Fink Interview
Having transitioned from producer/DJ to singer/songwriter, Fin Greenall has gone on to work with big artists such as John Legend and Professor Green. Just about to kick off his Perfect Darkness live tour we caught up with this talented lyricist and performer.
How has your 2011 been?
It’s been great man; we put the record out. It’s always fucking great to put a new record out! We did a whole load of live shows to get the record together, and I’ve been flying around sort of doing a lot of songwriting with others in the downtime. It’s been a really nice international kind of situation. It all started to heat up a bit before the record came out. Obviously we had to do videos and it got a bit hectic there for a second but yeah, so far I love 2011. By the end of 2011 we’ll have released an album and toured an album, and I think that is a good year, full stop.
Which song off your Perfect Darkness album is your favourite song to play live?
Well, it changes every gig. At the moment, the one that we are all enjoying playing the most is probably ‘Honesty’, for two reasons. First, it’s quite complicated to play so when you get through it to the end without fucking it up you feel pretty good, and second, it’s also got a really easy chorus on it that’s a real pleasure to sing.
I noticed that every album before the new one had a portrait of your face on the cover but Perfect Darkness doesn’t. Is this a coincidence or has it been planned?
I think after you’ve done that three times you can’t really do it again. We wanted to say this record isn't really like the others in a way. Also, because I started late in my career (I'm not 20, obviously), it meant we had to try and personalise our music as fast as possible, you know? I know this wonderful illustrator in Canada who is an absolute genius, Kate O’Connor. We didn't want to put another photo on the front cover as it would seem a little James Morrison, and we didn't want to put an abstract cover on the album cover as it would get lost in the sea of abstract covers out there. We thought that by putting a portrait on the cover it would be like putting a person to the music so it wasn’t another faceless, nameless band. After three albums with my face on the cover I think everyone was like, “Yeah dude, I think we’ve ticked that box now!”, and fair enough man, so we stuck a huge diamond on the cover instead. People put their own story into our songs, so we wanted to do a cover that was deep but that you could put your own interpretation to it. When everyone looks at the sea everyone has a unique reaction to it. We wanted a thoughtful cover rather than just a picture of me, you know?
Stripped down to the very bone, you are a man with his guitar. Do you have any idols as as a singer and guitarist?
As a guitarist, yeah. I suppose I love the ones that I can’t emulate. I love the ones that are so infinitely better than me in any way that I can enjoy their music, without analysing it, because they are just in another league. On a guitar level it would be like Paco Du Lucia, Hendrix for his passion and fire, and John Martyn for his kind of technical nu-folk vibes. I actually really like this new guy out, Ben Howard; his guitar style is like fucking great. It’s the best of the ‘making a beat out of your guitar’ thing, and the best of his open tuning, ‘letting it flow like a river’ thing. He’s just got the beats and the melody that I love in a guitar style. As a singer-songwriter I really like something with passion and intensity, and I really love hearing something I can’t play. I love System Of The Down, I love the guitarist from Lamb of God, I love the kind of metal stuff like Sick and Sugar... You know, when I listen to singer-songwriters of my time, the modern ones, I know what they are doing, I know what the tuning is... But sometimes you can just analyse it too much.
You are stranded on a desert island. What famous three people (dead or alive) would you bring with you?
Ah, that would be awesome! I’ve had this conversation with some other people funnily enough. Everyone says ‘Jesus Christ’ but you’re assuming that he actually existed; let’s not go there. I would say that personally, because of the type of conversation, I’d like Buddha to be there. That would be great! I’ve learned a lot from that guy. I’d really like Genghis Khan to be there because I think he’s kind of an interesting cat. He did a lot of mad shit. Then Marco Polo, because he saw the world at a time when the world was lots of different worlds, I would love to go back to that time. So those three dudes... And then I’d get really bored of them and wish I’d chosen someone else. Then I’d choose Cameron Diaz! I’d just take three Hollywood starlets.
