MAY 15, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"er...remixed" - OKAY SO IT'S DONE BUT IT'S NOT ACTUALY....DONE"
Another road bump: some of the songs will be remixed and additional vocals or guitars added. Maybe reshape the kick drum too. If you ask most artists they will tell you that their work is never really finished. At some point you just stop redoing it. So technicallly this is a good thing, we get to mold the songs closer to the original vision we had. A luxery most bands don't get to have.

MARCH 17, 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"MIXED" - 15 NEW SONGS WAITING TO BE MASTERED"
After what felt like forever the band was able to get back into the B Room and put the finishing touches on the new CD...which still remains nameless, some standout tracks include: "Burning Bridges", "Tomorrow", "Wake Up The Dead" and crowd pleaser "Spin Me Round". Producer Jason Corsaro put his stamp on the Finster sound recording gigantic guitars with a stripped down but aggressive in your face mix. Extra kudos to engineer Eddie Jackson whose quick fingers and attention to detail made the impossible breakneck sessions endurable. Happy Birthday Eddie!
Next step....mastering.

JANUARY 20, 2005 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"DID WE MENTION BACKUP VOCALS?"
With mixing just around the corner the Finster Boys piled track upon track of backups Thursday night at Avatar. What's with all the gang vocals? You can take the leather and big hair away but some things will never change!...
for more studio shots while recording the CD click here

JANUARY 6, 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"SCOTTY SCREAMING TO THE FINISH"
Got the holidays out of the way and got back on the ball. First week of the new year saw Scotty in the A room over at Avatar doing his thing. Not bad progress for first day of vocals and short session. Three songs in six hours and we did some backups as well. The stuff sounds real good and we're looking forward to getting the tracking done before the end of the month.

NOVEMBER 17, 2004 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"FINSTER STORMS AVATAR STUDIOS, NYC"
Been away a while, thats because we have been busy writing and preparing a bunch of songs for the new CD! Happy to say we have once again stumbled upon an opportunity to get some music out there for people to bang there heads to. The 14 new tracks are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2005. The CD will be released on Core Records and it looks like distribution will be national. The project is being recorded and co-produced by Jason Corsaro (Soundgarden, Corrosion of Conformity, Ozzy, Motorhead, Danzig, Soulfly etc...) and we are tracking at Avatar Studios in New York City (formerly The Power Station).
Tracking started on November 16th Tuesday evening and "One-Take-Tony" struck again, hammering out the drum tracks to ten songs in one session, bass and guitars next, stay posted for pictures and updates as we progress!

JUNE 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY...DIFFERENT"
Kenny's Castaways JUNE 18, 2004 - Long night but we had fun. Big news possibly on the way in Finster Land. Stand by for that! There may be some announcements coming up in a week or two about new songs, new recordings and new a genuine Finster resurgence. But for now let me tell you about "Robin". We were doing our gig you know mixing it up between originals and covers and generally having a nice enough time, and when we stopped for a break a very strange little fellow named Robin wearing dark sunglasses in a dark room and carrying an acoustic guitar asked if he could play a song in between our sets, he said he wanted to play a Sublime song. Sure enough we let him and sure enough he apparently didn't know the words or the chords. In fact the way he was simply thumping along on the guitar sort of muting all the strings I don't think he knew ANY chords. He was up there about 2 or 3 minutes, then finally thanked the crowd and us and quietly walked away. You know even though he wasn' t much of a singer or guitar player I have to say...he was rather amusing. Also... we butchered "Bad Medicine" about as bad as anyone can. Sorry Jon ;-)

MAY 2004 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL NIGHTER
Kenny's Castaways May 14, 2004 - This brought me back to when I was 16 years old spending all night in a pub doing covers. Basically because thats what we did here. The gig went from midnight to 3:30 in the morning! A good time was had by all, complete with drunkwn dancing strangers and a nice compliment of old friends who surprised us and stayed all night. It was also a good night to dust off a few old favorite Finster songs. We snuck in our old classic "Forgot Your Name Again" and played "Makin Me Crazy" for the first time in ten years! Special thanks to new comer "Jim" for the photos of the show. Jim runs a fun site called http://www.rocknrolljunkie.com check it out! Also let me take a moment to give our undying thanks to the one and only...Mighty Waste.

