The term screamo first made its way into the punk vernacular about five years ago, when a crop of underground bands started sneaking metal riffs into songs that otherwise sounded like Sunny Day Real Estate outtakes, then yelled their heads off over the resulting din. Deftones were doing likewise on commercial radio around the same time, so it was only a matter of time before the industry caught on. These days, screamo is a bona fide major-label marketing trend, and the likes of Glassjaw, the Used, and Finch are thrashing their way up the charts.
"It’s crazy, our music is catching on so quick," says 19-year-old Finch guitarist Randy Strohmeyer, whose outfit is on a headlining tour with the Used that hits the Worcester Palladium next Saturday. "We have a lot of bands to thank for bringing hard music into a brighter light. Like, for Thursday to get that huge record on MTV2, and then kids hearing them and finding other bands that sound hard but still melodic."
The rise to buzz-band status has indeed been quick for Finch, who got together three years ago in the Southern California suburb of Temecula. Strohmeyer was still in high school when he landed the group an audition with Drive-Thru Records, which promptly snapped them up. Before long, they were working with star producer Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182) on their impressive debut album, What It Is To Burn (Drive-Thru/MCA).
That’s also the title of Finch’s new single, a metallic, slow-burning torch song that does justice to the pop pedigree of Drive-Thru and Trombino. But you won’t find the likes of its detuned guitar crunch or thunderous drum attack on a New Found Glory album, and vocalist Nate Barcalow sounds as if he could be auditioning for Slipknot on the song’s cathartic bridge. "That was the last song we wrote for the record, and I think it’s the one that encompasses our style the most," Strohmeyer observes.
The band collaborated with Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo on two of the album’s most enervating tracks, "Grey Matter" and "Project Mayhem." "Watching Daryl do his shit was crazy. He’s so talented. There was this one take where he screamed for like 45 seconds straight. It’s like, ‘Dude, I can barely hold my breath for that long.’ "
Last year, Finch played the Drive-Thru stage at the Warped Tour while Glassjaw and the Used slugged it out on the second stage at OzzFest. This summer, you’ll find all three on the main stage at the Warped Tour. The way they’ve been able to win over both crowds makes a strong case for screamo as the ultimate punk-metal hybrid. Strohmeyer reveals that three of his bandmates were card-carrying metalheads in high school. But he grew up listening to Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182 — and the thought of hitting the road with Ozzy’s roadshow someday makes him wary. "OzzFest just seems weird to me. It helps bands out a lot, but I’ve always found those crowds to be disrespectful. I don’t really want to have a growing disrespectful fan base. We really want people to come to our shows with an open mind."
Finch perform with the Used, the Movie Life, and My Chemical Romance next Saturday, February 8, at the Palladium, 261 Main Street in Worcester. Call (800) 477-6849.
BY SEAN RICHARDSON
