Description

Lodger's lyrics are often cynical and nihilistic; their hits include such titles as "I Love Death" which details the drugery in life of the average person and "God Has Rejected the Western World", an anthem decrying the superficiality of western society. Their unabashed attitude is most apparent in their music videos, which prominently feature smoking, drinking, sex, masturbation, rape and death.

Biography

Lodger is a Finnish indie rock band, formed by Teemu Merilä in 2002. Although largely unknown outside of Finland, they have established a cult-following on the internet due to the popularity of their flash music videos. In the latter half of 2002, singer/songwriter Teemu Merilä created Lodger as a vehicle for his music, bringing together Jyri Riikonen on keyboards, Hannes Häyhä on bass, Antti Laari on drums, and London-based Richard Anderson on guitar. During the summer of 2003, the group recorded a self-financed demo of Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low. Shortly thereafter, Häyhä created a flash music video for "Doorsteps" featuring a hapless one-eyed stick man. That year, Doorsteps went on to win "best flash" in the Bradford Animation Festival, as well as winning the Oulu Music Video Festival. In fact, these "One-Eyed Films" would prove so popular that the group went on to adopt a one-eyed skull and crossbones as its logo. In 2004, Anderson returned to Britain, and was replaced by guitarist Panu Riikonen. Hi-Fi High was made available for purchase within Finland and the response was overwhelmingly positive - Lodger's debut release was the best-selling album at Stupido (a Finish record retailer) for 2004. Häyhä went on to create a second One-Eyed Film, "I Love Death" which proved to be even more popular than Doorsteps. 2005 saw Lodger release two as-of-yet unseen One-Eyed Films in the form of advertisements: God Has Rejected the Western World for Sabotaz spraypaints, and 24h Candy Machine for idea-protector.com. In September, a remastered version of Hi-Fi High Lights Down Low was made available for sale. This remastered version contained a slightly different track list than the 2004 offering; although it included 24h Candy Machine, Everyone Got to Go and Fickle were conspicously absent. At the current time, Lodger is at work writing material for their second album, "How Vulgar".