APRIL 2004 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNDER ACME
The club really improved their sound system...and the new promoter there was very creative as the act before us sounded like a cross between Enya and Yanni but with piano. It only took us three songs to scare her crowd out the door.

MARCH 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RETURN OF ANT HILL HARRY
Wow! Must be at least seven years since Finster walked the hallowed halls of Bleeker Streets famous "Kenny's Castaways". Despite the impending snow storm Finster and friends stirred up their own brand of storm inside. The sound was kickin' and the the drinks were flowing at Kenny's last night as Finster made their return to one of the citys cozier and friendlier rock clubs. The set featured favorite cover "Spin Me Round" and the first new original written with Kevin on bass called "Lost track of Time". Thanks to all our friends who have continued to make these gigs successful. The set went so well, the band expects to return for an "all nighter" pretty soon. Plans for a three-set original and cover Saturday night are in the works.

JANUARY 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE UNDERGROUND
Okay! Do I sense a Finster reassurgence? More crap weather, more people making a go of it. Not too shabby. Played the new (well, by now not so new)...original called "Simple Mind"...it's obviously about Scotty. Heh. Just kidding of course. Everything seemed to go over well. The covers were fun too. We threw in Sweet Emotion and STPs Sex Type Thing. Looks like the next stop will be Kenny's Castaways...been forever since we were there. If that goes well, Roger will give us a weekend night and do three sets. Should be fun. Also of interest: some chick came up to us telling us she works for a fancy Manager in the UK and they are looking for music for a film. She got a free CD for that story . We'll see what happens.

NOVEMBER 2003---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Rain? What Stinking Rain!?"
For those of you who chose to be hunkered down in your living room under a blanket with your must-see TV on Thursday November 6th, well shame on you because you missed a kickin little gig! It seems the rain follows Finster pretty regularly, but it didn't stop us from having a good time road testing Kevin our new bass player and welcoming him aboard officially at Acme Underground in NYC. The set cranked with standouts "Burning Bridges", "Tomorrow" and the crowd pleasing cover Finster does of "Spin Me 'Round." Really good turnout, thanks and kudos go out to everyone for coming down in the miserable weather...and especially to Crazy Pete for exposing himself yet again, this time to a room full of people which included coworkers. (grin)

SEPTEMBER 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...AND IN WITH THE NEW"
Spent the last month or so speaking to and auditioning bass players. Looks like we will be road testing an old friend! The very talented and very driven bassist/vocalist Kevin Oriol from Kill By Inches will be juggling both projects. We have no reason to doubt his ability to handle two bands, as he has already learned about 20 songs in only a few measley rehearsals. Hoping to get a show of some kind together for November. Keep you posted.

JULY 2003 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Ugh...WHATEVER."
Been a while since the last update. We spent from January to May learning three sets worth of cover tunes, so we could get some decent paying gigs. Then in May I got married. When I got back from my honeymoon Finster left it's rehearsal space in search for a better place...in early July Jimmy announced that after 12 years of service he is bagging the band to play husband and father.Well there you go ...very exciting year so far. If we don't get a replacement and some gigs soon I may very well forget how to play the damn thing all together. Know any bass players?

NOVEMBER 2002---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"RALLY THE FRIGGIN' TROOPS!!!"
Hi everybody, it seems our friends from the Radio Chick show rememberedus and put in a good word over at their new radio station. Q104.3 got in touch with Finster Baby about participating in their Battle of The Bands contest over at the Hard Rock Cafe next week. The event is being sponsored by Q104.3, Sobe Beverages, Much Music and
Hard Rock Cafe.

The winning band gets a boatload of exposure on the radio, a chance to play for some industry big wigs and to open for Papa Roach in Colorado in January.

