Who
are you?
Fink, Fin to my mates, Finian to my mother
What are
you?
Singer songwriter, producer and ex-DJ for Ninja Tune records.
Why are
you?
The powercuts in the early seventies
What do
you do?
Right now, when I’m not onstage or travelling somewhere I’m
song-writing or producing, or running and a&r’ing my labels
- Headwrecker Records (rock), Folkaw Records (folk) and Simple Records
(Dance)
Explain
your transition from leftfield beat-smith to down-tempo singer-songwriter?
Hey! These things happen, people change, peoples’ tastes changes.
I moved from being really into clubs and clubbing and DJing to being
really into live music, and playing instruments. I guess I’m extreme
sometimes and when I tired of clubbing and the constant technological
boundary pushing of electronica I went the other way to the extreme,
and now my live set up is an acoustic trio.
I guess the only difference between me and a load of others like me
is that I’m singing and writing my own songs. I was just lucky
to be able and willing to do it, a lot of other producers from the noughties
are getting in guests and working with different singers, and I was
doing the same when I kinda accidentally discovered that when you record
my voice it sounds quite good!!… part accident, part design…
What caused
this change in your musical outlook?
Lots of different factors actually – seeing some amazing live
bands like Beck and Radiohead who were able to out-do the records I
loved live and I wanted to say things that I was struggling to say with
instrumental music.
I’m also the kind of producer who doesn’t like to depend
on others to make things happen. For me, like in terms of emotional
depth and stuff, it’s like the difference between a silent movie
and a talkie. I also needed the therapy.
As the music
world gets more digital, in both the way music is made and bought, you
seem to have taken a step back to a more traditional mode of musical
expression.
Is the new album/musical direction a reaction to this step into a new
digital age?
Not really. It was only made possible by all the new technology, it’s
only in the past few years that the tech has been readily available
for people like me to be able to record this kinda stuff in their attics
or basements. If it wasn’t for my Macs and samplers I would have
to depend on a record company to pay for the session.
I engineered it myself, produced it myself, I even bought the studio
kit myself from the DJ money, that’s a pretty new thing. Maybe,
if anything, the digital revolution means that music like this is getting
more heat, after the initial honeymoon period of, ‘wow –
none of these sounds are being played.’ Now we all tend to need
a little more personality and talent in our music, downloading is also
an ecological solution to all those landfills full of all those boy
and girl bands un-recyclable and non-biodegradable CD singles.
I think it’s good, and I think that it puts more power into the
artists hand, more money in everyone’s pockets (not much, but
some) and our perception of music itself is changing because of it from
‘I need that album’ to ‘I need that track’.
The major music industry was screaming and crying like a little girl
about loss of sales, and how bad it was for everyone, and then kept
very quiet about announcing later that year record profits because of
it. For indie labels like Ninja Tune the digital age is all about levelling
the playing field, well, at least levelling it a little more.
What are your thoughts on music in a digital format?
Think I probably just waffled on about that for ten minutes already!
I think it’s great .
I’ll always treasure my albums more than my downloads, but at
the end of the day, it’s the music I treasure, there is one album
I know is online for legal download, but I’m not gonna listen
to it or buy it. It's a rare John Lee Hooker album, and I want to hear
it on original vinyl for the first time rather that download it for
$7 – so I’ll just have to keep hunting, find it, pay £50
on ebay for it, £10 for postage, but then I’ll block some
time out of the studio diary, get a few like-minded friends around,
some beers, then a reverent listen – nothing beats it……
What kind
of person would purchase a Fink ringtone?
You know what, just being honest, I don't really get ringtones –
I think they’re a bit annoying – it’s a way of butting
into peoples lives to say, ‘Hey - I’m into hip hop, or,
Hey – I’m into metal, or Hey – I’m into farmyard
animals or whatever’.
Like wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘check out this tee, it means
I’m like this and I want you to know that.’ My phone sounds
like a phone when it rings - the natural order!. On myspace a few people
have used my tracks as their music on their profiles, which is really
flattering, and more flattering than hearing my music as a ringtone
– ringtones are for pop fans.
What does
the internet mean for musicians?
Myspace, myspace, myspace – it’s a love hate thing –
the net means you’re music isn’t totally safe.
I can download my album for free from a number of different places already
even though it’s only been out for a week, but it’s been
proven that people who illegally download are actually one of the healthiest
music buying groups of people. I often limewire or poison tracks I’ve
heard on the radio or whatever, just to check them out, if I need them
in my life I go get ‘em legit.
Myspace is great for musicians, it saves you posting stuff to people,
you can meet people and if they like your music they can just go check
it out or if I’m gonna play with some-one, I can go check their
stuff on myspace. So much better than sending CDs in the post, again
it is saving evergy and resources. I would also recommend this site
EMUSIC.COM, you pay $10 a month and get 40 downloads it’s like
an older persons itunes, so loads of reggae and jazz and blues and stuff
and your downloads don't roll over every month so it kinda forces you
to get 4 albums. I get 2 reggae and 2 jazz a month just to listen to
when I’m chilling – it’s great – it forces you
to listen to new or old music it also means you can let each other,
and everyone else know about live gigs, another thing that myspace is
really good for.
What influenced
the new album?
