Finally! It seems that in my tenure of living in Helsinki I was never able to quite grasp why there were certain genre holes in the local up-and-comings. That isn’t to say I haven’t enjoyed Villa Nah’s, French Films’ and Siinai’s ride-up;they all got at me in their own ways. But having my musical interests bloom into what they are now because of garage and punk rock, I couldn’t help but feel that something was left to be desired. Until now, out-of-towners, like Guitar Wolf, filled that void.

But enter The Splits, a relatively new all-girl Finnish rock ‘n’ roll troupe. They are putting the fuzz back in my fuzzy memories of being a teen and getting my recommended weekly exercise on the dance floors of the local punk clubs. This is what Finland needs. A much-awaited break from synthesizers and cookie-cutter indie-pop boys who spent hours mastering those guitar licks. We need attitude. We need our throats to hurt. It reminds me of a time when being in a band meant getting your friends together in your parents’ garage and learning to play as you went along. Ad nauseam solos never did anyone any good anyway and I miss the plug-in-and-play mentality. These days it seems you need a degree in electrical engineering just to make sense of the 50 pedals with which bands arm themselves. But not The Splits: think Bikini Kill with tinges of a dirty Best Coast.  The vocals vacillate between cute poppiness and a snarl that would give Kathleen Hanna a run for her money. I think I’m in love.

I haven’t yet seen them live, but I will get a chance on May 27th when they open up for Oakland’s Hunx and His Punx at Kuudes Linja in Helsinki. I’ll be there and I would ask you to come along but, “you don’t like rock ‘n’ roll and I don’t like you.”

Words by Tuomas Brock. Check out The Splits and listen to the Ghosts/Crazy for You seven-inch here.