Biography

Hannu Lepisto's powerfully emotive bass-baritone & knack for crafting deeply affecting alt-rock and Americana tunes have garnered him indie press and fan comparisons to Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Ville Valo [HIM], Lou Reed, Johnny Cash and Brad Roberts [Crash Test Dummies].

The first single from Lepisto's coming sophomore album BURN BRIDGES BURN is set to drop on December 11, 2015. The 2 track release consists of upbeat love song 'Damn Little Devil You' and the poignant ballad, 'On Eggshells'.

Lepisto's debut solo LP "Have A Beautiful Life" (Homeward Records Oy) went straight to #1 on iTunes' Finland's Alternative Album Chart on it's Dec. 2013 release, staying within the top 10 Alt releases for 2 weeks and spending over a month on their New & Noteworthy recommendation for alternative albums. On the day of its release, the album entered the ITunes (Finland) Top Ten for all genres. Vents Magazine called it "the best album of the year".

In North America, Have A Beautiful Life hit #1 on the charts at CKCU-FM, 93.1 for the week of Dec 2-8, 2013 and remained in the top 10 at #8 from Dec 9-15. The album also received airplay on FM radio in several European countries, as well as internet stations globally.

Lepisto's solo debut EP “Run Away With Me” (2011) was selected for the Top Releases for 2011' on CKCU-FM's blog, by CKCU DJ e.V.

This summer, Hannu's animated video for the EP's lead single "Run Away With Me" aired on the syndicated TV program Indie Music Cafe on the following channels & networks (KDOC Los Angeles, KEYE-TV (CBS) Austin; WOWT (NBC) Omaha; CW 58 Nashville; WHAM-TV (NBC) 13 Rochester; Fox News 12 (foxtexoma.com) & News 12 (CBS) KX-11), having received regular airplay on US mainstream radio in 2012 on the syndicated indie music show The Radio Cafe. Legendary underground music zine Punk Globe interviewed Hannu for their April 2014 edition.

Lepisto, who served as a military chaplain in the Finnish army, cut his musical teeth playinjg drums in a number of underground rock bands starting in his very early teens. Driven by an urge to write poetic but gritty songs describing the roller coaster of life, he switched to guitar and mic at 17, to front his own band, The Matt Pistol Project. With his band The Matt Pistol Project, he has shared stages with the likes of Poets of The Fall and Bonnie Tyler. A health crisis led him to fold the band, recoup, then strike out on a solo path. Lepisto's first solo single 'There Is An Angel for Everyone' was very well recieved on Myspace. Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki invited Hannu to play on their stage prior to his debut solo LP release, Have A Beautiful Life (2013), which spent over a month on New & Noteworthy ITunes in his home country. 'Burn Bridges Burn' will be his third solo release and is due out in 2016. The album represents his most focused and poignant material to date.

Lepisto was diagnosed with bipolar depression during the making of his debut LP and several episodes of bipolar depression have interrupted the coming and the last album's production and release.