Hard rock is hard work–study

HELSINKI: While many dream to live like a rock star, a life spent playing to sell-out crowds and chasing that number one album can take a real toll on the body, a group of Finnish scientists have found.

Finnish rockers Apulanta offered to be the guinea pigs for a new study by the country’s Institute of Occupational Health.

The three-piece punk band underwent a series of medical tests to uncover what impact the stresses of being in a successful rock group had on their health.

Doctors measured their body temperature, heart beat and stress levels during two gigs last February before comparing these results from a health check, where the band members’ maximum lung capacity and blood circulation were measured.

What they found was that the glamorous lifestyle of a rock star is just as strenuous as that of a manual laborer.

“The job of a guitarist and lead vocalist is physically as demanding as digging a foxhole, moving furniture or moving small machinery with muscle power,” researchers said in their report.

A drummer will work up as much of a sweat as a bricklayer, while hammering out chords on the bass guitar is just as exhausting as working as a butcher, according to the research.

Live performances also send body pulse and temperature racing.

A 90-minute gig leads the body heat up to over 38 degrees Celsius, while the average pulse was between 128 and 144 beats per minute. Apulanta’s drummer Sipe Santapukki, 31, said the doctors’ findings would not make the band quit music any time soon, having been together since 1991.

“These results will not on impact the band; we will still try to give our best performance at every gig,” he told AFP.

“We have no reason to quit,” he said.

Singer-songwriter Toni Wirtanen and bassist Sami Lehtinen make up the rock trio.
— AFP