Pat Finn

From Weezerpedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Karlification.jpg Karlification! This article has been written, edited, double-checked or approved by Karl Koch, webmaster, historian, archivist and unofficial fifth member of Weezer.
Last Karl edit: Mar. 2022
Pat Finn
Pat Finn.jpg
Background information
Birth name Patrick Jonathan Finn
Born February 1, 1969, (age 55)
Buffalo, New York
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Years active 1998present
Instrument(s) Guitar, Bass guitar, Vocals
Associated acts
Bush
The Special Goodness
60 Wrong Sausages
Organic Mechanic
Karlophone

Patrick Jonathan Finn (born February 1, 1969) is a Buffalo, New York-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.

History with Weezer

Early Life

Finn grew up in Buffalo, New York, and in 1982 was introduced to Karl Koch by mutual friend John Drenning. The three thereafter became lifelong friends. After his parents divorced, Finn moved to the San Francisco area with his mother and siblings in 1983, but returned to Buffalo in 1984. In 19851987 He was a member of The Smegmatics and later New Balance (the Buffalo hardcore band that later morphed into Zero Tolerance, counting Darrin Pfieffer as its drummer for a period in the early '90s). He returned to the Bay area in 1987.

Meeting Matt Sharp and Patrick Wilson

In 1988, Finn 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, future members of Wax. Afterwards, Finn returned to Buffalo and remained there from the summer 1989 through the spring of 1990, writing, recording, and practicing songs and working various jobs. 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 children. The two instantly hit it off, musically and personally.

In March 1990, Finn moved to Los Angeles to return to the music scene there, 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 accepted Finn's offer, without hesitation, despite having no plan, few possessions, and little money.

In Los Angeles, the two lived in a low income apartment on Gordon Ave. near Hollywood Boulevard (considered a crime-rampant neighborhood at the time). Finn introduced Wilson to the future members of Wax, as well as to Matt Sharp. Finn and Wilson were determined to start a band. The two recorded 4-track demos and formed a band called Bush with Finn's Musicians Institute acquaintance Tom Gardocki. Sharp was, at this point hanging around and living with some of the future Wax members, but didn't get along with them. Sharp would get his own apartment in Westwood, and became involved with a social activist group known as the Black Rock Coalition.

Meeting Rivers Cuomo

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

At this time, Cuomo was trying to shed his failed heavy metal past and start a new band more suitable to the Los Angeles scene. Cuomo 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 appear to 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 both musically and personally (though he would later briefly be in the band The Truth with Ridel in the fall of 1991). Finn implored Cuomo to rethink his new band's plan, drop plans to have another vocalist, and focus on what Finn saw as one of Cuomo's strengths: songwriting. Cuomo was "crushed", according to Finn, despite Finn's good intentions.

Several months later, Cuomo would recruit Wilson into his first post-Zoom band, Fuzz.

Formation of 60 Wrong Sausages

Bush dissolved in 1990 and, over the coming months into early 1991, slowly morphed into 60 Wrong Sausages. Finn initially attempted to go it alone, re-recording all of the band's demos by himself and naming the potential band "Q'rosh", but this did not last. Initially, 60 Wrong Sausages was comprised only of Finn and Wilson, jamming together in a rehearsal space in downtown Los Angeles. On a few occasions, Matt Sharp joined in for some impromptu rehearsals. Around this time, while Sharp was living and working in Westwood, he and Wilson worked on demos together, making humorous 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 Genesee in Hollywood, Finn moved to the Bay Area to live near his mother and rethink his approach.

In Northern California, Finn met Jason Cropper, eventually convincing him to move back to Los Angeles with him (ostensibly to be in his yet-to-be-named band, 60 Wrong Sausages). The two moved down in early spring of 1991. By summer, 60 Wrong Sausages was beginning to coalesce, finally solidifying with the addition of Cuomo. Cuomo and Wilson's band Fuzz had failed to gel by spring 1991, primarily due to difficulty in retaining bass players.

