I WALK THE LINE - THE STORY SO FAR..

Hailing from Helsinki, Finland, I Walk The Line took their name from the legendary Johnny Cash, feeling it described the honest straightforward nature of the punk rock they played - back in 2003, the Man In Black was still very much alive and only a cult figure in the finnish punk rock scene and there was no hit movie made about him yet! Apart from dressing all in black, there is little else that nods to the classic country icon. The band plays dark resonant, melodic, edgy punk, pulling from such influences as Rocket From The Crypt, The Clash, Devo, Adolescents, Murder City Devils, Wipers, The Cure.. the list could go on and on but IWTL are all about listening to everybody and everything with an open mind and doing things their own way no matter what!

IWTL started as a side-project from the members’ other bands at the time, Wasted and Manifesto Jukebox. IWTL quickly established themselves as a local must-see live act, bringing together fans of punk, hardcore and rock whenever they played. The band released their debut album Badlands on Combat Rock Industry / Boss Tuneage in 2004 and embarked on several tours of Germany and the UK, introducing the band to a wider international audience.

The second IWTL album Desolation Street was released in Germany and Finland in 2006 on Combat Rock Industry and was met with enthusiasm from the crowd and critics alike – the album hit the national charts, IWTL kept playing shows from small sweaty clubs to the biggest outdoor festivals and rocked them all! The Diamond Eyes single, released in July 2006, even reached 2 position on the charts.

Later that year the legendary US punk rock label Gearhead picked up the record after seeing IWTL play at the Popkomm festival in Berlin. Desolation Street was re-released in January 2007 and IWTL kept busy touring, going to Japan and the US for the first time as well as doing yet another tour of mainland Europe. After the summer IWTL took time off from the relentless touring schedule and started working on new songs.

On their much anticipated third album Black Wave Rising IWTL delivers 11 anthems with powerful hooks wrapped in a flood of guitars and keyboards. The album includes the snottiest punk songs the band has written so far as well as synth-driven new wavey tracks and everything in between, the key to everything being the band’s raw energy combined with strong melodies and songwriting, as well as singer/songwriter Ville’s distinctive voice and heartfelt lyrics.

Here is what some other people have said about us.

"Dark punk rock n roll, black-clad and tattooed, part Murder City Devils, part Rocket from the Crypt, part Social Distortion, with far more intelligence than the greasemonkey / gearhead mentality that my sketch might otherwise suggest. I Walk the Line would be huge in the USA if they had the right label behind them." (punknews.org)

"I Walk The Line emerged after members of fellow Finnish bands (Manifesto Jukebox, Wasted and Hero Dishonest) decided they wanted to widen their musical horizons. "Desolation Street", the second chapter in their musical journey sees them traveling an impressively less-worn road. Intelligent and well-crafted songs abound, captured in old-fashioned earthy analogue, giving proceedings a less clinical feel than the norm... Like fellow brave souls Against Me!, IWTL are another act fearlessly pushing forward the boundaries of this thing we call punk rock." (punkoi.co.uk)

I WALK THE LINE is:
Ville : vocals & bass
Jussi : drums
Anna : keyboards
Antti : guitar
Jani : guitar



BAND CONTACT:
I WALK THE LINE
c/o Combat Rock Industry
Fredrikinkatu 58
00100 Helsinki
FINLAND

email: IWTL@FIREINSIDEMUSIC.COM

I WALK THE LINE at MYSPACE (opens in new window)

BOOKING:

Finland:
FULLSTEAM AGENCY
www.fullsteamagency.com
+358-50-5384178 / Otso Kähönen
otso@fullsteamagency.com

Elsewhere:
I WALK THE LINE / Jani
jani@fireinsidemusic.com
+358-50-3551786

RECORD LABELS:

COMBAT ROCK INDUSTRY
info@fireinsidemusic.com
tel/fax : +358 9 440 881
WWW.COMBATROCKINDUSTRY.NET

GEARHEAD RECORDS
michelle@gearheadrecords.com
tel +1 530 662 7877
www.gearheadrecords.com

WEBDESIGN:
WWW.ANGERDESIGN.COM

DISCOGRAPHY (not including compilations etc)

BLACK WAVE RISING LP/CD (Combat Rock Industry, april 2008)

01 Trouble Seeker 02 Stigmatized 03 Black Wave 04 Demonic Verses 05 Paradise 06 The Metro 07 Words Like Knives 08 Way Back Home 09 Fire, Be My Guide 10 Monster 11 Just A Number

BLACK WAVE 7"/CDS (Combat Rock Industry, march 2008)

01 Black Wave 02 Lost Chapter

DIAMOND EYES 7"/MCD (Combat Rock Industry, July 2006)

7": 01 Nowhereland 02 Heart On A Leash 03 Diamond Eyes CD: 01 When I'm Gone 02 Nowhereland 03 Heart On A Leash 04 Diamond Eyes +When I'm Gone video

01 Just Like the Rest 02 The Man Without a Name 03 Grand Collapse 04 Drifter 05 Dead Seeds 06 World on a Pyre 07 When I'm Gone 08 Purity 09 Where Strangers Meet 10 Hollow 11 Forever Nights 12 Ghost 0n A Tightrope +When I'm Gone video on the Gearhead edition

01 In Retrospect 02 Capsized 03 Vagrant's Burden 04 Time to Burn 05 Barren Fields 06 Demons are Forever 07 Bitter End 08 Clean Slate 09 Russian Roulette (only on vinyl) 10 No Redemption 11 Unbroken