| -
Robin Finck - |
| Robin
Finck a.k.a. "Queenie" was born on November 7, 1971 in
New Jersey, but grew up in Merrieta, Georgia. He now lives in Southern California.
Finck graduated from George Walton High School in 1990. He had intended
to pursue college, but for reasons of his own, he never did. About the time
that he could have been attending college, he was known to hang around the
dorms at Olgethorpe University. |
| Robin’s
stage career began in 1987 when he starated playing guitar for Prowess at
the age of 15 in his hometown in Georgia. That project became Bat Your Lashes
with Robin on guitar and keys. The same group further developed into
Sik Dik and eventually the The Hookers for which he handled guitar, keys,
and miscellaneous noises. From 1990 - 1991, Robin’s guitar riffs and shreds
could be found with the drag band, Impotent Sea Snakes. In 1991, Robin joined
a touring band Nine Inch Nails (NIN) on guitar and keys. He toured
with them until 1997. But being a member of the touring band wasn’t all
he did. |
 |
He
also played guitar, keys, and violin with Dee Snider's Sick Mother F**kers
(SMF), a Florida based Twisted Sister cover band, from 1992 - 1994. It is
interesting to note that Twiggy Ramirez, the current bassist for Marilyn
Manson, was also with SMF. They often performed at the popular Atlanta -
Masquerade, which contains three levels called heaven, purgatory, and hell.
Robin actually lived in an apartment just outside of hell. Robin says with
a devious grin, "Masquerade is my old stompin' grounds and I always
kept an open door policy. It was a 25-8 party." |
| 1997
brought a hiatus for NIN and Robin was off to join the circus. He started
playing guitar in the Cirque Du Soliel Orchestra and was quoted as saying,
"I wanted to do something completely 180 degrees opposite of what I
had been doing, and for me and my life at the time, it seemed like a far
out thing to do." |
| Later
in 1997, he started working with Guns N’ Roses (GnR) and did some recording
for their new CD, The Chinese Democracy which is due out by the end of 2001.
He worked with them until 1999 when NIN started touring again with their
release, the Fragile and completed the Fragility tour. NIN then returned
to the studio to focus work on the Fragility tour DVD. You can view the
trailer for the DVD in the Sound Chamber. |
| Robin
has also been doing some more work with GN'R but remains a free agent. Fans
hailed him for his version of Sossego at the Rock in Rio show with GN'R
January 14, 2001. He had confirmed that he would support GN'R's Summer 2001
Chinese Democracy tour. However, the summer tour was cancelled due to Buckethead
contracting a virus. It was then rescheduled for later in 2001 and then
cancelled again. |
| Clint
Mansell recently completed a score featuring Robin Finck and Danny Lohner
for the film Rain, which is scheduled for release towards the end of 2001.
Also, Robin continues to collaborate with Buckethead, his former GnR twin
guitarist, on projects. In 2001, legendary filmmaker John Carpenter asked
them to lay down some sounds for his horror movie, Ghosts of Mars . |
| His
biggest influences were Jimi Hendrix-for obvious reasons; Eddie Van Halen-
who basically invented harmonics, was of heavy influence during Robin's
formative years; Jeff Beck, a diversified veteran musician who "can
switch from hammer axing to layed back in a chair strummin'" and has
worked with everyone from the Yardbirds to Rod Stewart to Seal. Beck was
quoted,"A good guitar player can make even a dumbass riff sound great.";
Eric Clapton-"Why? because he's Eric Clapton."; the late Chet
Atkins-"He's an absolute legend.. fastest fingers.. got fingers that
won't quit. He hums and strums, yet he can bend a note that'll break your
heart." |
| He
has played various artists throughout his career, including: Prowess, Bat
Your Lashes, Sik Dik, Hookers, The Impotent Sea Snakes, Nine Inch Nails,
Sick Mutha F**ckers and Cirque Du Soliel Orchestra. Finck is currently working
with the new line-up of Guns N' Roses, and they hope to release new material
very soon. |
| "If
I was a bassist, Twiggy Ramirez would be one of my influencial admirations."
-- Robin Finck |