Post-hardcore outfit Finch, known for their 2002 smash album What It Is To Burn, has had their fair share of ups and downs in their 10-plus year career. Breaking up not once, but twice, the Temecula outfit has had a consistent track record of being pretty erratic when it comes to releasing new material and being, you know, a band.
However, after getting back together for the third time in 2012 to later release a new full-length album, a live album and an acoustic album (Back To Oblivion; What It Is To Burn - X; Steel, Wood & Whisky), the band seemed to be finally back on track – and we mean, finally!
That is, until today – aw, man.
Just one day after drummer Alex Pappas and guitarists Alex “Grizz” Linares and Daniel Wonacott revealed their new project with Senses Fail vocalist Buddy Neilsen, all hell has broken loose in the Finch camp.
Not only has frontman Nate Barcalow come forward with a letter to his fans declaring that the band is through, but the three remaining Finch members have also posted a quick and lengthy rebuttal pointing fingers back at Barcalow. And then, to top it all off, both Barcalow and the band have separately shared previously unreleased demos from a failed album.
So, to recap: Pappas, “Grizz” and Wonacott announced a new band. Upset with the news, Barcalow wrote a letter to fans revealing the band’s grim future and also included five unreleased tracks. Then, not to be outdone, Pappas, “Grizz” and Wonacott responded with their own letter and they too shared previously unreleased demos.
All in all, Finch is broken up (for now) but at least you have plenty of new songs to listen to tonight. To check out all eight unreleased demos, as well as the two letters to fans, see below.
“Hello world,
Since I have been locked out of all Finch social media and this is my only outlet to “speak the truth”, I figured I would address at least the fans who follow me here and put this thing to bed.
With a heavy heart, I am sorry to say that Finch is done playing together.
Like most creative endeavors, the direction of the art and the delegation of control was no longer a collective decision. It’s sad but it happens and there is no point in fighting an up hill battle.
In my personal opinion the band would have never made it as far as it did without the devout support of the fans, and so to you I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart.
In the summer of 2015 Finch had started working on a new record which has since been abandoned and left for dead…until now. I have decided that as a last gift to you all I am going to release the demos of these songs. I still believe in these ideas and think that they deserve to be heard (even in their most raw form). I have put them up on my YouTube channel with lyrics included, so go take a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8mRrrD5c-W2jnEVLxXj2A
I am extremely grateful for all that I had in Finch and being able to connect with you through the music that we made. I will continue to make music and I am looking to the future with hope.
Love and respect,
Nate”
“Within the last 10 years Finch has only released ONE full length album… That can’t be understated. In 2009, Nate walked away from an album and quit. Yesterday, Nate quit again, for the third time in the bands history (2004, 2009, & 2016). We all knew it was coming, it was not a shock. In 2015 we wrote a batch of songs but did not have a completed album.
We entered the studio with a producer friend of ours to work on some material that would complete the album and begin pre-production on the songs we already had. Nate was a no show for the majority of these sessions and chose to stop communicating with the band in January 2016. Throughout 2016 there have been tour offers we’ve had to pass on, festival appearances we’ve passed on because we were unable to reach Nate.
I think it is important for Finch fans to know that we’ve always had the best intentions, we always strove to create the best songs we could, but you cannot control other peoples’ behavior. Nate’s choice to quit again is disappointing, but not unexpected.
We’re really proud of the last two songs we recorded as a band. In Nate’s mind the stylistic change was enough to throw away his career. We just thought they were greatFinch songs. We’ve posted both them on the Finch youtube channel, and hope you enjoy them.
Cheers everybody! We’ll see y’all next year for the What It Is To Burn 15 year anniversary tour!
–Grizzly, Daniel, and Pappas“
