Finch Band • Page 18

I signed up right for AP right around the time Matchbook Romance released Voices. Never really listened to them but I get the sense it killed some momentum. Could be wrong, didn't seem like people cared for it much.

 

Voices is also the best record of Matchbook Romance’s career.

 

yea I know someone who fucked with What It Is To Burn and just couldn't get into Say Hello to Sunshine. I think Sunshine is super dope though so eh, it's sad that so many OG fans felt so burned (heh) by it.

 

Eh I don't know if this is quite the same thing, Matchbook Romance never were even remotely as big as Finch were after WIITB, WIITB was massive when it came out, Letters To You actually hit Top 40 radio lol.

Also, a ton of people loved Voices when it came out despite being a bit of a departure, much more well recieved than SHITS

 

Another record that was incredibly better than the debut but many fans wanted a rehash of the old shit..

Funny enough, the band saw success when “Monsters” got big thanks to Guitar Hero but the band already threw in the towel at that point.

Voices is an incredible record and the only Matchbook record I listen to. I wish it would get pressed.

 

Lots of bands from that era had major stylistic changes that basically ended their careers. If it wasn't emo enough or whatever, the fans bailed pretty quickly. Dead Poetic, The Beautiful Mistake, The Juliana Theory. Saves the Day never totally recovered from In Reverie.

 

None of those first three bands were ever close to Finch’s size or had the success of their debut. And STD has continued to have a strong career to this day. Not major label after the disaster from that whole thing, but they draw and sell well still.

Finch lost their fans, there was massive infighting, and broke up (again and again).

 

SHTS is a classic. when I've forgotten every song off BTO and most of WTIIB and the EPs, that album will be clear in my mind. one of the boldest, most intense albums I've heard in the genre

 

Real talk though, if Finch had followed up with a release that was more akin to WIITB would they have continued with a string of successful hits, and still be as successful today? Could they have become an act like Blink?

 

Highly doubtful

 

CIWWAF?

 

More likely a Used or TBS like career. A monster next single or album coulda gone Deftones as the very high best possible outcome.

 

Even both The Used & TBS saw massive shifts in mainstream popularity and relevance. Alternative rock music had taken a back seat by 2008/09, so even if Finch had continued on the same musical path, they would have been met with the same fate.

 

I'm confused as to why there was so much backlash. It's not like they made the scene kid Metal Music Machine. There's still plenty of hooks, it leans much further into post-hardcore than emo.

 

Not a chance. They’d maaaaybe be more like Story of the Year. I don’t even think they’d be on the same level as The Used. But maybe.

 

One’s a career. Ones utter and complete destruction of a career. Exact opposites. And lots of rock music was very popular in 2009 onward in our music scene. Bands were breaking into it all the time that have had massively good careers.

 

The simple answer is the album was what no one wanted. No hardcore kids would touch it, emo kids hated it, screamo kids had plenty of other bands at that point that we’re breaking with songs that were closer to their first album. (And imo the songs weren’t very good in their own right and they took forever to release anything and had no sure fire single or angle to reach their audience.)

 

Agreed on all accounts

 

funny cos everyone I interact with thinks it's their best album by far lol

 

Yes, that's called confirmation bias lol

 

About a year ago I went back to listen to it and I couldn’t even get through the whole thing. Haha. I thought everyone knew that WIITB was their only good album. And even now, that album doesn’t hold up as well.

Also, side convo: Which version of the WIITB title track do you guys prefer? I prefer the version that was on that Welcome to the Family comp over the actual album version.

 

I still think WIITB holds up well, some cool shit on there that not a lot of bands were doing. Plenty of bands were mixing the pop punk with heaviness, but not many had great hooks like Finch and the sheer variety of sounds on one album. Like, how HUGE does Stay With Me feel? Project Mayhem is fucking insane but it actually works. Ender is beautiful and sprawling. Letters To You is as good of a song as any hit song from that era, it was everywhere that year.

 

I liked SHTS when it came out, but only knew like one other person that was on board. I think I was still kinda apprehensive to the way that era of screamo music was going and I really appreciated the darker direction with all the trippy clean guitar tones and post-hardcore/mathy riffs. My biggest issue with it was always how uneven it was, but honestly, WIITB had the same problem anyway

 

Mark Tombino for the win.

 

this just seems like a douchey way of writing off an opinion that doesn't line up with yours. why is it so hard for you to engage with this? I think WIITB is an overlong boring slog which blatantly chases a bunch of trends, but I can still acknowledge other people like it and that's fine