Blog
FINK RECOUPS
31/12/09
ok ok ok - i know it's been a seriosuly long time since i blogged - but finally - after surfing the snowstorm from chicago (last plane out before airport closed) to New York (last plane out before mass cancellations due to snow) to Paris (last eurostar through the tunnel before whole thing closes down for 4 days due to snow) i kinda feel like protected in some way....just made i down to cornwall in time for xmas....
since the last blog about China we hit the USA for a few gigs- and some of the most memorable of the year no doubt - the wes Coast was just awesome - december in LA - makes sense - although seeing snowy pastiche scenes of seasonal greetings and constant rotation of xmas songs - from "retail christmas", "trad xmas" and even "taxi xmas", which consisted mainly of either smooth jazz versions of xmas classics, or the taxi driver swearing out of the window at shoppers on broadway.....that's a bit weird - almost as weird as the Scientologists having a xmas scene on hollywood boulevard without any traditional iconography, simply using non denominational icons of happiness and contentment, oh yeah - with the traditional stress test at the side....to do KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic was a real honour - really mindblowing hospitality - we reached accross the divide that was playing a set at 11 in the morning.....and the gig the next night at Spaceland was really something special - we loved it....getting into the top ten of aol radio tracks of the year, as well as getting the nod from a few of kcrw's finest dj's for album of the year really made us feel good...
www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb091203fink
New York, freezing and solo, was an intimate and really warm way to end the year - and by the time i had put my guitar back in it's case on the stage after the gig - i was already yearning to get back out there in the New Year....roll on Oz in '10...
massive love to everyone who gave us our best year ever onstage - from everyone at berlin (lido), paris (alhambra), amsterdam(melkweg), brussells(rotunde), New york(joes pub), LA(spaceland), London(jazz cafe) and Beijing(mao live) and everyone and everywhere in between - thanks for coming out - we know you have a choice of bands and thank you for choosing us.....
we also shold say a massive shout to robalicious our soundguy....who has throughly tweaked and swept the mid frequency of our hearts this year...
i have posted a few acoustic tracks on the myspace from the year.....enjoy if you get the time....
much love....see you on the oher side....
fink
China China China
26/11/09
wow - China -different world-not better or worse just very very different....one of the best things about no being able to read, write or even speak the local languages is that you don;t get hit by any advertisiing -it was like a mind holiday in that respect - Beijing was fantastic - staying in the HuJong district kinda kept it very real, and it was beautiful weather -very cold bu clear, well as clear as Beijing kinda gets. The gig was in a punky kinda sweatbox called Mao Live....really grimy but delightful too -very real.....Shanghai was again - hot, steamy, very rawkus - but to sell out the show was an amazing thing for all of us...the people who are trying to grow the scene out there, not just exploit the numbers, are few and far between but tey exist, and are doing a great great job to slowly build a real culture out there, not the kind of culture where green Day fly and fly out of city after city - but a scene where Western bands can sit on bills with Local bands, play dingy venues, make it happen.....
it's hard out there - Beijing has like 2 record shops for a population of 15 million, and the venues are just as rare - there is like Barfly venues - then Stadium venues -and not much in between -so to find a run, to build this up, you gotta tour the hard way....but it's worth it - the hospitality, the food, the people....it's a beautiful, generous, and crazy country -my favorite discovery - the group Yacht were on the same bill in Hong Kong (Along with the awesome Blood Red Shoes-who had the police threateneing to shut the festival down due to noise complaints, and that was just their soundcheck !! the new stuff from their forthcoming lp sounds as grimy and hardcore as ever -it's going to be a treat)-they gave me some YAK Jerky they had brought from the outskirts of Tibet - sounds wrong...but it so soooooooo right....
the picture is from Hong Kong -it isn't a postcard - it's a phone pic from this bar we were hanging out in....if you can get through the ex pat thing hong kong is Mind Blowing -a true collision of east and west- i walked from the area with all the money, gucci, and de-beers shops to my hotel on the last night - a hot steamy hong kong night, raining a little, the 2 hours it took me to get back to the residential area i was staying in it was like walking the set of Bladerunner....
gotta say -thanks so so much to Ed from Outdustry and all at the label MicroMu, and Sean Jhawn in shanghai, and Justin in Hong Kong....ignore the bullshitters, and go straight for these guys....their heart is in the right place....we're not trying to impose our style on anyone, or say we're better, or cooler or whatever....we all just want an underground mmusic scene to develop in China....and they'll do it - one gig at a time.....
i learnt how to say "can i have a black coffee and two sugars please" in chinese - but to be fair, after the hundredth attempt or so, i did just resort to pointing....
more blogs to follow.....it's been a crazy few weeks...
fin
"SEE IT ALL" OUT THIS WEEK
20/10/09
yeah - me in a suit-it does happen occasionally - ted baker kindly leant me whistle for the gig - a goon squad full court press at the Dorchester in london right in the middle of the french tour - the weirdest thing was - the night before i'm in a van with the lads wearing the same T-shirt i gigged in the night before feelin hungover - the next thing i know i'm back in the uk in a suit getting an award for songwriting in a suit- then the next day i'm back in the van in France hurtling towards the next soundcheck....really bizarre.....but great though -
The French Run was amazing - definitely the best yet - and Paris's gig at Alhambra was amazing for us....really loved it....sorry the ticket price was so high - we had no idea....and all the randoms were fantastic each in their own way - Bordeaux, Arles, Montpellier - thanks to Ben howard for his support in Brussels and Paris - after the gig in paris he go booked for Manu Katche's one Shot Not - fantastic news - he blagged me a pair of Von Zipper shades which i resolutely wore all the time - even wearing them to bed on occasion....thanks also to Revolver, Jouby Trio (whose cover of Biscuits was inspired) and our old mate Sammy Decpster whose shambolic stage show has got even more shambolic over the past 18 months - fantastic to see him play again....
awesome - in recovery now - going to China in a few weeks for 3 dates-ready for the full headspin on that one and overjoyed at getting the visa for it....
oh yeah - SEE T ALL was released as a single this week....with awesome awesome mixes from DLID (whose brilliant phoenix remix really blew our minds), the incredible Emika and the obligatory Sideshow re-work - which is definitely up there.....i'll put the tracks up on the space asap....
