Frostborn

A

fter the split of Hardware in 1999 from artistic disagreements, guitar player Jarmo Makinen and drummer Anssi Herkkola went off to start a new band in their hometown of Tempere, Finland. Within short order they were rehearsing with a motley group of musicians until Makinen left for Cyprus and put the band on ice for eight months.

When Makinen returned plans were made in the autumn of 2001 to release a demo with Juha Arola on drums while Herkkola switched to bass and keyboards but there was still no singer. The lack of vocals didn't matter too much because, due to other technical issues, the demo could not be completed.

The demo attempt would be resumed in the summer of 2002 with a stable line-up featuring the addition of Alois Weimer (ex-Dreamtale) on bass under the recommendation of Rami Keranen, former Hardware member and current Dreamtale frontman. Former G-Force vocalist Tommi Erkkila soon after joined to fill the long vacant vocal spot.

Performing first under the name Northwind, their debut demo Far Away From Home would finally be finished and released in 2002. Still lacking a keyboardist, Weimercontacted Dutch/British musician Chris Hopper, a person he had met during a multicultural music/theater project in the recent past and someone who had made in-roads into the European music world, and asked him to join their band.