Terry Finch

Meet Lambeth-born UK Open Mic performer Terry Finch:

Terry Finch

Hi Terry Finch, thanks for joining us! Let’s get into it:

Do you play solo only, or also in a group?

Group

What’s the name of the group?

Bloody Bollocks

How old are you?

Where were you born?

Lambeth

Where did you grow up?

Mitcham and Epsom

How did that place influence your music? (if at all!)

Social issues, people, friends

Where are you based now, and why?

Epsom, I took a job in a psychiatric hospital and never left the area.

What got you into making music in the first place?

I heard Echoes by pink Floyd in an art class at school and it went from there.

What instrument/s do you play?

Singing
Guitar
Guitar
Piano
Bass
recorder

Who would be in your top 10 musical influences, and why?

Pink Floyd (my youth) Tangerine (youth and I always loved them, Kate Bush, The Stranglers, the Doors, Django Reindhardt (amazing guitarist) Bob Dylan, Ivor Cutlar (he is very offbeat and quirky), Mozart (his music is astonishing and rid me of some personal demons), Diamanda Galas (no-one sounds like her, she is torturously emotional and dark)

Do you write your own songs?

Yes

How many years have you been writing songs for?

What process, or processes, do you often find yourself using when you write songs?

I just have to wait for them to arrive in my mind, sometimes in dreams, lyrically I work to a note per syllable for smoothness.

How long have you been playing open mic nights?

Why did you get into playing them in the first place?

I wanted to play my original music to an audience

What advice would you give new performers who are just starting out playing their first open mics?

Just be yourself without worrying what others think.

What’s the hardest thing, for you, about playing open mics?

Setting up and packing down.

What’s the most bizarre, or fun, open mic, or gig, you’ve ever played, and why?

I have 2 projects on the go, one is “serious” music under my own name and the other are satirical songs, (Bloody Bollocks) the band dress up in mad costumes and I play a “character” live, it always goes down well, some of the songs are quite over the top and some audiences have sat watching open mouthed, but generally they “get it” and we always get a good response, I enjoy this a lot and I feel more connected with the audience.

If it’s not already, are you hoping to make music your full-time career?

Yes

What do you currently find the hardest and biggest obstacles to moving your music career forward?

I get the feeling that modern acts and bands are expected to conform to a set of rules laid down by the industry, you must rigidly adhere to one genre for example, I find this extremely restrictive, reactionary and conservative and the opposite of what an artist would do, as an artist you should dictate to the audience what they hear, not comply with conditions imposed by an increasingly corporatized industry, I was recently involved with some punk bands and was dismayed at how narrow everything was, no progression or diversity, I find audiences crave diversity and it is denied them, everything is so risk averse. If you are eclectic in your approach you can be effectively blocked from playing certain venues.

What’s the one truth about you that people often find surprising?

That I can adapt to any musical environment, i have been a professional guitarist and vocalist for some decades and I have played most styles and all around the world