The Finns describe themselves simply as two brothers simply writing alternative folk songs. That however is far too understated a description.
The Finns are an incredibly talented and ambitious double act who write and perform a wonderful blend of indie-folk music. They have travelled the World performing, and the band were very much on an upward trajectory until the unfortunate events of this year saw fate play its hand. Hugh and Ciaran Finn had perfected their craft and painstakingly built-up a following to the point they were about to embark on the most important year for the band when the Covid-19 pandemic brought it to a shuddering halt.
Prior to Coranavirus, The Finns were winners of the 2017 Busker Fleadh and their song “Freemind”, was a finalist in the SongDoor International Song Contest 2019, whilst “Queen of Camden Street”, saw the band reach a Top 10 finish in the international Women’s Freedom Song Contest last year.
“Banjo On My Back”, also received an honourable mention in the SongDoor International Song Contest, while The Finns were also Semi-finalists on TG4’s Realta agus Gaolta, as well as Collaborating with Creative Ireland and RTÉ with “My Home Town” which featured on TV and radio for the Cruinniú na nÓg campaign.
Today as part of The Celtic Star’s attempts to raise the profile and exposure for those bands with a Celtic connection and are struggling through that Covid-19 impact – without some of the support offered to other areas of the arts – we speak to Hugh Finn about how lockdown restrictions have impacted on the band and of course there’s a bit of time to discuss all things Celtic…
Can you tell us about the band’s musical journey up to now, what are your influences and how would you describe your music?
We are brothers so obviously we’ve been playing music together all our lives since tin whistle and fiddle classes when we were five years old and up. However, professionally we’ve started playing together as The Finns for around four years. Before that, we had been playing in the folk group Na Fianna for the previous four years or so and enjoyed great success and still do with that band.
The Finns have been a revelation for us, it has allowed us to showcase our original songs and we’ve been lucky to tour extensively in the States, Europe and Ireland. We’ve won a few awards along the way and released our debut album called Creations which is on all the music streaming sites. Our influences are a mixture of folk artists such as Planxty, Paul Brady, Bellowhead, sea shanties, Dubliners, rebel songs, Andy Irvine and Paul Brady and loads others.
We also grew up heavily involved in metal music. Ciarán drummed in some popular metal bands in Cork and we both love heavy nineties metal bands like Rage, System, and Korn. Our music to date is described as folk roots music with flavours of banjo and harmonica. We play all sorts of folk though from rebel to traditional songs. We like to mix it up.
It’s been clear that much of the music industry has been hit by lockdown. How has it impacted on the band, you personally and how have you attempted to evolve to the changing landscape?
Well, we had a huge amount of gigs and festivals organised both at home and abroad, it was definitely going to be our biggest year to date hands down. We had just organised our American working VISA for a year long worth of festivals and gigs in the States and we only managed to go over for one day in March to play at The Golden Ace in Indianapolis and we had to fly back the next day.
We had huge help from The Young Wolfe Tones organising lots of gigs and was really looking forward to it all. The whole thing is a nightmare, but in a strange way it’s worked out that we have still been busy due to livestreaming. We’ve taken to it quite well because even before restrictions, we had planned to do more online gigs so it just fast forwarded it for us. Ya can’t beat playing live but it is great to play to all our fans worldwide every week with the streams and gives us a chance to interact with them more.
You’ll find us every Saturday night at 9pm with the odd midweek gig too.
You are offered a last-minute headline slot for the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury and someone offered you a ticket for Celtic against Barcelona in the Champions league final on the same night. What and how do you decide?
That’s hard enough but honestly we’d probably take the last minute slot at Glastonbury because I think we need support more than Celtic haha. Besides, if we took the tickets our mother and our girlfriends would slap us silly. If we weren’t full time musicians, it could be a different story.
If you could choose to play alongside four others in Celtic’s greatest five-a-side team who would you choose and why?
Well, I tell ya, Ciaran didn’t play much soccer but I did, so I’ll go in defence (even if I was a striker), with Packie Bonner in goal, Pierre van Hooijdonk up front, with Nakamura, and Petrov in the middle. Ciarán and Paolo di Canio on the bench. It’s a pity di Canio and van Hooijdonk didn’t play for Celtic for longer but they’re legends nonetheless for me.
Can you give us an idea of what you are up to in terms of upcoming gigs online or otherwise and how can we get involved?
We play regularly on our Facebook page every Saturday night at 9pm. For that stream, we also go live from our YouTube channel , our Twitter and Twitch pages. Our handle is @TheFinnsMusic for all those pages.
We are also booked in to play on the Irish Music Magazine Facebook page on Tuesday 15 December.
We also play a good bit on the Glasgow Irish Bands and Gigs Facebook page so follow them and keep an eye out for the next time we’re on there. Our streams are usually good craic and we take requests all the time. Follow our YouTube channel too for new videos that we try to upload as much as possible.
Do you have any advice from your own experiences during this lockdown period you can pass onto other artists and performers struggling at this time?
I think concentrating on putting up content on YouTube and Facebook is the most important. We’ve also made lots of merchandise for our website shop which is very popular. A couple of nice t-shirts, hats and hoodies and all that is nice, even if you pre-order them so you’re not leftover with merchandise after our friends and fans get them. People really supported us that way this year and we’ve been overwhelmed by that.
Ten in a row. Tough ask or still up for grabs?
It’s definitely up for grabs but the form that theRangers are in, I think unity is needed at Celtic fairly quickly or it’ll be too late. A huge lift and support is needed now and then truck on and know that Celtic are actually way stronger than it seems now.
The Finns may well have seen their biggest year impacted by the pandemic but we can all do our bit to help keep them going strong.
If you are looking for some weekend entertainment, you can join them for their live performances and can contribute to the cause at https://www.paypal.me/thefinnsmusic. If we’re looking for some original gift ideas this Christmas, why not get them delivered straight to the door via the album or merchandise available by way of the Finn’s online shop.
And we can follow their live shows and check in with the band through their social media and You Tube channels.
https://www.facebook.com/thefinnsmusic/
https://twitter.com/TheFinnsMusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClEQV-hWyWTDgfyyA9gsgnw
Check in with the next live performance this and every Saturday at 9pm, you can also follow their Facebook events for other gigs coming up.
It’s an opportunity to catch the Finns in a more intimate setting. Not a bad occasion to catch a band who have supported Sharon Shannon, Mick Hanley, Tupelo, Mundy and The Wolfe Tones as well as headlining the Spike Island Stage at Electric Picnic and performing at Vantastival last year.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Hugh Finn for taking the time out to talk to the Celtic Star and help raise some awareness for so many of the bands and musicians being severely impacted during the current pandemic.
If you can contribute in some way, even simply follow them on social media or subscribe to their You Tube channel please do. In the meantime, we wish Hugh and The Finns all the best in the weeks and months ahead.
We would also like to hear from other singers, songwriters and musicians with a Celtic connection, it can any musical genre. We will do our best to increase the exposure for you as your live performances are constrained by performing restrictions again. If you wish to get in touch, please Email at editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we’ll get back to you.
Niall
