Band originating from Utajärvi in Northern Finland. Started out in the late 70's as a loud punk quartet called Matti Mätä & SS without 'any ideological intentions whatsoever'. The band consisted of the two brothers Asko and Hannu (later known as P-K) Keränen, Esa Haverinen (aka Espe), and Martti Henttunen. Martti left by 1981 but luckily the others decided to continue as a trio - and chose to call themselves 22-Pistepirkko (for those not familiar with Finnish, 22 is pronounced 'kaksikymmentá kaksi' and the name means a ladybird with 22 dots!). The line-up hasn't changed since then, P-K still plays the guitar and sings, Asko is still concentrating on his bass, organ, synthesizer etc., and Espe still bangs the drums whilst singing.

When they started out, 22-Pistepirkko sung in Finnish and managed to win a Finnish Band contest in 1982. This landed the band a record deal and they put out a charming EP with sex noises (!!) which is quite a bit of a rare collector's item today. The selftitled EP was produced by Jyrki Siukonen and also, it featured a version of The Troggs' Wild Thing. Three years later, the band released their first full length album, again in Finnish, called Piano, Rumpu ja kukka. By the time the album was released, 22-Pistepirkko was already heading in another direction. They had moved on towards garage rock and furthermore, they had quit singing in Finnish and taken up the English language instead.

In 1986, the band moved down to Helsinki where they worked as cleaners during the night and rehearsed new material during the day. This was when 22-Pistepirkko's sound really started changing. They listened to loads of 60's garage bands and got a new producer, Riku Mattila. In 1987, they released their first album in English, The Kings of Hongkong. Taken from that album was the single Hongkong King which was chosen Single of The Year in Finland. Until now, the band had become big in their home country but they remained 'unknown' to the rest of the world.

This all changed in 1989 with the album Bare Bone Nest - again, produced by Mattila. This was 22-Pistepirkko's first international release and resulted in the band touring Europe for the first time. Moreover, Bare Bone Nest became Album of The Year in Finland. The album represented various music genres and proved that the lads were not afraid of experimenting. From pure pop to freaked out blues, from roaring guitars to synthesizer (featured on an 22-P album for the first time ever). Truly amazing!

In 1992, 22-Pistepirkko took on the world with storm! They put out the excellent album Big Lupu in Finland which was released pretty much all over the rest of the planet the following year. The album had been recorded over a period of one and a half year and, according to Asko and P-K, it was mainly influenced by Suicide and African blues....the two brothers also revealed that the band was excited about Aerosmith and Neneh Cherry. The video for Birdy was voted no. 5 in MTV's video competition in 1993.

The band then spent a year recording material for yet another album. In 1994, Rumble City, La La Land came out and again, great reviews followed. The album actually stayed in the Finnish Top Ten for 3 months! A year later, Rumble City, La La Land was released outside Finland and loads of touring followed (Excellent show at The Garage, London). In 1996, a remix and remake compilation album, Zipcode, was released to celebrate 22-Pistepirkko's 15th Anniversary.

Their fantastic Eleven album was out in 1998 and is definitely worth a listening! Brilliant reviews and the video for Onion Soup frequently played on MTV's Alternative Nation. The band only just finished touring Europe by the end of 1998 - and even popped round Sad Lake City where I happen to live *hurrah!*. 1999 saw the release of a single for the Downhill City soundtrack. The newest 22-Pistepirkko album Rally of Love was released on 1st of October 2001. So, if you don't wanna miss out on the works of this truly amazing and unique band who's influenced by loads of different artists and who never fails to surprise the listener, I suggest you get down your local record shop immediately! Too good to miss out on...

Left to right: Espe, P-K & Asko.