Pat Finn: Difference between revisions

'''Pat Finn''' (born '''Patrick Jonathan Finn'''; [[February 1]], 1968) is a Buffalo, NY born musician and artist who founded two pre-[[Weezer]] bands - [[Bush]] and [[60 Wrong Sausages]] - before pursuing a variety of other musical projects. He is the songwriter and lead vocalist behind [[Organic Mechanic]], and has been active in numerous bands in Buffalo, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland Oregon, where he has lived since 1998. He introduced [[Rivers Cuomo]], [[Pat Wilson]], [[Matt Sharp]], [[Jason Cropper]] and [[Karl Koch]] to each other.

 

Finn grew up in Buffalo, NY and in 1982 was introduced to [[Karl Koch]] by a mutual friend John Drenning, the 3 becoming lifelong friends. After his parents divorced, Pat moved to the San Francisco area with his mom and siblings in 1983, but he returned to Buffalo in 1984. He later returned to the Bay area in 1987.

 

In 1988 Pat moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco, and attended the Musicians Institute. There he met fellow students [[Matt Sharp]] as well as (among others) Dave "Burdie Cutlass" Georgeff and Tom "Soda Pop" Gardocki, later members of [[Wax]]. After, he returned to Buffalo, NY and stayed there from Summer 1989 - Spring 1990, woodshedding songs and working random jobs, regrouping his plans. While living in Buffalo he met [[Patrick Wilson]], who was working at a music store called Music Mart in the suburb of Amherst, giving drum lessons to youngsters.  

In March 1990, Finn moved to Los Angeles, and implored Wilson to come with him. Wilson has stated that he knew he had no prospects in the Buffalo area, and was eager to get his music career started, so he instantly and without hesitation accepted Finn's offer, despite having no plan, few possessions, and almost no money.

 

In Los Angeles, the two lived in a low income apartment on Gordon Ave near Hollywood Boulevard. At that time, it was considered a bad neighborhood where crime was rampant. Finn introduced Wilson to the 'future Wax/Chicago crew' guys, as well as Sharp, who was in their circle at the time. Finn and Wilson were determined to get a band going. They recorded 4 track demos and started a band called [[Bush]] with Finn's M.I. acquaintance Tom Gardocki. Sharp was at this point hanging around as well as living with some of the 'future Wax' guys, but over time didn't get along with them too well, and musically their potential connection faded from the time they were all in M.I. together. Sharp would get his own apartment in Westwood, and got involved with a social activist group known as the Black Rock Coalition.

Soon, Finn met [[Rivers Cuomo]] while working at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd, later introducing him to Wilson.  

Around this time, Cuomo was trying to shed his failed heavy metal past and come up with a new band that would fit in better with the then dynamic changing scene in Los Angeles. He implored Finn to join this fledgling band as a DJ (as Finn was well versed in the emerging hip hop music scene). However, Cuomo's plan involved using [[Kevin Ridel]] (who had sung in [[Zoom]]) on vocals, and the plan (to Finn's ears) did not seem to include much of a focus on songwriting. During a massive walk up to the tallest peak in Griffith Park, Finn told Cuomo that he would never be in a band with Ridel (who he disliked musically and personally at the time - although note that by fall 1991, he would in fact be in a band with Kevin, [[The Truth]], albeit briefly and with little intention of permanence), and he implored Cuomo to re-think his new band's plan, drop plans to have another vocalist, and change the focus to what Finn saw as one of Cuomo's hidden strengths, songwriting. This "crushed" Cuomo according to Finn, though Finn's intentions were supportive.  

Meanwhile, Bush dissolved, and over the coming months (late 1990 into early 1991) slowly evolved into [[Sixty Wrong Sausages]]. This evolution included a period when Finn attempted to go it alone, re-recording all the bands demos by himself and naming the potential band [[Q'rosh]]. Q'rosh was a short lived phase, and soon it was back to an unnamed entity. Initially, The band was just Finn and Wilson, jamming in a rehearsal space in downtown Los Angeles. On a few occasions, Sharp joined in for some impromptu weirdness. Around this time, while Sharp was living and working in Westwood, he and Wilson did demos together, making funny songs in the style of [[They Might Be Giants]].  

In Early 1991, as Cuomo, Wilson, and Sharp decided to move in together in an apartment on Genessee in Hollywood (a move witnessed and aided by Karl Koch as he was visiting Finn at the time), Finn moved to the Bay Area to live near his mom and regroup his plans, which were in shambles as Bush/Q'rosh had failed to go anywhere and Sixty Wrong Sausages hadn't gelled into anything yet (and was in fact still unnamed).

 

In Northern Cali, Finn met [[Jason Cropper]], eventually convincing him to move back to LA with him (ostensibly to be in his to-be-named band Sixty Wrong Sausages). They moved down in early Spring 1991. By Summer 1991, Sixty Wrong Sausages was firming up, and would solidify with the addition of Cuomo later on in 1991. Cuomo and Wilson's band Fuzz had failed to gel by spring 1991, mostly due to a difficulty retaining bass players.  

Sixty Wrong Sausages would dissolve after its only show in Thanksgiving 1991, and Finn would retreat from music again for a while, as he was going through some personal issues. At this point, the foundation of Weezer had been set into place. Cuomo and Wilson committed to a new sound and songwriting style, Sharp was recruited into the band in early 1992, and the focus changed musically.  

In 1998, Finn was invited to play with Weezer as a potential replacement for Matt Sharp. This resulted in a few weeks of hanging out and several rehearsal sessions, but in the end Pat went back to Portland and later [[Mikey Welsh]] joined the band.  

In 2005 Pat appeared onstage with weezer during the Foozer Tour in Portland, OR.

 

Finn would go on to be in numerous other bands and have a rich history in music which continues to this day.

 

The following was written by [[Rivers]] in regards to the 2005 [[Foozer Tour]] show in Portland, OR, during which Pat Finn joined the band onstage for "Undone". The story below contains many interesting details but because of its casual format and reminiscing tone, edits out several historical aspects. (This excerpt can also be viewed on the page for [[Rivers Cuomo blog posts - 2005#October 26|Rivers Cuomo Blog Posts]], dated October 26.)

 

<blockquote>"Nuts

It was cool to play with him tonight."</blockquote>

[[Organic Mechanic]] was a band created by Pat Finn in the early 2000's in Oregon which included Joe Cunningham on sax, Talbott Guthrie on drums, and Norm Buccola on bass. The group released single self-titled album through Karl Koch's record label [[Amorphous Records]] in May, [[2001]]. There was work done on a second album, however all that was completed were demos (One of which was shared by Koch on the Amorphous Records site). It is also possible the group played a number of live shows in Portland, however it is unclear whether or not these performances ever actually occurred.

 

 

====With The Special Goodness====

====With Organic Mechanic====

====With Sonnyboy====

====With Karlophone====