The Latebirds were born all the way up in Helsinki, Finland. The band was originally singer/guitarist/songwriter Markus Nordenstreng's backing band, formed shortly after his first solo album 'Moody' was released in 1998.

The current line-up is: Janne Haavisto (Laika & The Cosmonauts) on drums, Mikko Mäkelä on bass & backing vocals, McGyver on guitar, backing vocals & lap steel, Jussi Jaakonaho on electric guitar and Markus Nordenstreng on lead vocals, piano & guitar.

Named after a song written by Markus called 'Latebird's Lullaby', the Latebirds started working on their debut album 'Fortune Cookies' with producer Lasse Kurki (Lemonator) in drummer Janne's studio, Hitsville IV, sometime in 1999.

The album was mixed, mastered (by Scott Hull in NYC) and more or less completed in the fall of 2000, but remained unreleased up until August 2003. This great dark-pop album also includes such 'honorary Latebirds' as Tom Waits' guitarist Marc Ribot, Wilco/Swag drummer Ken Coomer and Finland's premiere female rock singer Jonna Tervomaa. Song-writing collaborators include Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) and James Mastro (The Bongos).

Meanwhile, the band played on: South By Southwest (2001, 2002), CMJ (2000), gigs with everybody from the Jayhawks and A Camp (The Cardigans singer Nina Persson’s solo band) to arena shows with Bon Jovi! In order to escape the Finnish winter, Markus and the rest of the Latebirds have also relocated to places like NYC and LA, playing the local clubs and hanging out/writing songs with folks like Wayne Kramer (MC5), Ken Stringfellow (REM, Posies) and John Stirratt (Wilco/Autumn Defence).

Great ideas come pouring forth from these Finns on long journeys to America... I happen to love these albums... BUT I CAN'T WRITE THESE THINGS WELL... CAN YOU DO IT FOR ME? JUST SEND IT AND I'LL SIGN IT! - John Stirratt/WILCO

Simultaneously, Markus kept writing more songs by himself and recording them with Lasse Kurki in weird locations like living rooms, pigeon clubs, rehearsal spaces and corridors. These two hard-working gentlemen ended up finishing over 10 classics in the spirit of Neil Young. The songs were mixed in the producer’s bedroom in June 2003 and released now, two months later.