Did you enjoy playing in super small rooms?
Do you have a thing that you appreciate about one over the other?
Whats your feeling about it?
Photograph by DANIEL “SQUID” GALLEGO
Maria:What about you?
Do you like small venues?
Finneas:I think the show for the room is the most important thing to me.
And then when youre playing a huge venue, you get to play being kind of theatrical.
Maria:And you prefer?
Finneas:I think selfishly I like to talk between songs, so I probably prefer a small venue.
In a bigger venue, its much harder to have everybody quiet and listening to you.
And I like a kind of conversational vibe.
Maria:What was the last small show that you saw that you were really moved by?
Finneas: The last really small show I saw that I was really moved by was Feist.
She played a show in 2022 that was like in a round.
They had mounted Atmos speakers all over the ceiling.
For a while, it was just her and then the speakers started to play.
It was really immersive and cool.
Finneas:What goes into building a live show for you?
Are you conscious of the tour when youre making the album?
Are you thinking about how songs are going to translate or not at all?
Maria:Not at all.
Maria:And hes our musical director, too, and producer as Im sure you are, too.
That happens to us for sure.
There were areas where you changed stuff and it evolved the parts that you added, so cool.
Im such a fan.
Maria:How has working with Billie affected your solo project and the style of your upcoming album?
I think that thats true for the listeners.
I sort of purposefully have painted it that way.
Maria: Thats great.
Do you think in English when you write in English?
Do you ever think in the other language and write in the other language?
But theyre so intertwined and I grew up speaking both languages pretty fluidly with my friends and family.
And with my dad, its just Spanish, but with my friends, its both.
And kind of vice versa.
I dream in English.
Finneas: Oh, interesting.
Do you ever use your phone in your dreams?
Maria:I do.
Because I feel like it was most of your adulthood.
So, it all feels kind of relative, you know?
And she has the level of fame where its kind of a problem for her to go most places.
People kind of swarm her, and thats kind of a challenge.
How has it affected me?
I mean, I feel so grateful.
I dont know how you feel about this.
I would have totally accepted working in a recording studio or something, so I just feel really lucky.
But I will take it because I feel so grateful to have the job.
Maria:Is that what keeps you grounded, your gratefulness?
Finneas:Yeah, I think the perspective that this is a sweet life.
This is very dope that I get to do this and I would totally not trade it.
I love getting to make music.
I love getting to perform these shows.
I wouldnt want to give that away to being a celebrity or whatever.
Maria: Do you hold grudges?
Finneas:Yeah, but I try not to.
I notice it without meaning to.
Let me give a shot to let that go.
So, I give a shot to work through it.
I dont think holding grudges makes you happy, so I try not to.
Sometimes it can teach you, sometimes you might learn.
Sometimes people should hold one more grudge.
Theyre like, Oh no, everythings cool.
And Im like, That person is mean to you, man.
Maria: Thats true, but I feel that just hurts you.
Finneas: True, true.
And they dont care.
I dont hold em grudges.
Maria: Yeah, my dad let things go very, very easily.
Maria:Thats good.
Yeah, thats so true.
Finneas:People are pretty self-involved.
Do you want to do some rapid-fire?
Finneas: Yeah, Im a candle guy when Im in the studio.
I light a candle that I like the scent of.
I dont do like a pre-show huddle or anything.
I kind of high-five everybody as we walk out.
Maria:You should try it!
Finneas:A huddle?
All right, Ill try it.
Maria: Or, like something with the whole band to get you guys energetically locked in.
Maria: Yeah, with the whole team and everyone.
Finneas: Sounds good.
Maria: You should try it.
Maria: What does it look like for your future?
What are milestones that you want to achieve?
Whats in the pipeline?
I really love performing and Ive never gotten to play anywhere outside the U.S. as a solo performer.
There are venues that Ive gotten to play with Billie all over the world that are special and beautiful.
Im very drawn to any outdoors like Red Rocks is such a beautiful venue.
And yeah, I think sort of generally, to me, its all kind of long-term.
Maria:Do you have any plans of performing in Latin America for your solo?
Finneas:We havent announced any yet, but we just did the South America Lollapalooza run.
We played Mexico City last March and April.
We got to play a stadium in Mexico City, it was with Billie.
Maria:Mexico City is the best.
Finneas:The best crowd ever.
Its one of my favorite live memories.
And so, Billie and I went out with just a guitar and a microphone.
And we played like an acoustic concert for everybody in the venue.
And then they all got to come back again the next night for free and see the show again.
Maria:Thats such a good idea.
Finneas:Doing the first night where everybody was soaked was so fun.
Mexico kind of has my heart forever for that, that was really beautiful.
Maria:What are some of your other favorite memories of the Latin American tour?
Finneas:Bogota was really beautiful.
I loved Buenos Aires, its very beautiful.
Maria:Have you gone to Puerto Rico?
Finneas:No, we havent toured Puerto Rico yet.
I want to though.
Its supposed to be like heaven on earth.
What are some upcoming projects or collaborations that youre particularly excited about?
Maria: There are a couple in the pipeline that were working on.
A hint: the next couple will be in Spanish.
Maria: With some Latin artists that I love.
Finneas:Make so much stuff.
