Sometimes a band begins with years of musical training and a carefully planned vision. In the case of Finnish hard rock outfit 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓, things were considerably more spontaneous.

Speaking with Voice of Noir, vocalist and bassist Pyry Matilainen looked back on the unlikely beginnings of a band that started almost from zero and has gradually grown into something much more serious.

𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓 formed in autumn 2018, with Pyrrö and guitarist Akseli remaining from the original lineup. Drummer Luka Kamio and guitarist Elias Suhonen later completed the band’s current formation. From the beginning, however, one thing was clear: they wanted to create their own music.

For Pyry, even becoming a musician was something of a leap into the unknown. Before picking up the bass, he had been an ice hockey goalie. Growing increasingly disconnected from the sport while becoming more interested in music, he simply decided to buy an instrument and then started looking for a band before he really knew how to play it.

“Basically, fake it till you make it type of situation.”

Behind the humour, however, is a philosophy that has remained central to his life. Hockey had already taught him what it feels like to begin something without knowing whether you will be good at it. For Pyry, being willing to struggle through that uncomfortable beginning is precisely what eventually allows something meaningful to happen.

“I don’t think it’s ever a wrong decision to just go for your dreams. Just do it.”

He is equally open about how deeply music eventually filled a space that had been missing from his life. What began as another thing to try quickly became something far more fundamental.

“I felt that something was missing from my life… My life needs some grand thing that is going to drive me forward. And I found that in music.”

Today, he describes music as “basically like religion for me” and “the reason I get up from bed every morning.”

That determination also carried 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓 through the pandemic. Forming shortly before COVID could easily have stopped the band’s momentum before it properly began, but Pyry now sees the timing from a different perspective. The group was still learning how to function as a band, meaning the interruption came before the busier live schedule they have today.

Now, the clearest representation of what 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓 have become can be heard on their five-track debut EP, “Modern Messiah.”

“It’s the first release that is like, yeah, this is exactly what I want this thing to sound like. I think it’s a really good summary of what 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓  is about.”

If there is one track that captures the different sides of the band, Pyry points to “Your Alibi”. Its combination of a melodic chorus, aggressive riffs and heavier elements reflects the band’s broader identity, but the song also reaches into much more personal territory.

The track deals with Pyrrö’s relationship with his father, something he has come to recognize as an important source behind much of his creativity.

“It’s really been the thing that has been driving me this whole time… It’s where most of my creative things sort of come from.”

Rather than slowing down after the EP, 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓 are already looking forward. The band are taking live opportunities wherever possible while putting much of their immediate focus back into writing new material. Pyry even teased that another song might arrive on Friday, November 13.

Yet perhaps the most revealing moment of the conversation wasn’t about future releases at all. Asked if he had a message for the people supporting 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓, Pyry returned to something much simpler: the fact that people are actually showing up and connecting with music that began with a group of musicians figuring things out as they went.

“It just blows my mind every time… It’s so wonderful to connect with you all.”

From a hockey goalie buying his first bass to a band now creating music that finally sounds exactly the way they want it to, 𝐒.𝐏.𝐈.𝐓’s story so far is perhaps proof of Pyry‘s own philosophy: you don’t have to know exactly what you’re doing when you begin. Sometimes you just have to begin.