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MOPOT
BIOGRAPHY

Mopot from Suolahti was formed as early as circa 1978, but it wasn't until a couple of years later, in 1980, they got more focused on the band activity. The lineup at the time was Teijo: vocals & guitar, Tame: drums and vocals and Timo: bass and vocals. They were having difficulties finding a second guitarist. Although many Finnish punk bands were inspired by Ramones (either them or Sex Pistols), and ramo punk later became quite popular, in those days that style was much less common, in fact Mopot may have been the only band in Finland to play proper Ramones-style music at the time. Despite the fact that for Mopot the English band Boys, instead of Ramones, was the most important source of inspiration. The band probably didn't bother to send demo tapes to record companies, as their self-financed EP Mopot was released in September 1980. The EP contains four (surprise!) Ramones-style songs. Jouni plays second guitar on the EP, but soon after the record's release he was replaced by Teijo Lehto aka Andy. The songs are good and the recording sounds decent, considering they were probably working on a low budget. The pressing was 400 copies, and later Kråklund Records reissued the EP. The EP brought them a proper recording deal as they were signed to Johanna. The excellent single Rakastan sua/Kansikuvatyttö was released in March 1981. The songs are silly, and the band still sounds a little amateurish, but that doesn't matter, both sides of the single contain a catchy pop song. The record company shouldn't have placed Kansikuvatyttö on the flipside, it's an instant hit (at least in my world)! Almost immediately after the release, in April, Andy moved to Helsinki, and was replaced by a guy called Jake. The band wasn't very active, they played less than ten gigs in 1981, and the single remained their last release. So the story of Mopot came to an end in 1982.

Afterwards Teijo changed his name to Teyo and he too moved to Helsinki. In 1984 he sang in Cartoon Rockers, with ex-Widows Kelloggs Bollocks and Andy (Antti Reini, also known as an actor). There were big things planned for Cartoon Rockers, but only one great single was ever released. Teyo's later band Usher Boys did however record some of Cartoon Rockers' songs. On a live tape from 1985 Cartoon Rockers play Lipstick traces, which was later recorded by Usher Boys. Usher Boys, in which another former Mopot member Timo played bass, broke up in mid 1990's. Teijo Lehto, after his move to Helsinki, joined Problems, which later turned into Tumppi Varonen Band, and scored a minor hit with their song Päiväuneksija, originally Daydream believer by The Monkees, and then back to Problems. After Problems Lehto played in Pelle Miljoona & Rockers, until he apparently quit playing for good.

text by Vesa Vahtera, translation by Jarkko Kuivanen