If you are looking for something new to hold you over until the next Pink Floyd album that will never come, then have I got a band for you. RPWL are a German progressive rock band that began in 1997 as a Pink Floyd cover band, and have since released five albums of their very own Floyd-inspired tunes.
The band's name comes from the first letters of the original four member's last names. "Oh shit, we're about to take the stage for our first gig, and we don't even have a name yet. Somebody think quick!"
Okay, so it's not the first time initials were used for a band name, but at least the guys in CSN and ELP were already individually famous artists before starting those bands - and their abbreviations are usually used secondarily. If only they'd had one more band member with the letter "O" and then they could have called themselves PROWL. Now we're talking.
If RPWL's original music is any indication, these guys must have been one hell of a good Pink Floyd cover band. Their sound is still heavily influenced by the Floyd, especially the later Roger Waters-less period, but they also incorporate many other styles such as that of early Genesis, The Moody Blues, and even Coldplay. As I listened to this DVD, I couldn't but help think that most of the songs would have fit very nicely on David Gilmour's latest album, On An Island.
After three years of doing the Floyd thing, RPWL decided to have a go at their own music and released their 2000 debut album, the audaciously titled, God Has Failed. 2008 saw the release of their fifth studio album, The RPWL Experience, and a similarly named live album and concert DVD were released the following year.
The RPWL Live Experience was recorded on February 17th, 2009 at the Wyspiaski Theatre in Katowice, Poland, during the first annual Progrock Festival 2009. This two day festival also featured the bands SBB, Shadowland, Tinyfish, Overhead and DeeExpus - all of which have their own concert DVDs of the event coming out this year from Metal Mind Productions.
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