Wolfchild Bio

WOLFCHILD BIO

DISCOGRAPHY:
2003 – Tales Of The Urban Decadence
2005 – Toxic
2006 – Wolfchild

BAND MEMBERS (ON ALBUMS):
Kim Högberg – vocals, guitar
Marko Purosto – lead guitar
Jaska Koivusilta – bass
Tomi Nousiainen – drums

HISTORY:

Wolfchild started in 2002 when the three members of the Finnish group Nasty — bassist Jaska Koivusilta, guitarist Marko Purosto and drummer Tomi Nousiainen — found themselves without a lead singer when Nasty‘s frontman Risto Kuusakoski moved more than 200 kilometres away from Hyvinkää to Turku. Koivusilta knew singer Kim Högberg (Helion, Bulldozer) who accepted to join the trio. The new foursome decided to call themselves Wolfchild based on Koivusilta‘s suggestion after listening to The Cult’s song “Wildflower” where Ian Astbury sings, “I’m a Wolfchild girl howling for you… Wildflower.” The band’s idea was to play classic hard rock music styled in the ’70s and ’80s. 

Wolfchild first released a four-song demo EP entitled Tales Of The Urban Decadence in 2003 which sported cover versions of Twisted Sister‘s “Shoot ‘Em Down” and W.A.S.P.‘s “The Flame” along with two original tracks. Fueled by many great reviews for the EP,

Wolfchild played as many gigs as possible from festivals to smoky bars all over Finland. This included a gig opening for Paul Di’Anno & The Killers, which was recorded by the now defunct encoremetal.com but never released. Wolfchild also had their seven-song set recorded for their “Ladies Night” gig in Hyvinkää, Finland on July 28, 2004 but that live bootleg remains unreleased as well. In November 2004, Wolfchild went into the recording studio with producer Lari Takala to record a three-song EP entitled Toxic. Wolfchild started marketing their music under the mantra “Real Rock Is Not Dead” and before long, their Toxic EP (you can hear the EP here) received great reviews around the world and sparked interest from record companies in both the United States and Finland.

In October 2005, Wolfchild recorded their full-length self-titled debut album with Takala once again handling the production duties. The ten-song album contained the three tracks from Toxic along with seven other original compositions and was released through Perris Records in June 2016. The album Wolfchild received great reviews including charting in both of Sleaze Roxx’s year-end lists in 2006 (#8 for Sleaze Roxx’s Top Ten Albums of 2006 and #11 for the Sleaze Roxx Readers’ Top 20 Albums of 2006). The group released one official video for the song “Don’t Shoot Me” in support of the Wolfchild album. During Wolfchild‘s rise in their four years together up to that point, the group partied hard with alcohol being the common denominator.

Despite great reviews, turmoil was amidst in the Wolfchild camp as two strong personalities were butting heads with leader / bassist Jaska Koivusilta — who handled all the business decisions and had the gig connections — and singer Kim Högberg could not see eye to eye. With long-time friends Purosto and Nousiainen behind Koivulsilta, Högberg eventually left Wolfchild in December 2006 frustrated with not being able to mold the group into his own vision, which included a more image focused band. In mid-January 2007, the remaining members in Wolfchild announced that they had found a new singer by the name of Mika Siitonen (Moonscape) and a temporary second guitarist in Antti Roksa (Skyward) to replace Högberg who sang and played guitar. The new line-up only got to play a handful of gigs together as tragedy struck on April 3, 2007 when Koivusilta — who was feeling quite down after losing his job and growing more angry and unpredictable especially when drunk — unexpectedly took his own life when he jumped in front of a moving train.

Despite the tragic situation, a replacement was found for Koivusilta rather quickly with Rude Rothsten taking his friend’s spot within the band.

Koivusilta‘s shoes were difficult to fill in that he had handled all of the managerial duties to that point. This now fell on Nousiainen‘s shoulders. While Rothsten fit well within the group, it was never the same without Koivusilta and Wolfchild did not create any new material without Koivusilta but did end up playing a number of gigs. Wolfchild ended up releasing only one more song entitled “Give Me A Sign” (in October 2007). Each Wolfchild member dealt with Koivusilta‘s passing in different ways and Siitonen‘s no-shows at rehearsals came to head at the end of 2007 when Purosto fired him. Wolfchild ended up playing one more show together on April 3, 2008, which was exactly one year after Koivusilta‘s passing and in his honour. Old and new Wolfchild members convened and performed including both singers Kim Högberg and Mika Siitonen.

Since then, there had been talks of some of the Wolfchild members getting back together for one more gig. Back in 2006 and 2007, the group had recorded a number of songs for their follow up second full-length album, which remain under wraps at this time. Högberg was the first to emerge with new music out of the three remaining members of the original Wolfchild line-up as he released a five-song EP under the moniker Electric Black in 2014. However, Högberg and his new project have since vanished from the limelight and apparently any social media. In recent years, Nousianen, Purosto and Rothsten have joined forces again touring as part of the Finnish Badasses as the support band for original AC/DC singer Dave Evans whenever he tours through Finland.

TRACK LIST PER ALBUM:

Tales Of An Urban Decadence EP (2003) Track List:
01. Who Do You Think You Are?
02. Shoot ‘Em Down
03. That’s Tough
04. The Flame

 

 

 

 

 

Toxic EP (2005) Track List:
01. Cuts Like A Knife
02. Gasoline
03. Out From The Blues

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wolfchild (2006) Track List:
01. Walk Away
02. Don’t Shoot Me
03. Like A Dog
04. One Woman
05. Out From The Blues
06. Cuts Like A Knife
07. Gasoline
08. Queen Of The Streets
09. Day By Day
10. Shadow Zone

 

Wolfchild playing AC/DC‘s “Gimme A Bullet” live in Helsinki, Finland in 2007:

WOLFCHILD – Gimme A Bullet ( AC/DC ) – Live

WOLFCHILD – Gimme A Bullet @ On The Rocks – Helsinki – Finland – 2007Vocals: Mika SiitonenLead Guitar: Marko PurostoGuitar: Antti RöksäBass: RUDEDrums: Tomi …

Wolfchild performing “Cuts Like A Knife” live in Helsinki, Finland on November 15, 2006: