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Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
On another site, I came across this post in a Robin thread.
I don't care about someone's personality or how much of a nice guy he is...he just plays off key most times live, so I don't care about him
This is a common perception of Finck, and its something Robin is gonna have to deal with.
I mean no disrespect to Finck, but I agree with this guy regarding the old GNR classics. I know Finck fans like to say he is just putting his own touch to the songs, and thats certainly a valid point. However, those songs are permanently etched in pop culture and nobody should be using them as an opportunity for experimenting. Now before someone else tells me, "but your hero Buckethead shreds on the AFD material", yeah that's true. But why shouldn't he? Liberties are already being taken on the material, so its only natural he would want to give it his own spin(or Axl wanting him to).
What makes Finck's poor renditions(my opinion) of the old songs even more bizarre is how good he does his own GNR material. The fuckups that exist on the AFD rehash are non existent on the CD songs.
So why does he do it? Is this Finck's own way of a dig at either Slash or old fans who have bitched from day one of his arrival? I know there's no animosity between the two(at least publicly), but its almost like he's saying," you want your precious Slash back? Well here it is(insert AFD fuck up). Happy now??"
Some of these CD members have went through a lot of shit. Its only natural that animosity would brew among him and parts of the GNR fanbase.
Is there anything Finck can do to silence these types of nay sayers?
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
Yeah...I have mixed views on Fink.
On one had his work on the new material is good. "The Blues" has a great solo and there's other passages of his work that are inspirational.
On the other hand - his rendition of the old bands songs is a disgrace.
Yes...it's hard to play in another person's style. And yes - some of the time people accuse him of playing out of tune its intenional use of Dissonance to create an effect and not that he has fucked up as such.
But the bottom line is - the guitar melodies in these songs are famous, just as the vocal melodies are.
Yes its acceptable to improvise to an extent, like how slash would change stuff around, but there's certain melodies and parts of solos that are iconic and need to be left alone and rendered the way they were recorded for it to be the same song anymore.
You don't see bands like VR getting up there and singing different words or changing the vocal tunes. Because it pisses off the audience and if taken too far is disresepectful to the original song. Coverbands and VR type bands honour the songs...and they don't even claim to be GNR. Its even more offensive when the "real" GNR fucks up the song.
Bottom line is - his recordings are good, but Fink will never get respect as a replacment to Slash if he can't or won't play the fucking songs right!
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
I think if he does it intentionally and it's a dig at anything, it's because he has to play those damn songs.
When the majority of what you are serving up is AFD rehash stuff that you had no hand in writing, I would be pretty blase about the songs too.
It would be hard to get fired up night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year playing AFD stuff and not your own material. It's probably not intentional on his part but if it's how he feels deep down whether he wants it to or not it will eventually reflect in his playing. If you are really a passionate muisician with any ability and your playing is a way of connecting and communicating with your audience then your personality, feelings and emotions are eventually going to show thru in your playing. I think it's a subconscious thing that is eventually unavoidable.
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
When the majority of what you are serving up is stuff that you had no hand in writing, I would be pretty blase about the songs too.
It's Robin Fink were talking about here. That's all he does is play stuff he had no hand in writing. Whether it with GNR, NIN, or his little Led Zepplin deal. The guy got the gig of a lifetime cause Axl had a mancrush on anything NIN, not because of anything he had written.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
You might be right Aussie. I still feel that's unaccetable though. Like if you join a band you should be excited playing its songs or get out of the band. That's what all professional band members have to do. I guess the problem in GNR is Axl hired a bunch of people to write songs in a different style to the old band...then made them become the old band on tour over and over again.
In some ways at first I thought it might be respectful to try a new approach, as a direct note-for-note version would only highlight that the guitarist has changed. You know - like he can never be Slash - so at least if he isn't trying to be slash and doing his own thing - it's less of a failure kind of. But the way he has buthered the AFD solos is so bad now that its shocking. And it becomes disrespecful to alter the songs to the degrree that he has. these songs have classic world famous guitar lines, that he renders so badly - that it makes you think it would be closer to seeing GNR if you just got the average GNR pub cover band and put Axl on the mike with them.
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
Aussie wrote:When the majority of what you are serving up is stuff that you had no hand in writing, I would be pretty blase about the songs too.
It's Robin Fink were talking about here. That's all he does is play stuff he had no hand in writing. Whether it with GNR, NIN, or his little Led Zepplin deal. The guy got the gig of a lifetime cause Axl had a mancrush on anything NIN, not because of anything he had written.
Yeah very true - lol, he should be used to it by now.
I agree with what you said too MonkeyChow. I don't like hearing the AFD stuff changed massively. When rocking out to a song and you hear a solo or something - you wanna hear it exactly how you know it from the original.
If I'm playing air guitar and making noises to sound out the solo to it and rockin out, I don't want the guy that's plugged into the amp playing something different to what I am in my head.
I know there is a school of thought on doing your own interpretation and putting your own print on the song, but you can't do that with songs that are as well known and were as big a hit as most of the GN'R songs. I think you can put your own style onto the intro (e.g. like Slash would play the Godfather theme or something) before the song or your guitar solo spots.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: A Random Forum Post about Finck
Aussie wrote:When the majority of what you are serving up is stuff that you had no hand in writing, I would be pretty blase about the songs too.
It's Robin Fink were talking about here. That's all he does is play stuff he had no hand in writing. Whether it with GNR, NIN, or his little Led Zepplin deal. The guy got the gig of a lifetime cause Axl had a mancrush on anything NIN, not because of anything he had written.
As one of prbably few who will stick up for Robin I have a few points to make...
He is "the" guy in NIN. The fanbase and the band itself recognize Robin as the real, true, lead guitarist for NIN. In GN'R this is obviously not the case.
NIN is a different thing to rehearse and perform. It can't be reproduced live without a lot of work coming from band members, and Robin creatively found ways to make computer-laced noise from TDS and extremely layered, weird-ass instrumental arranged songs from The Fragile work live. Work really really well. Look at what the new NIN bassist has said about their tour. A lot of work goes into doing that live beyond what replicating slash's work entails (not a knock to Slash, it's just a one-guitar standard rock set-up).
Did he get the job because Axl likes NIN? I doubt it. Someone else in the band suggested him. I think it might've even been Sorum.
To a person like bigbri who thinks he just lacks talent, watch the new NIN rehearsal videos. He owns those three tracks. No question about it. I know it doesn't have a solo but being that good at a thing that difficult shows he could've clearly replicated Slash's work flawlessly after being in the band for a decade.
I REALLY want to hear what he did on the supposed re-recording of Appetite that Axl put the players through. If he stuck to what it was at first, then changed it all, or if he never had any interest in playing those old tunes the way they'd been played for years.