The event will be judged 60% by industry professionals and 40% by audience reaction. Its FREE to get in...all we need is for you to let us know if you'd like to go and we will put your name and as many friends as you want, on the guest list. We need you to make some noise!!!!

DETAILS:

Finster Baby
30 minute set 10:00 or 10:30 slot (they WILL be running on time)
There should be four bands to compete. Finster will play first or
second. The event starts at 10:00.

Thursday November 7th
Hard Rock Cafe
221 West 57th St. (just off Broadway)
New York, NY 10019
212-489-6565

Private event, to get in you must be on the guest list, we just need some feedback from you guys to put you on the list. Reply ASAP!

JUNE-OCTOBER 2002---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HAPPY HALLOWEEN"
The last few months there hasn't been much in way of entries here because well....frankly there hasn't been much going on. The standard fare this summer, rehearsals & gigs.... pleasant enough but not much to write home about. So we find ourselves in autumn and In the spirit of the season we recently learned a few covers including Time Warp from Rocky Horror and Ozzy's Mr. Crowley, also Crazy Train and Sweet Emotion thrown in for good measure. We were doing a gig in Queens at the Redzone for Halloween and figured it would be fun to put those tunes in the set. Well apparently Redzone dosen't have monitors. Hmmmmm. Interesting. Blasting loud stage, long skinny room. No monitors. Lovely. You can imagine how well harmonizing to Sweet Emotion might have sounded without being able to hear each other or your own self. Like I said lovely....a real scare for Halloween indeed!

MAY 2002---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"BACK UNDERGROUND"
Our relationship with UNDER ACME is a long one. Over a decade ago we had played for a fellow named Thomjack who did sound and promoted at a now defunct club called "The Pool Bar" on the corner of Bleeker and Broadway. Everything about The Pool Bar was gritty and "Noo YawK" in the truest sense. It was small and tunnel-like. It was undergound. It had a tiny stage. The bar maids were great...mixing up quart sized rum and cokes for us. The dressing area we used was a hallway adjacent to the diner upstairs from it. Complete with shocked gawking customers. The sound was good though, and we always drew a big crowd. The old Pool Bar gigs were infamous for debauchery. In many ways those shows defined the band and the era for us. After a few years the place closed down and Thom went on to be just a promoter. He left the Pool Bar, and started up at a place called Street Level then he left there and went on to a place called The Spiral....and then he left there and went on to Under Acme.
There's still a restaurant above you when you play for Thom and the stage is a little bigger...and quite frankly the club goers there are a lot tamer then the old days...but fill a room with Finster people and inevitably a party will break out. Thanks to all who showed up at he midnite hour on 5/18 for the set. It was good to be back underground again. "Take Care, Rockstar!"

APRIL 2002------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AWAY TOO LONG"Yes it's true Finster had been away from the real club scene in this city for far too long...the Queens shows have been convenient, but nothing can compare to the feel of a New York City gig. So we dug up the old address book and placed a few calls - now we're booked for the next three months! Apparently the old moniker still rings enough bells to get the job done.
We filled in an early slot with one weeks notice on Saturday April 27th at the famous Continental Club on Third Avenue (The place where people like The Ramones, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith got their start remember?)
and it turned out to be a great night, some of the old die-hards came through in a pinch, and the regular crowd seemed to really dig the stuff. It was good to be back in Gotham, where we basically got our start so long ago. Upward and onward....Acme Undergound, next stop.MARCH 2002----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"JEEPERS FELLAZ THE COPS!!"A few years back there was a great set going at Castle Heights in Jackson Heights, New York. The set was storming forward like a frieght train and the packed club was moshing and really digging our stuff. All of a sudden the lights went on and the PA shut down......"Jeepers Fellas" "....its the cops!" apparently the the moshing had gotten out of hand and a fights were breaking out to the tranquil sounds of innocent Finster. After we turned down a peg and calmed the crowd we finished the set.Now here we are Friday March 1st, 2002 a few years later and we were finishing up a particularly blasting version of "Head"...the last in the set, at NITROS in Middle Village, New York....and Eric is running around lowering the amps...I'm like "What the fuck?" Its the last song, what are you doing?".....Then I saw the blue uniforms and understood.Foiled again.Lousy end to a good evening of metal. After our friends Kill By Inches finished burning the place down we had a good set ourselves and the crowded room seemed to be having a really good time. Power Of Music's Metal Mayhem nights are starting to catch on.Hmmmmm. NITROS was made to shut down the bands for the night after our set and received several fines for bullshit like not having warning posters up for pregnant women about alcohol. Bullshit harassment basically. Its shit like this that eventually makes decent clubs shut down. Unfortunately we've been doing this long enough to have seen many places fold for similiar reasons, lets hope we don't lose another one.You can't let the bastards get you down. Fuck 'em! The best way to help out is to continue to support your local music scene, creating business for these watering holes.

