DINGO

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Dingo was formed in 1982. Through different phases it reached its permanent line-up and recorded a demo which was sent to different labels, for example Finnlevy and Poko Rekords. Poko Rekords abanded the demo and it’s been told that “accidently” the demo ended up in a wrong drawer. On the other hand it took only one song to convince Finnlevy. That song was “Hölmöläisten Laiva” and from the songs we know, “Sinä ja Minä” was also on the demo.



Nimeni on Dingo



Through different occurrences Dingo recorded their first album "Nimeni on Dingo" before they started playing live gigs. The album sold amazingly right from the beginning. Although at this point Dingo was still in the shadow of another popular band from Pori - Yö, since their debut album “Varietee” had sold over 60 000 copies and right after coming out it became number 1 on different hit lists. Also “Nimeni on Dingo” became a number 1-album and as time passed it was sold a lot more than Yö’s album… There were many different hits on it: Sinä ja Minä, Levoton Tuhkimo, Lakatut varpaankynnet and Pistoolisankari to name a few.



Along the success came also the fans. In public Dingo became the band of “teenaged girls”. These girls screamed and cried of happiness when seeing their idols live. Especially the blond front figure, Neumann was idolized tremendously. In the “rock circles” that was strongly despised and honestly, envied.



Autiotalo



A lot more was yet to come. After Eve leaving the band (and Pepe replacing him) in the end of 1984, the new single “Autiotalo” was published. The single climbed to the first position on every hit list and the band reached incredible fame. No longer was Dingo considered as the band of teen aged girls, since also older people fell for them, including the teenagers’ parents!



While waiting for the new album to come out the new Dingo-fans ran into stores to buy the first album and as a surprising result “Nimeni on Dingo” reached the 3d position on sales list.



Kerjäläisten Valtakunta



By the time the new album was published in 1985 it had been ordered in advance the amount of a gold album (and at that time the diamond album, meaning over 50 000 copies). Kerjäläisten valtakunta overran all expectations. The album stayed as number one for 3-4 months and in the end the sales were around 190 000 (which is a record). Every song on the album became a hit, especially the single “Kirjoitan”.

It can be said that Dingo became an all time number one in all aspects: fame, hysteria, sales, media value and the impact on Finnish rock music in that time. They influenced several different Finnish bands and musicians such as Pyhät Nuket (the hit Enkelit sulkivat silmänsä), Sig and Pave Maijanen.



The spring, summer and the autumn -85 passed in an effective “Dingo-fever”. It was no longer a question of rock music alone, but a sociologically interesting phenomenon as well. Dingo was not only a rock band but also a corporation. The band members were seen on tv-programmes and covers of magazines. On the tour the success was unbelievable. They just had to be taken seriously from that on.



Kunnian Kentät



Neumann’s philosophical preferences, the conscious avoiding of publicity and several trips to Ireland started to alienate Dingo from their younger audience. Yet Neumann’s solo single “Mennään hiljaa markkinoille” and the expectancy of the new Dingo single kept the band in headlines. Finally in November 1985 “Kunnian kentät” was published. The music sounded so familiar and excellent that Neumann’s song-writing-pen started to be considered extremely sharp. The hit list position was no surprise; number 1. The new album was promised to come out for Christmas, but it didn’t come out that soon. Instead Dingo had a huge hall-tour around the country which turned out to be very expensive for the band since someone weaselled a part of their hast.



Pyhä Klaani



In 1986 blew the winds of international dance music. Also Finland got its own in the form of Bogart Co. Also the album “Kahdeksas Ihme” by Eppu Normaali reminded that there is excellent Finnish rock music also outside Dingo. After living in silence for quite some time Dingo published their new album “Pyhä klaani” but it didn’t turn into a huge event as had happened with their earlier albums. “Koulukapina”, “Kreivin sormus” and “Suru tahtoo sua” were the radio hits of the album (and are Dingo classics). However “Pyhä klaani” also became a list number 1, but the sales of 80 000 copies was a disappointment. The change of direction that Neumann’s music style and especially lyrics had experienced didn’t please everyone.



However Dingo still had it going for them. The music box had played “Levoton tuhkimo” in Finnish for a few times and now they wanted to publish a single in English and also make a video. The translation of “Autiotalo” (A house without a name) and the b-side, translation of “Kirjoitan” (Tell me now) didn’t reach success outside Finland as we know by now.



Juhannustanssit



The next Dingo-single sang in Finnish was “Juhannustanssit” and it came out conveniently right around the midsummer time (=juhannus in Finnish) 1986. The single was such rough rock that the band’s style seemed to please the rock critics more than the great audience. Dingo was still a very popular band and that’s why the fans gathered in Nivala, Tuiskula in autumn 1986 were shocked by the news of their favourite band Dingo falling apart. Replacing Pete on the keyboards in Nivala there was Tumppi, who only had time to perform in the band for a few weeks.



S.E.X



From the vicinity of the Dingo-members a band named S.E.X was formed. The journey of S.E.X stayed shorter than expected since they only had time to create two or three singles depending on weither the excellent song “Vierivä kivi” sang by Pepe is counted as one. The other two were “Uuden aamun kitarat” and “Canada”. Also an album named simply S.E.X was published in a rather posthumous spirit.



Via Finlandia



There were rumours of Dingo getting back together during the years 1990-91, but only after publishing the collection “Tuhkimotarina” in 1993 the band united to record a new song which was added on the next collection “Sinä ja Minä”. The new song was named “Perjantai”. Finally in spring 1994 a whole new album of Dingo-music was published. The most popular songs on the album were “Elämäni sankari” and “Nähdään taas”. Dingo also went on tour with Pave Maijanen on the keyboards. It took many by surprise that Dingo quit working together again. After all “Via Finlandia” had also sold tens of thousands of copies.



Musta Leski



Dingo is publishing expected new material after 11 years!! In june 2005 a new single “Musta Leski” came out and the whole album in the end of the same year.



And now…



Dingo is still here. Neumann and the original member of the band, Eve constitute the nuclear of the band. The new line-up tours intensely around Finland and the gigs are an amazing combination of nostalgia, history and nowadays also new excellent Dingo-material.



Translation by Elina Yli-Hietanen.