Well, that’s a pretty major open question, I could probably talk
about it for hours – but I guess, in my down-time from DJing over
the past few years I’ve been listening to stuff that is the total
antithesis of modern fashion and culture – John Martyn, Joni Mitchell,
John Lee Hooker, Dick Gaughin, Interpol, Radiohead, Jose Gonzales. Mix
all that in with two crazy years in my personal life and the material
just kinda happened, it took me a while to get used to hearing my own
voice on record and producing myself was a bit weird, like ‘man
that take was great, was it – I think you should do it again’,
‘really – you don't think it was good?’, ‘yeah
man – it was good but you could do better’ kinda conversations
with myself for while. As soon as I got over the whole white-guy-moaning-about-life
being-great thing I was away, the first 3 tracks like this took me 3
months, the last 6 took me three months – as soon as got comfy
with it I just poured it out.
What does
the new album mean to you?
It’s a debut album, it’s the next level. I was part of the
whole DJ revolution ting and I’m really proud of that –
from being a resident DJ at the old Blue Note club before Hoxton Square
had a mullet to being the first Ninja Tune DJ to play Tel Aviv –
loved it all – but it all feels like it was leading up to this
one. All my skills and experiences kicked in, everything was relevant
and now I’m at the bottom of a new ladder working my way up again
- I prefer that! This record has an air of more permanency than my other
stuff, like it’s realer or something – it’s hard to
explain. Also it’s my first live experience, which is kinda all
encompassing right now (I’m doing this interview from the Eurostar
on the way to play Paris, played Brussels the night before last- I’ve
stayed in my own bed maybe 4 times this month…) and I’m
really loving the challenge of a new learning curve.
Why should
anyone buy your album?
Because they like it, or think they like it, or some-one they know says
– I think you’ll like this. I’ve got 9 songs, and
we’ve made it as cheaply as possible to mean that the shops can
only charge like £9 for it – so that people like me could
afford it if they wanted to.
Where do
you fit into the current musical landscape?
I fit into this area of songwriters, this whole DIY thing, this whole
folk-Brittania thing . I don't know, when I hear my own stuff it sounds
so different from everyone elses’ that I don't know where it fits
in. I guess that's either good or bad – Q liked it, but at the
same time The Sun liked it – random.
In 40 years,
what from 2006 will be remembered a culturally significant?
You ask this so early in the year? There is so much to happen, I guess
the Arctic Monkeys – the download chart rules maybe, tracks getting
to number 1 with no physical manifestation of the tracks for the first
time. The new D’angelo album maybe could be seminal – Voodoo
certainly was, maybe some-one will kill someone else on Big Brother
or something!
What new
music do you dig?
So much new stuff – Nathan Fake, Presets, Test Icicles, Maccabees,
Jose, Whatever we Want records, Domino, Rough Trade, Optimo and Joakim
and that whole Get physical/United States of Germany sound, Matthew
Jonson, - my fave track of the year so far is ‘Are you the one’
by the Presets- (this NY sushi mix) . I do a show on www.totallyradio.com
to kinda give me an excuse to play this indie / dance crossover mullet-core…
What was
it like being asked to support Zero 7?
It was unbelievable, they saw us in a pub in London, we wanted to do
a quiet gig for them at the Old Queens Head, we reserved them some tables
but then the Ninja forum got hold of it, then Time Out printed it, and
then Metro said go down to it – so at the end of the day this
pub was road-blocked. We had to go to Amsterdam the next day to play
Paradiso so we found out in our hotel, Amsterdam is a great place to
celebrate! We were really chuffed that our stripped back sound is gonna
get onto such big stages in the UK and the new Zero 7 album is really
nice as well and they put on one hell of a show.
How will
you translate the album to the stage?
We’re a trio, no tour bus, trailer and tour manager for us. We’re
gonna squeeze into my car, Zero 7 have very kindly agreed to let us
put our stuff in their huge trailer and we’re gonna low budget
our way round! It’s gonna be a stripped down drum kit (no toms,
mini bass drum), acoustic bass and I play a Spanish guitar and sing
and that’s it – no laptops, no FX, no fancy stuff, really
bare bones. The songs will have to fight for themselves – there’s
no more room in the car !
We just play the songs how they were originally before they hit the
studio. I also do solo gigs too at the mo’ – which is really
breaking the songs back to their original form – I love those…
What do
you think about Test Icicles splitting up?
I was really, really into their sound and their album. Me and my bass
player blagged tickets to see them at London’s Astoria, all back-stagers
and everything, all VIP’d up for it and then 48 hours before the
gig they split . We were in a radio session for the BBC when we found
out, the engineer was like, ‘they’re a manufactured band,
this is all a ploy to sell records’ but I don’t think so.
If they are it would break my heart, it was really inspiring to hear
a trendy record whose inspirations are a bit more skate than emo –
really loved it – I really hope they reconsider. I would love
to hear another album from them, and would love to see them live too!….We
were really gutted when they split.
If you could
form a supergroup, who would you join forces with?
Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Kelly Price on backing vocals, D’angelo
on Keys.
How does
it feel to be the only singer songwriter on Ninja Tune?
It feels like a temporary honour, there will be more. When I came off
stage after supporting Coldcut at the ICA in London I said to them ‘so
– wada u think guys’ and all they said was ‘Brave,
very brave’ -and that’s it! I think ninja, after the experience
with my album, will want more – maybe I will even help to justify
getting more.
Do all the
Ninja artists hang out together?
Some of us do, but we’re all spread all over the place now. Amon’s
in Montreal, Jason’s (Cinematics) in Paris – I see a lot
of Bonobo coz we both live in Brighton, but all you gotta do is check
the live page of Ninjatune.net to see it’s rare we’re in
the same town. It is great to hang out with them though – we go
to each others gigs, and really dig each others sounds
What top
Ninja tips have you got?
Under the radar, over their heads.
What’s
the best advice you’ve ever received?
Life is not a rehearsal.
