WEST SEATTLE, Washington, February 26, 2010 (WSFB) – On their band page, Tacoma Finish states that “they say that if you put a million monkeys in a room with a million typewriters, they’ll eventually recreate the works of Shakespeare. If you give four monkeys electric guitars, drums, and a couple of mics, you’ve created Tacoma Finish.”
What follows is the West Seattle Funblog interview with Tacoma Finish guitar player Brian Bell. Tacoma Finish are playing a super cool show this weekend. Brian Bell is a pretty cool dude. Here’s a hot interview to counterbalance it all.
West Seattle Funblog: So you’re having an EP release party at the Skylark this Saturday night (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=286523401719&index=1). Who the hell is Tacoma Finish?
Brian Bell: We’re an odd lot with a bit of history, that’s for sure. Randy Swanberg does most of the lead vocals and plays guitar. Chris Hogan gets to sit down most of the time and provides the backbone along with Morgan Myrick, who does the bass work and sings. I play guitar and try to look pretty, but usually just get sweaty and fail miserably. At the looking pretty part. Hopefully not the guitar part.
WSFB: What’s the name of the new album?
BB: The EP is called “DOWN” and we went with that for several reasons. During the writing and recording period, a couple of us were going through marital issues that led to divorce and this “downer” vibe kinda came out in our writing. The music isn’t dark at all, so the lyrics are sort of masked by feel-good rock. At the time, we were also playing around with logos, combining the T and F into a single character maybe. I work with some Japanese people and one of them pointed out that this single fictitious character was very similar to the Kanji symbol for the word “Down”. It was a fluke, but just worked on so many levels that we went with it. That’s the Kanji symbol on the cover. It just wrapped everything up into a nice little package. You don’t think it looks phallic, do you?
WSFB: Is this the band’s first release?
BB: Yes. And it’s been a long time coming.
WSFB: If you had to describe the album using only two words what would they be?
BB: Fucking Finally.
WSFB: Were you guys friends first and then a band or did you all meet via playing music? How long have you guys been playing together?
BB: Friends first. I moved down from Alaska in the fall of 2000. I’d been there for 7 years after growing up in Austin. I met Randy and Chris shortly thereafter through mutual friends in the seafood industry. We’d hit Randy’s cabin in Winthrop and drink beer and play acoustics out by the fire pit on the Methow River. Lots of covers mostly though the improv jams seemed to come off pretty easily. Chris had a djembe that he’d keep time on. He eventually bought a drum set for the first time in years and the rest of us busted out our electrics and Tac Fin was born. Morgan joined us two years ago, assimilated instantly, and has been a godsend. That guy can pick up a new song faster than anyone I’ve ever worked with before. In general, it’s been about boy’s night, shootin’ the shit, and just having fun. The band name “Cheaper Than Therapy” was already taken, but that’s a good description of it.
WSFB: The first time I saw you guys play was at Big Al’s for the Funblog party. This is a bit bigger of a stage with a bigger audience; do you guys feel pretty comfortable playing in front of a decent sized crowd?
BB: We haven’t historically been a workhorse kinda band doing every gig available and trying to “make it”. We’re all professionals and have good day jobs and families and such. But we’ve done a shitload of parties and events and feel pretty damn comfortable with it. This much time together makes it easy. I can just LOOK at Chris or Morgan or Randy and they know what I’m thinking and conversely. The Haiti Aid Benefit at the West Seattle Eagles last month was a goodly sized crowd for us, and we were fine with it. We’re actually pretty stoked for this gig, CD release notwithstanding. Our trick is to just imagine ourselves naked and the rest falls into place. I think I might have fucked that saying up.
WSFB: Who else is on the bill?
BB: Surgical Chaos is opening. Podblaster follows them. Then us. I haven’t seen either one of them, but their sites have some good stuff on it and the Skylark doesn’t book shitty bands. I’m looking forward to meeting and playing with them both. Podblaster put the poster together, by the way. From the looks of it, you might want to drop acid for their set.
WSFB: List each band member and who their correlating character from Star Wars would be (only Star Wars episodes 4-6 none of that Jar Jar Binks crap).
BB: That’s the best question I’ve ever been asked and that includes “do you take this bride”. I’ll probably get booted out of the band for this. Chris would probably be Chewbacca. He’s big guy and just kicks ass in general. A gentle giant. Morgan is calm and wise and as far as tenure in the band goes, he’s the greenest, so I’d have to go with Yoda. Randy is tough. He’s the one in your face and putting his soul on the line, so he’s kinda your Luke Skywalker. Me? I’m old, but not wise, so Obi Wan is out. I’m an asshole and wear black, so Darth Vader is a possibility. But I love Cinnabon, so I think I should go with Princess Leia.
WSFB: That works because the Funblog is definitely Han Solo. Can we play the didgeridoo during a song Saturday?
BB: No, but we’ll consider it. Okay, thought about it. No.
WSFB: Tell us how you got the name Tacoma Finish.
BB: I’d love to, but that’s actually classified. I’m not allowed to say. But I will say that Tacoma is pretty blue collar and has a “waste not, want not” mentality to it. Sometimes you just have to put the ol’ Tacoma Finish on it. ‘Nuff said, but none of us are from Tacoma or Finland.
WSFB: Who do you draw influence from? And Zeppelin doesn’t count.
BB: That’s a tough one. Our sound and songwriting style is our own, at least we like to think so, and it stems from everything we’ve ever listened to. Growing up in Austin, I definitely have blues base, but not in a “Muddy Waters” sound kinda way. Jam bands, classic rock, metal, alternative, pop – they all fit in there. I tell you what. Come out on Saturday and you tell ME where our influences come from, yeah? You’ll probably say, “Fuck, that’s a tough question.”
Tacoma Finish is playing Saturday evening at The Skylark in West Seattle on Delridge so come out and see what’s going “DOWN”. 
