Kingston Wall was a Finnish psychedelic/progressive rock group from Helsinki, formed in 1987. Influenced by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the group combined eastern themes, mysticism and psychedelia with acid rock.
The band consisted of Petri Walli (guitars, lead vocals), Jukka Jylli (bass, backing vocals) and Sami Kuoppamäki (drums, percussion). Walli formed the group, composed most of the songs and wrote all the lyrics. He was also Kingston Wall's producer and manager and ran the band's own Trinity record label.
History
Early days
Kingston Wall was formed in 1987, when Petri Walli asked Jukka Jylli to join his band. Petteri Ståhl and Jukka Häikiö later joined the band as drummer and lead singer, respectively. The band was named Moonshine Makers and played their first shows in 1988. Häikiö quit the band, tired of waiting for Walli to finish his long guitar solos.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band's final public concert, Jylli and Kuoppamäki played a tribute concert in Helsinki Ice Hall on 5 December 2024. The duo were joined onstage by Jesper Anastasiadis, Juhani Grönroos, Esa Holopainen and Mikko Von Hertzen. The anniversary concert were preceded by smaller concerts at Finnish festivals during the summer of 2024.
Re-issues, remixes and books
All the original Kingston Wall albums and singles under the Trinity label have been since sold out and are regarded collector's items. The III - Tri-Logy was re-issued by the Finnish record label Zen Garden in 1998. A limited amount of 1000 copies included a bonus CD along with each of the three original remastered albums. The limited re-issues sold out quickly. The bonus CDs contained single B-sides and previously unreleased live recordings. In 2000, a remix album titled Freakout Remixes was released. This tribute album included techno and psychedelic trance remixes of the original Kingston Wall songs, made by such Finnish artists as Accu, Squaremeat and Texas Faggott.
A live CD box set Real Live Thing was released in 2005. The box set features three CDs recorded at various gigs during the band's existence. The tracks were selected for this album by bass player Jukka Jylli.
In 2023, remixes of all three Kingston Wall studio albums were released. The albums were remixed by Robert Palomäki, who also mixed the band live and participated in the recording sessions of II and Tri-Logy.
In February 2014, Finnish rock journalist Viljami Puustinen published the book ('Kingston Wall: The Saga of Petri Walli'), a 325-page in-depth biography of Petri Walli that also explores the band's history in detail.
Another book about the band, titled ('The Legacy of Kingston Wall') was released in 2023. In this book, Kimmo Aroluoma, inspired by the tribute concert tour in 2019, recounts his own relationship with the band's music and aims to uncover the magic of their sound by tracing the guitar, amplifier and guitar pedals played by Petri Walli.