1980s Beginnings , Helsinki in 1984 in 1985. From left to right: Jonttu Virta, Pete Nuotio and Quuppa Seittonen. In early 1982 Pertti "Neumann" Nieminen started forming a new band for himself after his previous band
MAC had broken up. Juha "Quuppa" Seitonen became the drummer for the new band and Jonttu Virta from the band Kieltolaki became the guitarist. At first, Neumann himself played the
bass guitar instead of singing the vocals. The band was first named Sous-Pierre, which was soon shortened to Soho. According to Jonttu Virta, the name Dingo came from one of the band's first songs,
Nimeni on Dingo, which predated the band's name. Through different phases the band reached its permanent line-up and sent a demo to a number of labels including Finnlevy,
CBS,
EMI and
Poko Rekords.
Pave Maijanen was selected as the band's producer. An alternative to him would have been
Jimi Sumén but Neumann ended up choosing Maijanen over him. Maijanen's role in Dingo's career has been said to have been so significant that he has even been called "the sixth Dingo". Dingo's style of dressing was mainly influenced by the earlier band
Hanoi Rocks. The make-up and colourful outfits the band wore also caused opposition to the band among some circles. In the next month the album rose to the top spot in Finnish album ranking lists. By the time the album
Kerjäläisten valtakunta was published, the number of pre-orders reached the amount of a Finnish
gold record (over 50 000 copies). The album remained as a number one for three to four months and in the end sold around 190 000 copies. Every song on the album became a hit, especially the single
Kirjoitan. It can be said that Dingo became an all time number one in all aspects: fame, hysteria, sales, media value and the impact on Finnish rock music at the time. They influenced several different Finnish bands and musicians such as Pyhät Nuket (the hit
Enkelit sulkivat silmänsä),
SIG and
Pave Maijanen.
Kerjäläisten valtakunta still remains the fourth-most sold Finnish album of all time. The band's huge popularity also influenced the band's income. Dingo's average gig compensation was 30 thousand
Finnish markka per gig, which was three times as high as that of other Finnish rock bands. On
Midsummer in 1985 Dingo earned 130 thousand markka for one single gig, which was an unprecedented amount of money for a domestic artist in Finland at the time. The Dingo fandom was most prominent among teenage girls. The hysteria surrounding to Dingo started influencing the daily lives of the band members. They could no longer even walk around on the street without a hysterical group of fans surrounding them.'' The hysterical fans also tried to enter the band's backstage rooms The most enthusiastic fans set up camp around the band members' apartments in hopes of getting an autograph. There were organised trips to Pori including descriptions of the band members' homes. and they set limits on the number of interviews. The song is not specifically about the time Vainio himself met Dingo, but instead about an unnamed man who meets Dingo at an automated gas station and ends up thus being involuntarily famous. The song was Vainio's humorous statement about the "Dingo fever" and the resulting loss of privacy. Neumann's philosophical preferences, the conscious avoiding of publicity and several trips to
Ireland started to alienate Dingo's younger audience. Yet Neumann's solo single "Mennään hiljaa markkinoille" and the expectations of a new Dingo single kept the band in headlines. Finally in November 1985 "Kunnian kentät" was released, once again hitting a number one position in the chart. A new Dingo album was expected to be released at Christmas 1985, but Dingo chose have a huge and expensive tour around the country. The year 1986 was the year of international dance music. Finland also had its own popular dance music group in the form of Bogart Co. Also, the album
Kahdeksas ihme by
Eppu Normaali reminded that there is excellent Finnish rock music other than Dingo. After a period of silence Dingo released their new album
Pyhä klaani, which did not turn out to be as successful as their earlier albums. "Koulukapina", "Kreivin sormus" and "Suru tahtoo sua" from the album were radio hits. "Pyhä klaani" also became a number 1, but the album only sold 80,000 copies, due to changes in Neumann's musical style and especially his lyrics. Around this time, Dingo had aspirations to release singles in English. The English version of "Autiotalo" (The house without a name) and the B-side, the English version of "Kirjoitan" (Tell me now) were not successful outside Finland. The next single released in Finnish was "Juhannustanssit" ("the Midsummer Dance"), released around the
Midsummer time in 1986. This single was a wild rock song that pleased rock critics more than the general audience.
