RPWL is a German

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band. Their music is distributed by their label Gentle Art of Music.

History

This band was formed in 1997 in

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the ...

, Germany as a Pink Floyd

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. ...

. The band's name is a combination of the first letters of the original four members' last names: Rissettio, Postl, Wallner, and Lang. After three years, they began to make their own music based on their influences from their cover band era. Their debut album, '' God Has Failed'', was met with international enthusiasm, praise and excellent reviews in all the major

music magazines. 2002 brought '' Trying To Kiss The Sun'' which saw the band developing more their own sound and not relying so heavily on their influences. They then released a compilation album called ''Stock'' in 2003. It was formed of the tracks that didn't make it onto their previous two albums, plus a cover of Syd Barrett's '' Opel'', which the band used at shows as a

soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small p ...

. In 2005, they released their third studio album, ''World Through My Eyes''. This was received well by fans, and off it came their first single, "Roses". This tune also featured the ex-

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

and

Stiltskin Stiltskin are a Scottish rock band, who first achieved widespread popularity in the mid-1990s. Stiltskin are led by frontman Ray Wilson, the only constant member throughout the band's history. They are best known for their 1994 UK chart-toppe ...

singer Ray Wilson on lead vocals. The special edition of the album was also mixed by Lang in 5.1 and was released as an

SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows mul ...

hybrid disc. Later that year, the band released their first live album, ''Live: Start the Fire''. The double disc album contains the whole of the band's

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...

concert, again featuring Ray Wilson on lead vocals for "Roses" and one other track, "Not About Us". This was a way for the band to pay tribute to Genesis, the other main band that had influenced them greatly apart from Pink Floyd. On September 9, 2007, the band released ''9'', an album consisting of unreleased live songs and four brand new solo songs by Yogi Lang, Chris Postl, Manni Müller, and Kalle Wallner. The studio tracks are representative of the different influences within the band. ''9'' was released in a limited edition of 999 CDs and was only available from their website. In February 2008, they released an album titled ''The RPWL Experience''. In 2016, the band released a live album containing a full performance of Pink Floyd's ''The Man'' & ''The Journey''. During their 2022 tour, they announced the planned release of a new album in April of 2023.

Personnel

Members

Current members * Yogi Lang – vocals, keyboards (1997–present) * Kalle Wallner – guitars, bass (1997–present) * Marc Turiaux – drums (2008–present) * Markus Grützner - bass (2022-present) Former members * Chris Postl – bass (1997-2000, 2005-2010) * Phil Paul Rissettio – drums (1997-2003) * Stephan Ebner – bass (2000-2005) * Andreas Wernthaler – keyboards (2000-2003) * Manfred Müller – drums (2003-2008) * Markus Jehle – keyboards (2005–2022) * Werner Taus – bass (2010-2018)

Lineups

Discography

Studio albums * '' God Has Failed'' (2000) * '' Trying to Kiss the Sun'' (2002) * ''World Through My Eyes'' (2005) * ''The RPWL Experience'' (2008) * ''Beyond Man and Time'' (2012) * ''Wanted'' (2014) * ''Tales from Outer Space'' (2019) * ''Crime Scene'' (2023) Live albums * ''Start the Fire Live'' (2005) * ''The RPWL Live Experience'' (2009) * ''Nine'' (2009) * ''A Show Beyond Man and Time'' (2013) * ''RPWL plays Pink Floyd'' (2015) * ''RPWL plays Pink Floyd - The Man and The Journey'' (2016) * ''A New Dawn'' (2017) * ''Live from Outer Space'' (2019) * ''God Has Failed - Live & Personal'' (2021) Compilations * ''Stock'' (2003) * ''The Gentle Art of Music'' (2010)

References

External links

Official website of RPWL
{{Authority control German progressive rock groups