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TV:N ORJAT
BIOGRAPHY

TV:n Orjat, the 'pride' of Turku punk rock was formed in fall 1977 by Kari Sutela and Juha Laukkanen. Before that they had been playing together since December 1976. There is nothing special about the origins of the band's name ('Slaves of Television'), it was chosen simply because it sounded funny. Sutela became the singer and Laukkanen played guitar. Juha Kettinen joined on bass, Matti Englund on drums and Jarmo Hirvi on second guitar. After a short period of rehearsing and gigging they were offered a chance to appear on a record. In May 26th 1979, the day after a Hilse concert, they recorded a song for the forthcoming Hilse LP. Originally they meant to record 'Jyrki Hämäläinen on rikollinen' ('Jyrki Hämäläinen is a criminal', Hämäläinen being the chief editor of Suosikki, the most popular teen magazine in Finland at the time), but they didn't have the guts to do it, so it was the Laukkanen composition 'Sä et pysty irtautuu' that ended up on the compilation. The song isn't very original, but maybe that's just the reason that makes this story about the troubles of a teenager so catchy. In July Jarmo Hirvi went on a holiday to Northern Finland, and when he came back, he found out that he had been kicked out of the band. This didn't discourage Hirvi, instead he formed a new band, Wrum, and scored a minor hit with his song Takapihojen rocktähdet. After Hirvi's departure from TV:n Orjat Kettinen was also shown the door, because of his decision to perform his compulsory military service. He was replaced by former Vihan Muna member Harri 'Hoss' Siivonen. Not long after that the band's old drummer was replaced by Pekka Eskelinen. The band's only single, excellent Tavallinen ihminen/Terve hulluus was released on Kerberos label in 1980. They were also featured in local television show Levyraati. Both songs on the single are extremely catchy, which makes it a shame that it remained their only release. They did, however, record a three-song demotape in 1980, which has been made (unofficially) available on a CD-R compilation, which also contains excellent demos by Loose Prick (1979) and Vandaalit (1978). Especially Loose Prick's part on this compilation is of importance, because most of the songs were never released officially. Among the TV:n Orjat songs on the compilation is the band's title song 'TV:n Orjat, kauniit ja sorjat'. Of the officially released songs Terve hulluus is also featured on Vaahtopäät compilation, and both sides of the single ended up on 'Nobody wants us Vol. 2', an unofficial CD-R compilation of rare Finnish punk rock singles and EP's.

TV:n Orjat broke up in 1980 or 1981 (but made a reunion gig with Vihan Muna in 1985). Later Sutela sang in Musta for a while, but since then hasn't been active in the music scene. Laukkanen later played in AD and 500 Kg Lihaa. Siivonen is known from bands like Hoss & The Radicals, Liikkuvat Lapset and Nylon 66'ers, which is still active. Eskelinen has also been involved in Liikkuvat Lapset and Nylon 66'ers. The song Terve hulluus has also been covered by Raivopäät.

text by Vesa Vahtera, translation by Jarkko Kuivanen