Finch

Finch formed in 1999 in Temecula, California, when a group of high school friends began playing together under the name Numb, initially working through cover songs before finding their own voice. Finch formed as Numb in Temecula, California, in 1999, with its members still in high school. The original lineup, with Nate Barcalow on vocals, Alex Linares on guitar, Derek Doherty on bass and Alex Pappas on drums , was soon rounded out by a second guitarist. Vocalist Nate Barcalow, drummer Alex Pappas, bassist Derek Doherty and guitarist Alex Linares were soon joined by another guitar player in Randy Strohmeyer, working up songs that teamed the melodies of Jimmy Eat World with the gnarly heaviness of Glassjaw and Deftones' atmospheric scope. That fusion of hardcore heaviness and emo melody, still raw and unpolished, quickly caught the attention of the burgeoning Southern California punk scene, and Randy had previously formed a friendship with Drive-Thru Records owner Richard Reines, who signed them immediately following an in-studio audition. The band's breakthrough came fast. Finch released their first EP for Drive-Thru in 2001, Falling Into Place, which sold over 6,000 copies within three months of its release. Building on that momentum, they immediately returned to the studio with producer Mark Trombino and recorded What It Is to Burn which was released the following year. The album became a defining document of the era, primarily a pop punk and emo release, that was also classed as hardcore punk and post-hardcore, and received generally positive reviews from music critics. It charted respectably, as What It Is to Burn charted at number 99 on the Billboard 200, while it reached number 177 on the UK Albums Chart, and as of October 2007, the album had sold over 400,000 copies worldwide. Its title track became the band's signature moment, as the shorter album version was released as a single in 2003, peaking at No. 15 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, to this date the band's only charting song in the United States. The band's profile grew accordingly, with appearances that included performing as a special guest at two shows of MTV's Campus Invasion tour in May 2003, and an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in June. Rather than repeat that formula, Finch pivoted sharply with their follow-up. After touring for two years in support of What It Is to Burn, the band changed labels and began working on their second album; the process was slow, and during recording Trombino was replaced by Jason Cupp and original drummer Alex Pappas left the band over "musical differences," before Say Hello to Sunshine was released on Geffen Records in June 2005. The more experimental record still found chart success, as their second album, Say Hello to Sunshine, peaked within the top 30 on the Billboard 200 , though it divided longtime fans even as it won new admirers for its heavier, more authentic post-hardcore direction. Strain within the band led to an extended pause, and on February 19, 2006, it was revealed that the group was "officially on an 'indefinite hiatus.'" They reconvened the following year, and Finch reformed in 2007, playing a reunion show on November 23 at the Glasshouse in Pomona, California, before releasing a self-titled EP a year later while working toward a third studio album, ultimately disbanding in late 2010. The band would not stay quiet for long, celebrating their debut's legacy before returning to active duty, as after playing a group of shows commemorating the ten-year anniversary of What It Is to Burn in 2012, Finch signed with Razor & Tie in 2014 and revealed they were working on a new studio album, titled Back to Oblivion and released on September 30, 2014. Finch has continued on and off in the years since, with periods of activity and hiatus reflecting a band that has never quite been able to stay away from the music that made them influential in the first place. Their legacy endures well beyond their commercial peak: their debut album, What It Is To Burn, was especially influential in the emo genre, practically defining it through the early 2000's and in turn influencing bands such as Saosin, A Day to Remember and The Amity Affliction. Critics continue to regard the record as a landmark, and writers have noted that committed to following their own messy path rather than doing what was expected of them, Finch's legacy is punk in the very same tradition they were once accused of betraying. Decades on, the band remains a touchstone for the post-hardcore and emo scenes it helped shape.