The Veils
Words by Tom Atkinson
Many aspiring musos would see a post punk pioneer in the family as a shortcut to fame, but not Finn Andrews. His dad, Barry, tickled the electronic ivories in influential band XTC, and although that was something that led to David Bowie and Brian Eno sharing his sofa, it’s not something he shouts about. “As a kid there were all these parties going on and it seemed like a weird and scary way of life,” he shrugs. “When I was growing up I didn’t really realise who these people were sitting on my couch.”
Something clicked though, and now Finn is the brooding front-man of The Veils, coughing up pitch- black lyrics with a voice that veers from heartbreaking to ferocious at the flick of a tongue.
His live performances are so passionate that you’d hesitate to rule out demonic possession, and his promise to undertake a full- length tour to promote new record, Sun Gangs, makes you fear for his health. “It takes its toll on my extremities. I’ve had a month without playing and everything heals over. My hands are quite deformed- it’s twisted wrists and bloody cuticles.”
He should be used to the physical toll by now, mind, having signed to Rough Trade at 17 after returning to London from a childhood in New Zealand. Now 25, he’s already completed three albums, and while that places most of his peers in the shade, this is one singer who is firmly from the old school. “I like the way Neil Young used to do it - releasing records one a year was standard then but now it’s that three year cycle. Hopefully we’ll have some success with this one and get to churn them out far more.”
Working at such a breakneck pace, Andrews already has a decent back catalogue under his belt, including first album The Runaway Found and follow up Nux Vomica. But these did not come without their fair share of difficulties, he explains. “This new album is a very important record for us because the first two were plagued by so many problems. The first band disappeared and with the second one guy left, so it has all been quite messy so far.”
“I was very young when I got signed and it was a blessing in some ways but a curse in others,” he remembers. “I didn’t know what I wanted to make and it wasn’t a band really, it was just people to play those particular songs. The new band seems to be moving with me and it makes a lot more sense. It will still change and members will continue to come and go.”
Following a busy tour schedule, their new album is set to make a splash imminently. So how does it sound? Try Three Sisters for a searing, guitar-shredding lung-buster, or Killed By The Boom, where Andrews preaches over jerky guitars like a demented young Nick Cave getting kicked around the Nevada desert by Radiohead.
Such comparisons might a tad heavyweight, but it’s nothing Andrews hasn’t heard before, with critics quick to liken him to Mr Cave in particular. “It’s strange to be compared to someone, because there’s always the feeling people are saying you’re ripping them off,” he says shyly. “The last thing you’d want to do is be aping anyone, but if you feel like you’ve taken on some of what you like about what they’ve done.”
At this point he trails off, running out of words. What he might have said if he wasn’t being so polite is that this is one truly unique voice, that could finally be about to emerge from behind the veils.
http://www.myspace.com/theveils
Posted Mon, April 20, 2009