It’s not easy for a band to go through two breakups and 15 long years while only releasing three full-length studio albums, just ask the guys in post-hardcore group Finch. As many of the SoCal quintet’s early 2000s contemporaries would likely agree, every record has to be nearly perfect to prevent you from getting passed over for the next big thing. 

But since reuniting a second time for the 10-year anniversary of their debut record (What It Is to Burn) in 2012, Finch has been back together and in the spotlight with everything from sold-out shows to releasing new studio, live, and acoustic albums. 

Myspace caught up with Daniel Wonacott, the band’s bassist, to talk about how Finch hasn’t changed, their breakups, and the bands they came up with.

Now that Finch has been back together for a few years, how different is the band from the first two times around? 

In our world, it’s pretty much the same. We’re all good friends and we like playing music together. I guess the biggest surprise is that people still care, you know? We’ve been a band a long time, so it’s pretty exciting that we get great festival offers and we release a record that people want to listen to; it is pretty amazing. For us, it’s kind of the same old thing. The older we get, the better we get at not breaking up. I think we also never take anything for granted anymore. We don’t take for granted that we’ll get a record deal next year or that we’ll get some great tour offer or none of that. We’re very thankful and appreciative for every opportunity that comes our way. 

When Finch has broken up in the past, did it seem permanent or was there always that thought of the band getting back together? 

I guess in hindsight with the couple breakups the band’s had, they should’ve just been like “We’re taking a year off,” or “We’re just not going to do anything for a year. We’re not going to write, we’re not going to tour,” but you know, when you’re younger everyone gets confused. It turns into “Oh, we can’t work right now so we have to break up.” That’s probably not how it should be. If you’re in a young band don’t break up, just take a year off. 

Obviously, Finch isn’t the only band to recently reunite and put out new music for the first time in about a decade. What’s it like to have all of those bands from the 2000s back again? 

I think it’s cool. I think there’s a big appetite for rock music still even though rock music isn’t on the radio all of the time and it’s not really the big thing right now. I think there’s a lot of rock music fans, and it’s the fans who grew up through Myspace and Facebook and Napster and all that stuff. As a band, you figure out that if you do a show, an audience will show up because they like rock music. There’s been some ups and downs along the way, but it’s cool to be a part of this scene, whatever it is. Just to have the chance to play music in front of people with these other bands, it still blows my mind.

No two Finch records really sound alike. Do you think that’s helped the band as far as longevity goes even among the breakups?

I think musically, Finch is pretty drastically different every record. I think that definitely has helped the longevity of the band, even though it might not immediately be something people understand. They might think “Why the hell wouldn’t you just make What It Is to Burn part two or whatever, but it’s because we want to make the music that we want to make. If it doesn’t feel good to us while we’re writing it then it’s not going to get recorded. I guess it gives us perspective on what we do a little bit, like we’re lucky to be able to do what we do on each record. 

You joined Finch after the first hiatus, what was it like to just jump into the band like that? 

It was a total trip. Nate (Barcalow, Finch’s vocalist) and I started a different band after Finch broke up in 2005, and then that ended up becoming the reunited Finch. It really changed my life in a really positive way. I was 25 or 26 when I joined the band, and I had just gotten to the point with other bands where I was like “I think I better hang it up and get a new job.” Then this great opportunity comes along and I’m extremely grateful for it.

What’s it like to be playing the first two albums from before you were a part of the band, and how does the band feel about those early albums? 

It’s definitely different. For me, I look back on those first two records as a fan from when I knew the dudes in high school and watched them go through that whole thing. I think the band is really proud of them. There are a few songs that are like “Oh, that shouldn’t have been on there,” but I think the records stand up over time. You see that with the audience and the fan base. “Letters to You” is still a great tune, and that’s kind of what it is at the end of the day. It speaks to you and it’s a great song and it’s not something we’ll ever be ashamed of.