The Rasmus frontman Lauri Ylönen has opened up about the time the band were bottled off at Reading Festival in 2004.

The Finnish outfit, most famous for their 2003 single ‘In The Shadows’, lasted just one song of their debut set at the festival after the crowd pelted them with bottles and mud.

Speaking about the experience to NME in this week’s Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?!,  Ylönen said: “We only performed one song which was called ‘First Day Of My Life’. How ironic!” before adding: “It felt really bad. I cried afterwards.”

He continued: “We were playing between some very hardcore metal bands, which was not the best slot for us, so I was kind of expecting it. I was excited about that gig for so long because I really like Reading Festival and went there as a tourist before, which was why I was so disappointed we couldn’t play the show. But when our bass player, Eero Heinonen, got hit with a bottle near the eye and started bleeding, I thought: ‘Fuck it! I don’t want anyone losing their eyesight for this!’”

Ylönen added that the band’s Reading performance is “the only show we’ve never finished”.

Meanwhile, The Rasmus recently announced that they are hoping to represent their home country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with a new song called ‘Jezebel’.

They will perform the new track on February 26 in a bid to claim the spot as Finland’s 2022 Eurovision entrants as part of a live TV broadcast.

The band also announced that founding guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi has left the band.

Rantasalmi said in a statement: “I have decided to make my departure from the band and seek for new adventures and challenges in life.

“I want to thank everybody that has made this journey possible, especially all you amazing Fans, for the best moments and memories, I Love You.”

Rantasalmi has since been replaced by Emilia ‘Emppu’ Suhonen.