PRP is a brand new prog rock side-project of the Finnish prog/art rock collective Grus Paridae’s Petteri Kurki and Rami Turtiainen.
The band are happy to announce their debut double-single/mini-EP Rubber Sun was released in 4th of December 2017.
Both songs on the new release were originally written to Grus Paridae. It soon became clear they were too rock to be part of the musical path and atmosphere where Grus Paridae is heading. At the same time they appeared to be something Rami and Petteri definitely wanted to release.
Rubber Sun is dedicated to all people who are struggling with mental health issues and to those struggling with incurable diseases.
The single will be available worldwide on all major digital stores (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) and streaming services (Spotify, GooglePlay, Deezer, YouTube Play, etc.) and is delivered by Z-Trading Ltd.
We manged to catch up with the band as they talk about the latest release and more!
So how has the release of Rubber Sun gone so far?
-Rami: Thanks for asking! We are at the very beginning still since the official release date was just a couple of days ago and unfortunately there has been some unexpected delays with the digital delivery to all major streaming services and digital stores but we’ll get there, no worries about that.
-Rami: In general the response we have already got from many of the radio shows and other prog rock and other music media we have been privileged to be part with Grus Paridae earlier has been very good. So we sure have high hopes with PRP as well. Time will tell. Which is actually the opening line of the opening track Rubber Hands on the Rubber Sun release by the way.
-Petteri: There seems to be some interest in it already (thanks to Rami’s relentless promotion work!) and it’s playing on a few web radio shows, so I guess quite well, thank you.
What is your favourite track from the release?
-Rami: Well, this is a mini-EP or rather a double-single so it’s hard to choose one over other because the approach to composing and arrangement process has been very different between the songs. I love the weird psychedelic and chaotic feeling of the SunSon but on the other hand like very much of the clearer structure, vocal harmonies and dialogue between two different kind of guitar solos on Rubber Hands.
-Petteri: Sonically (being the mixer) I like SunSon better, but that’s because it’s a newer song and has had a more experienced mixer working on it. Performance-wise, I think I managed to pull off quite a decent Gilmour-esque solo at the end of Rubber Hands, so that’s probably my fave, by a small margin.
What was your favourite moment recording the EP?
-Rami: Both songs are very old and have been originally written Grus Paridae in mind, so the original versions have been recorded already few years ago. After that there has been many metamorphosis regarding both songs. But I do have a distant memory of the day I finally reached the atmospheric goal I had with Rubber Hand’s guitar solo, because it was the 1st of May which is a big celebration day in Finland and the whole day was warm and beautiful which is not the case in Finland every time during that period.
-Petteri: My favourite moment was recording the said solo of Rubber’s. It is the first and only take. I probably couldn’t play a similar solo a second time. It was one of those strange moments where you just happen to be very inside the thing you’re doing.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
-Rami: Wow, this is so tricky one because there are (or were) so many and on the other hand no one at all. Even though the idea of working with your own idols is really tempting (let’s say like late David Bowie or late Allan Holdsworth) it could still turn up to be a real nightmare since you really don’t know how your personalities would fit with each other and so on. But let’s say it would be fun to spend a few days at the studio for example with Nick Beggs. Not just that he’s a great musician, but if he would turn out to be as half as funny as he seems to be it could be quite an experience.
-Petteri: Phew, this is a hard one. I could be there to make some coffee and sandwiches for any of my influences, just marveling at what’s happening – shutting up and learning.
How is this different to your other band Grus Paridae
-Rami: Basically PRP is the rockier and maybe more psychedelic one. The reason we choose to start another project alongside GP is really that we faced the fact we have two different kind of song writing “lines” in our hands. The other line is the urge to do ambitious music with for example classical and contemporary elements in mind and the other line is to do the maybe not less complex but shorter “rock” songs, even though the progressive idea on both projects is very much present.
-Petteri: As Rami said, it’s for letting our hair down and just put out a bit more energy, less violins and ethereal chord arpeggios.
Would you like to tour the UK/Europe sometime?
-Rami: PRP is a studio-oriented project, so gigging is unfortunately out of question.
-Petteri: Unfortunately it won’t happen.
What would be your favourite venue to play in the world?
-Rami: Another tricky one. I think it depends on the music and band you’re playing. If you are playing music that is big so the venue should be big also. On the other hand I like all the singer-songwriter, poetry and small jazz scenes as well so the he small intimate club with candles burning on the tables would be ideal as well.
What I really would like to combine is the theater and the music so maybe some old theater stage would be something.
-Petteri: Maybe some famous club on the smaller side. Would depend on the material of course.
What was the first gig you ever attended?
-Rami: I honestly don’t remember. Sorry!
-Petteri: Me neither, must’ve been some hard/heavy rock band in the first half of the ‘80’s, though.