After 60 Wrong Sausages

60 Wrong Sausages would dissolve after its only show on Thanksgiving Day 1991, and Finn would retreat from music again due to personal issues. At this point, the foundation of Weezer had formed. 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 by Patrick Wilson, ostensibly as a potential replacement for Matt Sharp. This resulted in at least one rehearsal session during Finn's several weeks of time in Los Angeles. The rest of the time was consumed with a lot of hanging out with Wilson, and some with Cuomo. In what was described by Finn later as an awkward turn of events, he was ultimately not chosen, but not clearly informed of such, and returned home to Portand, OR. Later, Mikey Welsh joined Weezer. In hindsight it was theorized that Cuomo may have had an eye on Welsh all along, or at least didn't think Finn was going to be a good fit at that point— but wasn't able to come out and say it.

In 2005, Finn appeared onstage with Weezer during a performance of "Undone - The Sweater Song" at a concert in Portland, Oregon on the Foozer Tour on October 25, 2005. Rivers Cuomo wrote a blog post about Finn shortly thereafter.


Rivers Cuomo head.png
"Nuts

Pat Finn was there tonight. He played Undone with us. That would have been a perfect opportunity to tell a story on stage.

Pat Finn was the guy who introduced me to Pat and Matt, and the guy that introduced them to each other. I was working at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard in 1990-1991. One day a skin-head looking punk came in to start his first day of work. It was Pat Finn. I thought he was the coolest thing ever. A real punk.

At the end of his shift he inexplicably said “Hey man, do you want my peanut butter and banana sandwich?”

Food was at a premium at the time for me.

“Sure. Thanks!”

A real punk not only talked to me but gave me his sandwich.

I idolized him. He was always trying to get our boss to punch him so he could file for unemployment or sue or something. He also always tried to grab my nuts forcefully. I didn’t know if he was gay or just insane but I thought he was the coolest. I tried to get him in my horrible metal band to be a DJ of all things. For some reason he was interested in playing music with me too but on HIS terms.

One day he said, “You’ve got to meet my friend Winky Smiles.”

I went over to his apartment on Gordon and saw first thing as I entered a large grown man lying in a heaping pile of filth and garbage. He looked up.

“Hey Man.” It was Pat Wilson.

“Hey.”

They played me Morrissey songs and I tried my best to understand why it was cool because I knew that it was but I couldn’t. Everything they played me had clean jangly guitars and that just didn’t jibe with my heavy metal background.

“This is great stuff,” I said. I knew I had to latch on to Pat Finn.

We eventually formed a band, Sixty Wrong Sausages. Jason Cropper was in the band too. We all wrote and took turns singing. Four-tracking was on in full force.

Pat Finn also joined Kyokushin with me. He was gangly at first but he came to kick some serious ass eventually because of his incredible determination.

He was one really intense guy, kind of like me. He was a vegetarian, a conspiracy theorist, a punk. He told me about a musical duo he had formed back in Buffalo called “Skraper”. The other member was apparently a Teutonic titan who rapped a violent breed of nonsense. I had a pretty scary image in my mind and was surprised eventually when I met the guy, a complete lamb of soul, when he helped me move into my apartment with Pat and Matt. I’m talking about Karl.

Pat Finn was the nexus between all of us, Pat, Matt, Karl, me, the guys in Wax, the guys in the Dum Dums.

It was cool to play with him tonight."
- Rivers Cuomo, [citation needed]

Organic Mechanic

See Organic Mechanic

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 a single self-titled album through Pat and Karl Koch's record label, Amorphous Records, in May 2001. Demos for a second album were recorded, but no album materialized (though one demo was shared by Koch on the Amorphous Records website). The band played a number of shows, including opening for Weezer at the Showbox in Seattle and in Portland, OR, in 2000. the band was unofficially (but definitely) broken up by 2004.

Relevant discography

with Melvin Jones Total Soul Attack Orchestra

with the Special Goodness

with Organic Mechanic

with Southern Fried Swing

with Sonnyboy

with 60 Wrong Sausages

with Karlophone

with Skuraiipeare

See Also