Liam Finn says joining Crowded House was a ‘childhood dream’

Liam Finn says he spent years preparing for the moment his father would ask him to join his iconic Australian band that’s “in the blood”.

In some ways, it was the role Liam Finn was born to play.

However, that didn’t stop his famous father Neil becoming a bundle of nerves while asking him and his brother Elroy to join the band permanently in the midst of a global pandemic.

With a raft of pop anthems (Don’t Dream It’s Over, Better Be Home Soon, Weather With You, It’s Only Natural), Crowded House became of one the country’s most popular and critically revered rock bands through the 1980s and 90s.

And there was no bigger admirer than Liam himself, who would sit side of stage as a kid, dreaming of one day joining the group in his own right.

So when the opportunity finally arrived, in the middle of 2020, Liam was match fit and ready to grasp the chance of adding to the iconic band’s legacy.

Over the past 15 years at least, he’d enjoyed several close musical encounters with the group and his father.

Crowded House, featuring Liam Finn (far right), will play in Darwin on October 29. Picture: Supplied.

By his early 30s, Liam was writing songs with Neil in a “really natural” formation, and played 10 European gigs in January, 2019 with his dad, Elroy and mother Sharon, in a kind of touring nuclear family.

“It was a pretty magical thing,” Liam told the NT News.

He also co-produced Neil’s solo record Out of Silence in 2017, while the following year, the father-son partnership spawned the LP, Lightsleeper.

However, that quality time was disrupted by Neil’s call-up to international music’s big league, when Fleetwood Mac went looking for a Lindsey Buckingham replacement.

Fully supportive of the move, Liam said it ultimately “lit the fire” in his father to make more music with Crowded House with a compelling vision of a “band of equals”.

Neil would ask long term collaborator, producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom to enlist; an invitation which was extended to both Liam and his drummer brother.

So it felt like a natural fit for the 39-year-old, who has been based in Los Angeles for more than six years.

“We’ve grown up having to learn how to play in the style of Crowded House,” Liam said.

“Crowded House was in the blood, it was always there.

“In some ways it’s a childhood dream of mine.”

Much like his own guitar stylings, which were perhaps unavoidably influenced by the band, Elroy had also grown up studying the “brush feel” of Paul Hester, the late Crowded House drummer.

However, Liam said his father was quite nervous delivering the proposal, perhaps anticipating they might say no.

Crowded House released their seventh album Dreamers Are Waiting in June, 2021. Picture: Supplied.

“It was a surprise, I certainly wasn’t expecting it,” he said.

“He also seemed quite timid in his asking.”

However, the brothers leapt at the chance to play the songs which “meant a lot to us”.

“We were pretty excited at the prospect,” he said.

“It felt like a new era … getting to add to the legacy they already created, plus I get to play all these songs that I grew up hearing around me.”

Few get to experience working with their fathers so intimately, but Liam has enjoyed the dynamic so far.

“We’re not afraid to be honest with each other, and that’s a pretty important thing in a band,” he said.

“There’s definitely some edgy moments, like there is in any band, but when it’s with your family it can actually be a little bit more intense.

“But we’re family and we get through it.”

Being the son of a rock legend would obviously have its benefits, and Liam says that was the case from a young age, surrounded by plenty of instruments and encouragement.

However, he never felt burdened by the expectations which would inevitably come with his musical lineage, or particularly vulnerable to overt criticism due to that fact.

“When I was younger, I was pretty obsessed with making music and I was very driven to do it on my own two feet,” he said.

“I don’t think I ever really felt too much of a burden of this idea of expectation, or the idea your critics would be more critical because of who you are.

“I’ve certainly gone through the gamut of feelings about it.

“But there’s never been something to rebel against.”

Crowded House play the Darwin Convention Centre on October 29.

Originally published as Liam Finn says joining Crowded House was a ‘childhood dream’