On this day 20 years ago Petri Walli of Kingston Wall committed suicide by jumping off a church tower in Helsinki. Although he lived a short life and released only three albums with his band, his legacy lives on.
Kingston Wall was a Finnish psychedelic prog trio that was active from 1987 to 1994. They were known as an energetic and unpredictable live band, whose shows were largely based on improvisation and jamming, and the album versions only served as skeletons for new arrangements. They also held special Freak-Out Club events in Helsinki, which featured guest musicians and special cover songs. Kingston Wall had a huge following in Helsinki, but in smaller towns their audiences were less enthusiastic, although since the break-up they've found a lot of new fans who appreciate their work.
Kingston Wall's albums got released in Japan and they played one show in Estonia, but Finnish music exporting was very minimal at the time, so the band's dreams of getting to tour the world and becoming huge never came to fruition. In fact, some foreign record labels started showing interest just weeks before Walli's death, but the band had been put on ice due to inner conflicts in December 1994.
Walli's life and the circumstances that led to his suicide were largely veiled in mystery until last year, when a biography by Finnish rock journalist Viljami Puustinen was published. The book paints a picture of Walli as a positive and determined, yet cocky person. Before Kingston Wall's third album Tri-Logy (1994) he delved into Ior Bock's mystic stories, which also influenced the lyrical content of the record. Later on the band's break-up and his disappointment with Bock led him to become depressed, and this combined with his use of drugs shook his mental health, finally pushing him over the edge.
Walli was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, tuning his guitar a half step down just like his hero and covering "Fire" on the first Kingston Wall album. Led Zeppelin also had an impact on him - a few lines of lyrics in some KW songs have been directly lifted from Zep. However, Walli also enjoyed more danceable music, as evidenced by the Donna Summer cover "I Feel Love" on the second KW album. He also had a techno phase after that, the influence of which can be heard on the final record.
I bought the whole Kingston Wall trilogy four years ago. These three albums are classics of Finnish progressive rock and have influenced bands like Amorphis and Von Hertzen Brothers. My personal favorite is the second album, which is the most melodic and progressive of their works. I have to admit that Walli's vocals were always the weakness of the band's music (hence it's not surprising that their music is largely instrumental), but he was a very talented guitar player who had a knack for playing awesome solos. According to some acquaintances Walli had sworn he'd only release three albums and die before reaching the age of 30, but I can't help thinking that if he had got some help for his mental condition and the band had carried on, some great things might've happened.
However, instead of speculating we should enjoy the music that did come out: the three Kingston Wall albums have finally been released on vinyl and there's also a new DVD called Kingtime. I haven't watched the DVD (or KW live videos in general), but I hope to get my hands on it at some point. I'll review all the three KW albums sometime soon, but until then I'll let the music speak for itself:
"Look out world it's time to die
No more crying with my mind"
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