From Utarjärvi, Finland. 2 brothers and a friend, doing their thing.
22-Pistepirkko consists of brothers Asko and PK Keränen and childhood friend Espe Haverinen. Founded in small village Utarjärvi, Finland, the band has been around for more then 30 years. It's been build on the ashes of a Ramones-Coverband. But on the search for something of their own after a while,[twenty-two-piste-pirco] (named after a special ladybug, from a wild life book) came to live. Their first album, which was sung mainly in Finnish and having been played and recorded “pretty minimalistic” dropped like a bomb within the music scene of Finland. According to the band it was somehow influenced by Velvet Underground, even if this was hard to tell. They got awarded as best new finnish band, to the shock of many musician collegues. They’ve been just too far out from the rest.
With the following album they’ve switched to english vocals only and have started the foundation of their signature sound. “Kings Of Hong Kong” (‘87) was a speedy garage rock’n’roll album, mixing Bo Diddley beat, with Shangri-La Pop and cinematic sound effects.
The next album “Bare Bone Nest” in 1989 integrated the blues into their sound. It was the first which got some good attention outside of Finland. The song “Frankenstein” even turned into some Underground-Club-Hit, UK music press started to investigate about them and the band have played first tours outside of Finland.
Attention and success was topped by the bigger production of “Big Lupu”, which went straight up to the Finnish sales charts, also featuring the single “Birdy”, still one of their classic Pop-Songs. The band played even more outside of their homecountry, especially well received in France, Germany and Benelux and had good spots at big Festivals, like Roskilde a.o..
Various turmoils in management and record label set up accompanied their following years. Though the band kept together, active and made some remarkably beautiful albums, by digging deeper into the pleasures of using electronic devices for their music. They also got fascinated by hiphop or west-african guitar music, without missing their initial interest in Garage, Blues, Pop, Rock. So somehow they designed an eclectic pop sound of their own, before acts like Beck got famous with such.
Studio albums of this period were “Rumble City Lala Land” (’94, feat. “Just A Little Bit More”, a late underground hit in the USA, after appearing on a Snowboard DVD), “Eleven” and the related “Downhill City” soundtrack. And finally, their peak in electronic produced 22pp Pop, “Rally Of Love” (2001), kind of their Europopdream, produced with the help of some Swedish specialists. Extensive touring from this period was documented by danish filmdirector Andreas Christiansen, and compiled later to a compelling inside view about the trio.
The experiences with Rally of Love also made them rethink their approach and they’ve decided to go back to a more reduced, plain and rocking trio playing. Without skipping their prior achievements during their trip through the pop music universe, the songwriting got a slight new twist towards early recordings in american folk. When they had their regular coffee meetings they used to listen a lot to Alan Lomax’ grand “Anthology of American Folk Music” in those days. It was also during those coffee (strong, black, sweet, good) meetings that they’ve simplified their release set-up, going strictly independent. Their own Bone Voyage label was found, together with their new manager, with whom they’ve been working since their Eleven release.
In 2005 they have released their 9th album “Drops & Kicks”, followed by the release of afore mentioned documentary DVD “Sleep Good - Rock Well” and an album of their side project The Others aka 22pp, entitled “Monochromeset”. 2008 saw “(Well You Know Stuff Is Like We Yeah”, recorded at their own Altai Studio, Helsinki, the stationary follow up to the earlier Bare Bone Studios.
In 2011 - their 30th anniversary - their 12th studio album “Lime Green Delorean” was released in spring accompanied by praise from the media, and various live activities around Europe, including spots in the big concert halls in Finland as well as invitations to advanced new pop festivals like Iceland Airwaves.
berbel 9.2812 Normal 0 21 While their previous album "(Well You Know) Stuff Is Like We Yeah!”, was recorded in only 10 days and co-produced by Shimmy Disc wizzard Kramer, this here, like their 96 album "Eleven", was self-produced again and with a little help of some close friends. Recorded at Altai homebase, inbetween touring activities from summer 2010 to january 2011.
The flow of the 11 songs form a dynamic album, full of surprises, cinematic and intimate at equal measures. It has spacy ballads for deserted highways, apocalyptico-boogie, early 70s spirit, some wall of sound in trio size, Ufo Girl Pop, keyboard candy and one sample - taken from a 1938 recording by Golden Gate Quartet.
Even those who follow the band since a long time gonna find a new level of 22pp beauty: whether in PKs buck naked falsetto vocals, Espe's simplifying beats, Asko's weird sounds, their loose choirs, fuzzed fat guitars, focus and chaos, silence and noise - they haven't gone that far, yet.