Finnoguns Wake

Today, Finnoguns Wake announce their debut EP, Stay Young, out January 26th on What’s Your Rupture?, and share lead single “Blue Skies.” Finnoguns Wake is the delightful portmanteau of a band fronted by the enigmatic vocalist Tim “Shogun” Wall (former vocalist of Royal Headache and Shogun and the Sheets) and newcomer Finn Berzin. Decades apart in age but united in tutelage and outlook, the two have joined forces and crafted the four songs on the Stay Young EP from the inside out, sharing the spotlight for a riveting, deafening smear of melodic pop and buzzsaw guitars.

Mourning the departure of his best mate to a life overseas, Shogun started hanging out with his friend’s younger brother, Finn. The two of them started spending their free time together, one having seen a fair chunk of the world through music, the other just starting to figure it all out. They went through the essential lessons that could be gleaned from Definitely Maybe and Hüsker Dü, Finn got himself a guitar, and the songs that comprise Stay Young simply fell out of both of them.

With Finnoguns Wake, Shogun and Finn alternate vocal duties in a Joe Strummer & Mick Jones-style partnership. While there’s no mistaking Shogun’s striking delivery and fatalistic lyrics, Finn proves himself as a carousing foil, holding his ground like the natural he’s become. Today’s single, “Blue Skies,” is sung by Shogun and was written after the death of a good friend when the world itself seemed to be coming apart.

Taking into account the fevered, quick-burning success of Royal Headache, Finnoguns Wake is the most likely candidate to do it all again. Backed on these recordings by keyboardist Gabrielle De Giorgio (Royal Headache, Shogun and the Sheets), bassist Campbell Troy (who was in Shogun’s first hardcore band Nintendo Police back in the mid ‘90s), and drummer Liam Hoskins (DMA’s), Finn and Shogun stare down a changed world from two very distinct poles and aim to fill it with glorious songs. With Finnoguns Wake, old school mixes with young blood in a project where laddish charm and world-weary soul combine in birdlike punk song.