EARLY HISTORY

The project that became HOUSE OF MIRRORS started in 1993 when Jaakko Niitemaa, a promising young guitarist, teamed up with vocalist Pekka Rautiainen and lyricist Kari Riihimäki (currently also the guitarist and songwriter-extraordinnaire of another Finland-based band DOGGTOWN), both formerly of WARDANCE fame. In 1995, after a number of 8-track demos the band finally went to a real recording studio and with high hopes recorded their first true demo. This time the line-up was strengthened by Janne Engblom (of BEAT fame) on bass, and the former drummer for IRON CROSS, Jimbo Mäkeläinen on drums. The demo was well received and got a fair amount of airplay on Finnish radio stations. Janne's visit in HOUSE OF MIRRORS remained a short one, the 1995 recording was the only one in which he featured.

For a while, nothing really happened and years went by with Jaakko teaching the guitar in a small local music school. Pekka got signed by EMI Finland and made a successful pop record "Haaveiden Hotelli" using the name Julius. Single cuts from the record were played all over the Finnish radio and it also took him all the way to Helsinki Olympic Stadium where he sang in front of 50,000 people, opening for none other than TINA TURNER. All the time Jaakko kept the flame burning by continuously writing new songs and slowly starting to build a home studio.

...AND THEN

Come year 2000. Lots of song demos and twist and turns later, the project started getting wind beneath its wings again, this time with Rasmus Puranen on drums and Harri Holopainen on bass. With a totally fresh attitude and a new spark the band went in to record another demo in a professional studio. The band were astonished with the quality of the recording, and they immediately started contact record labels trying to find someone who'd be interested in publishing it. This sparked interest, and with record companies demanding more material, the band cooked up more songs and went back to the recording studio, this time with a completely new approach. Having decided to devote time and care to the new songs, a self-financed single, a total of 3 songs were recorded. Of course, the bad luck with bass players continued again when Harri hurt himself and was unable to play. The band had to employ yet another bass player, Juha Paananen, who has since become a permanent member of the band. And to add to the insult to the injury, Rasmus couldn't participate the recording sessions due to other obligations. Luckily, Jimbo got very excited about the new music and after just few beers decided to play the drums on the recording. Jonne Valtonen (aka Purple Motion) joined the recording sessions and played all the keyboards, thus completing the current HOUSE OF MIRRORS lineup!

In 2003, HOUSE OF MIRRORS signed a deal with ESCAPE MUSIC, and in February 2004 their debut album Nightflight to Paradise was completed, using the talented mastering of Mika Jussila at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki.

NOW

It's the year 2006 and the follow-up album is called Desolation. The production team was mostly the same as on the first record again, sound engineer Timo Haanpää of Valtone Recording Studios in charge of microphones and mixing, and Mika Jussila of Finnvox Studios at the helm in mastering. All the music again was written by Jaakko and Pekka, and lyrics mostly by Kari Riihimäki, as on the debut, however, this time also Timo Haanpää wrote two songs for the album. Some talented friends of Mirrors joined to put in their own fresh sound. Jussi Mäkelä (Carlos D'l Puerto & Nganga) played percussion, Jankke Kuismin (Doggtown) played bass and Rasmus Puranen (Monkeyhouse) played drums for some songs on the record.