Von Hertzen Brothers

Von Hertzen Brothers (FIN)

When the 90s was coming to its end, all three sons of the von HERTZEN family enjoyed a successful career in the front line of Finnish rock; Kie von HERTZEN was the guitarist for DON HUONOT, one of the most popular rock bands at the time, Jonne von HERTZEN played bass in the backing band of Jonna TERVOMAA and Mikko von HERTZEN was the drummer for EGOTRIPPI and LEMONATOR, but was soon to quit both bands to leave for India to live a simpler life. Von Hertzen Brothers started off around the year 2000 as a way to realize the songs Mikko had been writing in India, and when the two other brothers brought their spices to the table, their first album," Experience" (2001), was born. Kie and Jonne kept to their original instruments, but Mikko stepped to the front taking the lead vocalist / rhythm guitarist duties while still playing the drum parts. They assembled a live band, played a couple of shows in support of the album and went back to their own bands and lives. The album didn't sell very many copies.

A few years later DON HUONOT had broken up and the brothers decided to try working together again. Again consisting mostly of Mikko's songs the band recorded and released "Approach" (2006) to a much warmer response than their debut. Finland's biggest rock magazine Soundi gave the album a glowing review with five stars, and a cut-in-half version of the psychedelic balladish track "Kiss a Wish" conquered the radio waves. Eventually the album went gold in Finland and won the Emma (the Finnish Grammy, kind of) award for best rock album of the year. In 2008 their third album, "Love Remains the Same", shot straight to the number one spot of the Finnish album charts and has so far spent 17 weeks in the top 40.

The band lists as their influences pretty much everything from AC/DC to Yes, but the names most often heard connected to them are KINGSTON WALL, LED ZEPPELIN and PINK FLOYD. The final word comes from Mikko: '"von Hertzen" is german and means "from the heart". That's what we try to always keep in mind when writing or performing. We feel the music is pretty much useless, if it doesn't come from our hearts. The point of music, any kind of music, is to create wonderful experiences that are somehow elevating and encouraging. That's our mission. The music is our instrument'

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