Joel Hokka has founded a new band.
Jimi Aslak (left), Joel Hokka and Pauli Rantasalmi. Hokka and Rantasalmi say in the release that they shared their experiences of losing their bands and bandmates. One thing led to another and they started making songs together. Natalie Pastakeda
Musician Joel Hokka left Blind Channel last April. Now he returns to music with his band Hokka. In addition to Hoka, the band includes guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi, who left The Rasmus in 2022, and a drummer Jimi Aslak.
The band’s first song In The Darkness will be published today, Tuesday. It has been done by Hokka, Rantasalmi and a member of the Santa Cruz band Joonas Parkkonen.
Later in the spring, the group’s first album will be released.
– The upcoming debut album is a journey into the darkest recesses of the heart, where revenge is intertwined with the fragile thread of love and the path of suffering leads to unexpected beauty. Each song is like a bloody rose that blooms in the midst of pain – its petals are full of longing, but the thorns remind us of the price of loss, says Hokka in the release.
The band’s first performance, on the other hand, will be seen at the opening of the European Capital of Culture year in Ouluhalli on 31 December 2025.
Joel Hokka has become famous from the band Blind Channel. Mikko Huisko
The year changes: The Oulu 2026 event can be seen live on Yle.
Hokka was active in the Blind Channel for no less than 12 years. Blind Channel came to the attention of the general public in 2021, when it won UMK Dark Side – song. In Eurovision, the band finished sixth.