Have you heard the one about the Drive-Thru band that started off in high school sounding suspiciously like one of its major influences before finding its own sound and catching the ear of the eminent label?
Sure you have, only the story didn't quite go the way this one does. Finch didn't start off by aping the sounds of Blink 182, or Jimmy Eat World, or any of the other usual suspects. In fact, that was the furthest thing from their mind.
"We were pretty much a Deftones ripoff band," singer Nate admits sheepishly. In those days, the Temecula, California based band was called Numb, but it was essentially the same band. Except for one key element, that is: Randy.
Initially recruited as a second guitarist to bolster Numb's sound, Randy's musical interests were hardly shared with the rest of the band. "Temecula is really cliquey. I had my surfer/skater friends, and we'd listen to punk rock," says Randy. "When I was first in the band, everyone hated punk except Derek."
So what attracted them to Randy of all people? "I was in this band called Evitca Fresh. We were playing our bass player Jeremy's birthday, and Numb came to watch us play," Randy explains. "Derek (Numb/Finch's bassist) came up to me after the show and he goes, ˜Hey, your girlfriend's hot!" And I'm like, "What? Thanks, I guess."
"It kind of creeped me out," Randy continues. "But then he pursued me a few days later, and he was like, ˜You're a good guitar player, dude. You should come play for our band!"
A dubious beginning, no doubt, but when Randy finally decided to enter the fold it would prove a major turning point for the band.
"Randy's totally influenced by punk, so he brought that element, and it started changing things," says Nate. "He introduced us to things like Jimmy Eat World and emo-ish stuff, too. Everyone started listening to it and getting our own ideas. It's been a little over a year and a half since we've all been working together, and the music has changed so much since then."
It's not that Randy became the architect of a new sound for the band, but the clash of his punk and emo influences with their heavier ones brought Finch collectively to something that wasn't exactly any of those things.
"We're waiting for someone to throw us into a category” because we don't really know what genre we are, either," says Nate. "There are so many different elements and different ideas in our music that it's hard to classify."
"It's just our style now," echoes Randy. "We're all on the same wavelength. We developed our style together, we built it up, so now we all write similar songs."
The addition of Randy didn't just broaden the newly renamed Finch's approach to music. It changed their entire perspective on being a band. Up to that point, the thought of inking a record deal hadn't even crossed their minds.
"I was working and doing school, and the band was just something else to do. I didn't really care if we got signed or not," says Nate. "But when we hooked up with Randy, he kept talking about Drive-Thru Records."
As it turns out, Randy had kept in touch with Drive-Thru since writing a fan letter to the label years earlier. He'd even tried to pique the label's interest with his previous bands. Needless to say, when Randy told his new band mates about his relationship with the label, he was met with a bit of excitement.
"Richard (Drive-Thru Record's owner) was like, "All right, come and play for me," says Randy. "So we rented a studio. Richard wasn't even stoked, he was just doing it as a favor. But we went up there and played, and he was blown away."
So blown away, in fact, that he called his sister and Drive-Thru co-owner Stefanie into the studio to check the band out. She was duly impressed , and Finch was offered a contract on the spot.
Which just about brings us up to date. Finch's debut, a four-song EP produced by Chris Fudurich (The Hippos, Rx Bandits), will be in stores on Drive-Thru on October 9, 2001.
The band has been working on its first full length with producer Mark Trombino (Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Midtown), which ought to give you an idea of the faith the label has in its new signing. Finch's sound continues to grow in new directions, although they're no closer to being able to tell you just what genre that sound fits into. And the plan from here is simple:"We're gonna finish our album, and then we're gonna go on tour and get homesick," says Randy. "And then we'll come back for a little bit, and go on tour and get homesick again, until we turn 30 and we're Drive-Thru has-beens."
Source: http://www.finchmusic.com