Break-up When the fans gathered in Nivala, Tuiskula in the autumn of 1986, they were shocked by the news of their favourite band falling apart. In Nivala, Pete on the keyboards was replaced by Tumppi, who only had time to perform in the band for a few weeks. From the remains of the Dingo members, a band called S.E.X was formed. The journey of S.E.X remained rather short, releasing only a few singles: "Uuden aamun kitarat", "Canada", and arguably "Vierivä kivi" sung by Pepe. They also released and "S.E.X" in a rather posthumous spirit.
1990s After the break-up, the members of Dingo were active in music each on their own between 1986 and 1993. In autumn 1992 Dingo was offered 100 thousand markka for one concert but the band refused. According to Neumann, the reason was affected by his own solo album
Tähti ja meripoika and his autobiography by the same name. The interviews have later been published unedited at the YLE Elävä arkisto service.
2000s The keyboard player Pete Nuotio and the drummer Quuppa Seittonen left the band in January 2002 because of the band's failure to come up with new music. The other members were also frustrated with the band's inability to keep up with the times. After Nuotio and Seittonen had left, the band went on hiatus again. However, Neumann said the band would continue despite changes in its line-up. On 31 December 2002 Dingo performed at the
Saku Suurhall in
Tallinn,
Estonia with a special line-up. The line-up included Neumann and Jarkko Eve, as well as
Jari "Heinä" Nieminen at the guitar,
Pekka Kuorikoski at the keyboards and
Vesa Aaltonen at the drums. The same line-up performed again at the
Holiday Club Katinkulta in
Vuokatti in February 2003 with the name Neumann Band Plays Dingo. Dingo's former members did not want to appear at the line-up. Despite this, the concert was advertised as an event by the original Dingo band, even including a photograph of the original line-up, which angered the original members: A concert in Tallinn is being advertised with the name and picture of Dingo, with Neumann appearing without the rest of the band members. The New Year's Eve show on the website of the Saku Suurhall is being advertised as "The special guest of the evening is the legendary Finnish band Dingo, which has agreed to come together once again for this evening". The former members of the band were puzzled by this. "This is outrageous. They are making business and earning money with principles that affect us former Dingo members. Surely this can't be legal, at least it's not honest", the keyboard player Pete Nuotio told
Ilta-Sanomat. Neumann defended himself by saying he owned the Dingo
trademark and he could recreate the band if he wanted to. He also said that he could not have refused the offer, or else Saku Suurhall would have signed
Aerosmith to appear on New Year's Eve 2002. Dingo's new collection album
Dingomania along with a
DVD of the same name was published in spring 2004. At the same time the band announced they would start doing gigs again. Dingo started their 20th anniversary tour at the
Raumanmeren juhannus festival in 2004 with a line-up consisting of vocalist Neumann, bass player Jarkko Eve, guitar player
Hombre Lampinen, keyboard player
Sami Välimäki and drummer
Juha Jokinen. The first appearance of the band on their return tour was photographed and shown in autumn 2004 on the TV channel
Yle TV2. In May 2004 the band changed their entire line-up except for Neumann and Eve. The line-up now included musicians from the band
Bomfunk MC's, the drummer
Ari Toikka, the guitar player
Erik Valkama and the keyboard player
Pekka Siistonen. On 8 June 2005 Dingo published their new single
Musta leski which was the first song from their upcoming album. The studio album
Purppuraa was published on 26 October, produced by
Antti Suomalainen and
Risto Asikainen. The album
Purppuraa did not do very well. The highest spot it reached on the
Official Finnish Charts was at place 9. Dingo's line-up changed again in 2007. The band's new drummer was
Jukka "Frogley" Mänty-Sorvari, and their new keyboard player later in the same spring was
Robert Engstrand. == Discography ==