Steve 'n' Seagulls

Steve 'n' Seagulls, a Finland-rooted collective devoted to roots music, built a global audience after uploading a run of YouTube clips in 2014 that recast hard-rock, metal, and grunge standards as rustic acoustic gatherings. Their first full-length release, Farm Machine, entered the Top Ten of both the Finnish national album chart and Billboard’s U.S. bluegrass chart in 2015.

The group came together in Jyväskylä in 2012 and sharpened its hillbilly-metal approach through performances at themed gatherings, shipboard cruises, clubs, and local eateries. By 2014 the five-piece lineup—instruments limited to banjo, spoons, upright bass, accordion, and guitar—secured a contract with Spinefarm Records, propelled by the growing popularity of its online videos that delivered precise bluegrass renditions of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper,” Dio’s “Holy Diver,” and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” Later that year the band issued its debut studio album, Farm Machine, whose track list stretched from Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” to Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City”; the set climbed to number seven on Finland’s album chart, number twenty on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and number three on the U.S. bluegrass chart.

One year afterward, Brothers in Farms offered fresh interpretations that included Nirvana’s “In Bloom” and Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”; the album peaked at number ten in Finland while claiming the top spot on the American bluegrass chart. Steve ’n’ Seagulls resurfaced in 2018 with Grainsville, a collection that featured the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” alongside ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’.”