Daniel Lioneye

History

Daniel Lioneye came together in 2001, a side project formed by three members of the Finnish rock band HIM: guitarist and vocalist Mikko "Linde" Lindström, drummer Ville Valo, and bassist Mikko "Mige" Paananen. According to Valo, the group was created as a way to blow off steam from the pressure of HIM's growing success. Before putting out any records, Daniel Lioneye only performed a handful of times at private parties across Finland. When they went into the studio with producer Hiili Hiilesmaa to cut their first album, only three songs were ready; the rest were written on the fly during recording. Lindström later said none of the material was ever meant for public release, as the trio had spent years making unreleased experimental music with Hiilesmaa. The band decided to put out the debut, The King of Rock 'n Roll, "as a joke" in spring 2001 in Finland and Germany. Critics panned the record, which was labeled psychedelic stoner rock with lyrics about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Pertti Ojala of Soundi described it as "dirty, loud and diversely unpleasant." Nonetheless, the title track found a second life when professional skateboarder and TV host Bam Margera used it as the opening theme for his series Viva La Bam. By 2006, that song had become the second-most-played Finnish track worldwide. After the album dropped, the band played a short three-date festival tour in Finland, adding Hiilesmaa on keyboards and Ike Vil on sound effects. In February 2010, Daniel Lioneye announced a second album, Vol. II, due out that April on The End Records. This time, fellow HIM member Janne "Burton" Puurtinen joined on keyboards, and Black Vomit Bolton took over drumming from Ville Valo. The sound shifted to something heavier, which Lindström called "extreme rock n' roll" with black metal influences. Reviews were mixed: Antti Mattila of Soundi gave it three stars, while Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic called it "clearly a hit-and-miss affair." In 2011, the band supported Cradle of Filth on their first U.S. tour, with Seppo Tarvainen on drums and Manu Patel on backing vocals.