

We're really looking forward of this months tour. This is our first time touring Europe after releasing our second album, so it's exciting to see how people respond to the new songs. For us it's all about our fans and what they think about our tracks and shows.

What can people expect from your forthcoming Bristol gig?

We have played before in Bristol at the small room of O2 Academy, and that show was our best UK show to date. Audience was really great and enthusiastic. Personally I'm waiting for that same atmosphere.

Will you be coming to Wales sometime in the future?

I really hope we can sometime play in Wales. Couple of my favourite bands from the UK (Super Furry Animals and Catatonia) come from there, so I would want to see for myself what kind of place it is.

Where can people hear your music?

You should definitely come to our shows, we'll play 5 gigs in the UK this Month. Other than that, you can find our music from usual Internet sources like Soundcloud and from record stores, use soundcloud its free!