Finch

Interview: Randy Strohmeyer (guitarist) | Written by: Brendan Monteiro.

I remember the day I heard Finch had broken up, it felt horrid, like a death in the family.  So sudden and totally unexpected.  What once was a band at the forefront of innovation in there genre had somehow lost there way and become another one of those bands that fade with time.  And Then!  When all hope was lost.  News circled the music scene faster than Flash Jordan with a supercharger imbedded in his chest that Finch were back, and thirstier than ever.  I got a couple of minutes of Randy Strohmeyer’s time and had a little chinwag about what’s been going on in Finch, this is what he had to say!

Bm: Hello there, how you doing Randy?

Randy: I’m doing well. How are you?

Bm: I’m Good, So first things first, what are you playing on now.

Randy: I’m playing on a little Vox DC 30 combo amp, and my Fender guitar. I’ve actually been playing a stratocaster  recently again.  It’s interesting.  It sounds like
jangly I suppose.

Bm: Nice, now it seemed like the end for Finch, what was the reason
behind the indefinite hiatus?

Randy: There actually was a lot of tension in the band.  There were a few
key elements, that I don’t think we could look past at the time and when we restarted, when we got the band back together, we kind of took those elements out of the band.

Bm: So how has it been back together. Is all well in the Finch camp?

Randy: It’s just amazing actually.  I’m really happy with my life.  Were all pumped about the future.  Were all just really excited, were excited about the songs were writing, were excited about going on tour. Were really just excited about the whole thing.

Bm: So what exactly did you get up to during the break then? Did you do much with ‘the sounds of animals fighting’?

Randy: In the break I didn’t actually do ‘the sounds of animals fighting’. I did that before the break. And I have only done it once just on the first E.P.

Bm: Speaking about the First E.P, all the musician’s are labelled as different animals, which one are you?

Randy: I’m the Tiger.

Bm: Like the same as in the title?

Randy: It has nothing to do with the title of the record though.  It was just coincident that I was the Tiger.

Bm: Ok. Back to Finch then, what actually made you all change your mind and get back together?

Randy: Well, you break up for a reason, you think it’s not possible.  Finch has always been the best thing  to ever happen to me, I don’t want to speak for everyone else but I’m sure I can.  So when you take that away and just leave it in shambles you get time to think about what went wrong and what could possibly fix it.  During the indefinite hiatus I don’t think we ever thought we would get back together.  We just walked away from it and started new lives.  We weren’t happy with it at that point.  And the whole point of being in a band is to be happy. If your in a band it’s the funniest thing in the world.  When we left we kind of like grew up to figure shit out on our own naturally.   We were at a point were it was right to do it again.  We started talking.  I started talking to Nate. We were all willing to give it a shot, see what we could do.  We called Nate up and we asked if we could play a show, he was super excited about it.  When we played that 1st show it was just awesome.  We all just felt like we were going to do this for a long time.

Bm: So there are plans, is there new material on the way?

Randy: Were actually writing new material right now.  Were working on stuff and I think we want to try and do an E.P.

Bm: And how is the new material different from the old then?

Randy: The material were writing now is, well, it’s a lot different from ’what it is to burn’.  I guess it’s melodic and fast.

Bm: I get the feeling that there is a big difference between ‘what it is to burn’ and ’say hello to sunshine’.  I feel the latter is a little darker, can you explain?

Randy: I think naturally its just a reflection of the times.  Like I say the band became, it just became with in us, its reflected outwards.  All the records we write, not like we have a million but, ‘what it is to burn’ is honest for the time, and ’say hello to sunshine’ is definitely honest for what we did. We write what we feel, from the heart. It was what we were as a band, a little dark, a little angry.  Not all of it though,, I think there’s some fun parts to it.  I wouldn’t say it’s entirely dark.

Bm: So on your myspace it says your looking for a label, anything in the pipe works there?

Randy: Does it say that we are? I don’t think that we are.

Bm: It basically insinuates it. (He chuckles to himself)

Randy: Does it say ’sign us’ with dollar signs? (I chuckle not knowing what the joke is)

Bm: That’s exactly what it says.

Randy: Our myspace is a joke. It says were Japanese Pop and visual too. But no we don’t have a label.   Were unsigned.  We haven’t really crossed that bridge yet.  We’re going to do the E.P. most likely ourselves. And we’ll see what happens from there.  Were going to continue to write new songs and whether or not it’s through a label were going to remain a band and do our thing.

Bm: A lot of bands are going it alone lately, do you think there is a lot of benefits to that.

Randy: I think if you have it under control it definitely can be.  You just have to be very smart and be on top of your shit.  Make sure not to let it go and fall apart.  Make sure you put everything into action.

Bm: So what’s up with someone buying your domain name www.finchband.com ?

Randy: I don’t know, that’s really kind of messed up.  We would need that again.  We’re going to have to buy it back again.

Bm: So any idea who the culprit is, maybe it’s someone who knew the future,  who knew you would get back together again.

Randy: Maybe it’s somebody in the band and they’re just not telling anyone else.  I love them, maybe they’re gonna get some hefty cash. (we both dissolve into laughter)

Bm: Your a card, So is there anyone in the band that’s a little weird at times.

Randy: No, me and my band, were all best friend, they probably think that about me a lot. But not in a bad way.  Maybe a little quirky, but weird equals hilarious to us.

Bm: What music are you into at the moment.  What have you been in to?

Randy: I really love animal corpse, destroy him, daft punk.

Bm: So your into a little electronica then?

Randy: Yeah I really love that electronica stuff, I also love the flaming lips.

Bm: Now I have read rumours that you guys started out as a deftones cover band called ‘numb’ (he interrupts before I can say anymore)

Randy: That’s really not true, that’s like a misquote.  A misquote that’s haunted us for years.  That was sort    of a joke.  Our old publicist wrote a bio on us, he put that in.  At every interview we get asked but we weren’t.  That was back in the garage, just playing songs and trying to gel with each other.  We played the occasional deftones song, but it definitely wasn’t like we were a deftones cover band.

Bm: I guess once it’s on the internet there’s no stopping it, so now to carry on, if you could be any 80’s cover band which one would it be?

Randy: Good Question, maybe like………….I don’t know, shit.  Let me think what would be the funniest. Probably Depeche Mode, or the Cure. Yeah I’d probably go with Depeche Mode because they have a lot of cool things on stage.

Bm: A couple years ago you guys had an altercation with some of the guys from disturbed, with a  couple fisticuffs involved.  So what happened in the end with that?

Randy: In the end, they went on to sell more records, and probably played ozzfest a few times.  I don’t really give a shit about those guys.

Bm: So that’s that, no brawl type story there?

Randy: Yeah whatever, it was a fight hey.

Bm: So who in the world would you hate to fight?

Randy: I don’t like fighting anybody hey.

Bm: A lover not a fighter then, So if you weren’t doing  the band, what would you be doing then?

Randy: If I wasn’t doing music and I could have the job of my choice I would probably be a chef cos its pretty much the same as music, your putting in all different elements, its all going in the pot.  I don’t know, I just think it is pretty similar to music.

Bm: lastly, what is your favourite band and least favourite of all time?

Randy: Favorite band of all time is probably radiohead, and least favorite band is probably sublime.  I don’t like them.

Bm: Well that’s it, thank you very much for your time and good luck for the future

Randy: Thanks, you have a good day hey.