DECEMBER 2001 - FEBRUARY 2002-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
Winter always slows everything down around here. We've been sneaking in the once a month type gigs but nothing remarkable to report. Hang in there. Something juicy anlways pops up sooner or later. Does anyone read this stuff anyway?

NOVEMBER 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"WE REPRESENT THE LOLLIPOP KIDS...."Check out the latest issue of the nationally distributed music industry and fan resource - LOLLIPOP MAGAZINE - inside this issue you will find FInster Baby included on Lollipop's MP3 Compilation CD ROM! Our inclusion featues a photo of the band, our bio, and an MP3 of Burning Bridges. Neat.

NOVEMBER 2001-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-FINSTER & KILL BY INCHES BACK IN THE TRENCHES
After far too long we had a chance to play with some old friends from around town. On Friday November 9th Finster Baby and Kill By Inches were together again and played a "Metal Mayhem" evening presented by Andy Sullo from Power of Music Productions, at NITROS in Queens. KBI were true to old form tearing the place up with there eclectic power trio brand of grindcore metal, and Finster treated old and new supporters with three just written (and barely completed) songs..."Way Down", "Lost", and "Pushin Me". A swell time was had by all.

SEPTEMBER 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BENEFIT FOR RED CROSS SUNDAY SEPT.
30thOn short notice and on a miserable cold rainy night scores of Long Islanders turned out to attend Power Of Music Productions Benefit To help out the Red Cross. The event took place at the Kings Club in Center Reach Long Island. There were tons of live bands performing for the cause...and Finster was happy to help out...after our dopey Bass player was over an hour late having been stuck in traffic out in Brooklyn we finally got to play!!! The set went pretty smoothly and everyone had a nice enough time...considering the circumstances and the reason we were there. Thank you to those who were able to make it and contribute to the worthy cause.

SEPTEMBER 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TINY BRIGHT SPOT IN A HORRIFIC MONTHAs the country and specifically New Yorkers continue to lick their wounds from the spineless attacks that took place on 9/11/01, it has really been a month where "band goings on" have taken the back seat. Amid the chaos fate threw Finster a bone and we got a little more exposure last night on 102.7 WNEW's Saturday Nite Rocks radio program. Host and Metal-Guru Eddie Trunk played our song "Burning Bridges" in his "SNR A&R Spotlight " It was a great honor and a lot of fun to hear somone as revered as Eddie say our tune was "Smokin, good stuff" and "very well produced." Thank you Eddie for playing it and thanks for all the good years with the radio show!! Check out the Saturday Nite Rocks website at: www.eddietrunk.com ....and check out the playlist for that nite (9/21/01) at: http://eddietrunk.com/playlists/article.php?playlists_id=58

AUGUST 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FB IN TOP 10 ON BROADBAND TALENT NETWORKMore Finster-ish activity abounds.Finster Baby has been accepted to participate on the Broadband Talent Network Web Site. If you wish to support the band please take a moment to go to the FREE site and log on so you can vote to rate the band. Featured songs are "Burning Bridges" or "Come Alive Again"Here's the link to the page: http://www.broadbandtalent.com/finsterbaby or go to the home page and click on us in the New Arrivals section...or current top 10.The Broadband Talent Network is a valuable resource for the entertainment industry and a source for new unsigned talent.Thanks for your support!!

