Interview with Derek Doherty and Pappas of Finch

The Social -- Orlando, FL

April 9, 2002

 

Leah Weinberg: So, what's the story of how you guys got together?
Derek Doherty (bass): Well, him [Pappas] and Alex our guitar player and Nate our singer had been jamming for years, all through high school. I moved out to California in the middle of my junior year and I immediately started jamming out with them. And then we played the L.A. scene a little bit as a different band, the four of us, and we added Randy and kind of went a different direction.
Pappas (drums): A different direction, he said he knew some people like three weeks in, turned out to be the owners of Drive-Thru. We played for them. They liked us.
Derek: And we dropped every song we had after we played for them and they liked us. Like they gave us a contract and we dropped everything. Started all over.
Pappas: Wrote all new material.

L.W.: Did you go in a totally different direction after that?
Derek: Yeah. Our first song that we wrote officially as this band was "Awake."

L.W.: How would you describe Finch's music?
Pappas: Rock and roll.
Derek: Yeah, just rock and roll. Straight up. Guitar, bass, and drums. Rock and roll. Nothing else.

L.W.: Did you find it difficult to win over fans given the abrasiveness of screaming vocals?
Derek: No, because I think the way Nate does it is tasteful. It's not too much. We're not like scream rock or screamo, or whatever fucking titles there are.
Pappas: Or hardcore.
Derek: We're definitely not hardcore. We're music that we like.

L.W.: What was the recording process like for "What it is to Burn"?
Derek: It was amazing.
Pappas: Get in there, have Trombino kick your ass.
Derek: He's the man, seriously. He kicked all of our asses definitely. We weren't prepared to play as good as we actually played. We had no clue we had it in us.

L.W.: How did he get it out of you?
Derek: He let you get it yourself. He just keeps pushing you and pushing you, but doesn't give you the answer. You've got to find the answer yourself and then when you get it, he'll tell you, "Now you've got it."
Pappas: Yeah. He's such a nice guy. He's so quiet and soft-spoken but at the same time he's just one of those guys that makes you want to work better. I don't know if this is coming out weird, but he just drives you to do better yourself and in turn gets that performance.

L.W.: How long did you spend in the studio?
Derek: Six weeks recording it and they spent about three months mixing it. It took a long time.
Pappas: And we retracked "What It Is To Burn."
Derek: Yeah, the song "What It Is To Burn" is a demo version we wrote after we recorded the album, but then we rerecorded it with Mark just about a month ago. It's gonna be out on the second pressing of the CD.
Pappas: So you can all buy it again.

L.W.: How many copies of the album did you sign for Drive-Thru's preordered copies?
Derek: We ended up signing just over 2000.
L.W.: Did you just sit down in one day and bang them out?
Derek: Yeah, it was like a 14-hour day.
Pappas: And then there was like, what, 500 posters. No more posters. It was like a 12-hour day signing shit.
Derek: A 14-hour day.
Pappas: All of those were actually signed by us.

L.W.: Are you pleased with the final product?
Derek: Yeah. I couldn't be more happy.
Pappas: Yeah, very pleased.
Derek: But I think our next record's gonna blow it away because I know we've all matured.

L.W.: What quality of the band do you pride yourselves on the most?
Pappas: The drumming.
Derek: The fact that we're not a fake band, like 99% of the bands out there were pieced together by a label or they fuckin' conformed to a sound so they could get big.
Pappas: We do it our way.
Derek: We play what we want, regardless of what happens. If we do this our whole lives, touring in small clubs and playing to fans that are right next to us, I'd be fuckin' stoked. Anything above this would just be an added bonus.

L.W.: Sounding much different from the rest of the Drive-Thru bands, is that a positive or a negative thing?
Derek: A positive definitely.

L.W.: Did you enjoy the photo shoot for the Drive-Thru compilation?
Derek: Honestly, photo shoots are kind of weird for me. I don't know if you had fun.
Pappas: The comp, the comp photo shoot? The "Welcome to the Family" one?
L.W.: Yeah.
Derek: Oh, that one was fun.
Pappas: That one was fun. Kind of intoxicated. Normally photo shoots are kind of weird...
Derek: ...because they try and get us to move and do weird funny things and we're just like, we don't know how to do anything. We just stand there.
Pappas: They're like do stuff, something scary or something fun.
Derek: Take a live shot if you want to see us look all creepy and moving a lot.
Pappas: I know. Do it while we're playing. Don't try to make us scream at each other in some photo.

L.W.: What was your most rock star moment?
Pappas: Define rock star.
Derek: I met some actual band sluts, like the real deal. They just kept taking their shirts off and getting down with each other while I was trying to sign autographs for these 12-year-old kids. They were whispering in my ear, "I'll do anything for you if you get me on the other side of that fence." I was like, I have a girlfriend. Our friend took care of them though.
Pappas: He did. It got dealt with. The shit got handled. This is pretty rock star, I guess, interviews and shit.
Derek: Yeah.
L.W.: Is it weird at all?
Derek: No, I love it because the fact that people care enough about our band to want to ask us questions.
Pappas: To want to know what the fuck we're thinking.
Derek: We're just a bunch of idiots.
Pappas: Well, I wouldn't go that far.

L.W.: Are you guys pretty stoked about getting to play Warped this summer?
Derek: We're stoked about everything. We're basically the happiest band. Drive-Thru's basically gonna own the Warped Tour because all of our bands are gonna be there.
Pappas: Oh yeah. Summer camp. We'll be there.

L.W.: 3 words that describe Finch
Pappas: Three words that describe Finch? Do you want a serious answer?
L.W.: You can give me anything you want.
Pappas: Fuck, shit, fuck.
Derek: I don't know.
Pappas: How about live hard slamming?
Derek: Yeah, Andrew W.K. Any way you want to put it.
Pappas: Yeah. Live hard slamming. That's it. Print that. Live hard slamming.
Derek: But then also put next to that: Andrew W.K. rules.

Related Links:
Finch -- What It Is To Burn Review
Finch Photos
Finch Show Review
Official Website