Fink

How much can we learn about you from your music?

“Probably not to date me…”

Fink has soul. We’re talking serious soul. Fink has got the kind of soul that only the very best possess; that utterly compelling, inventive-without-trying, effortless-awe-inspiring stuff.

We remember when we first heard Fink – we were sat at home and not one, but two of our housemates were playing Fink’s second album ’Biscuits for Breakfast’, at the very same time, the same track ever so slightly out of synch, one upstairs and one down. Somewhere among the sensory madness it became increasingly clear to me that something special was afoot and so we got our hands on the album (my housemate USB’ed it us - sorry Fink).

As both a recording artist and performer, Fink (aka Fin Greenall) is one of those musicians who wears the much maligned ‘singer-songwriter’ tag like a well fitted suit. He seems to float through records with consummate ease. However, as with many well-oiled musical outfits, such swagger rarely clicks into motion from the get-go, and Fink’s story is a great example of this.

It is credit to the man that it was only through some serious experimentation that Fink finally found his voice.

This goes out to the thousands of button-twisting-producers sat behind their duel screens and desk of analog synths, dreaming of guitars and sheet music. Fink is a stellar example of an artist who put down the laptop and picked up the guitar. As his extensive discography so emphatically suggests, he hasn’t even looked back to reminisce.

For the benefit of people who do not yet know about Fink, how would you best describe your music?

“Well, it’s kinda like, in my head, a Bristol sound, or at east it started that way. I always wanted my albums to be put with the other Bristol bands I love – Portishead, Tricky, Massive Attack and growing up there, you know, but now it’s more like indie folk soul kinda trying to be alternative. I like to make a different record every time, we’re trying hard to break ourselves free with every record.”

Where did Fink begin? Where did you learn of your desire to make music?

“At places like The Thekla, The Moon Club, The tropic in the early days; the old Cooker nights were totally inspiring for a teenager. Chicks, sweaty walls, anonymity, or not, it was great. When I left Bristol to go to college I got into techno through Orb and KLF and Aphex Twin and everything kinda followed from there; years of DJ’ing for Ninja Tune during the Trip Hop years, until I picked up the guitar seriously in 2005 and totally flipped into this alternative reality of being a singer-songwriter…”

How were the early gigs?

“My first Ninja Tune DJ gig back in ’98 was a packed Leeds cockpit supporting DJ Food and Kid Koala – I borrowed a load of records off my friend Semtex, the illest hip hop joints of the time, and smashed it. Only after the classic DJ first gig nightmare of being so nervous that I didn’t put the tone arm down on the second record, so I was like “shit the decks broken, fuck, I’m gonna suck”. After five years of gigging with the ninjas I could strip down and rebuild a Vestax mixer in almost any conditions in under three minutes flat.

My first gig as Fink (the singer songwriter) was an intense baptism of fire; in front of Coldcut (Ninja Tune founders) at a sold out ICA in london, live on XFM. We were bricking it.”

Who do you take inspiration from? In terms of wordplay, delivery, arrangement, songwriting?

“Modern indie stuff, classics, great songwriters like John Martyn, Pentangle, Thom Yorke, love the new Bombay Bicycle club set, you know – Bon Iver – the usual. Mixed with a healthy respect of Horace Andy, D’angelo, Erykah Badu. Also, new artists like Jono McCleery and especially Ben Howard have blown my mind recently.”

Can you shed some light on the creative processes you go through when writing songs? What drives your creativity?

“Pressure, the clock, solitude, hecticness, Red Stripe, recreational drugs, late nights, and trying to have an interesting life while trying not to die of overdrive.”

Do you have a tight-knit circle of musicians that you work with on a regular basis? Or are you single-handedly responsible for all this wizardry and arrangement?

“The boys are Tim Thornton on drums, Guy Whittaker on Bass, The B on business duties, and all do a lot more besides too. We’re a super tight knit unit – it helps us keep shit real through the good and the bad times.”

What is it like being on the Ninja Tune roster? As a label that was basically running the underground and cutting edge in the 90’s/early 2000’s, it seems as if a number of artists on the label have gone quiet in recent years. How does it feel to be one of the labels most innovative torch-carriers?

“It’s great. Ninja has moved too from purely dance club stuff (although it still totally represents that side of stuff through Big Dada, The Bug, Teebs, Qemists, king Cannibal) to a range of stuff. Artists like me, Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra had to grow out of trip into Something and we all did in our different ways although my transition was a bit more extreme (Fink went dark for about 5 years to complete the transformation!) Ninja also do proggy stuff like Spokes, Cougar, The Heavy and so on. I think Ninja themselves also changed direction and taste like everyone else. They are more than a label and kinda always have been. There is an element of politics in everything they do; the independence, the fact they don’t have a marketing department (music should do all the work), the fact that the owners, Coldcut, are totally vanguardists culturally – it’s great – a very free place to be creative with releases.”

Your following in the UK is not as big as it is in other major European countries. Why do you think this is?

“Who knows? The UK is an amazing place for modern music; probably the best place in the world. It’s a busy market place. I’m totally cool with it; the fame thing is a bit weird anyway so I’m actually quite glad it doesn’t follow me home.”

We find it strange (as someone who knows your music) to think that you are something of an underground artist. What is your take on the fact that you are still relatively underground in the UK?

“It’s the best place to be, the healthiest creative space – I like it down here.”

Finally, any big ups or shout outs?

“Anyone who ignores the “Do Not Skateboard” signs on College Green….”