My name is Harri Tapio Minkkinen. I was born in 1964 in Finland, so I'm 34 years old now. I'm married with Inga and we have two daughters: Elisa (4 years) and Anna (2 years). I live in Helsinki and work for a forwarding company.

I lived most of my childhood on the Finnish countryside in a place with only 4,000 inhabitants where there was very little rock music heard or played. I was only six years old when Uriah Heep released their first album, but I guess I can say that I have been a fan of their music almost from the beginning. The explanation for being attracted to Heep's music at such a young age is simple. I am the youngest of seven (yes, you read right: seven) brothers and in the early seventies the eldest brothers were listening to bands that had emerged at the turn of the decade: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and - most important of them all - Uriah Heep.

After their visit at the Ruisrock Festival in '72, Heep became the most popular foreign rock band in Finland and I couldn't help overhearing their music because my brothers used to play it at home all day. Of course I didn't really understand anything of it, I even remember once making a terrible error: The Finnish National Radio had broadcast Salisbury, the title track, in its entirety (16 minutes long!), one of my brothers had taped it and I "accidentally" happened to erase it in favour of my own recordings. The others were - to put it mildly - not pleased.

When my older brothers moved away from home they of course took their records with them. Years later when I started earning some money of my own, I bought those old Heep albums for myself. When I bought, for example The Magician's Birthday, the titles of the songs didn't say anything to me, but when I put the record on the turntable and started playing it, I recognized all the songs, I even remembered some of the lyrics. Of course at the time when I heard them for the first time I had no idea what they were singing about. Since then I've kept on buying and buying Heep stuff and now I have about 150 lp's, cd's & singles.

My favourite Heep albums were - and still are - of course those done with David Byron singing. I think John Lawton was a very strong and skillful vocalist, but he didn't appeal to me as a suitable singer for Heep at the time, because, well, he certainly didn't look like he was singing in a heavy rock band! Afterwards when I listened to the albums he made with Heep, I must say that they sound very good. John Sloman on the other hand had the looks of a proper Heep singer, but I think vocally he wasn't suitable for the band. Conquest was not bad, it had some good songs on it, but I think the turmoil that was going on within the band (resulting in Ken Hensley's departure) reflected in the music in a way that the end result lacked spirit and was merely just a couple of songs thrown in together, rather than a complete album.

The first Heep album that I bought straight after it was released was Abominog in 1982 and the first Heep concert I saw was in Nivala, Finland in October that same year. It came as a surprise to me to hear that Ken Hensley no longer played in the band and that Mick Box was the only remaing member of the previous line-up. The album, however, was a strong comeback. Pete Goalby's stage appearance left something to be desired but on record he really could deliver.

After Equator there was a long silence, which was broken by Live In Moscow in '88. The album was the second reincarnation of the group (the first being Abominog). Bernie Shaw, the new vocalist had energy and he could also interpret the old classics in a way that gave them justice. Raging Silence, the studio album that followed didn't fully live up to the hopes that had been raised by the live album, and Different World was disasterous.

After that I must admit that I nearly lost my faith in the band, but the 1995 release Sea Of Light was a total surprise. It was the kind of record that Heep fans had been waiting 20 years for. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that the line-up was still the same as on two previous albums. I still can't understand how a band can change like that, what was the secret behind this third reincarnation?

After hearing Sea Of Light I was happy that I had stayed as a fan of the group, but unfortunately I can't say the same thing about my brothers. None of them are any longer interested in Heep or rock music in general. I am the only one who's still buying records and going to concerts. I can easily understand that when you get older and have a family, there are more important things in life than music, but I also have a wife and two daughters now, and that hasn't taken me away from rock music. My life with this guy Uriah has been rewarding and I hope it will continue as such.

Tapio Minkkinen

P.S. I wrote this originally in 1996 for UHAS magazine, but they never published it. Since then a lot has happened: I started this activity that might be seen as some sort of unofficial Heep fan club in Finland, finalized my own Heep discography, organized a Heep tribute concert in Helsinki with Leka Rantanen, joined the Heepsters Mailing List and Stay On Top fan club and visited their convention in Brilon last May. It looks like Heep will continue to be an important part of my life.
T.M.