JULY 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINSTER TO STORM AVALON
Last night was another show at NITROS with Power Of Music Productions and all went well.It actually didn't rain imagine that! Thanks to all of you who came down. With no upcoming gigs scheduled until late August the band expects to be going back into the studio to start work on another few tracks to complete the soon to be "formally" released..."Stroke Your Motor". The next few tunes haven't been decided on yet, but the crowd pleaser "Tomorrow" will certainly be one of them. When we get more dirt we'll post it here, stay tuned. we have more dirt we'll

JULY 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINSTER SLIPS IN A QUICKIE
On occasion a promoter will call and say "hey do me a favor I need someone to hold a crowd for a slot this other band pulled out at the last minute....can you do it? Well, of course. As veterans of this miserable scene we know all too well the hassles of keeping an evening of metal together... This was the case last week at The Vegas Cafe out on Long Island, when Andy from Power Of Music Productions gave us a shout and asked if we could fill in. The night which we didn't expect much from at first, didn't hold much promise but turned out to be a lot of fun for those who came out on short notice.At first the sudden rain and the small quarters which forced some of the bands to keep their equipment outside the club until they were ready to go on seemed like it may put a damper on things. Scott took one look at the crowd and started placing bets on how many songs it would take us to empty the place....add to this the usual bands getting a late start and playing too long to push all the time slots back and it was the makings for a disaster. What else is new right?Wrong!We set up (and special thanks to "Waste" for helping as we were one important man short....Crazy Drunken Pete was apparently not blessed with permission to attend...jeez what a bitch) and powered up and were on our way to a 35 minutes of quite a ruckus, smiling to ourselves to test the noise tolerence of the crowd. Well go figure, because by the time the opening chords of Stroke Your Motor filled the room it was obvious they were into it big time!The set went well and included ALIVE AGAIN, BURNING BRIDGES. STROKE YOUR MOTOR, FACE DOWN, FIND A WAY, ROLLOVER, TOMORROW and DO WHAT YOU WANT (the last one for Pete even though he wasn't there) When we were done Andy brought out his Power Of Music Dancers and they danced around and had a wet T Shirt contest of sorts, it was a good time and even the girls in the crowd were getting a kick out it.Thanks to all those who showed up and bought CDs and all the new supporters who signed the mailing list. Another successful evening, albeit unscheduled. Thanks again.-S

JUNE 2001------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RADIO CHICK AND FINSTER CD A "SMASH"Anybody listen to "The Radio Chick" show on 102.7 WNEW in the New York area lately? If you have then you may have heard some of our songs and the great call in response Finster got when the show was narrowing down contestants for its upcoming "White Trash Boobieque" party. The show's host Leslie Gold aka "The Chick" and her partners Butchie and Chuck held a contest to decide on a band that would fill the last slot to perform at ther party and they were swamped with 80 entries in four days. When they broadcasted Finster Baby's "Burning Bridges" and "Face Down" on the show, call in reaction was overwhelmingly positive with callers comparing Finster to early Black Sabbath and Godsmack.Of the 80 CDs that were entered only 8 remained as finalists...however two days later when the gang decided on a method to select a winner, they opted for an unusual twist....they would have a "CD Sword Fight" with the entries, and whichever CD jewel case survived with the least amount of damage would be the contestant that could perform at their party, which would be a chance to reach hundreds of new fans. Finster's case made it through the first round then finally got smashed in the second, hhhhhmmmmm. To think we spent all these years becoming better song writers when all along we should have been improving on package design!Although disappointed with the outcome Finster was thankful for the opportunity to get some exposure on a major market radio station. To say thanks and for a laugh, Finster Drum Tech. "Crazy Drunken Pete" presented The Chick and her crew with a CD housed in a custom made stainless steel jewel case at the "Boobieque"...bring on the next contest this time we'll be ready!!