History

Selfmindead formed in the winter of 1994-1995 in Eskilstuna, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 as a four piece. Marko Hautakoski on drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, Timo Sillankorva on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, vocalist

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 Ilkka Viitasalo and bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 Tapani Hoikkaniemi. Mostly influenced by the Swedish Hardcore

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 scene, bands such as Refused

Refused

Refused was a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1991. In total the band released five EPs and three albums, before splitting up in 1998...

, Abhinanda, and Mindjive. In 1995 the band entered a competition in their hometown of Eskilstuna, known as Cult-95. After winning this competition they began to play more shows around Sweden. In 1996 Selfmindead came into contact with a newly formed record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 known as Soulscape Records. They signed with Soulscape and released one 7", featuring two original songs and a cover of Starflyer 59

Starflyer 59

Starflyer 59 is an alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993 by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has included a number of different musicians over the years, including...

's song, "Hazel Would". In the early summer of 1997 they entered the studio to record a self titled, full length record. The album was released in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 by Soulscape, who had released their previous 7". It was distributed in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Benelux

Benelux

The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...

 by Sally Forth Records and in the US by Solidstate Records. The group toured Europe behind this release.

The band went through a member change at this time, Tapani left and was replaced by Emil Nikolaisen

Emil Nikolaisen

Emil Nikolaisen is a musician and producer from Norway. He is frontman, bandleader, songwriter, guitarist & singer of the well-known Norwegian alternative rock band Serena-Maneesh....

 of Royal, Silver, and later Serena Maneesh

Serena Maneesh

Serena-Maneesh is an alternative rock band from Oslo, Norway.- Significance of the Name:...

. In the late Summer of 1999, Selfmindead again entered the studio to begin work on their follow-up full length, At the Barricades We Fall. This album, like their previous release, was distributed in Scandinavia by Soulscape, in Europe by Sally Forth, and the US by Solidstate. During the writing process of "Barricades", Emil left to pursue other interests. Marko left his position as drummer and took up the guitar. Marko's previous place was filled by Tommy of Silver and the empty bass position was filled by Even, also of Silver. After touring as a five piece, Even and Tommy left to work more on their Silver project. After this the band began to look for more permanent members and found Håkon from a band called "mold" on bass and Michal from a broken up band called, "Amphibro". During this time the band rehearsed only once a month, due to Michal living over 700 km away. Eventually they began to tour again, mostly throughout Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Sweden.

A tour of the US followed in 2000, but due to complications, not all the members could make it to all the dates on this tour. A reserve system was put into place to solve this problem. Upon their return home they began the writing process for their third album. During this time they released a split EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 with Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 band, The Spirit That Guides Us on Sally Forth which was distributed by Sony Music. The band played several festivals throughout Europe and played their last show at a club called "Blå" in their hometown of Eskilstuna in August 2002. The band finally called it quits in 2003.

In 2003, Ilkka and Marco formed a new band in Norway known as Benea Reach

Benea Reach

Benea Reach is an extreme metalcore/mathcore band from Oslo, Norway. The band was nominated for a Spellemannsprisen Award in the metal category, and at one time included noted guitarist Christer Espevoll of progressive metal band Extol.-Biography:...

 and Timo started an Electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 project known as Tiikeri.

Members

• Ilkka Viitasalo - vocals (currently vocalist for Benea Reach
  Benea Reach
  Benea Reach is an extreme metalcore/mathcore band from Oslo, Norway. The band was nominated for a Spellemannsprisen Award in the metal category, and at one time included noted guitarist Christer Espevoll of progressive metal band Extol.-Biography:...
  
  )
• Marko Hautakoski - drums(currently known as Marco Storm, drummer for Benea Reach)
• Timo Sillankorva - guitar(currently creates electronic music under the name Tiikeri)
• Tapani Hoikkaniemi - bass
• Emil Nikolaisen(serena maneesh) - bass (replaced Tapani, 1998)
• Even Steven (Silver) - bass (replaced Emil 1999)
• Tommy (Silver) - Drums (Marco switched to guitar)

Discography

• Selfmindead 7" (Soulscape Records, 1997)
• Selfmindead (Solid State Records
  Solid State Records
  Solid State Records is a Christian record label, a division of Tooth & Nail Records. Unlike Tooth & Nail, Solid State signs hardcore and metal bands. Like Tooth & Nail, Solid State is primarily a Christian label. However, they have signed several bands that don't label themselves as Christian,...
  
  , Sally Forth Records, 1998)
• Hit's of the 80's (contributed Wayfaring Stranger to this compilation, Sally Forth Records, 2000)
• At the Barricades We Fall (Solid State Records
  Solid State Records
  Solid State Records is a Christian record label, a division of Tooth & Nail Records. Unlike Tooth & Nail, Solid State signs hardcore and metal bands. Like Tooth & Nail, Solid State is primarily a Christian label. However, they have signed several bands that don't label themselves as Christian,...
  
  , Sally Forth Records, 2000)
• The Oslo Compact (split with The Spirit That Guides Us, Sally Forth Records, 2001)