You Betcha

October 8, 2004

"This is a song called Don't Call New Zealanders hobbits." Liam Finn is the lord of the mic.
Photo: Domino Postiglione


When one dad is a Finn and the other an Angel, you have a genetic disposition towards musical success. Betchadupa don't disappoint, reports Kelsey Munro.

Where: Gaelic Club, 64 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills
When: October 16, 8pm
How much: $12
Bookings: 9211 1687
More information: They play a free gig at Sydney Uni's Manning Bar on Tuesday at 1pm

On Liam Finn's 21st birthday last month, a commercial radio network flew him and his three closest friends from their adopted home of Melbourne to Sydney to perform a free outdoor gig at North Cronulla beach.

They took to the small stage in the sunshine as teenagers on school holidays, curious onlookers and noise-phobic residents gathered below them.

Betchadupa played their single Move Over live to air. They finished the gig and flew back home three hours later. Not many people get to spend their 21st birthdays like this.

But Finn - that's son of Neil, the rather well-known musician of Crowded House fame - hasn't exactly been living an average life since forming Betchadupa.

He and drummer Matt Eccles - that's son of Brent, rather well-known drummer of the Angels fame - first started writing songs together when they were 11 years old. (They called their first song Gee This Sounds Good, I Can't Believe We Wrote It.)

Starting so young is a natural step when your father is a musician.

"It didn't seem young at the time," Finn says. "I felt like I was ready to take on the world - as you do when you're 11."

He says their famous dads have always been supportive of Betchadupa's musical ambitions.

"I think my mum was more doubtful!" Finn says. "But they saw I wasn't going to do anything else. It was pretty obvious from a very early age that I was going to make music."

When it comes to the obvious nepotism question that all kids with famous parents face, Finn says: "I guess we've been very wary never to sound embarrassed or like we're playing it down, or trying to say, 'We're doing everything in our own right' kinda thing - which has been the plan of attack.

"We really wanted to earn our stripes and show people we're a real band. It's been great in some ways and there have been downsides but we don't really worry about it."

Finn and Eccles hooked up with lead guitarist Chris Garland and bass player Joe Bramley when they were still in high school.

Not many bands can claim to be veteran performers at 21 but Betchadupa's experience shows. After so many gigs together, they're tightly attuned to each other's playing.

Finn, who is the youngest, admits their early start to gigging and touring incurred at least one major casualty along the way: their formal education.

"We didn't finish high school," he says.

"The intention was there, but we were pretty busy and our heart wasn't there.

"I quite liked school but I just wasn't enjoying it because I didn't care; I wanted to be making music and touring.

"I don't regret it. People say, 'Do you wish you'd stayed?' Nah. I've had a great time and I don't feel like I've lost out on any kind of education at all from travelling around and meeting people."

Two years ago, the Auckland quartet released their debut album, The Alphabetchadupa. They followed up with Australian tours and a foray into the US and Britain last year.

Their new record, Aiming For Your Head, was recorded with producer Nick Launay (Midnight Oil, Nick Cave) in Sydney and Auckland and mixed in Los Angeles. The band have relocated to Melbourne to promote it.

Finn says their influences are a mix of classic Beatles-style songcraft and hard-core bands such as the Jesus Lizard and Fugazi, "stuff that's a bit discordant and a bit weirder, that messes with your head a bit more".

If he has picked up any of his father's songwriting secrets, Finn is not letting on.

"Most of the time it just happens out of nowhere," he says. "I don't know - with songwriting there's no way of explaining how it happens, you just look back when it's done and go, 'Oh, cool!'

"For six months after we recorded Alphabetchadupa, I didn't write anything.

I started thinking, 'Oh God, that's it, I'm dried out at 17.' But then all of a sudden we had three times too many songs for this album."

Trusting in the strength of their stage sound, Betchadupa recorded the bulk of Aiming At Your Head live.

"There's something about when you play live, you only have one chance to get it right, you can't stop and start again, those kinds of restrictions," Finn says.

"If you've got an unlimited amount of disk space on your computer and you can fix it up later, it makes it a bit fake. It's not real, it's not honest. That's what we're all about: honesty."


Advertisement Advertisement