‘Coffee Not Tea’ is the latest release from Finnish Punk quartet ‘Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät’ (PKN), whose name means, Pertti Kurikka’s Name Day. All their lyrics are in Finnish which adds that extra edge of intrigue and they have to date, released four EP’s and one album, all of which have sold out. The most impressive fact about this unique quartet is that they are four middle age men with fairly severe learning difficulties, something that you might not realize on listening to the album.
The band formed in 2009 during workshops by Lyhty, a non-profit organisation for people with learning disabilities in Helsinki, Finland and they achieved cult status with their first demo ‘Kallioon’ which sold out immediately. They get their name from Pertti Kurikka, the band’s guitarist and front man, a hardcore punk, as they were formed on his “Name Day”, a Finnish tradition.
Their desires to create and vent their frustrations are the born from the same kind of everyday life situations, occurrences, exasperations and discriminations as any other Punk band. Pertti Kurikka, the band’s guitarist and front man, writes the lyrics and composes the music with vocalist Kari Aalto.
The other two members of the band are bassist Sami Helle and drummer Toni Välitalo.
The cassette, such a great old school punk format and something that seems to be making resurgence of late, consists of eighteen tracks, all short, sharp and punchy. The shortest track ‘Phyäpäiavä’ is a compact forty- four seconds and the longest ‘ Mikä Mättää’ at three and a half minutes. Musically don’t expect a polished finish, they keep their sound basic and there is a good raw edge, it is Punk to the core and highly listenable across all the tracks, also I can see why these guys are so popular, they have put so much passion and energy into this release.
My favourite , ‘Pertin luo Kylään’, roughly translates as 'Bob’s Create a Village' , I loved every aspect of this track, it’s one of the faster tempo numbers , very intense,
with bags of attitude and it made no difference that I had no idea
what they were singing ,
it’s just a great song that
struck a chord with me .
They have toured and played gigs worldwide and are the subject of the multi award-winning documentary,
“The Punk Syndrome’ and also performed in ‘Gimme Some Respect’, a film by Pekka Karjalainen in 2010.
The band’s biggest influences are Finnish punk bands from the last millennium, such as; Karanteeni, Kollaa kestää, Ratsia, Sensuuri, Ypö-Viis and Pelle Miljoona. Aside from this being a highly enjoyable attitude rich, Punk release, the one thing that ’Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät’ prove with ‘Coffee Not Tea’ is that Punk knows no boundaries, certainly not for them anyhow. I think that this is an amazing achievement and this is also something that puts a smile on my face.
Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygWyIbmzu6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjLkcqxC04
http://vimeo.com/62677091
Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (Pertti Kurikan's Name Day)@ Headhunters (Full Set) from
PantherCity&NoticeTheImpossible on
Vimeo.
Tour dates http://constantflux.co.uk/
Band website http://kovasikajuttu.fi/en/about-the-band
