Indie Rock Cafe: Artist of the Week: Meet Snowdogs - A Fine Breed of Underground Hard Rock

They turned their back on classical piano and formed a hot indie hard rock band, the Snowdogs, a three-piece rock outfit from Finland that is just waiting to explode.

“Who?” you say?

OK, here’s the deal: The band’s name doesn't really convey the hard rock scene that they definitely have earned their place in.

Snowdogs punch out infectious hard rock with memorable hooks that are reminiscent of The Replacements, Green Day and Blues Traveler.

But that damn name. Snowdogs vocalist and guitarist Ville Leppanen conceded to Crazewire in a 2004 interview, that it didn’t help the band any when Disney Studios released the movie “Snow Dogs,” (2003) a cuddly-sweet G-rated movie about a novice leader of a dog sled team starring the "what-ever-happened-to-Cuba-Gooding-Jr."

After school they joined up with drummer Benjy Reid and worked diligently to release their cogent 2001 debut Animal Farm.

The band’s freshmen work quickly won acclaim among the British music press and soon forged a relationship that led to their signing on with the popular U.S. independent label Victory Records.

The influence of the 70’s arena-rock band Rush is no accident. Ville’s brother and bassist Mat Leppanen is a huge Rush fan. The two Finnish brothers are American educated classical pianists.

Snowdogs caught on pretty fast in the European indie rock scene after releasing their second album, Deep Cuts, Best Remedies (2003) gained the band a healthy dose of attention from mainstream, but especially college rock, radio shows and indie blogs.

In the extremely competitive, and easily-disposable, world of the rock business, Snowdays ascended to rock notarity fairly fast, but found themselves craving to score as many high-profile gigs as soon as possible while they had the momentum - another savvy move. Rolling Stone magazine even compared them to REM.

With the confluence of all the right elements and of course the proven talent to make solid, memorable indie and alternative rock, Snowdogs was now a group fans wanted to see and before long the band was opening for lead acts like Blink 182, MXPX, Alkaline Trio and Less Than Jake.

Overall, the Victory release of Deep Cuts, Best Remedies did well in Europe, but not as well in the U.S. Nevertheless, tracks like “End of the World” and “Your Sorry Ass” are great examples of the band’s talent and why they’ve earned rock and roll credibility.

Another track “Hell Outta Dodge” is a catchy pop rocker reminiscent of D-Generation laced with hints of Aerosmith and Blues Traveler.

Despite the album’s solid catalog of fresh and catchy rock songs interlaced with thrilling moments of great rock jams, the most influential gaggles of rock music critics and publications in the U.S. either did not hear them or failed to realize just how good these guys are.