"Rattus is a punk band from Vilppula, founded in 1978. In addition to home country, the band has also toured many times abroad, where the band achieved cult fame in HC punk circles. The band, which broke up in 1988, was reunited in the early 2000s. Jarkko Marjamäki (Jake) and Veli-Pekka Hyvärinen (Vellu) founded Rattus in 1978. At first, the band played English covers for their own fun. Jake's brother Tomi Marjamäki (Tomppa) joined the band a few weeks later. The name Rattus was taken from The Stranglers' debut album 'Rattus Norvegicus'. In 1980, Rattus' first seven-inch single 'Khomeini Rock' was released, and 200 copies were printed. The album was released by their own record label 'Hilipili Records'. The next recording took place at the beginning of 1981. 'Fucking Disco' EP was also released on Hilipili with a total of 300 copies pressed. 50 copies went to England for sale. In October 1981, Rattus toured Finland with the English punk legend The Exploited.
The next four recordings were released by the record company 'Poko Rekords' from Tampere. In 1981, Poko Rekords released the 12" EP 'Rattus On Rautaa'. In 1982, the 7" EP 'Limited Nuclear War' was released and also licensed by Brazilian and French labels. In 1983, the 12" mini-LP 'Toilet Explodes' was released. The cover art for that album and the following 12" mini-LP 'Uskonto On Vaara' (1984) was done by an American artist named Pushead, who later became famous as a cover artist for Metallica and other bands. The four recordings made for Poko (two 7" singles and two 12" singles) were re-released on CD in 1993, titled 'Recordings 1981-1984'. Also In 1983, Rattus started looking for a singer, as Jake wanted to focus on just playing the guitar. Anssi Nieminen, aka "Annikki" was chosen. Rattus then played their first foreign gig in Aarhus, Denmark. The spring 1984 European tour already covered Sweden, Germany, Italy, Yugoslavia, Denmark, and England. Rattus also became famous in North America, when in 1984, the American 'Rat Cage Records' released an LP of re-recordings named simply 'Rattus'.
Rattus then recorded the 'People Are Sick' EP, which Poko was supposed to release. However, punk was no longer selling well in Finland, so in 1985 the EP was released by the new 'Ann & Archie' record label. In addition, the EP is included in the Brazil edition of the 'Religion Is A Danger' LP. Around that time, Rattus started to turn more into metal music and the influences were, among others, Venom, Slayer, and Metallica. In 1986, Annikki stepped down as singer and Jake took his place. The 'Stolen Life' album did not excite their new label 'Dekadenz', but the album was still licensed in France and Brazil. In December 1986, Kari joined the band as the second guitarist. The band's concerts in Denmark and Sweden in 1987 were disappointing, the metal style didn't work and the audience wanted old material. In 1988, the band released the seven-inch single 'Win Or Die'. Rattus did their last concert in February 1988 in Jyväskylä. Rattus reactivated in 2001. The lineup was the original trio reinforced by Anniki. In 2002, the band performed at the 'Ämy' festival in Hämeenlinna, eventually playing more random gigs. In autumn 2003, they did a short tour of Northern Germany. After that tour, the band returned to its original trio lineup [still playing as of 2023]." --Finnipedia version of bio
