Fin Greenall aka Fink is one of the most genuine songwriters one can find in the British music circuit. And his passion has fortunately not gone unnoticed to the eyes and ears of the world.
He was recently in the City to perform at NH7 Weekender, an experience neither he nor the thousands who heard him will forget anytime soon.
"For me, songwriting involves a lot of space and silence. When I'm travelling, I like to absorb say, a sunset. I'll just lock that image in and if I have to write a song about it, I'll just bring myself back to this moment and concentrate on it," Fin tells Metrolife.
"While I'm doing the process, I'm very anti-social and the song takes control over everything. I might not leave the house for a few days if the song asks it," he confesses.
He is no longer a stranger to the Indian landscape, and was featured in an episode of 'The Dewarists', a show where he collaborated with Pakistani singer Shafqat Anmanat Ali and popular Indian musicians, Salim-Sulaiman.
"We came down for Dewarists for a week and that was really beautiful. It was long enough to have a nice time and meet some great people. I think that's what India's famous for - the wonderful people," notes Fin.
In the show, the musicians visited a mosque in Mumbai and heard some Sufi qawwalis, an experience that has moved him deeply.
"I found them really inspiring and loved the hypnotic nature and performance element of it. Some of the Indian guys hear it everyday and it's no big deal for them. But that wasn't the case for me. In the West, we get so much watered down Indian music.
The qawwalis were just so real compared to that," recalls the 40-year-old. On the topic of collaborations, he adds that of all the dead people in the world, he'd like to collaborate with classical pianist, Chopin.
"It would be either Chopin or John Lee Hooker or maybe John Lennon because I think he's really interesting. But they're all dead. So the living people I'd like to collaborate with are Prince and a new British artiste called Ben Howard," smiles the Englishman from Cornwall.
"I think I haven't met the Indian artistes I'd want to collaborate with - they're probably up in the north or deep in the south. And I'm going to find them," he adds.
Ask him how the year has been for him and the Queen's Night concert is the first thing he'll talk about. With much excitement, he says, "In Holland, we played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and it was amazing! It was a once-in-a-lifetime concert and there's just no way to put into words what a symphony orchestra sounds like when you're next to them."
The band is presently wrapping up their 'Perfect Darkness' tour and are going to take out time to absorb their "mind-blowing 2012", as Fin calls it.
"While we're still touring, we can't really focus on the next album. But once we go home, we're all going to travel and get some inspiration in our own ways. In April, we all come back together and just jam for a month and see what happens. The great thing about music is that nothing might happen. But also, we might write an album in a week!" he wraps up.
He was recently in the City to perform at NH7 Weekender, an experience neither he nor the thousands who heard him will forget anytime soon.
"For me, songwriting involves a lot of space and silence. When I'm travelling, I like to absorb say, a sunset. I'll just lock that image in and if I have to write a song about it, I'll just bring myself back to this moment and concentrate on it," Fin tells Metrolife.
"While I'm doing the process, I'm very anti-social and the song takes control over everything. I might not leave the house for a few days if the song asks it," he confesses.
He is no longer a stranger to the Indian landscape, and was featured in an episode of 'The Dewarists', a show where he collaborated with Pakistani singer Shafqat Anmanat Ali and popular Indian musicians, Salim-Sulaiman.
"We came down for Dewarists for a week and that was really beautiful. It was long enough to have a nice time and meet some great people. I think that's what India's famous for - the wonderful people," notes Fin.
In the show, the musicians visited a mosque in Mumbai and heard some Sufi qawwalis, an experience that has moved him deeply.
"I found them really inspiring and loved the hypnotic nature and performance element of it. Some of the Indian guys hear it everyday and it's no big deal for them. But that wasn't the case for me. In the West, we get so much watered down Indian music.
The qawwalis were just so real compared to that," recalls the 40-year-old. On the topic of collaborations, he adds that of all the dead people in the world, he'd like to collaborate with classical pianist, Chopin.
"It would be either Chopin or John Lee Hooker or maybe John Lennon because I think he's really interesting. But they're all dead. So the living people I'd like to collaborate with are Prince and a new British artiste called Ben Howard," smiles the Englishman from Cornwall.
"I think I haven't met the Indian artistes I'd want to collaborate with - they're probably up in the north or deep in the south. And I'm going to find them," he adds.
Ask him how the year has been for him and the Queen's Night concert is the first thing he'll talk about. With much excitement, he says, "In Holland, we played with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and it was amazing! It was a once-in-a-lifetime concert and there's just no way to put into words what a symphony orchestra sounds like when you're next to them."
The band is presently wrapping up their 'Perfect Darkness' tour and are going to take out time to absorb their "mind-blowing 2012", as Fin calls it.
"While we're still touring, we can't really focus on the next album. But once we go home, we're all going to travel and get some inspiration in our own ways. In April, we all come back together and just jam for a month and see what happens. The great thing about music is that nothing might happen. But also, we might write an album in a week!" he wraps up.