Zen Café

Zen Café
Kari Nylander (bass) and Pete Parkkonen (drums) from Zen Café in Tavastia club, Helsinki, 2006-04-16.
Background information
Origin	Turku, Finland
Genres	Rock
Years active	1992–present
Website	www.zencafe.net
Members
Kari Nylander, Pete Parkkonen, Samuli Putro
Past members
Tuomo Mäki-paavola, Mikko Oesch

Samuli Putro, Tavastia Klubi, Helsinki, Finland, 16. April 2006

Zen Café is a Finnish rock band that was founded in Turku in 1992. Since the late 1990s, the band has been quite popular in Finland, but it hasn't gained popularity in other countries – then again, there has never been an attempt to export the band outside Finland, most likely simply because all of the group's songs are in Finnish.

The band named itself after the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig at the suggestion of band's bassist Kari Nylander. Other original members were Samuli Putro (vocals, guitar), Mikko Oesch (guitar) and Tuomo Mäkipaavola (drums). Oesch soon left the group and Mäki-paavola was replaced by Pete Parkkonen (drums).

Their latest album STOP was released in 2006. Currently they're having a long pause from recording and doing gigs.

Current line-up

• Samuli Putro – vocals, guitar, lyrics
• Kari Nylander – bass
• Pete Parkkonen – drums

Past members

• Mikko Oesch – guitar, vocals
• Tuomo Mäkipaavola – drums

Discography

Albums

• Romuna (1997) (English: Wrecked)
• Idiootti (1998) (English: Idiot)
• Ua ua (1999)
• Helvetisti järkeä (2001) (English: Hell of a lot of sense)
• Vuokralainen (2002) (English: Tenant)
• Jättiläinen (2003, anthology) (English: Giant)
• Laiska, tyhmä ja saamaton (2005) (English: Lazy, stupid, and indolent)
• STOP (2006)

See also

• List of best-selling music artists in Finland

External links

• http://www.zencafe.net