Thank you Fink!
No problem man!
For more information check out myspace.com/finkmusic or www.finkworld.co.uk
How has your 2011 been?
It’s been great man; we put the record out. It’s always fucking great to put a new record out! We did a whole load of live shows to get the record together, and I’ve been flying around sort of doing a lot of songwriting with others in the downtime. It’s been a really nice international kind of situation. It all started to heat up a bit before the record came out. Obviously we had to do videos and it got a bit hectic there for a second but yeah, so far I love 2011. By the end of 2011 we’ll have released an album and toured an album, and I think that is a good year, full stop.
Which song off your Perfect Darkness album is your favourite song to play live?
Well, it changes every gig. At the moment, the one that we are all enjoying playing the most is probably ‘Honesty’, for two reasons. First, it’s quite complicated to play so when you get through it to the end without fucking it up you feel pretty good, and second, it’s also got a really easy chorus on it that’s a real pleasure to sing.
I noticed that every album before the new one had a portrait of your face on the cover but Perfect Darkness doesn’t. Is this a coincidence or has it been planned?
I think after you’ve done that three times you can’t really do it again. We wanted to say this record isn't really like the others in a way. Also, because I started late in my career (I'm not 20, obviously), it meant we had to try and personalise our music as fast as possible, you know? I know this wonderful illustrator in Canada who is an absolute genius, Kate O’Connor. We didn't want to put another photo on the front cover as it would seem a little James Morrison, and we didn't want to put an abstract cover on the album cover as it would get lost in the sea of abstract covers out there. We thought that by putting a portrait on the cover it would be like putting a person to the music so it wasn’t another faceless, nameless band. After three albums with my face on the cover I think everyone was like, “Yeah dude, I think we’ve ticked that box now!”, and fair enough man, so we stuck a huge diamond on the cover instead. People put their own story into our songs, so we wanted to do a cover that was deep but that you could put your own interpretation to it. When everyone looks at the sea everyone has a unique reaction to it. We wanted a thoughtful cover rather than just a picture of me, you know?
Stripped down to the very bone, you are a man with his guitar. Do you have any idols as as a singer and guitarist?
As a guitarist, yeah. I suppose I love the ones that I can’t emulate. I love the ones that are so infinitely better than me in any way that I can enjoy their music, without analysing it, because they are just in another league. On a guitar level it would be like Paco Du Lucia, Hendrix for his passion and fire, and John Martyn for his kind of technical nu-folk vibes. I actually really like this new guy out, Ben Howard; his guitar style is like fucking great. It’s the best of the ‘making a beat out of your guitar’ thing, and the best of his open tuning, ‘letting it flow like a river’ thing. He’s just got the beats and the melody that I love in a guitar style. As a singer-songwriter I really like something with passion and intensity, and I really love hearing something I can’t play. I love System Of The Down, I love the guitarist from Lamb of God, I love the kind of metal stuff like Sick and Sugar... You know, when I listen to singer-songwriters of my time, the modern ones, I know what they are doing, I know what the tuning is... But sometimes you can just analyse it too much.
You are stranded on a desert island. What famous three people (dead or alive) would you bring with you?
Ah, that would be awesome! I’ve had this conversation with some other people funnily enough. Everyone says ‘Jesus Christ’ but you’re assuming that he actually existed; let’s not go there. I would say that personally, because of the type of conversation, I’d like Buddha to be there. That would be great! I’ve learned a lot from that guy. I’d really like Genghis Khan to be there because I think he’s kind of an interesting cat. He did a lot of mad shit. Then Marco Polo, because he saw the world at a time when the world was lots of different worlds, I would love to go back to that time. So those three dudes... And then I’d get really bored of them and wish I’d chosen someone else. Then I’d choose Cameron Diaz! I’d just take three Hollywood starlets.
Thank you Fink!
No problem man!
For more information check out myspace.com/finkmusic or www.finkworld.co.uk
